Dong Zhongshu put forward the three major ideas of "great unification," "heaven and man induction," and "ruling the country with virtue," laying the foundation for the prosperity of the Han Dynasty. However, it is also his proposition of "deposing a hundred schools and respecting Confucianism alone" that single-handedly put an end to the once brilliant controversy of a hundred schools of thought, so that Confucianism alone is dominant, thus causing many controversies.
What is the point that such an outstanding person, who should have been the prime minister of the king in any dynasty, was deposed from his official position after a short period of time as an official, and spent his whole life as a commoner?
Dong Zhongshu was born in the stable period of Emperor Wen of Han, with countless books in his family and thousands of acres of fertile land, and was a well-known rich man near and far. As a rich second generation, he was not satisfied with the status quo, but worked hard to study, worked hard, and at the age of thirty, he began to give lectures, preached Confucian classics, and had countless protégés for a time, peach and plum garden, personally proved how terrible the hard-working and talented rich second generation is.
Subsequently, Emperor Wu of Han ascended the throne, wanting to absorb the world's talents in one dynasty, Dong Zhongshu, who had long been famous in the world, was elected to participate in the questioning, and Emperor Wudi of Han and him asked and answered one by one, and jointly contributed the "Three Questions of Heaven and Man" left by Qing Shi. It was also in the midst of the three questions of the heavenly people that Dong Zhongshu's theoretical system gradually matured, and the divine right of the monarchy of "heaven and man induction" and the ruling strategy of "deposing a hundred families and respecting Confucianism alone" were all revealed to the world through this incident. Naturally, Dong Zhongshu was appreciated by Emperor Wu of Han and was sent to Liu Fei, the king of Jiangdu, to serve as the minister of a country.
In Jiangdu, Dong Zhongshu advised Liu Fei to be a good man, to be a local king, and not to have any intention of rebellion; on the other hand, he constantly improved his theoretical system, seized any opportunity to write to Emperor Wu of Han, and continued to deepen his theoretical impression of the emperor.
In this way, a young man who ascended to the heavens step by step could have relied on the distance not far from the center of power to rely on the distance of being on the prince's side, slowly cultivating his own connections, deepening his own heritage, and eventually growing into a towering tree of the Han Dynasty, but unexpectedly in this critical period, he planted a big heel. In the 6th year of the founding of Emperor Wu of Han, the buried Liu Bang, Lü Hou's Changling, and the High Temple in Liaodong were on fire one after another, and Dong Zhongshu was ready to publicize his theory with this matter, but he did not know that the letter had not yet been sent, but it was seen in advance by a person called the main father, and he who had not dealt with Dong Zhongshu should have even handed this letter to Emperor Wu of Han.
At this time, Dong Zhongshu was almost beheaded, that is, his life was great, and at the last moment, Emperor Wu of Han was soft-hearted, spared his life, and then originally wanted him to come back, but he was frightened and did not dare to set foot in the court again, and throughout his life, he honestly became a teacher.
Everyone may have to ask, just a letter, Emperor Wu of Han is also an emperor for thousands of years, as for? Here I want to explain, first of all, Dong Zhongshu's letter is quite responsive. The theme of the letter is heaven and man induction, which means that the emperor has no virtue and heaven to watch, and the heavens can also interact with the human world in some way, let's see, after the fire, write this letter, doesn't this imply that Emperor Wu of Han has a loss of virtue, so let the heavens send disasters? Can Emperor Wudi of Han not be angry?
However, I believe that Dong Zhongshu is not stupid, he must be thinking about going to this letter first, explaining it himself after finishing the matter, slapping a date, and this matter will pass. Wan Wanwan did not expect that if he had to come out with a master father and secretly made a small report, then the nature of this matter would completely change, dong Zhongshu could not say it clearly no matter what, and could only accept the black cauldron of "secretly writing bad words about the leadership".
Secondly, Emperor Wu of Han was already suspicious, and he was still very devout in the matter of witchcraft, and if nothing else, it was said that 44 years after Dong Zhongshu's grievances and barbarism stepped down, the scourge of witchcraft that shocked history broke out, and that battle, that posture, throughout the five thousand histories of China, no misunderstanding could be so bloody. And all this was caused by the suspicion of Emperor Wu of Han, that is to say, Emperor Wu of Han was by no means a lenient monarch, but he must be a fierce emperor, according to Dong Zhongshu's straight nature, sooner or later, this disaster could not be escaped.
Dong Zhongshu's life was mixed, and it was difficult to comment. His merit, first of all, was to put forward the theory of heaven and man induction, completely fixed the concept of "divine right of kings", and provided a legal basis for the existence of the profession of "emperor" in later generations, and from then on, the emperor was no longer like Xia Shang, the spokesman of the ancestral spirit; nor was he like the Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou, the allies of various alliances. They became human incarnations of the will of Heaven, sacred and inviolable.
Secondly, his idea of "deposing a hundred families and respecting Confucianism alone" directly ended the confrontation between a hundred schools that had been debated endlessly since the Warring States, and public resources and think tank talents were no longer divided and opposed, but jointly served the general framework of an idea, becoming the basis for the rule of a feudal dynasty that lasted for thousands of years.
We should also see that it is precisely the proposal of a concept that has greatly imprisoned the emergence and development of various ideological trends, ossified the innovative consciousness of the Chinese elite, and directly led to China's difficulty in flexible turning in modern and modern history, once lagging behind the whole world, and almost facing the crisis of national subjugation and extinction, which can be called Dong Zhongshu's fault.
But it is not fair to blame an ancient person a thousand years ago, after all, he is just an ancient reader, trapped in his own time and environment, and it is impossible to be far-sighted and aware of the invention of the steam engine and the arrival of the Industrial Revolution. As a person of his time, he has completed his tasks brilliantly and made his own outstanding contributions to the course of history.
In short, if we look at it fairly and comprehensively, Dong Zhongshu's contribution is greater than that. History has no if, we can not guarantee that the world of the Fa or the world of Taoism will necessarily come better, in comparison, on the contrary, the world of Confucianism has saved a touch of human warmth in the continuous chaotic world, and this is the best gift left in the thousand-year history of China.
Friends who are interested in history can pay attention to it: brain hole aliens, an alien who studies the history of the earth