Family background and life
Confucius was a native of Shandong, and his ancestors were aristocrats of the Song Dynasty, and he was a descendant of businessmen. If we combine the legend with the history of belief, the son of Kong's surname has a prominent pedigree. In the legendary era of the Five Emperors, there was a Jewish birth contract of the Wa family. Tang, a descendant of Qi, founded Shang Dynasty. After the Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Shang Dynasty, Wei Zi, the ordinary brother of Feng Zhou, started in the Song Dynasty. Wei Chuan is located in his brother Wei Zhong. After Zhong Wei, the father of the fourth generation handed over the country to his younger brother Song Qing. The father of Fuxi, He Hou, and the father of the fourth Confucius, Jia, "The fifth family, don't be public", so it is Confucius. Confucius' father, Jia III, stopped his uncle from running to Lu. Stop my uncle from giving birth, and give birth to Ge (named).
Shu Lianggan lived in Qiaoyi, Changping Township (now southeast of Qufu County, Shandong Province). At the age of 72, he married Yan Zhizai of 18 and gave birth to Confucius and Zhong Ni. Legend has it that Yan Zhizhai had seen Kirin before Confucius was born. When Confucius was 3 years old, Shu died and was buried in Fangshan. Yan moved to Qufu Queli to raise Confucius, and died in 17. Confucius found the place where his father was buried and buried his parents together.
/kloc-at the age of 0/9, Kong Qiu married an official of the Song Dynasty. The following year, Guan's son was born, and Duke Zhao of Lu sent someone to congratulate him and named his son. Before Kong Li died of Confucius, there was a posthumous son Kong Ji.
Confucius was born with his head on the Ding Wei [2], and when he grew up, he was nine feet six inches long (the circumference was about 1.76 meters, or 1.83 meters), so he was called a "long man". Confucius' early life was extremely difficult. He said, "I can't be meaner, so I can be contemptuous." When I was young, I was bullied by yang hu, a servant of Ji family, but I also worked as a commissioner and farmer of Ji family, managing storage and animal husbandry.
In hardships, Confucius became studious. He visited famous teachers all over the world and humbly asked for advice. He has studied Laozi, Xunzi, Changhong, Shi Xiang and others. Around the age of thirty, some of the first disciples came to Confucius. Since then, Confucius has been engaged in education and recruited disciples. According to legend, there are three thousand disciples and seventy-two sages. He advocated teaching students in accordance with their aptitude and became the pioneer and representative of academic downward movement and private lectures at that time, so later generations respectfully called him "a model for all generations" and "a most holy teacher"
Three thousand disciples and seventy-two sages
According to historical records, Confucius had 3,000 disciples, of whom 72 were proficient in six arts, called "seventy-two sages".
Outstanding virtues are: Yan Hui, Min Loss, Ran Geng and ran yong.
Prominent in politics are: Ran Qiu and Zhong You.
Highlights of the speech are: kill me, stop talking.
Outstanding writers in literature are: Shang Bo, Shi Chuansun, Zeng Shen, Tan Taiming, Yuan Xian, Zhang Gongye, You Ruo and Gong Xichi.
After the death of Confucius, "seventy disciples wandered around the princes, the eldest son was Qing Xiang, the master, and the second son was a friend of the literati." In this way, it broke the aristocratic monopoly of Shi Qingshilu system politically, and created conditions for the autocratic monarch to freely appoint and dismiss the bureaucratic system of Buyi Qing Xiang.
Collation and revision of ancient books
According to legend, The Spring and Autumn Annals was written by Confucius (Mencius Teng Wengong: "Confucius wrote The Spring and Autumn Annals, and traitors are afraid"). It uses the brushwork of Spring and Autumn Annals to express meaning and entrust Confucius' political ideal. (Now it is generally believed that the Spring and Autumn Annals is a new work that Confucius entrusted with his political ideals after editing Lu's original national historical materials, and a few scholars think that the Spring and Autumn Annals was not compiled by Confucius. The time recorded in the book Spring and Autumn Annals (722 BC to 48 BC1year) is called the Spring and Autumn Period. Confucius' disciples and their disciples compiled their theories into a book in order to study the Analects, the most important document in Confucius' thought. The Book of Rites, which was finalized in the Han Dynasty, also recorded Confucius' thoughts (such as Great Learning and The Doctrine of the Mean). ), and the book Confucius' Family Tales, which records Confucius' thoughts, is traditionally considered to be false, and has gradually gained academic attention in recent years. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu combined The Analects of Confucius with The Book of Rites, Daxue and The Doctrine of the Mean to write Mencius, which reflected the thought of Yasheng, the greatest representative of Confucianism after that. Four Books, together with The Book of Songs, Shangshu, Book of Rites, Yijing and Chunqiu, are the core classics of Confucianism.
