The Three Sages of the Pre-Qin Dynasty: Laozi, Mozi and Confucius were great men who created the original spiritual realm of truth, goodness and beauty in Chinese civilization.
Lao Tzu was the first sage in China who spoke the truth to the highest level. It is precisely for this reason that although he only left five thousand words of the Tao Te Ching, the history of the Chinese nation is said to be five thousand years, but only one Laozi's works contain the most complete expression of truth. Only he can say, "He who knows others is wise, and he who knows himself is wise; he who conquers others is powerful, and he who conquers himself is strong." This is the first motto that lays the foundation for the judgment of true and false. Only he dares to boldly advise people, including all rulers, "Those who strive for success will not stand, those who cross will not be able to do it, those who see themselves will not understand, those who are self-righteous will not manifest themselves, those who cut down on themselves will have no success, and those who are proud of themselves will not grow long. The Tao also means that eating more and carrying on things may lead to evil, so those who have the Tao will not survive." It is very regrettable that after the Han Dynasty "exclusively respected Confucianism", in China's more than two thousand years of history, speaking the truth and telling the truth. All the people there have died, and the later Chinese people don’t even know what the truth is. It is precisely for this reason that in Chinese history, and to this day, shameless voices praising virtues and boasting are endless. Blessed are those who specialize in flattery. The Confucian literati after the Han Dynasty could say all the good things, while the autocratic rulers could do all the bad things. They only suffered the ordinary people of China, causing the sky to respond and the earth to fail. Such is the world without truth.
Mozi was the first sage in China who took good (practical) words to the highest level. It is precisely for this reason that in China's more than two thousand years of written history, the only discussion of logic can be found in the Mohist Classics. What's the logic? Logic is a tool for human beings to reason, and only people who are reasonable need to be logical; people who are unreasonable and frequently use violence and curses to treat others do not need to be logical at all. Not only that, people who want to do practical things well, such as craftsmen, also need logic, because logic actually reflects the laws of the material world and the life world. The Confucian literati in China in the past did not need to reason or do practical things, so they did not need to be logical at all, and of course they did not study logic at all.
Confucius was the first sage in China who brought beautiful (pleasant) words to the highest level. It is also necessary to say nice things because it reflects human ideals and aspirations. The dreams of "benevolent people love others", "don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you", and the dream of a world of "Great Harmony" in which "you will not only kiss your own relatives, nor will you only treat your own children.", etc., are indeed very tempting. It's a pity that in real life, all this lacks authenticity. It is almost people's eternal wish, or a pretense used by hypocrites to express themselves. But Confucius does have his real value. His real value lies in the fact that he established the personal morality of "loving relatives and respecting respect" for the Chinese family. The two words "filial piety" and "ti" in "filial piety, loyalty, loyalty and forgiveness" actually constitute almost the only survival value or meaning of life for the Chinese people for more than two thousand years. Zhu Xi praised Confucius: "If heaven did not give birth to Zhongni, eternity would be as long as night." It is inappropriate to compare Confucius to sunshine and take it seriously. Sunshine should be the truth. There is still some shadow in using sunshine to compare Laozi or Mozi. However, these two people actually did not play their due role in Chinese history. Although this is not their fault, they were the later "supreme masters". Confucianism" has obscured them. I think it would be more appropriate to change the word "night" to the word "winter". Confucius' "filial piety is the foundation of benevolence" has indeed played a great role among Chinese people. In the entire totalitarian society, there is violence, fraud, lies everywhere, and the world is cruel. However, the family affection given to the Chinese people by the "filial piety" in the family has given the Chinese people the ultimate feeling of "humbling each other and humiliating each other." A little warmth. During the long Chinese Middle Ages, didn’t the Chinese only count on this little warmth of family affection throughout their lives? Is the so-called "pleasurable thing" of "the night of flowers and candles in the bridal chamber, the time of naming names on the gold medal list" really that "fun"? "The night of flowers and candles in the bridal chamber" is the process of life, not the spiritual pursuit of mankind at all. What about "the time when the gold medal is named"? Who is the title of the "Golden List Title"? What's the name of the question? What "truth" value does such a "name" have in human history? It's nothing more than being a hawk for others. The poor Chinese people are obviously being fooled by the totalitarian rulers, but they still think they are "happy". What a sad thing! However, it was such a pitiful amount of fun that allowed the Chinese to spend more than two thousand years. This is obviously an extremely cold "severe winter", but the Chinese people rely on the "filial piety" advocated by Confucius to bring them a little warmth and a little meaning of life. For this reason alone, we have to thank Confucius and respect him as a great man.
