Confucianism was conceived, formed and developed in the above atmosphere of patriarchal society.

The origin of Confucianism is related to the sacrificial ceremonies and activities under the patriarchal clan system, such as offering sacrifices to ancestors, holding funerals and honoring others. Hu Shi believes that "Confucianism is the priest of Yin people", and he believes that Confucian scholars "all rely on their ethical knowledge to get enough food and clothing. They are all priests taught by the ancestors of the Yin people, polite and dressed in Yin clothes "(see Hu Shi's article" Talking about Confucianism "). Shuowen said, "Confucianism and softness are also called warlocks." Warlocks, that is, priests of ancient religions, specialize in offering sacrifices to ancestors, serving gods, organizing funerals and serving as masters of ceremonies for nobles. The duty of Confucian scholars is to sacrifice ancestors and communicate with people and ghosts. So there are similarities between Confucianism and witchcraft. Later, Confucianism gradually separated from witchcraft and became a specialized profession. Its function is to engage in religious activities and cultural and educational activities. In the historical development, cultural and educational activities have increasingly become the main activities of Confucianism. In line with this, its religious color is getting weaker and weaker. Therefore, Zhou Li Taizai said: "Confucianism and Taoism are for the people." "Zhou Li Tianguan" also said: "Confucianism gains the people by Tao." The "Tao" here refers to the six arts, and Confucianism refers to the Taoist class. At this time, Confucianism has completely become a teacher. As can be seen from the above, Confucianism is the product of patriarchal society, and its main duty is to worship ancestors and serve gods and communicate with people and ghosts.

Confucianism is different from Confucianism. However, there is no doubt that Confucianism and Confucianism have deep historical roots. As an independent school, Confucianism was founded by Kong Qiu (55 BC1-479 BC) at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period. According to Historical Records Confucius Family, Confucius' ancestor was an aristocrat in the Song Dynasty, and Song Benyin was later. It can be seen that the ancestor of Confucius was a noble person of Yin. Confucius received a good cultural education and the influence of ancient laws and regulations from an early age. "Confucius' House" says: "Confucius is a child's play, standing on the beans and standing on the ceremony. "Cowpea is a sacrificial vessel. When Confucius was a child, he was good at imitating sacrificial ceremonies and arranging sacrificial vessels. When I grew up, I became a Confucian who helped slave owners and nobles handle funeral ceremonies. It can be seen that he was influenced by Zhou Li since he was a child. I am naturally familiar with the etiquette system since the Yin and Zhou Dynasties. Confucius claimed that "I can talk about Li Xia" and "I can talk about Li Yin". He highly praised and actively advocated "Zhou Zhide", which he considered to be "the ultimate virtue" (The Analects of Confucius Taber). He yearned for the complete etiquette system of the Zhou Dynasty. He said: "Zhou Jian is the second generation, and he is very depressed! I am from Zhou. " (The Analects of Confucius Eight Shu) Because he yearns for the Rites of Zhou, he has deep feelings for Duke Zhou, the maker of the Rites of Zhou. In his later years, he sighed, "What a pity! I have been declining for a long time, and I no longer dream of Duke Zhou. " (The Analects of Confucius) Confucius believes that the etiquette system of the Zhou Dynasty was formed on the basis of Xia and Shang rites, through some additions and deletions. The third generation gift week is well prepared. Therefore, the etiquette system of the Zhou Dynasty is rich and colorful. Yearning for and restoring "Zhou Li" is the ultimate goal of Confucius' ideological and political activities in his life. Therefore, Zhang Xuecheng said: "Confucius is great, and learning from Zhou Li can cover all of him." (Literature, History, Yi Tong, Under the Original Road).

So what is the ritual that Confucius yearned for and pursued all his life?

It is generally believed that Zhou Li is a set of laws, regulations, rules and ceremonies based on the patriarchal clan system. Rites in the Zhou Dynasty were a set of habitual rules and regulations in the early days of slavery, which were formed by transforming the original etiquette centered on offering sacrifices to gods (ancestors) and systematizing and expanding it. The hierarchical system based on consanguineous paternalism is the backbone of this set of laws and regulations, and the political and economic systems such as enfeoffment system, hereditary system and fief system are its extensions and expansions. (Re-evaluation of Confucius by Li See Zehou, History of Ancient China Thought, People's Publishing House, 1986).

