It is natural that many people are reluctant. As an accidental event, release should occur in all major civilized areas in ancient times. After reading several classics, I found that "letting animals go" in Middle-earth in the pre-Qin period was not just an example, but a culture with great influence, and "letting high-class animals go" was a subculture and an ideal culture of benevolent people. Killing young birds for simple and practical purposes in Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals is not advocated by benevolent people.
1. Compared with the custom of Shang Dynasty, the Western Zhou Dynasty used pottery figurines to sacrifice gods instead of living people, which was an institutional release for a group of people. The prosperity of humanistic spirit in the Western Zhou Dynasty is an important prerequisite for the development of humanistic spirit and benevolent (advanced) life theory in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.
2. In The Analects of Confucius, Confucius said, "The initiator has nothing to do with this!" Compared with the clay figurine system, it advocates unbearable and pushing love.
3. In Confucius' Family Talk, Zhang Yun, the virtue of the Five Emperors, said, "A benevolent person should use birds and animals to worm", while Zhang Yun said in "Trapped Oath" that birds and animals should avoid unjust people. Confucianism in the Qing Dynasty regarded this book as a fake. But the pseudograph theory is only speculation, and it is difficult to establish without evidence. Moreover, the Confucian characters published in the Western Han Tomb in Bajiaolang, Hebei Province in 1973 are roughly the same as the Confucian family language, which can be described as different versions. Nowadays, many people believe that family language is true.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, Yan Zi thought that great kindness should be extended to (some) animals.
Chapter 9 of The Spring and Autumn Annals of Yan Zi says: "Gong Jing tried to find that birds are weak, and vice versa. After hearing this, Yan Zi went to see Gong Jing without waiting ... and then he bowed to congratulate him ... You are trying to find a weak bird, on the contrary, it is young and old. My gentlemanly nature is worse than an animal, but it is even more so for people! "This saint Wang Zhidao also." "Liu Xiang's Shuo Yuan in the Western Han Dynasty also has this story. This is a newborn bird.
Gong Jing is a man of temperament. He came back because he was weak, not weak, because he couldn't bear it, not for practical purposes. Yan Zi's homeopathic guidance also shows the sage's point of view in the Spring and Autumn Period: the kindness of saint Wang Zhidao should be extended to (some) animals.
What about the overall governance of Gong Jing? Torture is rampant, and cool taxes harm the people and oppress them. Confucius' so-called "tyranny is fiercer than tiger" is about Qi Jinggong. Although it eased, it did not completely change its tyranny, so that it died in Tian's home a few years after his death. After death, the biggest event that changed this country was Jiang. Qi Jinggong's government is almost unruly. He is the king of national subjugation.
It can be seen that "Fang" came from Buddhism, which reduced the moral level of middle-aged people in the pre-Qin period to a rebellious level, completely contrary to the actual situation of Chinese civilization.
5. Qi Xuanwang cattle case.
According to the seventh chapter of Mencius Hui Liang Wang Shang, if the king was sitting in the hall and a cow passed by, Wang Jianzhi said, "What is a cow?" Right: "It will be a bell." The king said, "Give it up. I can't stand being wrapped in it. If I am innocent, I will die. " He said, "but why use a clock?" He said, "What can we do? Change with sheep. " When I was a baby, I trembled with fear.
Here, Qi Xuanwang is herding cattle. He later explained that he didn't love money, he was reluctant. From the standpoint of the monarch of such a big country as Qi, the religious activities of the royal family are negligible only in terms of financial resources: therefore, the explanation is credible.
Or: Qi Xuanwang traded sheep for cattle. It is not enough to have fraternity. Not bad. Therefore, while affirming Wang Xuan's benevolent policy, Mencius also gently criticized him for turning small into big.
In fact, the benevolence in the pre-Qin period was generally the love of pushing and equality (Mohist universal love is not universal love for all beings): it was pushed by relatives to innocent people; From the living to the dead and figurines; And life is divided into high and low, from the most expensive people to the lives of some primates. This is in line with the law of diminishing marginal human emotions. Many people in modern times sympathize with ants, but generally don't sympathize with mosquitoes. Qi Xuanwang exchanged sheep for cattle, because cattle are more expensive than sheep on the steps of nobility and inferiority; On the promotion of love, the most expensive is preferred.
6. Mencius' theory of "a gentleman cooks far away"
"King Hui Liang" Mencius said to Qi Xuanwang: "A gentleman is also an animal. He saw his cow and couldn't bear to watch it die; I can't bear to eat its meat when I hear its voice. Far cooking is also a gentleman. " And the cloud "kindness to animals" and "kindness to protect the four seas".
7. "Virtue is life" is a popular concept in the pre-Qin period.
Virtue means life. On the whole, there are not only the birth of everything in the world, but also the birth and protection of other lives by people.
It can be seen that in the pre-Qin period, both Qi Jinggong (passive release) and Qi Xuanwang (semi-active release) were released; And it is purely moral rather than utilitarian; And the behavior is praised, and there is an influential culture next to it. Mencius' theory that "a gentleman is far from the kitchen" is almost close to Buddhism's universal love for all beings and can only be regarded as the self-discipline ideal of a minority.
The breadth of Buddhist fraternity is not as broad as Confucianism and Mohism; However, the moral depth of Confucianism and Mohism (Yan Zi can be said to be the father of Mohism) is not as deep as that of Buddhism: Buddhism's universal love seems to be extremely moral, but Buddhism advocates not killing life mostly to avoid bad karma, and it is more rewarding and utilitarian to accumulate virtue and do good; Waiting for the tiger to lay down his life is just a legend or misinformation that is difficult to copy; Buddhism still has me, and the essence of human needs determines the upper limit of Buddhist fraternity. We can't see the theory of Buddhism, and we can't see the school of Mohism that strives to support all beings. On the contrary, we rely on charity to support ourselves, treat others as tools, and be selfish: utilitarianism is behind popular religion. In addition, at least the release of Buddhism in Middle-earth is both utilitarian and primate. For example, the release targets are naturally growing turtles, snakes and fish, not domestic pigs and ducks. As a WTO member, Confucianism and Mohism are different from the birth of Buddhism and cannot be widely released. In that case, production will be difficult to continue, nomadic people will need to be resettled, and people will be evil (the pressure of survival will be involved); But when it was placed in the second place, it was beneficial, so it was praised. It can be seen that there are different types of release in China; If advocated in culture, the moral level is higher than the release of Tianzhu.
Zhao Jianzi stood up in Liezi, which is in line with the normal scope of love promotion. According to "Zhou Li" Volume 30 "Offering Pigeons for the Aged", pigeons were precious animals with high spirituality at that time, so they were released, which was different from chickens, ducks and ants. Moreover, his release is to show kindness and utility, which is lower than what Confucius and Yan advocated and what Jing and Xuan did. This is normal. However, it was not until Buddhism was introduced into China that a continuous and extensive custom of releasing animals was formed.