Duke of Zhou, surnamed Ji (姬), courtesy name Dan, was the founding father of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The merits of Zhou Gong's life are summarized in the "Shang Shu Da Biography" as follows: "One year to save the chaos, two years to overcome Yin, three years to practice the death, four years to build Hou Wei, five years to camp into Zhou, six years to make liturgical music, and seven years to become a king." The remarks are found in the Shang Shu 's "Great Curse", "Kang Zhen", "Duoshi", "Wuyi", and "Li Zheng".
Some historians have studied that the Duke of Zhou was the earliest auxiliary chancellor of the Zhou Dynasty, and some scholars have analyzed that the Duke of Zhou also served as the monarch of the Zhou Dynasty. In any case, there is no doubt that the Duke of Zhou was in the ruling class of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and his outstanding contribution to the early stability of the Zhou Dynasty is also worthy of recognition. To this day, some of Zhou Gong's ideas still influence people's values.
Zhou Gong's idea of "protecting the people" can be called the source of Confucianism. This idea directly enlightened Kong and Meng, and then gave birth to the idea of "people-oriented". In the idea of rule by virtue advocated by Zhou Gong, "protecting the people" is an important part. Therefore, the prerequisite for "protecting the people" is "respect for morality," and the two are interdependent and indispensable in the process of implementing moral government.
"Shang Shu , Song of the Five Sons" is the first work in history to narrate the idea of minben, and the author begins with the historical reflection on the demise of the previous dynasty and expounds the importance of minben:
TaiKang corpse position, yiyu annihilation of Yu De, Li Min XianYi, nai pan wandering, Yu Luo's table, ten years of Rebellion. There are poor Hou Yi Inmin Fu Ren, away from the river, the five brothers of the five people to honor their mothers, yu Luo Zhiwei. The five sons complained and wrote the ring of Dayu to compose a song.
The first is: "The emperor has a discipline, and the people can be close, but they cannot go down." Ben Ku Bang Ben, Ben Gu Bang Ning. To the fools and fools of the world, one can win, one person loses three, the resentment is in the light, and the picture is not seen. To lin zhaomin, if the six horses of the decaying suo are harnessed, and the one who is superior, why not be disrespectful? ”
The second is: "There is a discipline, the inside is a color famine, and the outside is a fowl famine." Sweet wine and voracious sound, Junyu carved wall. There is one here, not yet or not dead. ”
The third is: "But The Tao Tang Dynasty has this side." Now that the Tao has been lost, and its discipline has been disrupted, it is the destruction of The Sword. ”
The fourth is: "Clearly my ancestor, the king of all nations." There are rules and regulations, and there are descendants. Guan Shi and Jun, the palace has. Desolate and desolate, the overthrow of the sect! ”
The fifth of them: "Woo woo Compassion for you. Ten thousand surnames hate to give, to give will be dependent on? Yu Tao is heart-warming, and his face is thick and shy. FuShende, although regret can be pursued? ”
As we all know, Xia died in Jie, the earliest dynasty in history, because of its lack of morality and lost its national unity. The historical lesson that the Xia Dynasty brought to future generations is: "The people can be approached, not down; the people are the state, and the people are the state, and the state is solid." When discussing the reasons for the demise of the Shang Dynasty, The Duke of Zhou first proposed the governing concept of "protecting the people". Zhou Gong believed that if the Zhou Dynasty wanted to continue the Guozuo, it must learn from the lessons of the previous dynasty, and could not repeat the mistakes of the Shang Dynasty in not attaching importance to the people, and strive to "protect the people".
Of course, all this is based on "respect for morality". The Shang Shu Zhou Shu mentions that the reason why Yin Shang went to ruin was because he was disrespectful and incurred heavenly condemnation. The reason why Zhou Neng represented the Shang was also because the previous king (King Wen) had "respected virtue" and "Mingde" in the process of development, so he could establish a dominant position and replace the unscrupulous Shang Dynasty. If you want to continue the dominance of the Zhou Dynasty, you must follow the example of the previous kings and carry out "respect for virtue".
With the development of the times, the governing concept proposed by the Zhou Gong gradually became unappliable to the development trend of the Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, Mencius, on the basis of "protecting the people", highlighted the theories of benevolent government and royal way. The political embodiment of the so-called benevolent government is to rest with the people, "save punishment, and reduce taxes." Like the Duke of Zhou, Mencius also learned from the lessons of the demise of the previous dynasty, proposing that "if the mob is even worse, the country will be killed by his own body."
In addition, Mencius also summarized the reasons why Xia Shang won the world on Wednesday, arguing that Dayu, Chengtang, and King Wen all gained the world because of benevolent government, and Jie Yu all lost the world because of unkindness. In Mencius's exposition, we can see that the concept of "benevolent government" is broader than that of "moral government", but its essence is still "protecting the people".
In "The Widow in the Kingdom" it is clearly mentioned:
"The seventy are clothed and eat flesh, and the people of Li are not hungry or cold, but those who are not kings have not yet."
In Mencius's eyes, those rulers who can take over the world are all benevolent. Different from the moral government of the Zhou Gong, Mencius's benevolent government also carried the idea of the people and the nobles and the light, which is the more distinctive place in Mencius's thought.
Mencius said:
As a monarch, a ruler must attach importance to the people, and land, people and government affairs are the "three treasures" of the monarchy. If the monarch has committed a grave transgression, the courtier may advise, and if the monarch does not listen to the advice, the courtier has the power to force him to change his position. As for the pathless emperor like Jie, everyone in the whole world will be condemned.
At the same time, Mencius also believed that:
The annexation of land by violent means is the next strategy, and it is necessary to implement benevolent government in their own areas of rule, win the people's hearts and minds, and win without a fight. As long as there is enough benevolence and righteousness, it can be "invincible to the benevolent.".
In terms of values, Mencius's ideas are also very unique.
Mencius advocated "sacrificing one's life for righteousness":
"To be born is what I want, and to be righteous is to be what I want." The two cannot be combined, and the one who sacrifices his life for righteousness is also. ”
Mencius argued that:
Etiquette is the fundamental constraint on human behavior, and we must never turn our backs on the basis of human behavior because of superior material conditions. When faced with the choice between life and righteousness, choose the latter. Therefore, "Wan zhong does not discern the righteousness and receives it, and the ten thousand bells are to me!" ”
Why, then, is Mencius's thought not favored by future rulers?
The key lies in the fact that while Mencius advocated the people's foundation, he also advocated that "the people are precious, the society is secondary, and the king is light." Mencius put the interests of the people first and the interests of the country second, and the honor of the Ninth Five-Year Plan was inferior to the two.
In the eyes of modern people, Mencius's proposition is undoubtedly correct, and leaders should take the love of the people as the foundation, which is beyond reproach. But for the feudal rulers, this kind of thinking was undoubtedly suspected of trespassing, and it was quite arrogant.
Feudal rulers often ruled the people under the banner of divine royal power and carried out centralized rule. Since it is centralized, it is natural that the people will not tolerate the power to overthrow the regime.
It is precisely for this reason that the Book of Han placed Mencius in the Zhuzi Strategy, treating it as a sub-book, and did not raise Mencius to a level sufficient to be equal to the Analects and other famous works.
It is said that during the ming dynasty of Zhu Yuanzhang, Mencius was also heavily deleted by Zhu Yuanzhang, thinking that most of them were caused by the mold of the "people-oriented thought" touching the despots.
Resources:
[Shang Shu, Song of the Five Sons, Mencius]