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Chapter 331 Song Dynasty: Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism

Ever since Emperor Wu of Han promoted Confucianism as the only doctrine, Confucianism has become the orthodox ideology of rulers of all dynasties.

But this does not mean that the development of Confucianism has always been smooth sailing, it has also encountered low points.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the world experienced a century of chaos.

As a result, Buddhism and Taoism flourished, while Confucianism declined.

Confucianism began to improve only after Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Jian, unified the country.

It was not until the Song Dynasty, with the birth of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, that Confucianism experienced great development.

In the third stage of the development of Confucianism, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, which integrated Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, promoted the prosperity of Confucianism.

Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, as the mainstream ideology in the late ancient Chinese society, emerged as the official school of thought in the Northern Song Dynasty and occupied a dominant position.

The length of its rule and the far-reaching influence it has had far exceed any previous ideology.

Although Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism was once prosperous, it gradually declined due to the distortion of ancient rulers. Therefore, the evaluation of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism has been mixed from ancient times to the present.

There are also continuous controversies related to Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, among which there are two main points of controversy.

The idea of ​​preserving the principles of heaven and eliminating human desires, as well as the spiritual shackles on women in Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.

From the moment it was born, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism was used to maintain the rule of the central government, and thus it gained a unique orthodox status.

The rulers of subsequent dynasties also used Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism as an ideological weapon to save the country from crisis.

"After the separatist regimes of the Tang Dynasty, the peasant wars at the end of the Tang Dynasty, and the division of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Zhao Song regime was established."

"In order to maintain social stability and avoid separatism, measures were taken to strengthen the centralization of feudal autocracy in military, political and financial aspects."

"Based on the development of the national economy at that time, the ruling power of the central court of the Northern Song Dynasty was strengthened."

"The exploitation and oppression of the common people will become more severe, and class contradictions will become increasingly intensified."

"The Northern Song Dynasty court strengthened the centralization of feudal autocracy internally."

"But they adopted a policy of enduring humiliation and making concessions to the outside world, paying large amounts of tribute to the rulers of the Liao Kingdom in the north every year."

"This has also intensified the exploitation of ordinary people, while the annexation of land by big bureaucrats and landlords has become increasingly serious."

"Under such circumstances, the class contradictions between the feudal ruling class and the peasants became increasingly acute and profound."

"In addition to strengthening political rule, the Zhao Song feudal ruling group also focused on strengthening ideological rule."

"Buddhist idealism during the Sui and Tang dynasties was one of the dominant philosophical thoughts."

"The peasant war started by Huang Chao swept away the remaining power of the Tang Dynasty's aristocratic families."

"After the commoner landlords came to power, a bureaucratic landlord class with feudal privileges emerged."

“Although the bureaucrats and landlords were different from the aristocratic families of the past, they actually replaced the aristocratic families in their ruling position.”

"The feudal bureaucrats and literati of the Song Dynasty adjusted the internal relations of the feudal ruling class."

"After a long period of gestation, a new ideological system centered on Confucianism was finally invented, which is Neo-Confucianism."

"Neo-Confucianism emerged in opposition to Buddhism and Taoism. On the one hand, it criticized the nihilism of Buddhism and Taoism, believing that it undermined the feudal ethical order."

"On the other hand, he also absorbed many ideas from Buddhism and Taoism as nourishment to enrich his own philosophical system."

"In a sense, the Neo-Confucianism system of thought is a fusion of Confucianism with Buddhism and Taoism."

"Neo-Confucianism is the period when Confucianism's mainstream status was re-established and carried forward after it experienced the challenges and upheavals of Taoism and Buddhism during the Wei, Jin, Sui and Tang dynasties."

"During the Northern Song Dynasty, schools of thought emerged everywhere, and Neo-Confucianism also flourished during this period."

"The further development of Neo-Confucianism was the formation of an academic school represented by the Five Masters of the Northern Song Dynasty, namely Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Zai, Shao Yong, Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi."

"Zhu Xi is the master of Song Dynasty Neo-Confucianism. His school of thought is called Fujian School, which is later called Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism."

"The creative reconstruction of Confucianism by Song Confucianists was most prominently reflected in the dissolution of the Buddhist Zen theory of mind and nature."

