[Exclusive] Interview with Jiang Qing: There is no Jamaica Sugar Arrangement philosophy in China, Confucianism is a religion – starting from Tian and Yuan
[Confucian.com Exclusive Interview No. 14]
-sugar.com/”>Jamaicans Sugardaddy——Starting from Heaven and Yuan
Introduction to the interviewee:Jiang Qing, a representative figure of contemporary “Mainland New Confucianism” and the director of Yangming Jingshe, a folk academy. He is the author of “Introduction to Gongyang Studies”, “Political Confucianism”, “The Value of Confucianism for the Times”, “Revisiting Political Confucianism”, “Long Theory of Political Confucianism”, “Meditations on Political Confucianism”, etc. “Huh?” Caixiu was stunned for a moment. Shi Shi couldn’t believe what he heard. . The editor-in-chief is “Chinese Civilization Classic Basic Teaching Recitation”.
Interviewer: Liu Huaigang
Interview time: February 3, 2018
[Xinlan’s Note: Mr. Panshan’s “Illustration of Overlord” takes “Heaven” as the highest source, and its inferior differences are divided into heaven, earth, People have “three talents”. Qi Yihujun believes that the highest “Heaven” may be easily changed to “Yuan” to distinguish it from the “Three Talents Heaven”. When I was living in Shenzhen, Qi Jun asked me to ask Mr. Yi. At the end of the year of Dingyou, I and Jiang Liusheng paid a visit to the teacher on the bank of Lianhua Mountain. They asked questions, and the teacher did not hesitate to answer. It was on the 18th day of the twelfth lunar month in the lunar calendar. Liu Huaigang of Changzhi compiled the recording as follows. Confucianism.com is now authorized to publish it for the benefit of readers. 】
Liu HuaiJamaica Sugar DaddyPosition: Teacher In “Ba Dao Tu Shuo”, can “Yuan” be used to replace the highest “Tian”? Many people now believe that: “Heaven” is religious, “YuanJamaica Sugar” is philosophical, and philosophical and religious In comparison, it seems to be more in line with the nature of Confucianism.
Jiang Qing: Jamaica SugarThis opinion touches on two issues. First, is the highest ontology of Confucianism “Heaven” or “Yuan”? Second, is Confucianism religious or philosophical in nature? Let’s answer the previous question first.
According to the nature of Confucianism, “Yuan” cannot replace “Tian” in the highest ontology of Confucianism, “Tian” is the highest of “Yuan” According to this, “Yuan” is the perceptual expression of the meaning of “Heaven”.
In the Confucian tradition, “Heaven” and “Yuan” always refer to the highest entity, so the Gongyang family often uses the two together, so there is ” Tianyuan” is a word. However, “Tian” is the highest existence of personality, while “Yuan” does not have the characteristics of personality. Strictly speaking, “Yuan” is just a rationalized expression of the highest ontology of “Tian”, and “Yuan” is derived from “Yuan”. What is derived from “Tian” is not primary, but “Tian” is primary and the first thing to come out.
Precisely because “Heaven” is the first personal “Heaven”, there can be a moral relationship between “Heaven” and “Human” and emotional mutual induction, that is, “Heaven” can respond to the good or evil of human behavior or bring good luck or bring disaster, while “Yuan” does not have the effect of this kind of induction, but only serves as the world and history. a href=”https://jamaica-sugar.com/”>Jamaicans EscortThe metaphysical basis of the meaning of history. Therefore, “Tian” and “Yuan” must be distinguished, and “Yuan” cannot be used to replace “Tian”.
Since “Yuan” is a perceptual metaphysical expression of “Heaven”, Confucian scholars after the Han Dynasty generally combined “Yuan” and “Qi” Together they explain how “Heaven” transforms into all things and how it rests. But this is the way of thinking of Confucian scholars, and ordinary Chinese people do not understand “Heaven” in this way, that is, they do not understand “Heaven” as “Yuan”, nor do they understand “Heaven” to transform all things into “Yuan Qi” to give rise to all things. .
In the eyes of ordinary Chinese people, “Heaven” is the personal “Heaven”, that is, “Heaven” is the “Emperor God” as the personal God. “Rely on your own will and hobbies to transform all things and dominate all things, instead of relying on “Yuan” and “Qi” to arise and dominate all things. Therefore, ordinary Chinese people will not inquire about the meaning and metaphysics of “Heaven”, nor explore how “Heaven” transforms all things into being in terms of meaning. Instead, they will only regard “Heaven” as the highest level in terms of belief. The personal god controls the world’s natural destiny and the misfortunes and blessings of the world.
However, Confucian scholars, that is, the Confucian scholar-official elites, are not satisfied with only regarding “Heaven” as the highest personal god in belief. , and we need to take a further step to inquire about the meaning, perceptual, and metaphysical ontology of “Heaven” from a moral perspective (intellectually), and then explore the meaning of “Heaven”.In terms of meaning, “Tian” specifically transforms all things into being, so the concepts of “Yuan” and “Yuan Qi” came into being.
Since the transformation of “Heaven” into all things is invisible, it can only be thought about and reasoned through wisdom and reason. Therefore, when He Xiu explained “Yuan”, he used “Yuan” To explain it together with “Qi”, that is, to use “Yuan Qi” to explain how “Heaven” specifically transforms all things (“Qi” here is of course not understood by current materialist philosophy. The “material existence” understood by Confucianism is the “spiritual existence” understood by Confucianism. From the perspective of Confucianism, “qi” is a kind of spiritual “qi”, which is generated by “heaven” and can Self-sufficient and dynamic transformation of all things, so this “Qi” has an invisible and ontological nature, and this ability serves as the “original Qi” and becomes the foundation of the world)
In the view of Confucian scholars, the “heaven of personality” transforms all things into the world through “metaphysical Qi”, and “Qi” is also the preface of “the induction of heaven and man”. Dong Zhongshu You. A theory of “qi transformation” talks about how “heaven” and “man” interact with each other through “qi” in “qi”, that is, “man” In “Qi”, just like a fish in water, the water will move when the fish moves in the water, and “people” will move when the “Qi” moves in the “Qi” world under “Heaven”, so “Heaven” and “Human” “They can sense each other through “Qi”, and “Heaven” will give different results such as disaster, auspiciousness, misfortune and blessing according to the good and evil of human behavior.