However, in the era of Confucius' life, there has been a situation of "ritual collapse and bad music" in society. The conquest of rites and music is no longer "from the emperor", but "from the princes", "from the doctors" and even "accompanying the ministers in the life of state affairs". Confucius was saddened by the emergence of such a situation. "The Analects of Confucius Bashu" records that once, Lu was not at home and used the ceremony of "Bashu court dance". When Confucius learned this, he was filled with indignation and strongly condemned this violation of Zhou Li. He said: "dancing eight steps in court is tolerable, but not tolerated." According to Zuo Zhuan's Eleven Years of Mourning for the Duke, Ji wanted to activate the land tax system to increase taxes, so Ran Qiu, a student of Confucius, asked Confucius for advice. Confucius said: "The descendants want to practice the law, and the Duke of Zhou's code is there; If you want to go, why go? Confucius advocated: "Take its thickness and take its thinness." . "However, Ran Qiu has implemented the land tax system from Jishi. Confucius couldn't stand Ran Qiu's breach of etiquette, so he was furious and launched students to criticize and attack Ran Qiu. "Jishi rich in the duke of zhou, also seeks the product and benefit. Confucius said,' If it's not my disciple, it's okay for the boy to beat the drum.' "("The Analects of Confucius Advanced ") From the above, we can clearly see that Confucius severely reprimanded and criticized all kinds of speeches and behaviors that violated the rites of Zhou from the standpoint of maintaining the rites of Zhou. He believes that his lofty cultural mission is to restore the authority of Zhou Li and reiterate the hierarchical system based on patriarchal clan system.

Confucius' method of restoring "Zhou Li" is to correct the name. Once a student of Confucius, Luz, asked Confucius, "Wei Jun regards his son as a politician, and his son should learn from him first?" Confucius said, "It must make sense!" ..... Ill-named, ill-spoken, ill-spoken, and impossible. If things fail, happiness will not last, and punishment will be improper. "(The Analects of Confucius, Lutz) The specific content of the rectification is" Jun Jun, Minister, Father and Son "(The Analects of Confucius, Yan Yuan). That is to say, a person in the position of Jun should have both the character of a person with the name Jun and the treatment of a person with the name Jun. A person in the position of minister should have the character of a person with a minister's name and be treated as a person with a minister's name. And so on. Confucius' remarks about "correcting one's name" were made against the words and deeds that violated the "Zhou Li" in the society at that time. In his view, the conquest of rites and music "from princes", "from doctors" and "accompanying ministers in national life" is "no monarch, no minister, no father and no son", which does not conform to the Zhou Li. Confucius believed that social chaos was caused by the confusion between "name" and "reality". According to Zhou Li, the "truth" of the monarch should conform to the "name" of the monarch and the "truth" of the minister should conform to the "name" of the minister. At that time, the actual monarch could not perform the duties of "nominal" monarch stipulated by Zhou Li. In fact, I can't fulfill my responsibility as a "name" stipulated by Zhou Li. This is the existence of "name" and the death of "reality". Confucius thought that it was wrong to change the reality, so he tried to correct the changed or changing reality with the name (as stipulated by Zhou Li), in an attempt to correct the reality with the name. Correcting one's name is to stipulate the hierarchical meaning of monarch, minister and father. Correcting the name is actually to set norms and guidelines for people's words and deeds. This norm and standard is Zhou Li. Confucius' thought of correcting the name has a certain relationship with the formation of feudal famous religion later.