Confucius and China Culture
The Qin Dynasty ruled the country by legalists, while the Western Han Dynasty promoted Taoism before Emperor Wu, and ruled the country by doing nothing. After Dong Zhongshu put forward the idea of "abandoning a hundred schools and respecting Confucianism alone" by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, China culture was closely linked with Confucius, and Confucius became the representative of China culture. Liu Yizhi, a master of Chinese studies, regards Confucius as "the center of China culture". "His culture thousands of years ago was handed down by Confucius; Thousands of years of culture, thanks to Confucius; Without Confucius, there would be no China culture ".
At the age of 35, Lu was driven away by his great-granduncle, grandson and doctor Sanhuan, and Confucius left Lu for Qi. Due to the opposition of Yan Ying, the prime minister of Qi, Confucius was not reused for several years, and returned to Lu to call his disciples to give lectures.
From the ninth year of Lu to the fourteenth year of Lu, Confucius was an official in Lu, first serving as the governor of Zhongdu (Zhongdu is now Wenshang County, Shandong Province), then as an agent, and then as a great secretariat, which was the peak of his political career. In the tenth year of Lu, Lu joined forces in Jiagu, and Confucius won diplomatic victory, which enabled Qi to return Wenyang and other places that occupied Lu. In the thirteenth year of Lu, in order to re-establish his authority, Confucius planned and implemented the political and military action of "capturing the three capitals", hoping to weaken the strength of Dr. Sanhuan, so he first fell into the trap of his uncle, and then fell into the situation of family destruction. However, the siege attack finally failed.
Under the rule of Confucius, the state of Lu has been greatly improved, which makes the people of Qi very afraid. The doctor designed it and put forward a female music Marvin Lu, which led Lu not to ask about state affairs. This made it difficult for Confucius to bridge the moral and political differences with Duke Lu and Ji Zi, and Confucius finally went to Lu Shiwei. Later, Confucius led his disciples all over the world, wandering in Wei, Cao, Song, Zheng, Chen, Cai, Ye, Chu and other places, but they were not reused. In the meantime, in Kuang, Song, Pu and other places, Confucius and his party were trapped in distress many times; The most serious time is that there is no food between Chen Cai and Confucius, but Confucius is still reciting string songs.
In 484, Confucius, who was nearly seventy years old, was sent back to Shandong by Ji Kangzi, but he was not appointed. During this period, Confucius paid attention to education and collation of ancient books. Kong Li, Yan Hui and Luz all left before him. Five years later, Confucius left this world and his disciples and was buried on the bank of Surabaya in the north of Qufu. Disciples mourned for him for 3 years, and Zi Gong kept the tomb for Confucius for 6 years.
Confucius said: "I am determined to learn five out of ten, stand at thirty, be puzzled at forty, know my destiny at fifty, be obedient at sixty, be obedient at seventy, and not overstep the rules."
Mencius (about 385 BC-about 304 BC), surnamed Ke, is unknown and unreliable. China was a famous thinker in ancient times. The representative figure of Confucianism in the Warring States period. People from Zoucheng, Shandong. He is the author of Mencius. Mencius inherited and carried forward Confucius' thoughts and became a generation of Confucian masters second only to Confucius. He was known as a "saint" and was also called "Confucius and Mencius" with Confucius.
Mencius once imitated Confucius and led his disciples to lobby countries. However, it was not accepted by all countries at that time, and he retired to write with his disciples. There are seven pieces of Mencius handed down from ancient times, the titles of which are: Liang Shang Xia; "Gongsun Ugly" up and down; "Teng Wengong" up and down; Li Lou; "Zhang Wan" up and down; ) "Gao Zi" up and down; Up and down "dedication". His theoretical starting point is the theory of good nature, which puts forward "benevolent governance" and "kingly governance" and advocates rule by virtue. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu regarded Mencius, The Analects of Confucius, Daxue and The Doctrine of the Mean as four books. From then until the end of Qing Dynasty, "Four Books" had been a compulsory part of the imperial examination.
