Mao Zedong respected the three saints confucius, Mozi and Laozi, but each had its own emphasis, and showed different tendencies to choose during his period of study and revolutionary movement. His revolutionary practice was more influenced by the Mo family's self-sacrifice spirit of "rejuvenating the world for the benefit of the world" and assiduous self-discipline and asceticism to save the world. His attitude toward Lao Tzu and Mozi was consistent, but for Confucius, it was an early worship and later critical inheritance.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > there are more than a dozen Lao Tzu books that Mao Zedong often read</h1>
When Mao Zedong went out to inspect, he always brought with him a batch of books that he wanted to read or often read. Mr. Kui Xian, who managed the books for Chairman Mao, recorded in the chronicle that Chairman Mao should bring "more than a dozen books on Lao Tzu" with him when he went out to name names( "People's Network: Books That Mao Zedong Wanted to Read Frequently Read").
Mao Zedong attached great importance to the study of Lao Tzu's philosophical thought. He had read versions of Lao Tzu by Ren Jiyu, professor of the Department of Philosophy at Peking University, "The Translation of Lao Tzu" by Yang Liuqiao, and Chen Boda's "The Philosophical Thoughts of Lao Tzu"; after his eyesight declined in his later years, he printed Ma Sulun's "Lao Tzu's Proofreading" and Gao Heng's "Notes on Lao Tzu" into large characters.
In 1974, after the excavation of the A and B books of Lao Tzu in Changsha Mawangdui, they were also printed in large characters and read.
During this period, Mao Zedong interviewed Ren Jiyu and told him that it was necessary to carry out research on religious issues. How can a philosophy department with hundreds of people not have anyone studying Taoism? Both Buddhism and Christianity should be studied.
Mao Zedong agreed with Mr. Ren Jiyu's assessment of Confucius, saying that Confucius was an important thinker and a conservative politicalist. However, he did not agree with lao tzu's philosophy as a materialist point of view, and he used phrases such as "The Tao is often nameless" and "blind" as examples to illustrate Lao Tzu's idealists.
However, Mr. Ren Jiyue did not accept Mao Zedong's opinion, and soon the textbook "History of Chinese Philosophy" edited by Ren Jiyue still insisted that Laozi philosophy was materialistic.
However, the later Mr. Ren Jiyu believed that it was inappropriate to evaluate Laozi's thought in terms of materialism and idealism.
Such a position and attitude was indeed rare at the time, but Mr. Ren was not affected by it, which shows that Mao Zedong was not particularly insistent on Lao Tzu's views on materialism or idealism.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="36" >For Confucius: From Worship to Heads-Up</h1>
Mao Zedong was born in the late Qing Dynasty, and the imperial examination system was still the only or main way for intellectuals to change their identities at that time. In the era of the imperial examination, it was necessary to read the book of Kong Sage.
Mao Zedong was certainly no exception, and when he was a teenager, Mao Zedong had to bow to Confucius's tablet every day when he went to school, until 1917, when the 24-year-old Mao Zedong still had an agenda at the opening ceremony of the Hunan Provincial First Normal Workers' Night School, which was to bow three times to the statue of Confucius) "People's Network : Mao Zedong on Confucius"
This kind of worship lasted until the early days of liberation, when he visited the Confucius Temple, confucius house, and Kong Lin in Qufu, he said: The ruling class of successive generations has worn many high hats for Confucius, and his status has become higher and higher. ”
Mao Zedong has tended to emancipate his personality since childhood, with a distinct personality of "unbound sex", and when he was young, he advocated: "Therefore, those who suppress individuals and violate individuality are guilty of great sins." Therefore, the three principles of our country must go..." "Destroy the old universe and get the new universe."