Although Confucius tried his best to restore Zhou Li, he did not copy it completely, but gained some gains and losses and developed it. The most obvious manifestation of this development is that he used "benevolence" to interpret the ceremony, and found an internal virtue foundation for the external mandatory etiquette rules and regulations, thus transforming the external "heteronomy" of the ceremony into the internal moral "self-discipline". Confucius said, "Self-denial and self-courtesy are benevolence. A day of self-denial and self-denial, the world will return to benevolence. For benevolence, for yourself, for people? " (The Analects of Confucius, Yan Yuan) Confucius emphasized here that only by restoring the Rites of Zhou and consolidating the hierarchical order laid down in the Rites of Zhou can it be called benevolence. The ceremony of Zhou is based on the "pro" of the patriarchal clan system. Therefore, Confucius attached great importance to cultivating people's filial piety. Confucius' disciples summed up the essential characteristics of benevolence and said, "The filial piety is the foundation of benevolence." (Learning from the Analects of Confucius) Explaining courtesy with benevolence is to combine moral norms with the political system. Behaviors that conform to the rites of Zhou are also behaviors that conform to ethical norms. The thought and action of being loyal to the monarch in politics is essentially derived from the moral words and deeds of honoring father and brother. Home is the foundation of the country, and the country is the expansion of home. Therefore, the home and country are isomorphic, and the monarch and father are one. Patriarchy is the foundation of monarchical power, and monarchical power is the extension of patriarchy. So loyalty and filial piety are unified. Filial piety to clan elders is loyalty to the national court. Filial piety is equivalent to realizing the basic requirement of benevolence, that is, "being a politician." Confucius himself spoke more clearly about the relationship between filial piety and benevolence. He said: "A gentleman is loyal to his relatives, and * * * is prosperous in benevolence." (The Analects of Confucius Taber) In other words, rulers can practice the virtues of loyalty to their loved ones, such as filial piety, and the ruled will compete for benevolence. If everyone can do this, the words and deeds of chaos will disappear. So some people say, "He is also filial, but few people are good at making mistakes!" ! It's not easy to make mistakes, but there are no troublemakers. "It can be seen that Confucius' thoughts on benevolence have a very strong patriarchal consanguinity, which is the brand left by the patriarchal society at that time in Confucius' thoughts.

However, we should also see that, on the other hand, Confucius' thoughts try to get rid of the shackles of patriarchal culture on people's thoughts to a certain extent. This makes Confucius' thoughts full of fierce contradictions and conflicts. For example, Confucius advocated "love", but his love was divided into closeness and distance based on consanguinity, that is, "kissing with skill, respecting sages and so on", so what he said was a kind of poor love. For another example, he emphasized "Jun Jun, minister, father and son", but on the other hand, he thought that "the monarch and minister should be polite and the minister should be loyal", and the former was the basis of the latter. This contains the idea that if you are rude, I can leave you and choose another sage. This is the so-called "sage serving his doctor". Confucius further extended this idea. For example, he said, "If there is a way in the world, you can see it; if there is no way, you can hide it." ("The Analects of Confucius Taber") "Eating and drinking, bending your arms and resting on it, is also fun." (The Analects of Confucius) This shows that there is an ideological tendency in Confucius' thought to try to break through the fetters of patriarchal clan system and strongly pursue spiritual freedom. Nevertheless, the tendency of attaching importance to patriarchal clan system is still the main theme and leading thought of his thought.

The patriarchal clan system and consanguinity in Confucius' thought have been recognized by later Confucian scholars. Confucian scholars in later generations praised the basic ethical and political principles of isomorphism of family and country and unity of monarch and father. For example, Meng Ziyun said, "Everyone has his own words, and they are all called the kingdom of the world. The foundation of the world is in the country, the foundation of the country is at home, and the foundation of the family is in the body. " (Mencius under Li Lou) We can see that the isomorphism of family and country and the unity of monarch and father seem to be a common sense view that needs no proof and is self-evident in Mencius' era. The Book of Changes has another preface: "There are couples, then there are fathers and sons, then there are fathers and sons, then there are princes and ministers." The relationship between monarch and minister is an extension of the relationship between father and son. The latter is the basis of the former. The relationship between father and son is a natural blood relationship, and the relationship between monarch and minister is a political relationship. However, in China's traditional society, these two relationships are not in conflict, but are both external and internal. The Book of Rites says: "If husband and wife are righteous, then father and son are close, and father and son are close, then the monarch and minister are right." The relationship between father and son determines the relationship between monarch and minister, and filial piety is the basis of loyalty. Moreover, in ancient China, the crime of patricide was the same as that of regicide. According to the Book of Rites Tan Gong Xia: "When I am a public official, I will inform those who killed my father. The public suddenly lost their seats and said,' This is my sin.' Yue:' I have tried my best to break the prison. I kill the king, and the incumbent can't forgive me. If a son kills his father, the incumbent will not forgive him. ""Because the relationship between father and son is the basis of the relationship between monarch and minister, son patricide and minister regicide should be guilty of the same crime.