However, the vast majority of Chinese people do not think about how “Heaven” and “Man” feel in detail. They only understand that they will be punished by “Heaven” for doing bad things, because they The “Heaven” in my heart is not “Yuan”, but Zuo As the personal God of God, the relationship between God and humans depends entirely on God’s feelings, will, and decisions caused by human actions. This does not require a metaphysical explanation of meaning, nor does it require a sophisticated metaphysical system.
Of course, Confucian scholars are different. They are scholar-bureaucrats and elites, different from ordinary people. They not only have the need for belief, but also have wise pursuits, which determines their In addition to worshiping the “Heaven” of personality, we also need to provide a metaphysical and perceptual explanation of the “Heaven” of personality, that is, we must also use “Yuan” and “Heaven” to explain it. “Qi” explains the ontology and innate nature of “Heaven”. Dong Zi is the best example. His thoughts include both the belief in the “Heaven” of personality, that is, the personal God, and the “Heaven” of personality. With his metaphysical perceptual interpretation of meaning, the “Heaven” of personality and the “Heaven” of moral principles have reached an organic unity in his thinking.
Of course, this explanation of “heaven” is very abstract and very subtle, no less than the explanation of the origin of the world by ancient Greek philosophers, because the metaphysical origin is the so-called. “Language is the end of the road, and the heart is the end of the road”, which is beyond the reach of human sensibility. Therefore, when explaining the metaphysical roots, we can only use metaphors and not reasoning. In other words, we can only proceed on the basis of metaphors. perceptual explanation, for example, when the Gongyang family uses “Yuan” and “Qi” to explain the metaphysical origin, they say that “Yuan of Heaven” is the ontology of the universe, the so-called “Original Beginning”, and that people living in a world of “Qi” are like Fish live in water. When fish move the water, they will feel ripples. When people move “qi”, they will feel “gasification”.
Good actions will lead to good reactions, and bad actions will lead to evil reactions, but the highest source of induction is the “Heaven”, “Yuan” and “Yuan” of the personality. “Qi” is only a metaphysical and perceptual explanation of “induction between heaven and man”, not the highest source of induction. Therefore, although Dong Zhongshu also used “Yuan” and “Qi” to give a metaphysical and perceptual explanation of “the relationship between heaven and man”, Dong Zhongshu unequivocally regarded the “Heaven” of personality as the ultimate foundation of “the relationship between heaven and man”, that is, As the “Hundred Gods King” “, the ancestor of all things”, because only the personal “Heaven” can dominate the world like the “Great King”, so it can bring good luck and disasters, that is, it can praise and punish the ruler’s actions, while “Yuan” cannot has such performance.
In addition, although “Yuan” was cosmized by some Han Dynasty scholars, who believed that “Yuan” was also the foundation of the universe, “Yuan” was not mentioned in “The Age” In the eyes of scholars, it mainly touches on the formation of human history. The so-called “age Jamaica Sugar Daddy yuan” mainly means that the evolution of the human world must have a most basic and pure beginning, that is, it must have a pure beginning. There is a “yuan”, and it cannot be started without reason, let alone from evil.
However, it is not enough to understand that the beginning of the evolution of the human world is “Yuan”. We also want to understand where “Yuan” comes from? “Yuan” is the embodiment of “Heaven” in human history, so “Yuan” and “Heaven” are one. But ultimately speaking, “Yuan” comes from “Heaven”, and of course “Heaven” is the highest. “Heaven” produces “Yuan”, not “Yuan” produces “Heaven”.
As for the issue that Qi Yihu believes that the highest “Heaven” may be easily changed to “Yuan” to distinguish it from the “Three Talents of Heaven”, in fact, ” The two “heavens” in “Ba Dao Tu Shuo” are different: the highestJamaica Sugar‘s “Heaven” is the “Heaven” of unity, and the “Heaven of the Three Talents” is the “Heaven” of equal differences and differences; the highest “Heaven” has no distinction or treatment, and is the absolute metaphysical root. The “Three Talents of Heaven” are differentiated and treated, which is the basis of relative forms; the former shows that “Heaven” itself has the unconditional self-existence and self-sufficiency, and the latter shows that “Heaven” has relative existence in the nature of the world. To-beness and structure.
(Picture: Tai Chi Diagram, Collection of Master Zhou Yuangong in Song Lianxi, Ming Dynasty Engraved by Wang Feng and Cui Weizhi in the third year of Wanli (1575)
So although there are two “Heavens” in “Ba Dao Tu Shuo”, the meanings are not repeated and the principles are not conflicting. From this perspective, there is no need to replace the highest “Heaven” with the highest The “Yuan” (“Tai Chi Illustration” says that Tai Chi produces Yin and Yang, and Tai Chi is not in harmony with it. The pure yang of yin, the pure yang of Taiji and the yang of Liangyi coexist in “Taiji Pictures”, which are used to explain the nature of the world. This meaning can also be referenced.) However, the meaning is very mysterious and difficult to explain, so it must be explained. Only by understanding the talismans silently can one gain a wonderful understanding of the divine interpretation. All human metaphysics should be viewed in this way.
Liu Huaigang: Although we understand the teacher’s discussion of this issue, we are still confused. I hope the teacher can further explain it.
Jiang Qing: Okay. The relationship between “Heaven” and “Yuan” is indeed ConfucianJamaicans The big problem in Sugardaddy is that both “Children” and “Yi” talk about “Yuan”, that is, they both start with “Yuan”, and “Children” is called “Yuan Jing”, and the text is called “Yuan”. Confucius was also imitated to write the “Yuan Jing”. This situation seems to be different from the “Poetry”, “Book” and “Li”. The “Poetry”, “Book” and “Li” talk about “Heaven” but not “Yuan”. This confuses many people.
