By the Han Dynasty, Confucius had established an orthodox and legal image in the political and ideological fields of the country: his Spring and Autumn Annals was a mirror to govern the world, and Confucius himself was the teacher of kings.
The first image is "sanctification".
It took about 400 to 500 years for Confucius in Cloth to be first molded into a saint.
Dr. Wu once asked Zi Gong, a disciple of Confucius: Is your teacher a saint? Why are you so versatile? Zi Gong replied: God gave him the qualification to be a saint, so he is versatile.
Here, Zi Gong praised Confucius as a "saint" and positioned the image of Confucius as a gifted "saint" for the first time.
More than a hundred years later, Mencius spoke highly of Confucius and pointed out: "Since there were people, there was no Confucius.
"It means that there is nothing greater than Confucius since the beginning of mankind.
Mencius believes that "if you do an injustice, you will win the world by killing one person" and Confucius "does nothing" ("Mencius Gongsun Chou").
There are many different aspects of ancient saints, and in Mencius' view, Confucius embodies all the advantages of ancient saints and is the "master" of ancient saints.
The second image is dwarfing.
"Dwarfing" Confucius can be said to have started from Laozi.
That year, Confucius went west and asked Laozi for a gift.
Laozi believes that the founder of Zhou Li has long since passed away, and it is necessary to evaluate whether the trend of the times allows it.
Laozi warned: "avoid arrogance and lewdness, attitude and lust are not good for your son's health."
(Biography of Lao Tzu in Historical Records) This shows that Confucius has two major shortcomings: arrogant manners (arrogance and coquetry) and excessive desires and ideals (lewdness and lust).
The third image is "orthodoxy"
Since Dong Zhongshu put forward the idea of ousting a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone in Han Dynasty, the image of Confucius has gradually become orthodox.
Dong Zhongshu claimed: "The Spring and Autumn Annals is a great unity, a common experience of heaven and earth, and a common friendship between ancient and modern times.
..... Those who are not in the subject of Six Arts but are refined by Confucius have no choice but to retreat if they don't advance.
The evil king said that the interests would be destroyed, and then the discipline would be unified, so that the statutes would be clear and the people would know what to do.
"The original image of Confucius, whether it is' sanctified' or' dwarfed', is a kind of folk behavior.
Now, with the help of the power of the state machine, Dong Zhongshu puts Confucius' thought in the supreme position and forcibly unifies the thoughts of people all over the world, making it a national ideology.
Dong Zhongshu highly praised the Spring and Autumn Annals written by Confucius, and thought that "the way of the Spring and Autumn Annals is that the big one is king and the small one is hegemony".
The book Spring and Autumn Annals has the viewpoint of "great unity", pursues "six rivers and one wind, Kyushu * * *", and contains the dual unity of national political map and ideology.
Therefore, if the rulers master the ideological essence of Spring and Autumn Annals, they can rule the world, or at least dominate the world.
The fourth image is "deification".
In the Han Dynasty, Confucius was not only "orthodox" by official and imperial scholar Dong Zhongshu, but also highly "deified" by another group of Confucian scholars of Yang Gong School.
In books such as Wei Yankong's Map in the Spring and Autumn Period and Shen Fuqi's Book of Filial Piety, a series of carefully fabricated "deification" were carried out from Confucius' birth, appearance and behavior: 1. Confucius was not a mortal, but was born in the interaction between man and god.
Confucius' parents "prayed for Niqiu Mountain to feel the essence of the Black Dragon, thus giving birth to Zhong Ni".
2. Confucius' life is different: "Confucius is ten feet long and his head is in Haikou. On the other hand, the moon angle is accurate, the river eye is long and the lips are long. " "Hands hanging knees, earlobes beaded, eyebrows twelve eyes sixty-four, standing like a phoenix, sitting like a dragon."
3. As the "King of Su", Confucius compiled the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Classic of Filial Piety, formulated a great law to govern the world for later generations, and led 72 disciples to worship Beidou. At this time, the sky was "white fog rubbing the ground", and the red rainbow turned into topaz from top to bottom, three feet long and inscribed on it. Confucius knelt down and read: Chu, Liu Jipeng, Mao.
Confucius predicted here that Liu Bang would replace the Qin Dynasty and ascend to the throne.
The fifth image is "rigid".
After more than 1000 years of circulation, the image of Confucius was gradually "ossified" by Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty.
From the development of the history of thought, "rigidity" is the inevitable logical result of "orthodoxy".
First of all, the Emperor of Song Dynasty further created a social atmosphere of respecting Confucius. Song Taizu and Zhao Kuangyin went to imperial academy for many times to host a grand ceremony of offering sacrifices to Confucius, and Song Zhenzong and Zhao Heng personally went to Qufu to offer sacrifices to Confucius, making him the "most sacred king of literature".
Under the strong political advocacy of the rulers, the Neo-Confucianism tried to transform Confucius into a "rigid" image that only knew how to safeguard the laws of nature and tried to suppress people's desires.