"University" further concretizes and systematizes the Confucian ethical and political model of home country. "University" said: "The ancient desire is obviously superior to the world, governing the country first; If you want to govern your country, you must first get your family together. " In the past, the family ruled the country, because home was the foundation of the country. Those who know the beginning, the end and the order are the people of Tao. Why can we rule the country and level the world only if we tidy up our home? "University" did not directly answer such a question, but indirectly pointed out that "the so-called rule of the country must be based on one's own family, and there are no people who can be taught without family. Therefore, a gentleman is a Buddhist without becoming a monk: he is filial, so he is a gentleman; Brother, so the matter is long; Well, so make the public also. " If you can't unite your family, you can't run a country. Therefore, family is a necessary condition for governing the country. And "becoming a monk as a teacher" shows that the family is a sufficient condition for governing the country. In short, managing the family is a necessary and sufficient condition for governing the country. In other words, you can't govern a country without a good family, but you can govern a country with a good family. This fully shows the cultural characteristics of patriarchal clan system with isomorphism of family and country and unity of monarch and father. What needs special attention is that the explanation of filial piety, filial piety and kindness in University completely takes the moral norms and political categories that reflect the natural blood relationship as one thing. According to the university, filial piety is loyalty and loyalty is filial piety. Therefore, as long as filial piety is enough, there is no need to mention loyalty at all, because "filial piety is so important to the monarch." This may be one of the main reasons why China traditional culture attaches too much importance to filial piety. Since the family is the foundation of the country and the family is the premise of governing the country and the world, so "a benevolent government, a benevolent government; Let a family make concessions and let a country make concessions. " We should be family members, and then we can teach our people. "We should be brothers and brothers, and then we can teach our people. Because Neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasties highly praised Da Xue, Zhu compiled it into four books together with The Analects of Confucius, Mencius and The Doctrine of the Mean, which was widely circulated in the society and became a well-known reader. In the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the four books became the official textbooks for imperial examinations, so this ethical and political model of isomorphism of family and country and unity of monarch and father was widely circulated and integrated in the society at that time. Although the prototype of the patriarchal society had changed to a certain extent in the late feudal society of China, the influence of this patriarchal culture stubbornly occupied people's minds and became a shackle that bound people's thoughts.

As we mentioned earlier, in Confucius' thoughts, although maintaining the ceremony based on the patriarchal clan system is its dominant aspect, Confucius still has an ideological tendency to try to break through the shackles of the patriarchal clan system. However, in the later development of Confucianism, the relationship between monarch and minister, father and son, and husband and wife gradually became absolutely one-sided. Dong Zhongshu in Han Dynasty is the representative of this thought. Dong Zhongshu lived in the era of economic prosperity and political unity in Han Dynasty. In order to consolidate centralized rule, Dong Zhongshu absolutes and sanctifies monarchical power, patriarchal power and husband power. The monarch, father and husband have absolute power and do not undertake any obligations at all. Although ministers, sons and wives are deprived of all their rights, they have countless obligations to bear. Dong Zhongshu said:

"Yin and Yang, wife and husband, son and father, minister and you. Things have no combination, and the combination has its own yin and yang. Yang is both yin and yin is both yang; A husband is a wife and a wife is a husband; Father and son, son and father; A monarch is a minister, and a minister is a monarch. The righteousness of husband and wife, father, son and wife all adopt the way of yin and yang. The monarch is yang and the minister is yin; The father is yang and the son is yin; The husband is yang and the wife is yin. * * * Don't walk alone, don't know how to start, and finally can't divide the work, which means having both. Therefore, the minister is the king, the son is the father, the wife is the husband, the yin is the yang, and the earth is the sky. " (Spring and Autumn Stories, Basic Meaning)