This change of thinking began with contact with Li Dazhao in the library of Peking University. After the outbreak of the May Fourth Movement, Mao Zedong attacked Kang Youwei's behavior of "honoring Kong" in the Xiangjiang Review, which he edited, and put forward the reason for criticizing Kong: "This monopoly of China alone has prevented our ideological circles from being free, and it is also impossible not to oppose yu yu as a slave to idols for two thousand years. ”
During the Yan'an period, Mao Zedong also regarded Confucius as a sage of feudal society. He said: "Confucius is a sage in feudal society, and Lu Xun is a sage in modern China. ”
In order to oppose the Retro Campaign of the Kuomintang government's "Reading the Scriptures with Respect for Confucius", he proposed: They rely on Confucius, and we rely on Marx. Draw a clear line and take a clear stand.
Later, the vigorous movement he launched also took the criticism of holes as an important content to eliminate the influence of Confucius in all aspects.
After Lin Biao defected, Mao Zedong believed that Lin Biao, like the Kuomintang, was respectful and anti-French. Therefore, it was decided to "batch holes" at the same time as "batch forest".
On the whole, Mao Zedong's attitude toward Confucius was to worship Confucius in his early years, criticize him in his later years, and criticize inheritance later in his youth, just as he said in the early days of liberation: Confucius was a revolutionary party, and this person could not be erased in one stroke. Most of the main criticism holes were related to the political environment at that time.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="60" > Mozi was a sage who was more intelligent than Confucius</h1>
Mozi is the spokesperson of the lower-class people, and his ideas of love, non-aggression, thrift, and funeral are all standing on the stand of the working people and speaking for the working people.
Moxue was once "Xianxue", Mencius said that "the words of the world, if it does not return to Yang, then return to Mo", with its mass base and broad representation, it was enough to compete with Confucianism in the prosperous period, because Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "deposed the Hundred Schools of Confucianism", Moxue was suppressed by successive rulers, and was not rediscovered until the end of the Qing Dynasty, with the rise of the "Mr. De, Mr. Sai" movement, the spirit of workers and workers and the spirit of science in Moxue were revived, and the intellectuals at that time were mostly proud of practicing the spirit of the Mo family, such as Chen Duxiu, Lu Xun, Hu Shi, etc.
In February 1939, Chen Boda, head of the "New Philosophical Society" in Yan'an, wrote a long article entitled "Mozi's Philosophical Thoughts" for Chairman Mao to review. Mao Zedong wrote back: "This is a great credit to you, and heraclitus has come to Find Out in China." He also suggested revising the title "Ancient Dialectical Materialism Everyone - Mozi's Philosophical Thought."
Heraclitus was an ancient Greek philosopher and the first thinker to propose epistemology. Mao Zedong compared Mozi to Heraclitus, which shows Chairman Mao's admiration for Mozi (China Political Consultative Conference Daily" Mao Zedong: Mozi is a sage who is smarter than Confucius).
During the Yan'an large-scale production movement, Mao Zedong said: Mozi was a laborer, he was not an official, but he was a sage who was smarter than Confucius. Confucius did not cultivate the land, and Mozi made his own tables and chairs. In history, officials who have been officials for thousands of years have not cultivated the fields, and the readers have not cultivated the fields. If all the party, government, and military studies are done throughout the country, wouldn't it be a new China?
He quoted the Mo family's creed that "those who rely on their strength are born, and those who do not rely on their strength are not born" and said: "Marxism has thousands of articles, and the central one is that no laborer can eat."
Mao Zedong's admiration for Mozi stemmed from his adolescence, when he said in an interview with the American progressive journalist Edgar Snow: I like those novels and rangers outside the canonical books, "I often read these books in the school, and when the teacher comes over, he covers them with a serious book." Most of my classmates do the same... These books had a big impact on me because they were read at an age that was easy to accept. ”
In his youth, his idols Liang Qichao, Hu Shi, and Tan Sitong all admired the Mo family, and Liang Qichao said, "Mozi is really a great practitioner of the ages, not only in China is unmatched, but also rare in the world." Hu Shi was deeply influenced by Lao Tzu and Mozi when he was a teenager. When Mao Zedong was in the library of Peking University, he listened to Hu Shi's Mozi philosophy class. Therefore, the image of Mozi took root deeply in his heart.