As far as “Age” is concerned, Gongyang School’s teaching of “Age” “changes one into a yuan” actually means that the historical sequence of human beings must have a pure beginning, because history is temporal. Existence, this pure beginning of the order of human history, Confucius called it “Yuan” instead of “One”, so that human history For the “origin of the relationship”, it serves the purpose of “correct beginning” of “The Age”. Human history is not absurd because it has a pure beginning, that is, any history that violates this pure beginning, that is, “yuan” is unreasonable. Therefore, they are all criticized and condemned, specifically ridiculed, derogated and condemned by “The Age”.
The later Gongyang family took this historical order based on “Yuan” one step further and raised it to the order of the universe. The purpose is to show that the universe, like history, has a A pure beginning but not absurd, human behavior cannot violate the pure cosmic order of this “element of relationships”, otherwise it will be condemned by “The Age”
Of course, “Age” is, after all, a work of “seeing things and acting on them” and “making things clear”, rather than a pure metaphysics of “empty words”The goal of “Change One into the Element” is to establish a pure beginning for human history and make the order of human history a fair order. The establishment of a fair order of the universe is also an attempt to establish a fair order of human history. Service in order.
So, although “Children” “changes one into Yuan” and “starts with Yuan”, the highest ruler in “Children” is “Heaven” and not “Yuan”, because as long as The personified “Heaven” is the ultimate source and supreme ruler of the order of human history and the natural order of the universe. , it is “Heaven” that ultimately determines the pure beginning of human order and the order of the universe, and only “Heaven” can punish human behavior that violates this pure beginning, while “Yuan” cannot, but only punishes “Heaven” This supreme dominant position is used to express and explain meaning perceptually.
It can be seen that “Children” is superficially “Yuan Jing” and essentially “Tian Jing”. “Children” is the same as “Poetry” and “Shi Jing”. “Shu” and “Li” are both written with “Personality Heaven” as the first one. Although Cheng Shuzi was a Neo-Confucian, he said, “I, Confucianism, have the best intentions, and ShiJM Escorts have the best intentions.” Teaching the nature of “Heavenly Learning” reminded by the classics. What is incomprehensible is that Confucianism in the Song Dynasty (including Cheng Shuzi’s school) later became “Taoism”, “Neo-Confucianism”, “Xingxue” and “Qiology”, and Confucianism in the Ming Dynasty also became “Xin Xue” and “Zhiji Xue”. The “Heaven Learning” in the Confucian classics has always been hidden and in decline.
Here, the issue of Confucian classics and classics is touched upon. In the Confucian classics, the highest source and the highest ruler are the “Heaven of Personality”. The “Poetry”, “Book”, “Ritual” and “Age” are self-evident. The Analects of Confucius, except for the phrase “Heaven, what can be said” tends to Except for “natural heaven”, all other “heavens” are It is the “Heaven of Personality”. When Mencius talked about Zen, the “Heaven” of “Heaven and Him” is also the “Heaven of Personality”. Even though “Yi” talks mostly about metaphysical principles, it also talks about the “Heaven of Personality”. Such as “recommend God”, “enjoy God”, “accept heaven’s favor”, etc.
However, the classics are different. In the classics, there are those who say that the highest source and the highest master are the “Heaven of Personality”, and there are also those who say that the highest source and the highest The master is the “heaven of meaning and reason” – that is, the meaning and perceptual expression and explanation of “heaven” from the metaphysical ontology. This is because: Confucian classics is a perceptual interpretation of classics, and the interpreters are the elite Confucian scholars. In addition to worship, the elite Confucian scholars also have intellectual needs. Therefore, in the interpretation of classics by classics, most of them constitute metaphysical Those who know how to interpret the system of meaning tend to interpret the “Heaven of Personality” as the “Heaven of Righteousness”, and the so-called “Yuan” is this “Heaven of Righteousness”.
In addition, what Confucianism calls “Tao”, “Xing”, “Ming”, “Li”, “Wuji” and “Tai Chi”, “Bosom friend” can be said to be the “Heaven of Righteousness and Reason”. It can be seen that the “Heaven of Righteousness and Reason” is also a major tradition of Confucianism, but the “Heaven of Righteousness and Reason” is derived from the “Heaven of Personality”. The “Heaven of Personality” is the highest form of “Heaven” in China, and “Heaven of Righteousness” “The heaven of justice” and “the heaven of nature” both come fromJamaicans Escortbelongs to the “heaven of personality”. If this three-dimensional “order of heaven” is disordered and reversed, problems will arise in the Confucian belief system, just as we have seen in Confucianism after the Song Dynasty.
Therefore, “Heaven” and “Yuan” are both the most basic principles of Confucianism. Therefore, “Heaven of Personality” and “Heaven of Principles” cannot be neglected, but by the time of Song Confucianism, they were The emphasis is on the “Heaven of righteousness”, but the “Heaven of personality” is neglected, that is, The Confucians of the Song Dynasty only looked at “Heaven” from the perspective of “Principles” and regarded “Heavenly Principles” as the highest ontology of the universe, life and historical civilization. As a result, the “Heaven of righteousness and principles” was placed at the highest position of Confucianism’s “Tianxue”. Confucius originally occupied The highest “Heaven of Personality” is therefore hidden.
As mentioned later, when Confucian classics talk about “Heaven”, “Heaven” is the highest personal God, which is what I said is different from Jesus. The “quasi-personal God” who teaches the “whole personal God” is, after all, also a personal God. When the Confucian classics talked about “Yuan”, they already explained this personal god from the perspective of metaphysical principles. Although this constitutes the moral system of Confucianism, it also brings the risk of the “heaven of personality” being diluted.
Because there is no “Yuan” interpretation of “Yi Li Zhi Tian”, it may be said that in the era when the Confucian classics were formed, there was no “Yuan” system of meaning understanding, but there was still “Tian” After that, he practiced boxing every day and never fell again.” That is to say, there is still the “Heaven of Personality” indicated in the “Six Classics”. It is only the wise activities of Confucian scholars who need to find the highest ontology of principles to explain the value foundation and origin of meaning of human history, which constitutes the “Yuan” as the “beginning”. “The moral system of “the heaven of moral principles”.