"Putting the effort of being a saint, that is, upholding moral subjectivity, first."

"The reconstruction of Neo-Confucianism is the product of the integration of foreign culture and traditional Chinese culture."

"It not only restored the glory of Confucianism, but also further established the status of Chinese culture as an outstanding representative of Eastern culture."

Wang Anshi: The reason why Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism was able to flourish was due to the specific historical background.

After the Tang and Five Dynasties, the political atmosphere became corrupt and killings occurred from time to time.

Coupled with the separatist rule of the feudal lords in the late Tang Dynasty and the long-term chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, social unrest and division were caused.

The normal social order has been disrupted, leading to the decline of social ethics, moral degradation, and spiritual confusion.

After the unification of the Song Dynasty, in order to stabilize social rule and strengthen central power, the monarch also needed to re-establish a new ideology among the people.

Some scholars and officials looked for a new way out from Confucianism, mixing Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism and focusing on Confucianism, which led to the birth of Neo-Confucianism.

In addition to this historical background, there is also an academic background.

Both the Song Dynasty regime and the northern minority regimes spared no effort to declare themselves as orthodox.

Since Confucianism became the only official doctrine in the Western Han Dynasty, it has established its orthodox status.

According to this political tradition, the legitimate successor to the central government must respect Confucius and Confucianism and use Confucianism as political theory.

In order to maintain their rule and the stability of the dynasty, the monarchs of the Song Dynasty were eager to establish a new ideology.

At that time, Buddhism and Taoism had developed greatly, impacting the status of Confucianism.

In order to ensure that the new doctrine still takes Confucianism as its main ideology, it integrated the classics of the Han and Tang dynasties, and then combined it with Buddhism of the Three Kingdoms, Jin Dynasty, and Southern and Northern Dynasties.

The important issue of restoring the orthodox status of Confucianism should be solved by means of mutual blending, learning from each other's strengths and eliminating the coarse and retaining the fine.

Therefore, under this academic orthodoxy background, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism came into being.

Of course, whether it is historical background or academic background, the most important thing is social background.

The pace of ethnic integration accelerated during the Tang and Five Dynasties.

The status of all ethnic groups, whether minority or majority, is unprecedentedly equal.

Even during the Five Dynasties period, foreign ethnic minorities became emperors.

The rise of ethnic minorities seriously affected the unification of the Central Plains dynasty and ethnic conflicts became acute.

At this time, it was necessary to introduce a doctrine to vilify ethnic minorities and establish a new ideology to guard against these ethnic minorities and further beautify the orthodox status of the Central Plains dynasty.

Therefore, in this social context, the literati were committed to finding a new way out for Confucianism.

The Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, which advocated respecting the king and expelling the barbarians, came into being and was highly praised by the monarchs during the Song Dynasty.

"The basic viewpoints of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism are that reason is the only criterion, and that reason can be understood through the study of things and the pursuit of knowledge, and that the principle of heaven is preserved and human desires are eliminated."

"Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism believes that reason is the ontology of the universe and the essence and root of things."

"They believe that reason is an existence beyond time and space, the source of all things and the fundamental principle of human society."

"The connotation of Li is very broad, including the Way of Heaven, the Way of Man, physics, morality, values ​​and other aspects."

"Reason is the mechanism of existence of all things in the universe, and there is only one reason in the world."

"This principle is simply the truth. Everything has a reason, a principle, and a mechanism."

"This principle exists objectively, whether you believe it or not."

"Reason is manifested in specific requirements, such as the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues and other feudal ethics and morals."

"If you are kind, then it is reasonable. If you are not kind, then it is unreasonable."

"Your righteousness is reason, and your unrighteousness is unreasonable."

“The study of things is a method of exploring the essence of things. It emphasizes the purpose of understanding the truth through observation and exploration of external things.”

“The pursuit of knowledge is the process of acquiring knowledge. It emphasizes the goal of deeply understanding the truth through inner thinking and understanding.”

"Everything will turn to its opposite direction when it reaches its extreme" is an important principle in Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, which means that when things develop to a certain extent, they will inevitably develop in the opposite direction.

“This principle has a wide range of applications, including explanations of social phenomena, human psychology, natural phenomena, etc.”