Mencius' distant ancestor was Shi, an aristocrat of Lu, who moved from Lu to Zou. It is said that Mencius lost his father at the age of three, and Meng Mu worked hard to raise him. Meng Mu is very strict, and his stories of "moving the land to teach children" and "breaking the loom" have become eternal stories, which are models of maternal education in later generations.
The honor and disgrace behind it
Mencius is one of the most important representatives of Confucianism, but his position before the Song Dynasty was not very high. Since Han Yu wrote The Original Road in the mid-Tang Dynasty and listed Mencius as the only figure in pre-Qin Confucianism who inherited Confucian orthodoxy, there has been an "upgrading movement" of Mencius, and the status of Mencius and his works has gradually risen. Song Shenzong Xining four years (107 1), Mencius was included in the imperial examination for the first time. In the sixth year of Yuanfeng (1083), Mencius was officially named "Zou Guogong" for the first time, and he was allowed to enjoy the Confucius Temple the following year. Later, Mencius was promoted to a Confucian classic. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu combined Mencius with The Analects of Confucius, Daxue and The Doctrine of the Mean into four books, and their actual status was even higher than that of the Five Classics. From the Yuan Dynasty to the first year of Shun Dynasty (1330), Mencius was named "Asian Saint" and later called "Asian Saint", ranking second only to Confucius. Taoism is a religion that values people and pursues the realization of life's own value. Its ultimate ideal is to expand people's true nature and become immortal. Taoism adheres to the profound wisdom of Taoism's natural inaction and not expelling foreign things, and emphasizes the natural characteristics of human beings. Taoism believes that people in reality have gone astray in the blind pursuit of material enjoyment, forgotten their true value and stopped seeking the true purpose and meaning of life. Therefore, they persuade people to return to simplicity, live a natural, simple, true and indifferent life and become "real people" in the true sense. The so-called "real person" is a fairy who constantly cultivates self-cultivation to realize Tao. They "don't hurt the Tao with their hearts, but help the sky with people" 1. Therefore, Taoism attaches great importance to the exploration of human life, and life and death are their primary concerns.
Taoism takes "valuing human beings and valuing life" as its practical concept and "integrating life and Taoism" as its ideal realm, and dares to face up to the dilemma of human life and death and solve the hidden pain that has long plagued human psychology and physiology with a positive and detached attitude. The main manifestations are: the attitude towards students is serious, because Taoism values people and life; Treat death with a safe attitude, because although people have life and death, Tao has no life and death. If people know and act, they will transcend the realm of life and death and gain eternal life. Taoism is unique in human culture because of its unique wisdom and charm for life and death.
First, students originate from Tao.
Taoism's view of life originated from Taoism's profound revelation of the formation of the universe, longevity and the way of life and death, and was later praised and expounded by ancestors of all ages, forming a unique theoretical system of life science. The life of the most precious person in all things, from birth, growth, cultivation to the end, must follow the running law of the avenue. The Taoist view of life and death is based on the cosmology of "Tao gives birth to everything", which requires people to examine human life and death from the height of "Tao", not limited to personal perspective. Taoism believes that understanding a person's death is actually affirmed by understanding how a person was born. We should be good at dealing with our own death and grasp our own life. Because people are born in the chaotic Yin and Yang Qi, qi produces essence, essence produces spirit, and spirit produces light. Exhaled breath is like water, a dead fish dies, and it cannot be regenerated. In the most prosperous period, Taoism enthusiastically praised and cared for individual life, and regarded life as the greatest virtue of heaven and earth and the greatest happiness of life. I hope everyone can follow this road to achieve a long and healthy life. "Taiping Jing" says: "Every death in the world is not a trivial matter. When a person dies, he will never see the sun, the moon or the earth again, and his blood and bones will turn into dirt. Death is extremely important, because people only live once between heaven and earth and cannot be resurrected. " Everyone has only one life. In order to enjoy family happiness and prolong life, Taoism requires people to cherish life. Because "when people die, they will disappear completely, become dust together and never appear again." Nowadays, people live between heaven and earth. Since the creation of heaven and earth, everyone has only one life and cannot be reborn. Man's real name is' man', and' man' is the most advanced of all things in which the sun is combined with yin and yang, and its respect and preciousness are with heaven and earth. Now that people are dead, they will disappear from the world forever, and there will be no daily life. We want to express our condolences and deep sympathy. "3 Taoism, starting from a happy life, believes that death is an absolute denial of life, and life and death are different ways. The Tao Te Ching places great emphasis on cherishing one's body and one's life: "I am very worried because I have a body and I have no body. What am I worried about?"! "So you are the world, if you can support the world; Love is the world, if it can be sent to the world. " This idea of attaching importance to life provides a solid theoretical basis for Taoist health-keeping activities.