In this way, man has a relationship with the pure history established by “Heaven”. Not only can man not violate this pure history established by “Heaven” The beginning – the “Yuan of Heaven”, man has more responsibility and obligation to maintain the pure historical beginning of the establishment of this “Heaven” – “the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty”, so that mankind can avoid the absurdity and injustice of history and live a meaningful life. A life of good value, interest, meaning and purpose.
So, history is a matter of people, and “Yuan” can be understood as the “Heaven of Personality” in human history. Her son is really a stupid child. , a pure and filial silly child. He never thought that his daughter-in-law would stay with him for the rest of his life, instead of staying with her as an old mother. Of course, if high manifestation is not in human history, there will be no “yuan”. For example, there is no “yuan” in the animal world, but there is “yuan”.”Heaven”. Since human beings participate in the nature of the universe and participate in the heaven and earth, the universe naturally also has “element” and cannot violate it. How to stop talking about it.
Therefore, there is “Heaven” and “Yuan” in Confucian belief, and the two are not inconsistent with each other. If we talk about the metaphysical foundation of all things and history and civilization, we talk about ” “Yuan”; when talking about the highest biochemical source and supreme ruler of all things in the universe and human existence, we talk about “Heaven”. Therefore, “Poetry”, “Heaven” “Book” and “Li” talk about “Heaven”, “Ch’ien” and “Yi” both talk about “Heaven” and “Yuan”. For example, “Ch’i-ch’ien” cannot stick to one thing while establishing the pure beginning of human history. When talking about “Yuan”, when God punishes human beings for their evil deeds and brings disasters, it talks about “Heaven”. There is no conflict between the two.
JM EscortsIn short, human history must have a beginning, it cannot be born out of nowhere, and this beginning must be meaningful and purposeful, that is, it must be fair and good, and cannot be absurd and chaotic. It cannot be immoral or evil. The development of this pure and fair good The beginning is “Yuan”. Of course, this “Yuan” is not self-sufficient and self-evident, but arises from the “Heaven” of a pure and just personality with interests, meanings, goals, and justice. Therefore, it cannot be used. “Yuan” replaces “Tian”, and vice versa.
As far as “Ba Dao Tu Shuo” is concerned, it is to explain the natural evolution process of the world and history, so “Yuan” cannot be used to replace “Tian”, because only “Tian” has personality , so only “Heaven” has the creative and dominating nature, can create all things in the universe and dominate the universeJamaicans EscortAll things in the universe, of course, include human beings. If the “Heaven” in “Ba Dao Tu Shuo” is changed to “Yuan”, “Heaven” will no longer have personality, so it will no longer have creativity and dominance. It is no longer possible to create and control all things in the universe. It will ignore the “Heaven of Personality” and only focus on the “Heaven of Righteousness”. This will lead to the problem of Song Confucianism, which is to downplay the primacy, supremacy, personality, will and dominance of the “Heaven of Personality”, and at the same time make The “Heaven of Righteousness” has lost its ultimate source and highest foundation.
Liu Huaigang: Can we think that “Heaven” is comprehensive and “Yuan” is fundamental?
Jiang Qing: “Heaven” and “Yuan” are both fundamental. For “Yuan”, “Yuan” is the manifestation of “Heaven” in human history; for “Yi”. “In terms of “Yuan”, “Yuan” is the manifestation of “Heaven” in human life, but the most fundamental of “Yuan” is “Heaven”
Ji. In short, human beingsThere can be no “yuan” with the universe, but there cannot be no “heaven”. “Yuan” is the starting point of the relationship between “Heaven and Man”. Going to the most basic point, “Yuan” can only be rooted in “Heaven”. If there were no human beings, there would be no “yuan”, but there would still be “heaven”. Although “Tian” and “Yuan” are both root, “Tian” is the highest and ultimate root, and “Yuan” is the derived and secondary root. This is the difference between “Heaven” and “Yuan”. It can be seen that “Tian” and “Yuan” are the same but have differences, and the differences have similarities.
Liu Huaigang: The highest ontology of Confucianism is “Heaven” rather than “Yuan”. “Yuan” is just an expression of the metaphysical meaning of “Heaven”. Explanation, so in “Hegemony Pictures”, “Yuan” cannot be used to replace the “Tian” of the supreme ruler. We have already understood this problem. Many scholars now deny the existence of Confucianism and believe that the “Heaven of Personality” should be replaced by “Heaven of Righteousness and Reason”. The reason is that they believe that Confucianism is philosophy, not religion, and philosophy is more in line with the nature of Confucianism. So, after all, Confucianism is religious by natureJamaicans Escort? Or is it philosophical?
Jiang Qing: Here, we must first understand what philosophy is before we can understand whether Confucianism isJamaicans EscortPhilosophy.
In my opinion, the so-called philosophy is the love of wisdom that originated in the East (ancient Greece), and it is a reflective science based on sensibility. Therefore, It is a unique product of Eastern history and civilization and does not exist in China, so I think China does not have philosophy. This insight can be supported by Heidegger’s discussionJamaicans Sugardaddy.
Heidegger once wisely pointed out: To say “Eastern philosophy” is a “tautology”, because only the East has philosophy. I paraphrased him and said: “Chinese philosophy” is a “conflict of different meanings” because there is no philosophy in China. Therefore, the belief that “Confucianism is a philosophy and not a religion” cannot be established on its own, because Confucianism is a Chinese study, and of course it is not a philosophy. As for the belief that “philosophy is more in line with the nature of Confucianism”, it is even more irrelevant and irrelevant. Where to start. Therefore, we can say with certainty that Confucianism is not philosophical by nature.
So, is Confucianism religious by nature? My opinion is certain: Confucianism is religious by nature!
We understand that Confucianism has elements of belief and wisdom. The “Heaven of Personality” mentioned later is the achievement of belief.In other words, it means belief in a transcendent, sacred, mysterious, volitional, responsive, personal, and unique supreme master of the universe and mankind. Therefore, Confucianism is completely religious.
As for wisdom, the “Giri no Ten” mentioned later also believes in the metaphysical, transcendent, and divine supreme entity of human beings and the universe, such as “Yuan”, “Dao”, “Xing”, “Ming”, “Li”, etc., so Confucianism is religious even at the level of principles and principles, so from this perspective, Confucianism is also religious. Therefore, we can say that the foundation of Confucianism is religion, and religion is more in line with the nature of Confucianism. The argument that Confucianism is philosophy and not religion, and the argument that philosophy is more in line with the nature of Confucianism, are all incompatible with the nature of Confucianism. Those that conflict with each other cannot be established.
