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Confucianism in Heaven and Man: The main theme of Xia Feng’s Northern School
Author: Liang Shihe (Hebei Academy of Social Sciences Northern School Research Institute)
Source: “History of Chinese Philosophy” 2022 Issue 2
Abstract: In recent years, with the revival of traditional civilization, Confucianism has gradually become a manifestation. What is the problem of Confucianism? It has been mentioned again. Based on the reflection on the chaos of Confucianism in the late Ming Dynasty, Sun Qifeng summarized the history of Confucianism from the beginning of Han to the end of Ming Dynasty, and established the Xia Feng Northern School based on “Study from Heaven”. Xia Feng’s Northern School is not a partial study. It reminds us of the most basic Confucianism of Confucianism, which is based on Confucianism. It emphasizes that the sky is the source of Confucianism and uses “original heaven” as the most basic question for judging Confucianism. Under this condition, Sun Qifengli Diagram emphasized and integrated the Confucian Taoism, and developed the principles and methods of knowing the destiny of heaven, obeying the way of heaven, and communicating with heaven. Its development, physical recognition and practice of Confucianism in heaven and man has the main meaning of the creative transformation and innovative development of Confucianism in the present.
Keywords: Confucianism in heaven and man; heaven; heaven; nature; strange encounter; northern learning
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Confucius was the founder of Confucianism, and his thinking had a close inheritance with the civilizations of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. From the witch civilization, memorial civilization to the tribute civilization, from primitive religion, natural religion to ethical religion, it has become the deep foundation of Confucius and late Confucianism. [1] The “Gods are unmistakable”, “Gods are unmistakable”, and “End of Earth and Heaven” events in the ancient mythology world actually reflect the process of the separation of heaven and man, to the union of heaven and man, and then to the separation of heaven and man, and establish the ideological structure of the two extreme relationships between heaven and man. After the “End of Earth and Heaven”, the human mind began to seek the unity of man and nature. During the evolution of civilizations in the three dynasties of Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, heaven (including the same concepts as emperor, god, and Haotian) was always the most focused concept. Confucianism inherited the worship of heaven and regarded it as the source of all value.
As the supreme god, heaven worships almost everywhere in the living world. The sky is high, far, infinite, and unlimited, and it symbolizes transcendence, sacredness, creativity and eternity. Confucius and all the schools of thought were invincible and observant of the sky. Confucius emphasized that “only heaven is the great thing” (“Speech·Jiu Yue”), “If you blame heaven, there is nothing to be seen” (“Speech·Baoyi”), and you must “fear the destiny of heaven” (“Speech·Ji”). In Confucius’ view, heaven is the supreme ruler of nature and man, and is the object of human prayer and awe. At the same time, Confucius also believed that heaven was the source of human virtue, saying: “Generate virtue is to me.” (“Shuer”) “The Doctrine of the Mean” inherits Confucius’ philosophy and wisely calls it “the nature of destiny of heaven”, meaning that God has given human virtue and nature. Dong Zhongshu highly valued the meaning of heaven, and proposed that “the great origin of Tao comes from heaven” (“Han Shu·Dong Zhongshu”), “Those who are in harmony with heaven are in harmony, and those who are in harmony with heaven are in harmony” (“Year of the Breeding Dew·Yellow”Yi No. 40th happiness came too suddenly. 9) “Those who are for man are heaven. People are based on heaven” (“The age of man is for man, and the 41st of heaven”). Dong Zhongshu went forward to strengthen the abstraction of the master of heaven, and emphasized that the sky is the basis of the origin and behavioral norms of man. Those who are smooth will prosper, and those who go against heaven will perish.
