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It is generally believed that Confucius said that "the initiator has no consequences". The so-called "figurines" refer to the dolls used for burial in ancient China.

As an imitation symbolizing the sacrifice of slaves, it was gradually adopted in the tombs of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, prevailed from Qin and Han Dynasties to Sui and Tang Dynasties, and gradually declined after the Northern Song Dynasty. "Qi" is a modal particle, which is used to express speculation. What exactly does this sentence mean?

The common understanding of "the initiator, there is no afterthought" is that the first person buried with figurines will probably be childless! Now we often use "initiator" to refer to the pioneer of bad atmosphere.

sage kong practiced prudence and silence all his life, and he also taught his disciples many times that "a gentleman should break up with no evil words" and "words without words are not far away" (that is, words should be elegant and literary, otherwise it will not last long).

It's hard to imagine that such a straightforward and angry curse came from Confucius, the gentle and gentle sage of Dacheng.

We believe that "posterity" does not refer to future generations, but refers to the afterlife and life, that is, the afterlife of future generations. "Nothing will happen to you" means that even though you are a nobleman now, if you continue to act in such a perverse and vicious way, your future happiness will be hard to protect.

Of course, language is not rigid and unchangeable, and it is completely understandable that later generations will expand and play when quoting.

the phrase "the initiator, there is no consequence" has always been controversial in understanding, and its source is also questionable. It is not found in Confucius' own works, nor can it be found in the Analects of Confucius, which describes Confucius' words and deeds. It was first seen in Mencius Liang Huiwang: "Zhong Ni said:' The initiator has nothing to do with it!' It is also used for it to be like a person.

that is to say, Mencius quoted this sentence from Confucius in the process of discussing the governance of the country with Liang Huiwang. Mencius did not explain the exact meaning of "there is nothing behind it", but his contempt and disgust for the "initiator" were beyond words.

why did Confucius scold people who buried with figurines? In fact, Mencius has given the answer-"use it for its elephant." It is the use of "figurines" that are very similar to real people and realistic to be buried with them that caused Confucius' extreme dissatisfaction.

We know that in Shang Dynasty before Zhou Dynasty, human sacrifice was widely used among slave owners and nobles. According to their logic, slaves before their death were accessories of slave owners and tools called "Cleisthenes". It is only natural that slaves buried with their masters after the death of slave owners spent some "tools" and "attached property".

the "living" are sacrificed. This is a feature of a slave society.

Later, it entered the feudal society and was replaced by "terracotta warriors", which can be regarded as a great progress of human social civilization. These buried dolls are made of wood, stone, pottery, copper and other different materials, most of which are pottery.

but isn't it more humane to be buried with pottery figurines than to be buried with the living? Why was Confucius so strongly dissatisfied? What is the context of this passage?

In fact, a little understanding of the funeral history of ancient China shows that the Shang Dynasty was popular for human sacrifice; After Zhou replaced Shang, it was banned, and instead the living were replaced by "grass spirits", that is, grass people.

in the song dynasty, Zhu Xi said, "sokcho, an ancient burial man, was regarded as a guardian (accompanying and guarding), which was called a humble spirit, just like a human figure."

Later, I felt that the simulated "human imitation" seemed inhuman. There were also "straw dogs" in the Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi's "The Fate of Heaven", that is, at one time, the real animal sacrifices such as "sacrifice" were abandoned, and the live dogs were replaced by grass dogs as sacrifices.

that is to say, there is a stage of mourning for grass people between the living and the figurines. It is a rite of rites to replace the real person with a straw man.

Later, with the development of social productive forces, some vassal countries gradually adopted the luxury ethos, and used exquisite figurines more like human beings to be buried, which made it possible to use figurines instead of grass figures as a capital to show off. This was the progress of productive forces, but it was the retrogression of civilization.

It seems that Confucius hated the people who invented the figurines' martyrdom so much that he naturally agreed with the previous funeral methods of the figurines. But Confucius is not in favor of human sacrifice, but in favor of using grass people.