Taoism is very concerned about the life between heaven and earth. The Three-Day Reading of the Classics says: "The true Tao is good at producing evil and killing. Immortals, Tao also. It's not Tao that dies badly. A dead king is better than a born mouse. Therefore, the teaching of saints makes the people's compassion for all beings commendable. " "Old Xiangzi Jules" said: "If you want to aspire to the Tao, you just want to live forever" and thought: "The living, the Tao is different." Therefore, Taoism especially emphasizes the ways of "supporting life", "valuing life", "self-love", "long life and long knowledge". People should cherish and cultivate the precious life endowed by nature, just like defending morality. Tao Te Ching holds that danger lurks everywhere in the world, and life is threatened and hurt by various external and internal factors at any time and place. Life and death are important, we should not take it lightly, we should nip in the bud. "Spell a life. Three out of ten people are born, three out of ten people are dead, and three out of ten people are born and dead. " Only when people are good at "taking pictures" can they "walk on land without encountering tigers and join the army without armour." There is nothing to throw at its horns, the tiger is at a loss, and the soldiers have no place to put its blade. Honey, why? No death. "The so-called' aftercare life', that is, health preservation, not only makes good use of the avenue to aftercare life. As far as it is concerned, quietness is not hurt by lust, which is called "internal solution." Introspection, words into the dust, not hurt by color and so on "8. To the outside world, be kind to everything and feel no harm. That is: "take emptiness as the inside, weakness as the table, and blocks as wood and stone ignorance." If the baby has no desire, it can't be harmful even if it meets wild animals and wicked people. "Nine.
Therefore, Taoism painstakingly explores the method of life and death. Under the dual mentality of "Taoism is natural" and "my life is in heaven", through the basic ways of "taking morality as the foundation" and "double cultivation of life", the realm of "deep roots, solidity, long life and distance" pursued by him has been realized, that is, "abandoning the world to avoid fatigue, staying in business without losing heart", and finally he has entered a perfect and refined, feathered into immortality and merged into life. As an important program of Taoist health care concept, it is like a driving force to promote Taoism to explore the mystery of human life constantly, thus developing various health care methods such as "inner elixir" and "outer elixir" and making indelible contributions to the sacred cause of human health and longevity.
Second, the return of death to Tao
Taoism eulogizes "life" while facing the inevitable "death", instead of taking a passive evasive attitude, it actively puts forward the open-minded views of "peaceful coexistence", "harmonious coexistence" and "unity of life and death". Taoism's natural and unrestrained understanding of death is vividly expressed in the book Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi always pursues the promotion and transcendence of life realm, and thinks that life and death are natural movements and should be treated equally. He said: "Life and death, life is also, it has a constant night, and the sky is also. What people don't agree with is also the love of things. " 1 1 Therefore, in the face of life and death, people should adopt an open-minded attitude, just like "fish forget rivers and lakes, people forget Taoism" 12. He once used "real people" to express his understanding of life and death: "The real people in ancient times did not know life and death; Can't get out, can't get in; When you go, you just come, never forget what you started and never seek the end; If you forget it with joy, it means that you don't hurt the Tao with your heart, and you don't help the sky with people. " 13 He also vividly described this peaceful mentality through Zi Lai's story: When Zi Lai was dying, his wife cried and Gigi Lai went to see him. He told Gigi Lai that nature gave me shape, taught me to work hard with "life", gave me comfort with "old age" and gave me rest with "death". If "life" is regarded as a kind of "life", if people born on earth can face life happily, peacefully and steadily, work hard, expect nothing, and be good at keeping in good health, then they will have no regrets when they are old and weak, and they will calmly face death with a leisurely and peaceful attitude and regard death as a natural return attitude towards life. In a word, Zhuang Zizhi aims to bridge the gap between life and death, erase the boundary between life and death in people's hearts, and help people understand the essence of death thoroughly through the way of life and death, so that people can face death with a calm, calm and even pleasant attitude and move towards death.