Unfortunately, Chinese scholars often do not understand this truth, and the “Chinese Philosophy” major is widely established in Chinese universities and research institutes. Specializes in teaching and studying Confucianism. However, what is even more incredible is that the first person in China to use the word “philosophy” to refer to “Confucianism” was Liao Ping, a master of Confucian classics! It can be seen that the influence of Western learning on middle schools is so profound that it can never be increased! (See the article “Proud of Confucian Philosophy” by Liao Ping.)
Today, it seems that it is time for China to correct the chaos of Confucianism. The original face of Confucianism has been restored, that is, Confucianism is not philosophy, there is no philosophy in China, and the term “Chinese philosophy” should be withdrawn in China – return philosophy to the East and return Confucianism to China.
Liu Huaigang: If the foundation of Confucianism is religion, then can we say that you may never go to Confucianism? “Let’s get along well in the future…” Pei Yi looked at his mother with a pleading face. Is the foundation of learning based on Confucianism?
Jiang Qing: Yes, it can be said that the foundation of Confucianism is Confucianism, because Confucianism is the religion of China.
Above, we can take a further step to talk about the relationship between “Heaven” and “Yuan” from the perspective of religion or Confucianism.
As mentioned later, “Yuan” is the rational expression of “Tian”, and “Tian” is the ultimate foundation of “Yuan”. “Tian” and “Yuan” will not have any meaning. If we completely turn “Heaven” into “Yuan”, and only see “Yuan” but not “Heaven”, we will cover up “Heaven” and abandon “Heaven”, and there will be the phenomenon that Song Confucianism rationalized the highest source of integrity, that is, impersonalized it. problem. (The same is true for the relationship between “Heaven” and “Tao”, “Xing”, “Ming”, and “Li”.) Although rationalizing the highest root meaning is the strength of Song Confucianism’s “Xing Neo-Confucianism”, it is also the core of Song Confucianism. The problem is that the most basic belief foundation of Confucianism is ignored—”Heaven” and its “Heaven Learning” based on the personal God.
We understand that people have both a religious nature and aThe impulse to rational exploration, but in real life, the two belong to different types of people: the vast majority of people only need religious belief, and only a very small number of people need both religious belief and rational exploration. It is unrealistic to ask the majority of people to engage in rational exploration, and it is equally unrealistic to ask a very small number of people to only have religious beliefs and not to engage in rational exploration.
Therefore, for a very small number of people, it is reasonable and very important to conduct intelligent exploration, because it is this kind of religious belief that Wisely explored and established a system of metaphysical doctrines without any inklings, such as the Eastern Catholic theology of Thomas Aquinas, Buddhism’s knowledge-only theory, and the “Xingxue Neo-Confucianism” of Song Confucianism in China.
In other words, any orthodox human university will produce religious doctrines derived from sacred sources, and will inquire into the grounds for human belief, and Establishing the order of the universe and the meaning and purpose of human history. However, this kind of religious doctrine also has huge risks. If it is not handled properly and persists, faith will be forgotten in the fun and self-entertainment of wise exploration, thus bringing adverse effects to religion.
For example, Song Confucianism responded to the challenge of Buddhism, and the doctrine of Buddhism was very developed. Song ConfucianismJamaica Sugar Daddy must surpass Buddhism in terms of doctrine, rather than attack the “Heavenly Learning” of the Confucian Personality of God in terms of belief. This is because developed Buddhist doctrine can deny the personal God. Buddhism opposes all “I”, including the “god” as the “Heaven” of personality. In this way, Song Confucianism did not believe in the “Heaven” of personality. They should not compete with Buddhism, but compete with Buddhism on the ontology of doctrine. Therefore, Song Confucians proposed a series of “Xingxue” categories such as “Tao”, “Xing”, “Ming”, “Li”, and “Qi” to compete with Buddhism. However, they ignored or even distorted the classics established by Confucius. “Heavenly Learning”.
For example, Confucianism in the Song Dynasty explained “Shen” as “the meaning of coming and going” and “the good energy of the two qi”. This is obviously the same as the “Poetry” ” The “god” in “Respect the Ming Shen” is different from the “god” in “The God of War” in “Book”, the “god” in Suburban Heaven in “Rites”, and the “god” in “Children” who brings disasters and disasters. The “god” in “Poems”, “Books”, “Rites”, and “Children” is a “three-dimensional self” that can create and exist. It is the “god who leads all things” as mentioned in “Shuowen”, and “god” “Having certain personality characteristics, that is, having emotions, will, decision-making, communication, moral induction, and the ability to reward good and punish evil, rather than an abstract principle.
If the personal “heaven” or “god” is interpreted as abstract principles or noumenon like Buddhism, then the “ritual” of Confucianism, In particular, the “sacrificial ceremony” as an auspicious ceremony has no object, and the “ritual” loses the meaning of existence, because it is impossible for people to pay homage to an author.As the “principle” of the abstract ontology, it is impossible to worship “Tai Chi”, to worship “Yin and Yang Qi”, to worship “Tao”, “Xing”, “Ming”, “Qi”, etc.
So, we can say that after rationalizing the complete meaning of “Heaven” or “God” as the supreme ruler of the universe and mankind, it is completely “depersonalized” Finally, it not only means the abolition of “rituals”, but also the abolition of the personal worship of “heaven” or “god” in Confucian classics, and ultimately also means the abolition of Confucianism itself as a religion. If Confucianism as a religion is abolished, the Chinese civilization based on Confucianism will no longer exist, because Chinese civilization is Confucian civilization. This is indeed a very serious problem and should attract our attention.
Therefore, for Confucianism, Haotian God, the personal “Heaven”, is the first to come out, is the first, and is the most foundation of Chinese Confucian civilization. We may not need a philosophical system of rationality and rationality, but we cannot live without the Haotian God in religious belief. Otherwise, we will not be able to base our lives on, we will have nothing to fear, and we will not be able to live a solemn and sacred life. A meaningful career.