The basic principle of this passage by Dong Zhongshu is that Yang respects Yin. In the contradictory relationship between Yin and Yang, Yang is always in the dominant position, while Yin is always in the passive dominant position. Therefore, Yin is always regarded as Yang, the minister is the monarch, the son is the father and the wife is the husband. The son is always in the subordinate position of the father, the wife is in the subordinate position of the husband and the minister is in the subordinate position of the king. The latter is always attached to the former. This relationship between domination and domination actually reflects the essence of the feudal ethical relationship of "three cardinal guides and five permanents" and also truly reflects the essence of the feudal central autocratic regime. It is on this basis that Dong Zhongshu further put forward the so-called "three cardinal guides". The theory of "five permanent members". Confucianism stresses Jun Jun, ministers, father and son, benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom; Based on this, Dong Zhongshu put forward the so-called "Three Cardinal Principles of King", that is, "the monarch is the minister's cardinal principle", "the father is the child's cardinal principle" and "the husband is the wife's cardinal principle". The "five permanents" are benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith. Dong Zhongshu believes that the master-slave relationship of the "three cardinal guides" cannot be changed. "Three cardinal guides" is the core of feudal ethics.

If "minister, father and son" repeatedly emphasized by primitive Confucianism is mainly an ethical model, then the "three cardinal guides" and "five permanent members" formed by the meaning of father and son of primitive Confucianism in the hands of Han Confucianism have already become ideologies adapted to the autocratic power of feudal central government. There are great differences between primitive Confucianism and Han Confucianism, but there is no denying the inevitable connection between them. This inevitable connection is based on the patriarchal clan system. The patriarchal consanguinity of primitive Confucianism is the main reason why it must be valued by the feudal central authoritarian regime. Therefore, it is a historical necessity that Confucianism rose to the leading ideology in the Han Dynasty.

Later Confucian scholars, like Dong Zhongshu, believed that the master-slave relationship of the "three cardinals" was absolutely unchangeable. For example, Zhang Zai praised Jin Xiangong's son Shen Sheng for obeying his father's orders and hanged himself, while Chow Tai Fook's son Yin Jifu obeyed his father's wishes and was driven away by his father. He said, "If you run away and wait for cooking, you will be respected", "If you bravely obey orders, so will Birch" (Mingxi). Another example is Cheng Yi's preaching that "starvation is small, but dishonor is big". Someone asked him, if a lonely widow is poor and helpless, can she remarry? Cheng Yi replied, "It's just that future generations are afraid of cold and hunger, so they have something to say. However, hunger is very small and shame is great. " (Volume 22 of the suicide note) This sentence exposes the cannibalistic nature of feudal ethics and shows the cruelty of feudal ethics and ethics. Under the cruel ethics, women absolutely obey their husbands' rights and sacrifice their right to pursue happiness in order to maintain ethics. Zhu also believes that the master-slave relationship of the "three cardinals" is not easy to locate. For example, he said, "it is not easy to locate a gentleman, but it is common." The monarch and his envoys do things, the father passes on the son, and the Taoist scriptures are also "(Selected Works, Volume 14); The three cardinal guides and the five permanent members remain unchanged, the monarch and the minister remain unchanged, and the father and son remain unchanged "(Volume 24 of Genre). In Zhu's view, Confucian classics education is inevitable and unchangeable.

The feudal ethics evolved from Confucianism has become the fetters that hinder the development and progress of China society and the shackles that bind people's thoughts and actions. Therefore, Dai Zhen once strongly criticized that the cruelty of ethics is better than severe punishment. He believes that "when people die in law, they still have compassion; If you die, who will pity you "("Mencius' Word Meaning Shu Zheng Shang "). Lu Xun also denounced feudal ethics as "cannibalism ethics".