Zhu Yue said, "If a man has a heart, heaven will destroy it. If he wants to win it, heaven will destroy it." "Confucius' so-called' self-denial', the doctrine of the mean' to be neutral, to respect morality, to ask knowledge', and the university's so-called' to be wise' ... saints have a thousand words, just to teach people to preserve justice and destroy human desires.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius' thoughts were rich and colorful, so he "only taught people to keep righteousness and destroy human desires". Confucius once advocated "if you have spare capacity, you can learn literature", which means that people should have all kinds of talents, encourage people to engage in activities that are beneficial to body and mind, and even appreciate such an attitude towards life: in late spring and March, put on spring clothes, and some friends go to the suburbs for leisure, swim to the middle of the river, blow the wind on the high platform, and then come back singing poems all the way.
The sixth image is "reform".
Kang Youwei was engaged in the Reform Movement of 1898 in the late Qing Dynasty, and he needed to explore ancient ideological resources as the theoretical support of the reform.
Kang Youwei described Confucius as the founder of the Reform Movement in the book Confucius' Reform Examination, and thought that the Six Classics was a work written by Confucius himself to "reform the ancient system", according to his own political ideals and under the guise of the words of the ancients Yao and Shun.
So why did Confucius "reform"? Kang Youwei thinks that Confucius' reform of cloth clothes is a terrible thing. It is better to be king first, neither stunning nor avoiding himself.
It means: Confucius, as a common people, wants to reform the national political system, which is simply sensational. It is better to do it in the name of the ancient emperor Yaoshun, which will not surprise people and avoid disasters.
These remarks are undoubtedly Kang Youwei's "self-discipline".
Kang Youwei wanted to reform and save the dying Qing dynasty, but he faced a group of defenders of the old system of the Qing dynasty. He can only "reform" the image of Confucius once to compete with it.
The seventh image is "uglification".
Since the late Qing Dynasty, the image of Confucius has gone from bad to worse, either severely distorted or mercilessly attacked.
Hong Xiuquan, leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, led the peasant uprising to overthrow the ruling class of the Qing Dynasty. Naturally, he did not like Confucius himself and his thought, that is, the so-called "amulet of autocratic emperors of past dynasties". He said, "It is always wrong to investigate evil spirits and books about Kong Qiu.
The book "Peaceful Days" fabricated a new myth: the father judged Confucius and ordered angels to bind and whip him.
Confucius knelt before his brother Christ in heaven and begged. God ordered him to stop flogging and never allowed him to come down to earth.
Wherever Taiping rebels went, they burned Confucius temples and destroyed Confucius statues.
Declare the four books and five classics as "demon books". "Anyone who dares to recite teachings will be cut."
There may be another reason for the Taiping Army's Confucius and his thoughts: Confucius "does not talk about strange, powerful, chaotic and spiritual things", "stays away from ghosts and gods" and is skeptical about ghosts and gods.
Hong Xiuquan founded the religion of God, so Confucius, who doesn't believe in ghosts and gods, will naturally be vilified.
This is vilified because of different political views and beliefs.
Three Images in Western History
For hundreds of years, due to the different perspectives of observers, Confucius has formed several different images in western history.
The first image is "philosopher".
The second image is a "wise man".
The third image is "the perfect person".
Confucius' thought probably spread to the west through western missionaries from the16th century.
For hundreds of years, due to the different perspectives of observers, Confucius has formed several different images in western history.
The first image is "philosopher".
Matteo Ricci, an Italian missionary in the late Ming Dynasty, said in the History of Missionaries in China: "The greatest philosopher in China is Confucius.
What he said and his attitude towards life are by no means inferior to our ancient philosophers; Many western philosophers are inferior to him.
Therefore, there is no one in China who does not regard what he said or wrote as the golden rule; Up to now, all emperors have respected Confucius and appreciated his legacy.
""Although philosophers are not kings in China, it can be said that kings are subject to philosophers.
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The second image is a "wise man".
German Hegel said that "Confucius' philosophy is the philosophy of the country and the foundation of China people's education, culture and practical activities", but he thought that "Confucius was only a practical wise man in the world" and could not be regarded as a philosopher.
Hegel's reasons are as follows: 1. Confucius only paid attention to common sense and morality, or "some kind of kind, worldly and moral lesson"
2. Confucius did not understand speculative philosophy.
Therefore, "in order to maintain Confucius' reputation, it would be better if his books had never been translated." "
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The third image is "the perfect person".
/kloc-in the 0/8th century, a group of French scholars held Confucius in high esteem and almost thought that he was a perfect man.
Voltaire thought that Confucius "don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you", which Christ never said.
Christ only forbade people to do evil, but Confucius advised people to do good.
He especially praised Confucius' motto of "complaining directly and repaying virtue with kindness", and thought that "no matter what motto, how to teach it, it can't compare with this pure morality.
Confucius often said benevolence and righteousness. If people were allowed to practice this morality, there would be no war on earth.
"Voltaire hung the portrait of Confucius in his chapel and prayed day and night.