The vast majority of traditional Chinese people, such as the common people, the emperor and many officials, do not understand “Yuan”, and of course there is no need for them to go there. Understand, but they understand “Heaven” and understand the fear of God.
Awe has three meanings. One is to realize the meaningful life given by “Heaven”, that is, to realize one’s “nature of destiny” and to do good. Not to do evil, firstly, to remember the source of life and repay one’s origins, and secondly, to dispel the fears of this world and avoid disasters and pray for blessings. Therefore, the Confucian elite needs the moral “Yuan” in the Confucian system, but the Chinese people need the personified “Heaven” in real life. If “Yuan” is used to replace “Tian”, and the “Tian” of the personality that is worshiped is replaced by the “Yuan” of wise principles, it will rationalize the highest source of the universe and mankind, thereby diluting the religious color of Confucianism.
This dilution is not serious when we talk about “Tian Yuan”, but when we talk about “Tai Chi”, “Tianli” and “Tao”, ” This dilution is very serious when it comes to “nature”, “ming” and “qi” – the highest source of human beings in the universe is just a principle, that is, a principle, perhaps just a “reliance” as Buddhism calls it.”, that is, the highest “justification”. In this way, the “Heaven” of the personal ruler, the “Heaven” of the will that can bring disasters and good luck, the “Heaven” of the mystery beyond the sacred, the “Heaven” of the meaning of religious worship, and the rituals. The “heaven” of Yi Zuocuo will disappear. When these disappear, Chinese civilization, that is, Confucian civilization, will not be far away from existing in name only.
Liu Huaigang: Could you please take a step further and talk about how to deal with the problem of Song Confucianism’s rationalization of the highest fundamental principles, because this problem is indeed very confusing
Jiang Qing: Okay. Song Confucianism’s rationalization of the highest root meaning was mainly a response to the challenge of Buddhism.
Buddhism is atheism, but it also needs to break the “self-grasping”. Breaking the “self-grasping” includes breaking the “god-self”. The “god-self” is the personal God. Breaking the “god-self” can deny the highest personality of God. existence. Therefore, Buddhism does not talk about the dominant personality “Heaven”, that is, it does not talk about the supreme personality God who created the world. The religion believes that all things have no “self-nature” and are all caused by causes and conditions. Therefore, there is no substantial “god” that creates and dominates the world. If we talk about “heaven”, it means determining the “self-nature” and denying causes and conditions. . Buddhism teaches such a complex set of principles.
Song Confucianism wanted to respond to the challenge of Buddhism’s complex philosophy. Of course, it only needed to respond to it by teaching a complex set of philosophy, that is, “Xing Neo-Confucianism”. But after all, Song Confucianism taught It is Confucianism, but as long as it is Confucianism, it is impossible to completely deny the “Heaven” of personality like Buddhism. Their approach is to preserve “Heaven”. name, but rationalizes the meaning of “Heaven”, that is, it does not emphasize the religious personality characteristics of “Heaven”, does not emphasize that “Heaven” is the personal god who dominates all things, and only talks about “the way of heaven”, “the principle of heaven” and “the principle of heaven”. “Xing” and “Qi of Heaven” to respond to the challenge of Buddhism, that is, to rationalize the highest root meaning to respond to the challenge of Buddhism.
In fact, Song Confucianism did not directly and explicitly deny the highest personal “Heaven”, but because they rationalized the highest root meaning, they downplayed the personal “Heaven” and even put it aside The “God” and “Heaven” in “Poems”, “Books”, “Rites” and “Children” no longer take the Confucian personality of God as their thinking. As mentioned later, when they explained “Shen”, they said that “Shen” is “the meaning of bending and stretching” and “the good energy of Yin and Yang”, which is a perceptual explanation of meaning. Of course, there is nothing wrong with the annihilation of nothingness caused by the Buddhist “conditional origin method”, but because it downplays the “heaven” of personality, it is difficult for KongJamaicans SugardaddyThe most basic feature of “ritual”, that is, the various sacrifices of Confucianism cannot be given a proper positioning, because how can people To worship an abstract principle?
In Confucian classics, “god”It is an entity. The “god” of the sky, the “god” of the ancestors, the “god” of the sages, and the “god” of the mountains, rivers, sun and moon are all real gods with independent self-entity, not in theory. The good power of “yin and yang” cannot be explained by the “meaning of bending and stretching”. If “god” is not an entity, how can we offer sacrifices? Is it necessary to pay homage to the “two qi of yin and yang” and to worship the “meaning of bending and stretching”?
Actually, Song Confucianism did not deny sacrifices. For example, “Wen Gong Shu Yi” and “Zhu Xi Family Rites” both touched on sacrifices. However, because the interpretation of “gods” was rationalized, the interpretation of “gods” was The memorial ceremony seems to be in conflict with their system of moral studies, that is, there is no fair and truthful explanation of “god” in their system of moral studies, so the memorial ceremony cannot find the support of academic theory in their system of moral studies. They did not expect that this would have an adverse impact on the religious life of Confucius. The majority of the people could not find the most foundation for living and working in peace and contentment in the doctrine of doctrine.
As mentioned later, it is possible and necessary for a few Confucian scholars to study pure principles, but for the entire society, the entire country, and the entire people Generally speaking, religion (Confucianism) cannot be rationalized. “Heaven”, “God” and “God” are dominant entities to them. They do not need to use wisdom to explain, but only need to worship with faith. If “Heaven”, “God” and “God” are rationally explained with wisdom, “It is very unfavorable to the entire society, the country, and the people’s religious belief, that is, the Confucian belief, and is likely to bring about the consequences of skepticism.
So, when we talk about Confucianism now, we must first restore the personality of “Poetry”, “Book”, “Ritual” and “Age” Believe in “Tian”, and then on this basis, accept the “Tian Yuan” thought of Han Confucianism, and finally accept Zhu Zi’s theory of “Heavenly Principle” and Yangming’s theory of “Zhiji”. This order of reception will not form the highest source of conflict and confusion, because “Tian Yuan”, “Tian Li” and “Zhi Ji” are all generated from the “Heaven” as the highest source of personality. Only by understanding the former can the latter be understood. .