The confirmation of the position of heaven makes the problem of relationship between heaven and man the main object of Confucianism. The Doctrine of the Mean says: “The truth is the way of heaven. The truth is the way of man.” Integrity is the way of heaven’s movement; learning to be honest is the way of man. Heaven is the master of human society and the legislator of human ethics. Therefore, human nature must ultimately conform to the way of heaven, which is the ultimate basis of human nature. Dong Zhongshu said: “It is very scary to see the things that have been done in the past life to observe the relationship between heaven and man.” (“Han Shu·Dong Zhongshu”) It emphasizes that one should have a sense of awe of the world of heaven and man. Sima proposed “exploring the relationship between heaven and man, and understanding the changes of ancient and modern times”, which became a historical task that scholars have been pursuing in history. Shao Yong, a great scholar in the Song Dynasty, said: “If you can’t learn from heaven and man, you lack the learning of sarcasm.” [2] The last manuscript of the ancients, “The Profits of Chinese Civilization for the Future of Humanity” said that “the most great contribution of Chinese civilization in the past lies in the study of the relationship between heaven and man”, and said that he realized that “the unity of man and man” is the destination of China’s traditional civilization thinking. Yu Ying’s twilight years old read the mountain-collection work “On the Interaction between Heaven and Man”, which lasted for twelve or three years, explores the origin of modern Chinese thinking from the relationship between heaven and man. The problems of the relationship between heaven and man have always been wandering in the hearts of Chinese people from ancient times to the present, and have become the ultimate question. Confucianism takes the study of heaven and man as the focus of Confucianism and thinks, and “Heaven” is its highest respect.
“Benevolence” and “gratitude” are the two focus values of Confucianism, and are often regarded as the basis or most basic foundation of Confucianism. [3] But it is not difficult to ignore the deeper and true foundation behind “benevolence” and “gift”. Dong Zhongshu said, “benevolence is the heart of heaven” (“Year and Fanlu·Yu Xu No. 17”), and he saw that benevolence is the nature of heaven, that is, benevolence is born from heaven. “Tender Notes: Gift” says: “Tender, the ancient kings inherit the way of heaven and govern the feelings of man. … Therefore, gifts must be based on heaven.” “Shi Wenjiezi” explains the original meaning of “Tender” as “serving God and bringing blessings”, that is, by commemorating God to receive blessings, we can further explain that “Tender” is based on heaven. “Benevolence” and “Greeting” are based on “Heaven”, which shows that “Heaven” is the ultimate essence of Confucianism and the source of Confucian value.
After the three dynasties of Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, mature human civilization was established, but in the age period, the marquis and the social order gradually became worse, and Confucius’s blessings collapsed. Xunzi regarded “Heaven” as a natural and material world, “It is said that heaven is not the master of man… People do not obey the heaven, and ‘Heaven’ is not the origin of value.”【4】. This Confucianism’s foundation was lost until Dong Zhongshu’s learning of heaven and man was established, and Confucianism’s worship of heaven was established from the beginning, and a new era of Confucianism was opened. After the Tang Dynasty, Confucianism was inspired by teaching thinking and focused on the construction of the inner mind and nature, making “reason” instead of “heaven” the focus concept of Confucianism, and constructed a new Confucianism-Song and Ming dynasties. Confucianism is hereBaoqing Webmaster During the transformation process, the two Chengs were the most influenced. Dong Zhongshu said, “Heaven is the ancestor of all things, and all things will not be born without heaven” (“Year and Breeding Dew·Fengfa”), Cheng Xi also said that “Heaven is the ancestor of all things” (“Ercheng Collection”, China Book Bureau, 1981, page 698 ) seems to have completely inherited Dong Zhongshu’s thoughts, taking heaven as the dominance and ultimate origin of all things. But the “Heaven” of the two Chengs is just a transition, and “reason” and “heaven” are the key points. Therefore, it also proposed that “heaven is the truth” (“Ercheng Collection”, page 132), and truth is heaven. This immediately eliminates the divine meaning of heaven’s personality. Er Cheng often combined heaven with reason, saying: “Everything is only The amount of money to keep in mind is a law of nature” (“Er