"If heaven does not give birth to Zhongni, eternity will be like a long winter." Unfortunately, the self-appointed successors of Confucius after the Han Dynasty, including Han Confucians, Song Confucians, Ming Confucians, etc., have obscured the other two important meanings of Chinese people's lives. This is to destroy the light of truth (the normal way) advocated by Laozi and the value of good (practical) logic advocated by Mozi.
As for the value of each of China's three sages, my summary is as follows:
Lao Tzu is a true sage, a sage who speaks the truth, and his thoughts on the common way (truth) , could have brought us light, and also prompted us to discover greater philosophical and scientific light.
Mozi was a good sage, a sage who told the truth. His practical logical and theoretical thoughts could have brought us a comfortable life and prompted us to invent more science and technology. value.
Confucius is a beautiful sage, a sage who is easy to talk about. His emotional benevolence thoughts have brought us the warmth of family affection, and can also encourage us to create richer artistic warmth. .
It is a pity that after the "exclusive respect for Confucianism" in the Han Dynasty, the two sages Laozi and Mozi passed away, that is, the true sages and the good sages tended to disappear, leaving only the beautiful sages in the world, and the lonely beauty. In fact, the saint is just a puppet, having lost all the vitality of being a "holy".
I have pointed out in the previous article that it is not true, not good, and not beautiful. Without the prerequisites for judgments of true and false and good and evil, judgments of beauty and ugliness will inevitably lead to false judgments. It is precisely because of this that the Confucians of the Han Dynasty became pseudo-theologians. They had to use "Heaven" to speak: "Heaven and man respond, and heaven and man are one." The Confucians of the Song and Ming dynasties became pseudo-philosophers. They had to use "Heaven" to speak. We use "reason" to speak, and "propriety is reason", or "nature is reason", and "heart is reason". Without the "true" principle of Laozi's universe, there is only the "benevolence and righteousness" of Confucius' dream. Where can we get "reason"? Therefore, they can only call Confucius' "king, king, minister, father, father, son, son" as "the law of heaven". The two thousand years after the Han Dynasty can be called the era of pseudo-science. This is the inevitable historical outcome of China losing the "true" sage Laozi and the "good" sage Mozi, leaving only the "beautiful" sage Confucius.
Laozi taught the Chinese people to be real people, Mozi taught the Chinese people to be real people, and Confucius taught the Chinese people to be sincere people. If a person can do these three things at the same time, he will definitely be a successful person.
Unfortunately, in China, the truth of Laozi and the goodness of Mozi were all lost after the Han Dynasty. Only the beauty of Confucius can only become pseudo-beauty. It’s easy to understand. If you can’t be a real person, you will definitely not be a sincere person.
Whoever wants to be a sincere person will definitely die. Don’t you see how many loyal ministers have died unjustly in the past? Even in modern times, how many "sincere people" have fallen into "conspiracy" and been labeled as rightists and counterrevolutionaries?
The only ones left are those who either pretend to be sincere, or simply work and eat, being dumb, and being "good citizens" who don't want to talk about national affairs.
In the final analysis, I praise the three saints, but I firmly oppose "exclusive respect for Confucianism" and firmly deny the pseudoscience of all pseudo-scholars after the Han Dynasty who used the sign of Confucianism, whether they are Dong Zhongshu or Zhu Xi , or Wang Yangming. Later, I will analyze in detail the reasons why these pseudosciences are “fake”