Orientals are very ignorant in their understanding of the righteousness of God. It is only a matter for a very small number of theologians and the common people cannot understand it. of, like the theology of Thomas. Therefore, for all orthodox universities of mankind, the profound explanations of scholars belong to explanations, and the simple beliefs of the people belong to faith. The two must be distinguished. The profound explanations of scholars cannot be used to exclude the simple beliefs of the people. This is That’s what Master said: “The people can’t do anything about it” The meaning of “make it known” is the meaning of Xunzi’s “the common people think that gods are righteous and people think of literature”, and perhaps it is also the meaning of Strauss’s distinction between “hidden education” and “explicit education” – because it is for the broad masses of the people. Generally speaking, there is no need for them to understand profound religious doctrines.
So, ultimately speaking, it is dispensable to understand and explain the meaning of “Heaven” in personality;The belief in “Heaven” is always needed. We can JM Escorts ask, if there is no “heaven” of personality, all meanings, explanations and knowledge systems about the highest source will still be there. Does it have any Confucian significance? If we only need principles, it would be Eastern philosophy rather than Confucianism, because Eastern philosophy is also exploring the highest ontology or the highest reality of the world, but only in the sense of perceptual logic, not in the creation and dominance of religion. meaning faith. Therefore, from the perspective of Confucianism, there is nothing wrong with Song Confucianism’s metaphysical explanation of the highest source. Any orthodox human religion has this explanation and needs this explanation. Their mistake lies in The “heaven” of Confucian personality was ignored, thus downplaying the religious characteristics of Confucianism, which ultimately led to the underrepresentation of Confucianism among the people, and this underrepresentation continues to this day.
(Picture: Illustration of Hegemony, see “Rediscussing Political Confucianism” by Jiang Qing)
Liu Huaigang: I noticed that in “Hegemony Illustrations”, the teacher described the biochemical process of “Heaven” from the structure of “Three Talents”. Could you please talk about it a little more? The “Three Talents” approach?
Jiang Qing: Okay. The way of “three talents” is to “divide one into three”, that is, from “heaven” as “one”, the “three talents” of heaven, earth and man are divided. This is the most basic explanation system of Chinese Confucian civilization.
Generally speaking, there are two interpretation systems in Confucianism, one is “Yin and Yang” and the other is “Three Talents”. Although Han Confucians also used the explanatory system of “Yin and Yang”, they mostly used “three talents”; although Song Confucians also used the “three talents” explanatory system, they mostly used “Yin and Yang”. The explanatory system of “three talents” appeared earlier than yin and yang. In “Shu Jing·Gan Oath”, there is a saying that “Youhu neglected the three righteousnesses”. Kong Anguo explained that the “Three Righteousnesses” are the “evil ways of heaven, earth, and man.”
I think that the “three talents” explanation system is better compared with the “yin and yang” explanation system, because the “three talents”The interpretation of “Yin and Yang” is arithmetic, while the interpretation system of “Yin and Yang” is three-dimensional. Three-dimensionality is reciprocal. Yang cannot be born alone, and yin cannot be transformed. Only the “harmony of yin and yang” can produce transformation. Therefore, the thinking of Song Confucians mostly utilized the three-dimensional thinking of yin and yang in the “Book of Changes” to respond to the challenge of Buddhism’s thinking of “all dharmas are equal”.
However, the “yin and yang” thinking that emphasizes three-dimensionality is inconsistent with the real world structure, because the real world structure is equal, not Three-dimensional, in this way, there is a conflict in their thinking: the ontological world is homogeneous, while the real world is arithmetic, and they have no way to theoretically justify the arithmetic world. Explanation and defense. However, they still found that there was a problem. When Liu Jishan’s students asked him whether “yin” and “yang” had an equal relationship, he finally said: After all, the main road is the main road. Although many modern Confucian scholars defend the reality of the equal society by elevating the status of the Dao, this approach undoubtedly goes against the nature of “yin and yang”, because the nature of “yin and yang” is three-dimensional, that is, equivalence and equality. sexual.
In fact, from ancient times to the present, the real world and real society have been three-dimensional, that is, they are both equal and have a structural Hierarchical relationships, such as superiority and inferiority, master-slave, wisdom and stupidity, as well as elites and the masses, are all three-dimensional, equal, differentiated and hierarchical, so they cannot be treated three-dimensionally or equally. To reform. The three-dimensional equal difference system of “Three Talents”, compared with the three-dimensional equivalent system of “Yin and Yang”, can well explain this three-dimensional real world and real society, and provide a reasonable defense for it.
If according to Song Confucianism, Tai Chi generates two rituals, two rituals generate four images, and four images generate Bagua, this explainsJM EscortsCannot explain the realityJM EscortsThe fairness of the equal world and differentiated society, because real life is far from their interpretation. Therefore, “Ba Dao Illustrations” is different from “Tai Chi Illustrations”. It is based on the “Three Talents” thinking and establishes the rationality of the arithmetic three-dimensional world at the origin of the world, and makes the actual arithmetic world as it should be. Such as the defense, that is, “Ba Dao Tu Shuo” states that the world is not three-dimensional, equal, and equivalent, but three-dimensional, equal, structured, and is the highest in the sky. , earth comes second, people come second, this ensures “heaven”. The first time the whole family ate together, the daughter remembered to invite her mother-in-law and husband to dinner. The mother-in-law stopped her and said that there were no rules in the house and she was not happy about it, so she let her The primacy, supremacy and dominance of “She sat down” ensure the difference, diversity and richness of the world.
The composition of “Ba Dao Tu Shuo”,It is based on dissatisfaction with “Tai Chi Tu Shuo”, because “Tai Chi Tu Shuo” can easily explain the world into a three-dimensional world of equality, and today it is very easy to defend the three-dimensional society and equality politics of unfettered democracy. , which endorses the illusion of equality between left and right in enlightened sensibility. In fact, this illusion of equality is inconsistent with the reality of modern society and the reality of the modern world.