The figurines are more like real people, but Confucius was furious. "Benevolence" is the foundation of Confucius' theory. How can a person who advocates kindness advocate human sacrifice?

Zhu Xi, a great scholar in the Song Dynasty, explained the sentence "The initiator has nothing to do with it" as follows: "In the Middle Ages, it was easy to use figurines, but it had a face and a machine, and it was as big as a human being. Therefore, Confucius is evil and heartless, which is the same as Mencius' view.

It has always been Confucius' pursuit to respect the king's restoration ceremony. Confucius condemned that the "initiator" took the first step (trespassing on the rites of the Zhou Dynasty), and this kind of behavior will certainly be imitated and followed by later generations.

So, if the behavior or ethos of overstepping the system of rites and music is not denounced and restored to the previous "ideal" behavior and system (rites of Zhou), then it will definitely develop into murdering the monarch and stabbing the king to kill the driver, so he thinks that it is the "collapse of rites and bad music" that led to the chaos in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

this is the essence of Confucius' condemnation-with the first challenge, there will be a second challenge from later generations, and countless times later generations overstepped the rites, and even "what is tolerable!" It can be seen that it can't stop!

Although the appearance of figurines is the development of productive forces, it seems to Confucius that it is indeed a reversal of history. If Confucius' words are understood in this historical background, it is not difficult to find that he hopes to revive the rites of Zhou Dynasty in order to avoid cultural retrogression and confusion in the etiquette system.

At the same time, Confucianism has always advocated "nurturing the rich and burying the poor". Although it is not so cruel to replace people with figurines, in Confucianism, this kind of statue symbolizing people instead of real people's martyrdom, in fact, from the heart, is still a manifestation of belittling and enslaving people, which is inhuman, just like pot calling the kettle black's martyrdom with real people.

It is naturally barbaric and cruel for Confucianism to treat others with kindness and to bury others. In fact, Confucius was opposed to human sacrifice, and even more opposed to making the funerary objects look too much like real people (such as figurines). It is enough to use the meaning of a somewhat like a grass man.

According to Xunzi, funerary objects don't have to be there, and funerary objects don't need to be cared too much. The key point is the attitude towards the living. It means to avoid due practical responsibility to be buried with figurines.

Therefore, the original meaning of "the first person to be buried with figurines" is: "The first person (although he is a nobleman at present, so he goes against the grain), probably the blessing of future generations (of those people) will be hard to protect!"

of course, this "hard to protect" is a general statement. Maybe you can't continue to be rich and honorable, and your children will flourish. Isn't it "childless" when you develop to the extreme? In this way, the understanding at the beginning of this article is also the proper meaning in the title!

It has been thousands of years since Confucius said this sentence. In fact, it is not very prominent in many maxims and teachings of "Most Holy" and "Ya Sheng". It is only in modern times that a great man repeatedly quoted this sentence in a specific period and on a specific occasion that this sentence was widely known in China.

With an open mind, great men took responsibility for the "Left" mistakes at the Lushan Conference in 1959 and the 7,-person conference in 1962.

"the initiator, there is no consequence." I have two charges: one, 1.7 million tons of steel, which was my decision and my suggestion. As a result, 9 million people went into battle and subsidized 4 billion, which was "not worth the loss". Second, the people's commune, I have no right to invent, but the right to promote. But I started it, and I can't get rid of it. ......

"the initiator, there is no consequence". I have no future? It's China's custom that girls don't count after boys call you. One of my sons was killed and the other was crazy. I think there is no future.

a big steel smelting, a people's commune. Is it me or Ke Lao who invented the Great Leap Forward? I had a talk with Ke Qingshi once, and I said it was me again. Yours belongs to ideology, do you have any responsibility? .....

from then on, it was a disaster, and 9 million people went into battle. I'm the one who started it. I should have no children and no grandchildren!

Since both ancient sages and great men in modern times have struggled with this sentence, we ordinary people might as well calm down and have a good taste of this sentence, past lives!

welcome to communicate, please pay attention to "returning to the mountains"!