The human heart is in danger, the Tao is small, and the essence is the only one, allowing the middle.
In the Yao Shun era, the Zen system that embodied the simple democratic idea was the main system of power change. Yao, Shun, and Yu succeeded to the throne one after another, and the idea of "Allowing Gong Kerang" advocated by them set an example for future generations. Du Fu, a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, once issued a cry of "to Jun Yao Shun, and then make the customs pure", which fully embodied the beautiful vision of the ancient Confucians for the country's political and social customs, and the Book of Shang was the earliest classic to record the history of this era.
When did it come about?
As one of the must-read textbooks for ancient Chinese readers, starting from the Han Dynasty to the finalization of the "Thirteen Classics" in the Song Dynasty, the lineage of the Book of Shang can be described as complex and changeable in the Confucian classic family. The Book of Shang was not written in the hands of one man, nor was it written in an era, and it is said to have been compiled by Confucius. From the Han dynasty to the Jin Dynasty, there were three copies of the Book of Shang, and the Shang Shu was an ancient copy handed down from the pre-Qin Dynasty, copied from the Lishu of the Han Dynasty. During the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Yu, the King of Lugong, knocked on a wall in Confucius's old residence and accidentally found the Book of Shang written in the Six Kingdoms script, which was called the ancient "Book of Shang" because it was difficult to read because it was relatively ancient. Since then, some people, such as Liu De, the King of Hejian Xian, the Woman of Hanoi, Du Lin, etc., have accidentally discovered scattered volumes of the ancient "Book of Shang" from various places by demolishing walls and houses. During the Wei and Jin dynasties, a man named Mei Zhao suddenly took out a so-called "Book of Shang" written by Confucius XI's grandson Kong Anguo, which was quickly widely circulated at that time and in later generations, until the Qing Dynasty great Confucian Yan Ruoxuan wrote the "Ancient Literature Shangshu Shu Shu Shu" to strongly confirm that this book was a forgery.
What did you do?
The Book of Shang is a historical book that records political affairs in ancient times, from YuXia to Zhou. There are 28 articles in the Western Han Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty was divided into 33 articles, mainly including four parts: the Book of Yu, the Book of Xia, the Book of Shang, and the Book of Zhou. The biggest feature of this book is that the language is difficult to understand, but the things recorded are very rich and valuable. The Book of Shang uses historical events to outline the social map of the emperor's conquest and decision-making and governance of the country in the ancient period. Emperor Yao had the talent to select talents and abilities, such as appointing Xi He to observe the sun, moon and stars, and formulating the calendar; The appointment of Gao Tao to the penal code stabilized society and contributed to the great progress of china's ancient agricultural civilization. Xia Wang Qi and Shang Wang Tang were participants and planners of the major wars in ancient times, and they both mobilized their soldiers before the war, threatening those who did not obey the command, and if they disobeyed the order, they would shoot and kill, showing a strong appeal and deterrence. The Shang king Pan Geng wanted to save the decline, advocated moving the capital, in the face of strong opposition forces, Pan Geng knew that with affection and reason, finally persuaded the nobles in the dynasty to revitalize the prosperity of the Shang Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty, the historical map scroll slowly unfolded, a large number of pages were used to describe the outstanding military achievements founded by Zhou Gongdan in his lifetime, from helping king Wu of Zhou to cut down merchants and build new cities and pools in the area of luoyang to settle the people, to making ceremonies and making music, assisting young lords to become kings, and constantly providing various suggestions for the monarch to benefit the country and the people. These deeds are vividly and detailed in the Book of Shang.
What does that make sense?
As one of the earliest classics formed by Confucianism, the reason why the Book of Shang can be continuously interpreted and interpreted by later generations is that the ideas of governing and ruling the country recorded in the book have the value of reference and learning in various historical periods. Shang Shu. There is a famous sentence in the "Sixteen Character Heart Transmission" in the Great Yu Mo, that is, "The human heart is only dangerous, the Taoist heart is small, only the essence is the only one, and the path is allowed to be in the middle", which means that the human heart and the Heavenly Dao are dangerous, complex and elusive, and only by carefully observing, adhering to the original heart, and being pure and single-minded can words and deeds be impartial and conform to the path of righteousness. If a person wants to gain a foothold in heaven and earth, he must have the determination to respond to all changes with no change; If a country wants to achieve peace in the turbulent world, it also needs to have sufficient wisdom and perseverance in not forgetting its original intention.
The "Book of Shang" also embodies the ideas of "rule by virtue" and "people-oriented". The reason for the demise of the Shang Dynasty was that the Shang King was tyrannical and immoral, so when the Duke of Zhou warned Uncle Kang, who was about to go to the yin Shang fiefdom, asked him to love the remnants of the Shang Dynasty and use punishment carefully, and if someone committed a minor crime, not a fault, but a repeat offender, he must be killed; If a person commits a grave sin, if it is accidental negligence, he can be exonerated from the capital offense. This reflects Zhou Gong's cautious attitude towards the imposition of punishment. It is recorded in the "Gao Tao Mo" that "An Min Ze Hui, Li Min Huai Zhi", which means that if a virtuous monarch wants to calm the people's hearts, he must give a certain favor to the people, so that the people of Li Min can be full of dependence and admiration for the monarch in their hearts, which is similar to the Xun Zi who has been passed down in later generations, "Water can carry a boat, and it can also overturn a boat", comparing the monarch to a small boat, and the people to water, which has the same similarities. This idea runs through the whole process of China's social development and still has a strong applicable value at present.