If Confucianism overemphasizes this ontological three-dimensionality and equality, it will become an advocate of “political modernity” in reality, because “political The most significant feature of “modernity” is the three-dimensionalization and homogenization of propaganda politics and society, and in this aspect, the socialism of the left is even worse than the unrestraintism of the right. Therefore, using the “Three Talents” to explain the world takes into account both equality and distinction, and can provide a powerful justification argument for an actually existing and reasonable social order and political order with equal distinction, while using “Yin and Yang” “The explanation of the world, although taking into account certain differences, ignores the equality of the world and cannot provide a strong legitimacy argument for the actual existence of equality of social order and political order. It is in this sense that in Jamaicans Sugardaddy‘s innate explanation of the world, the “three talents” explanation system is better than the “yin and yang” explanation The system is better, more comprehensive, and more convincing to reality and history.
Liu Huaigang: There is another specific issue involving “Yuan”. The Gongyang family has a saying that “the Yuan of man is in front of heaven”. Regarding this statement How should we understand it?
Jiang Qing: “The human element is in front of heaven” is for “Age”. “Spring in the first year of the first month of the year”, “spring” represents “heaven”, “spring in the first year”, that is to say, “The Spring” places the starting point of human historical activities behind “heaven”. The “yuan” here touches “people”, because “people” are the main body of historical activities. “The Age JM Escorts” is different from other scriptures. It takes the 242-year history of the State of Lu as a human history. The subject of history is of course “people”, so “people” are placed at the end of the scriptures to highlight the main role of “people” in history.
However, the Gongyang family places human activities in an important position and cannot be understood as modern humanism or humanism. We can understand that history is the history of “people”, and “people” run through all historical activities.
Jiang Liusheng: Teacher talks about the “three talents” of heaven, earth and man. Heaven is the highest, followed by the earth, and man is the lowest. “JM EscortsThe Six Yao Lines of the Book of Changes are also divided into heaven, earth, and people. People are in the middle. How do you understand?
Jiang Qing : Although “Yi” and “Age” are both JM EscortsThe “Yuan Jing” both talks about change, but there is still a big difference. “Yi” mainly emphasizes the changes in heaven, and “Children” mainly emphasizes changes in human affairs, so “Yi” is not like “Children”. 》In that way, “人元” – chronology – is placed before heaven, but “天元” – qian – is placed before people.
Although “Yi Zhuan” also talks about “three talents”, that is, Liuyao “combines three talents and two of them”, the “three talents” here are not equal differences and distinctions, but equality. Nature is “two”, and the “two” means that “Yin” and “Yang” treat each other, that is, “Heaven” and “Earth” are opposed to each other, and “Human” is just “Heaven” and “Earth”, that is, “Yin” and “Yin” The existence between “Yang”, because This person has no metaphysical meaning of independent existence in the three-dimensional structure. Only “Yin” and “Yang”, that is, “Heaven” and “Earth”, have such metaphysical independent meaning of existence. This is because the basis of “Yi” is “Yin and Yang”. , so “Yi Zhuan” can only use “yin and yang” (“two”) to explain “three talents”. This is actually a “yin and yang” explanation of “three talents”, that is, “Jamaica Sugar DaddyThe “polarized” interpretation of “Three Talents” is very different from the Gongyang School’s interpretation of “Three Talents”. p>
The reason why this is the case is that in the original “Three Talents” thinking, that is, in the “Three Talents” thinking of Gongyang School, heaven, earth, and man are a three-dimensional hierarchical structure. , rather than an equivalent three-dimensional structure, that is, it is not a “yin” ” and “Yang” and “Two”, and in the original thinking of “Three Talents”, heaven, earth, and man are independent existences, and they all have their existence in the nature of the world and the evolution of history. Metaphysical ontological meaning
In other words, “human” is not an occasional existence outside the metaphysical ontology, that is, the “yin and yang poles”, but an indispensable independent existence in the natural structure of the world.
However, in the “Three Talents” thinking in “Yi Zhuan”, the decisive reasons for the innate and historical evolution of the world are “yin” and “yang”, and “people” do not constitute the innate and historical evolution of the world. The decisive cause, and in Gongyang School’s “Three Talents” thinking, “people” are the decisive cause of the creation and historical evolution of the world. They exist independently and are indispensable in the creation and historical evolution of the world.
It can be seen that the “three talents” are not the mainstream of the “Book of Changes”. The mainstream of the “Book of Changes” is “Yin and Yang”.href=”https://jamaica-sugar.com/”>Jamaica Sugar》Using “Yin and Yang” to explain the “Three Talents” can prove that the focus concept of the “Book of Changes” is in “Yin and Yang” rather than in the “Three Talents” , “Three Talents” is only an occasional subsidiary concept in the “Book of Changes”. Using “Yin and Yang” to explain the “Three Talents” will not affect the nature of the “Book of Changes” – the “Book of Changes” is essentially the “Book of Yin and Yang” “.
Of course, the two Confucian classics “Children” and “Book of Changes” do have similarities. Both are “Yuan Jing” and both Put “yuan” first and all emphasize “change”. However, there are differences between “Changes” in “Children” and “Changes” in “Yijing”. “Children” talks about “changes” in specific affairs in human history, while “Yijing” talks about the relationship between heaven and human affairs. The “change” between them is not the “change” in specific historical affairs.
In fact, if we do not limit ourselves to whether there is the word “Yuan” at the beginning of the scripture, then “Shi” is also a “Yuan Jing”, and “Book” and “Li” 》Also “YuanJamaicans “Sugardaddy Sutra”, “Poetry” talks about the beginning of a right couple with the beginning of right and domineering, and “beginning” is “Yuan”; the opening chapter of “Book” “Yao Canon” talks about “similar to God”, and “God” is also “Yuan” “Yuan”; “Li” says that “Jiaotian” is the greatest, and “Tian” is “Yuan”. Therefore, the Confucian classics are all “Yuan Jing”, but “Poetry”, “Book”, and “Li” do not have the word “Yuan” marked at the beginning of the classics like “Children” and “Yi”.
However, we still have to emphasize here that the Confucian classics are all “Yuan Jing” only in the sense of doctrine, if in terms of worship, It is said that the Confucian classics are all “Scriptures of Heaven”.