Since the Western Zhou Dynasty, proponents of atheism have emerged in the history of our country, who believe that wind, rain, and stars are all natural phenomena. In the late Spring and Autumn Period, Xunzi's "Heavenly Dao Theory" was even more concentrated in the strengths of hundreds of schools, which gave China's atheism systematic theoretical support. Then to Wang Chong in the Eastern Han Dynasty, he immersed himself in research on the basis of his predecessors, and finally created a huge work in the history of "atheism" in China, "On Balance". In the feudal period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, putting forward such a bold theory would undoubtedly be suppressed by the imperial power, so why did he insist on completing this work?
Wang Chong's Atheist Work On Balance
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The book "On Balance", created in the Eastern Han Dynasty of China, is written by Wang Chong, a famous supporter of atheism and a staunch materialist thinker. It can be said that in the development of atheistic thought in our country, Wang Chong and his "On Balance" have an irreplaceable role.
Xun Zi was a famous thinker and educator at the end of the Warring States period, and his most widely known is the "Theory of Heavenly Dao", which holds that everything in the world is naturally generated, not created by God, so he rejected the mystical thought since the pre-Qin Dynasty, believing that the natural world is regular, and this law can be studied, but it is limited by the level of science and technology at that time, and it is impossible to draw conclusions. Those who attribute all unexplained natural phenomena to a celestial being are considered irresponsible lazy minds.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Wang Chong admired Xunzi's "Theory of Heavenly Dao", and he absorbed and adopted Xunzi's "Heavenly Dao Nature" and "Heavenly Behavior" ideas. During Wang Chong's Eastern Han Dynasty, "idealism" in Confucianism was dominant, but he dared to pursue the truth and bravely debated with Dong Zhongshu, a staunch supporter of "idealism" and "mysticism" at that time. In the heated debate, Wang Chong used his superb debate technique and solid factual arguments to vigorously criticize the "idealism" and "mysticism" in Confucianism since the pre-Qin dynasty.
Therefore, on the basis of Xunzi's "Heavenly Dao Theory" ideology, combined with the insights gained after the ideological debate with Dong Zhongshu, Wang Chong constantly revised and improved his theoretical knowledge, and finally established his own atheist system. After that, he resisted the suppression of imperial power and created such a protracted masterpiece as "On Balance".
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Wang Chong has liked to read since he was a child, and has a good habit of copying and taking notes when he reads the knowledge points that he thinks are reasonable, and then consolidates his knowledge by looking through the notes after a period of time. Therefore, after becoming an adult, Wang Chong's talent was gradually revealed, and he also made many literati friends in the process of studying in the capital, among which the more famous ones were Ban Gu, Yang Zhong and others.
Wang Chong was talented and learned, but he had never been used by the government, which had a huge relationship with him everywhere to argue with people about the existence of ghosts and gods. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, people's understanding of science was still shallow, and they could not understand many phenomena in nature, so at this time, "ghost theology" was rampant, and all difficult to explain natural phenomena were collected by ghosts and gods. For example, if it is windy, thunder, or rain, there are gods in the sky such as thunder, electric mother, and rain god casting spells.
Wang Chong, who is good at thinking
However, Wang Chong was a person who was familiar with books and had mastered some natural knowledge, so he did not believe in the existence of ghosts and gods, believing that those phenomena were just like the ups and downs of mountains and rivers, the rise and fall of the sea, which were naturally occurring things, and there was nothing special about it.
His remarks spread to the Eastern Han imperial family at that time, and the emperor was very unhappy. Because in feudal society, the emperor's supremacy and supremacy were established through mythical ideas such as "imperial power talent". The emperor called himself "The Son of Heaven" and was the son of God, but if someone like Wang Chong denied even God, then the emperor's supreme imperial power in the indirect sense would be challenged, and how could the imperial family agree.
As a result, Wang Chong was repeatedly suppressed by the imperial family, but fortunately, several Eastern Han emperors at that time were enlightened and did not directly punish him. Although many strategists were sent to debate with Wang Chong, they were finally persuaded by Wang Chong's superb debating talent and solid arguments, and some lobbyists even turned to believe him.
Luoyang, the capital city symbolizing the imperial power of the Eastern Han Dynasty
Therefore, after the publication of "On Balance", almost no dissemination was obtained. First, in the feudal society at that time, most people believed in "theism", and could not understand the "atheism" advocated by Wang Chong, believing that he was a demon and confusing the public, and the knowledge in the books he wrote could only be some side-door and left-end words, which could not be trusted.
In addition, the "atheism" proposed by Wang Chong's book "On Balance" at that time impacted the "imperial power talent" of the Eastern Han imperial family, so it was vigorously suppressed by the government. Although there was no tragic case of book burning, most people did not dare to buy and circulate it, and only some like-minded people communicated in private.