"Therefore, the Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism's theory of "investigating things and seeking knowledge" is a methodology for exploring the essence of things and acquiring knowledge." "At the same time, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism also emphasizes practice and application, advocating that one can realize one's own life value and social value through methods such as "investigating things and seeking knowledge", "cultivating oneself and managing one's family" and so on."

"Preserve the principles of heaven and eliminate human desires. Once you understand the principles of heaven, you should act in accordance with them."

"Heavenly principles are the guide for people's actions. Everyone should act in accordance with heavenly principles, live in accordance with feudal ethics, and live in accordance with the words and deeds of ancient saints and sages."

"The principles of heaven in Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism are narrow principles of heaven. For example, eating simple meals is the principles of heaven, while eating rich fish and meat is human desire."

"Loyalty to the emperor is the law of nature, otherwise it is treason."

"They want to eliminate human desires, if everyone has no desires, no desires or requests."

"Then society will be well-ordered and the world will be peaceful and stable."

"Another characteristic of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism is that it places special emphasis on integrity, and there is a saying that dying of hunger is a minor matter, but losing one's integrity is a major matter."

“If you want to succeed, you have to follow this path.”

"Know the principles of heaven, and conduct yourself in accordance with them. Do not be greedy for pleasure, do not have any fanciful thoughts, and follow the rules."

Zhu Xi: "Preserve the principles of heaven and eliminate human desires." This was not my original meaning, but it was distorted and used by later emperors.

He proposed the idea of ​​preserving the principles of heaven and eliminating human desires, which was initially directed at emperors and the scholar-official class, not at the poor people.

But somehow, this idea was distorted to such an extent that it became a ruling tool to restrict the people's thoughts.

The reason why he proposed this idea is to solve the current difficulties faced by the country.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, political power changed frequently.

Continuous wars caused the rivers in the Central Plains to fall into disrepair, resulting in floods year after year.

The Song Dynasty monarchs implemented land policies that were unfavorable to farmers, and the amount of land controlled by the court was decreasing.

After Emperor Yingzong, taxable land accounted for only about three-tenths of the country's cultivated land.

Those who evaded taxes were the big landowners, and most of the tax burden fell on the poor people.

In addition, the court bureaucracy was bloated, official salary expenses were huge, and treacherous parties were rampant, causing trouble for the world, which aroused resistance from the people.

In general, during this period, the population grew too fast and land became too concentrated.

The unfair burden of taxes and corvee labor led to polarization between the rich and the poor, social unrest, and constant peasant uprisings.

The severe contradiction between the rich and the poor, the unfair social burden, the fierce land annexation and usury have created a turbulent situation.

This undoubtedly poses a great threat to the country.

Under such circumstances, he began to think about countermeasures and believed that it was necessary to reduce the burden on the people in order to achieve peace in the world.

This requires the monarch to restrain his selfish desires and promote the principles of heaven, thus proposing the idea of ​​preserving the principles of heaven and eliminating human desires.

Although the idea of ​​preserving the laws of nature and eliminating human desires itself has the drawback of suppressing human nature, coupled with the one-sided distortion and utilization of monarchs of successive dynasties, this idea has gradually become a shackle that constrains the thoughts of ordinary people to a certain extent.

But conversely, this idea also played a role in reconciling the contradictions between the ruling class and the lower classes.

It makes the people content with their established positions and limits their desires within a certain range.

This prevents uprisings, usurpation of the throne, and regicide, thus achieving the goal of maintaining the monarch's rule.

In addition, preserving the principles of heaven and eliminating human desires has a certain positive effect on personality cultivation and can promote the shaping of personality.

"Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism lasted for hundreds of years throughout the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and influenced all areas of Chinese society."

“It became the dominant ideology of society during the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties and an important ideological foundation of feudal rule, providing a philosophical basis for feudal autocratic rule.”

"Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism believes that the monarch should govern the country with benevolence and righteousness as the principle, pay attention to respecting the rights of the people, and promote social harmony and stability."

"This thought had a positive impact on the political practice of the Song Dynasty, making it politically stable and gaining recognition and praise from the people."

"It also formed a political philosophy that reason is higher than power and orthodoxy is higher than governance, which provided solid theoretical support for the suppression of military power during the Song and Ming dynasties."