Third, life and death are in the Tao.
The reason why Taoists are so open-minded is that they view life and death from the height of "Tao". "Zhuangzi" said: "The husband takes my form, which makes me alive, makes me old and makes me die. Therefore, those who are good at me live and those who are good at me die. " 14 He believes that human life comes from vitality and returns to vitality after death. Life and death is just a natural change, just like the changes of four seasons. We won't cry for the change of seasons, so why cry for "death"? "The Joy of Zhuangzi" contains: "When Zhuangzi's wife dies, Keiko hangs it, and Zhuangzi sings with a drum basin. Keiko said,' Get along well with others. When the eldest son is old, it is enough not to cry when he dies, but also to sing with a drum!' Zhuangzi said,' Otherwise. Finish what you started, I can't be alone! There is no life in the beginning, no life in the disciples, no life in the disciples and no life in the disciples. Miscellaneous between awn and fluorene, it turns into gas, gasifies into shape, it turns into life, and now it turns into death, just like spring, summer, autumn and winter. There were people lying in the huge room, but I cried with them, thinking that I couldn't live any longer, so I stopped. 15 Zhuangzi even eliminated the reasons and psychology of people's fear of death through the fable that "death is Wang Le in the south" and came to the conclusion that "death is worse than life". "Zhuangzi's Chu, see empty skull, skull (but tangible, with a horse to fight it, so ask it, saying:' Master is greedy for life and unreasonable, and why? The son must have the matter of national subjugation, and the axe must punish it, and for this reason? Will the son have a hard time and be ashamed of the ugliness of his parents and wife? Why? The child will be hungry and cold, so what should I do? Is the spring and autumn of Gyangze that far away? So he said goodbye, held the skull and lay on his pillow. In the middle of the night, Lou had a dream and said,' My son talks like a debater. According to my son, all strangers are tired, but death is nothing. "What if my son is eager to smell death?" Zhuangzi said,' Nature. Rudder:' If you die, there will be no monarch on the top and no minister on the bottom; There are no so-called four seasons, and heaven and earth are naturally the spring and autumn. Although Wang Le is in the south, we can't cross it. "Zhuangzi not letter, said,' I brought Siming back to life in the form of a child, is the skin of his son's flesh and blood, his parents and wife don't know. "What is his wish?" Deep? He said,' I can abandon Wang Le in the south and return to human labor!' " 16
In short, Taoism believes that only by jumping out of the limitations of personal life and death and looking back at the problem of human life and death from the height of the creator's Tao with the mind of the universe can we transcend life and death. Otherwise, you will be exhausted when you are born and frightened when you die. Because, clinging to the acquisition, enjoyment and happiness of the little "me" life will inevitably fall into the pain of the little "me" loss, disaster and so on, and then regard "death" as a purely self-matter, resulting in anxiety, crying and fear. Taoism believes that everyone should follow the arrangement of nature. "Death" is like a deep sleep, and "life" is like waking up. Don't be happy for life, don't be sad for death, let life and death be unified in essence. That is to say, they want people to get rid of determining individual life and death from the personal point of view, but to look at the continuity and circulation of life and death from the standpoint of "Tao", so as to realize the transcendental realm of no life and no death and the unity of life and death.
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note:
1 master Zhuangzi. 2 Zhi Luo, editor-in-chief of Annotation and Translation of Taiping Jing (I), Southwest Normal University Press, 1996, p. 60.
3 Zhi Luo's Annotation and Translation of Taiping Jing (middle), Southwest Normal University Press, 1996, p. 525.
4 ibid., p 603.
Chapter 13 of Tao Te Ching.
⑥ Collected Taoist Scriptures, Volume 28, Page 4 16.
7 cases of Yi Rao's The Old Xiangzi Jules Teaching Plan, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 199 1 Edition, p. 33.
8 "Fifty Chapters of Tao Te Ching".
9 No.1 scholar plays chess, edited by Xuande, Volume XIV of Moral Truth, and Collection of Taoist Scriptures 13, p. 473.
10 is very dangerous: collected Taoist scriptures, volume 7, collected Taoist scriptures, volume 13, page 597.
1 1 Tao Te Ching Chapter 59.
12, 13, 14, 15 great master Zhuangzi.
16 The Joy of Zhuangzi.