As for the reaction of the people of the world after the publication of Wang Chong's "On Balance", in the words of the "Outline of the General Catalogue of the Four Libraries", it is:
"There are many who attack, and those who are good will never end."
Therefore, when Wang Chong was alive, this divine work of his was not widely circulated, which is also a pity.
Wang Chong's "On Balance"
Until the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the great literary hero Cai Yong (the father of cai Wenji), a talented woman, accidentally saw Wang Chong's "atheistic" masterpiece, and after reading it, he admired Wang Chong. Coupled with the social turmoil at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the majesty of the imperial family was greatly reduced, so he openly and vigorously promoted the book.
Because Cai Yongcai was knowledgeable and an official in the dynasty, with his recommendation, the book "On Balance" was widely circulated. Many intellectuals, after reading the book, changed from initial opposition to half-belief in the "atheistic" ideas in it, and in the end, there were many supporters, and these supporters spread this idea, laying the foundation for the development of "atheism" ideas in future generations.
Therefore, Wang Chong's "On Balance" is a masterpiece of "atheism" that cannot be ignored, and it plays an indispensable and important role in the history of China's opposition to feudal ghosts and gods.
Portrait of Cai Yong
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, when Wang Chong lived, people believed in feudal superstitions and ghost gods, so the sorcerer Alchemist was in charge at that time. In fact, throughout the entire Han Dynasty, it is also like this, and the most direct example of this is the "curse of witchcraft" in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Because of the belief in the existence of ghosts and witches, even the royal family has lost many lives.
The royal family, who is full of poetry and books, is still like this, and the Eastern Han people, whose cultural level is generally not high, are even more convinced of ghosts and gods. At that time, Wang Chong was in his eyes and anxious in his heart, so he went everywhere to preach, so that everyone should not believe in ghosts and gods, and after the death of people's bodies, the soul disappeared, and there were not ghosts and gods.
On this point, he described and explained it as follows in "On Balance - On Death":
"The body is decayed, the spirit is scattered"
In the eyes of the rulers, Wang Chong was a thorn-headed being
At that time, although some people knew that ghosts and gods did not exist, in order to consolidate their class position, they still vigorously promoted ghost gods, the purpose of which was to emphasize that their position was unbreakable and given by the gods, and if they violated themselves, they would go against the will of the gods and would suffer disasters. Therefore, in the official arena, these people vigorously suppressed and excluded Wang Chong, making him always have a bad career.
Once, Wang Chong's county needed a small official to record his merits, and after being recommended by a friend, he finally became a recorder smoothly, which was also considered to have made his own food and clothing.
At that time, there was a continuous drought in their counties and counties, and the people did not have a single harvest of crops, and they relied on the government to provide disaster relief, but it was not a long-term solution. Therefore, Wang Chong went to the farmland to check the situation. When I walked to a farmland, I found that there was a village and a village, led by officials, all performing worship services to the sky. He was very puzzled, and after understanding, he learned that the people thought that the rain here was angry with the rain god, so they wanted to get forgiveness from the rain god by asking for rain.
The local people wanted to pray to the gods and get rain
This incident had a great impact on Wang Chong, who believed that he had an obligation to write a book on "atheism" to tell people that ghosts and gods do not exist, and that these are natural phenomena.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Wang Chong's book "On Balance" was undoubtedly at the forefront of the times. During the feudal dynasty, he advocated "atheism" and could be said to be a brave ideological fighter. His masterpiece "On Balance", the "Heavenly Dao Theory" of the former Xunzi, and the development of "atheism" after the Qi and Han Dynasties, have a positive significance in history that cannot be ignored, especially the opposition to the idea of "divine right of kings", which is even more rare. Even now, it still has high academic value.
Of course, because he was in a feudal dynasty and was educated in feudal thought from an early age, there were inevitably some flaws in his "On Balance". In addition, in his time, he could master less science and technology, and he could not give a reasonable explanation for many natural phenomena in the book. Therefore, the book has a certain sense of historical limitations, but this does not affect it to become a masterpiece that cannot be ignored in the history of the study of "atheism" and "materialism" in China.
summary:
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was rare to be able to grasp and believe in "atheism", and what was even more rare about Wang Chong was that he dared to disregard the suppression of imperial power, bravely shared his "atheism" knowledge, and used his own language to teach people to correctly understand nature by writing such a masterpiece as "On Balance". In order to help the people who were tormented by the thoughts of ghosts and gods in the feudal period, this fighter of ideas, with the pen in his hand, guided people to the correct path of understanding nature. The book "On Balance" is like a bright light in the feudal night when "ghosts and gods say" the way, illuminating people's way ahead to the truth.
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