"Among them, the ideas of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, such as the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues, and the concept of preserving the principles of heaven and eliminating human desires, have been deeply rooted in people's hearts and have had a profound impact on social life."

"Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism believes that the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues are the core of feudal ethics and morality and an important cornerstone for maintaining feudal social order."

"This kind of thought has become popular and deeply rooted in people's hearts, and has become an important part of Chinese traditional culture."

"But due to the distortion of the ruling class, this idea gradually declined."

"Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism has an important influence abroad, especially in countries and regions in the East Asian cultural circle."

"Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism began to be introduced into Japan during the Southern Song Dynasty and became an important ideological foundation of Japanese feudal society."

"Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism was widely spread and promoted in Japan. After it was introduced to Japan, it not only influenced the Japanese ideological circles."

"It also laid the social foundation for the Confucianization of Shinto theory that appeared in modern Japan, and became an important part of Japanese Confucianism."

"Because Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism meets the needs of the rulers, it gradually becomes the spiritual pillar of the rulers."

"During the Edo period, it was highly praised and rewarded by Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu and his successors."

"Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism was widely spread in Korea. It was introduced to Korea by Confucian scholars from the Song Dynasty at the end of the Goryeo Dynasty."

"The founders of the Joseon Dynasty vigorously promoted Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism in politics and actively implemented the policy of rejecting Buddhism and advocating Confucianism, establishing it as the governing principle of the Joseon Dynasty."

"It became an important ideological foundation of Joseon feudal society and had a profound impact on Joseon's culture and politics."

"Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism became an important ideological foundation of Vietnamese feudal society and had a profound impact on Vietnamese culture and politics."

"In Southeast Asian countries and regions such as Singapore and Malaysia, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism has also been widely spread and promoted in these countries and regions, becoming an important part of local culture and politics."

“Therefore, it has had a profound impact on local culture and politics, and has become the spiritual civilization of the entire East Asian region.”

Wang Yangming: Although Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism has had an important influence on Chinese history, it also has some negative effects.

In his view, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism has both merits and demerits for the Chinese nation.

The credit goes to Confucian scholars for advocating rationality, which greatly promoted the advancement of Confucian thought.

The problem is that some of the viewpoints advocated are killing people with reason, creating a society without humanity and vitality.

Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism advocates that reason is the highest belief and code of conduct, and emphasizes moral cultivation and social order.

Although it has produced some positive effects, it also has some negative impacts.

First, it stifles individuality. Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism emphasizes the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues.

The ruler is the leader of his subjects, the father is the leader of his sons, the husband is the leader of his wife, and benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness are the five constant virtues.

These concepts restrict people's personalities and constrain their behavior by strict moral norms, which leads to the suppression of personality and lack of creativity.

Second, it emphasized culture over military affairs, which posed a great threat to the Song Dynasty.

Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism believes that civil governance is the foundation of state governance, while military governance is secondary.

This idea led to the gradual decline of the Song Dynasty militarily, to the point that it was unable to effectively resist invasions by foreign races such as the Jin and Yuan dynasties.

The third is to restrict thoughts and suppress the ideas of the people.

Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism emphasizes preserving the principles of heaven and eliminating human desires, and advocates strict control of human desires.

This concept has imprisoned people's thoughts, lacked the motivation for innovation and change, and led to stagnation of social development.

Fourth, the imperial examination system became rigid and deviated from its original intention.

Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism had a profound influence on the imperial examination system, causing the examinations to focus more and more on moral cultivation and literary talent, while neglecting practical application and problem-solving capabilities.

This led to the rigidification of the imperial examination system, causing a large number of scholars to fall into the situation of empty talk and harming the country.

Fifth, it is the oppression of women, which makes them dependent on men.

Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism advocates that women's virtue lies in their lack of talent, and emphasizes that women should stay at home to take care of their husbands and children and abide by the three obediences and four virtues.

This concept has resulted in a low status for women, causing them to suffer severe oppression and discrimination, and has restricted their development.

In general, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism has had an important influence on Chinese history.

But it has also brought about certain negative effects, hindering the development and progress of society to a certain extent.

(End of this chapter)