Revealing the secret: The thoughts of the philosopher Dong Zhongshu are all based on monarchy! Let me introduce the relevant content to you in detail.
Dong Zhongshu, born in 179 BC, was a native of Dadongguzhuang, Guangchuan Town, Guangchuan County, Hengshui County, Hebei Province. He was a famous thinker, philosopher, politician and educator in the Western Han Dynasty. His works "Three Strategies of Heaven and Man" and "Flowers of Spring and Autumn" incorporated the Taoist theory of Yin Yang and the Five Behaviors on the basis of the classic Confucian theory, and established a new Confucian ideological system with theological tendencies. But I believe that many of us have an impression of him that comes from his ideological proposition of "deposing hundreds of schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone" proposed by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty Liu Che.
Portrait of Dong Zhongshu
Dong Zhongshu’s birth was extraordinary. He was born into a landlord’s family, and his family also had a very rich collection of books, which laid a good foundation for him to engage in Confucian research in the future. learning basis. When he was thirty years old, he began to recruit a large number of students and teach Confucianism. As he enrolled more and more students, his knowledge and reputation grew. Later, during the reign of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, he was appointed as a doctor and specialized in teaching Confucian classics. After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty succeeded to the throne, he served as the prime minister of Jiangdu State. He mainly studied the laws of yin and yang to predict wind and rain by studying "Gongyang" and other works.
In the first year of Emperor Yuanguang of the Han Dynasty (134 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty issued an edict to solicit methods and strategies for governing the country. So Dong Zhongshu put forward the theories of "the sensibility of nature and man" and "the great unification" in his article "Countermeasures for Promoting Virtues and Virtues". Dong Zhongshu also believed that "Heaven" is the root of everything. Both nature and human life are controlled by Heaven. Therefore, the political order and ideas that reflect the destiny of heaven should be unified. His suggestion was eventually adopted by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, which promoted social stability and economic development at that time.
Dong Zhongshu died of illness in 104 BC at the age of seventy-six. After his death, he was buried on the outskirts of Chang'an, the capital at that time.
Dong Zhongshu’s Thoughts
In China’s five thousand years of history, there have been many thinkers. Based on the needs of the times, these thinkers will put forward ideas that are consistent with the times or are prophetic. These ideas had a very important impact at that time or in later generations. Dong Zhongshu was a famous thinker in the Han Dynasty of my country. What important thoughts did he have? Let's take a look at Dong Zhongshu's thoughts next.
Dong Zhongshu was an outstanding Confucian in the early Western Han Dynasty. Based on the political needs of the early Western Han Dynasty, he put forward a series of ideological propositions to strengthen feudal rule and develop feudal economy, some of which had a profound impact on later generations. . Dong Zhongshu's thoughts can be mainly divided into three types, namely "deposing hundreds of schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone", "influence of heaven and man and divine power of kings", and "three cardinal principles and five constant principles".
The first is a claim made to strengthen centralization. The quiet and inactive thought of Huang Lao could no longer meet the political needs of the early Han Dynasty. Confucian theories such as great unity, benevolence and righteousness, and ethics of monarchs and ministers seemed more suitable for the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. So what Dong Zhongshu proposed was deeply appreciated by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and it became the famous "Three Strategies of Heaven and Man". Confucianism also became the "orthodox" thought from that time.
The second type was proposed in order to strengthen the monarch's power. The induction between heaven and man proposed by Dong Zhongshu believes that human behavior is related to the movement of heaven. The rise and fall of human society will affect the way of heaven, and heaven will also judge the rule of the human world through phenomena such as disasters or auspiciousness. The original intention was to use heaven to impose certain restrictions on the emperor's actions.
The third type is the basic principles of life. Since Dong Zhongshu proposed the idea of ??"Three Cardinal Guidelines and Five Constant Virtues", it has been valued by kings of all dynasties and has lasted in China for more than two thousand years. It has both good and bad effects on China. When inheriting these ideas, we must take the essence and discard the dross.