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What is the meaning of Jingquan?

The theory of "jingquan" in political philosophy is actually the embodiment of the understanding of "constancy" and "change" in ancient Chinese philosophy in the field of political theory. "Constant" and "change" are a pair of categories in the traditional philosophical theoretical system that can fully embody the dialectical color of Chinese philosophy and have the greatest adaptability, thus forming the most solid foundation for dialectical thinking in Chinese philosophy.

Traditional Chinese culture understands "constancy" and "change" from the perspective of "the relationship between heaven and man". "Change" is a concept that Chinese people take for granted, and it permeates people's understanding of the universe, life, and society. For example, in nature, "high banks are valleys, and deep valleys are mausoleums." In the universe, "heaven and earth cannot last for a moment." In human life, there is birth, old age, illness, and death, and even "impermanence." In society, family, country, and the world, There will be rise and fall. But in Chinese cultural concepts, no matter how common "change" is, it still cannot represent the essence of the universe, life and society.

The Chinese cultural classic "The Book of Changes" first raised and discussed the relationship between "change" and "constancy". "The Book of Changes" believes that although the objective world is full of "changes", "changes" are regular. The causes and roots of "changes" do not lie in the "changes" themselves, but have their internal basis. These basis and The law is "constant", which exists objectively and is the ubiquitous "way of nature", so it is absolute, while "change" is relative and traceable. The so-called "change is used, and it does not change" It’s the body”. From the perspective of "body function", "constant" always operates and exists according to its own laws and does not depend on people's will. At the same time, recognizing "change" is to achieve "constant". Understanding "constant", and following and grasping "constant" to cope with "change" in the real world is the purpose and destination of understanding. Moreover, this "constant" in nature is the way of nature, the "Dao of Heaven" (natural laws) or "natural principles", and it is embodied in the feudal ethical principles in the human world. According to this, only by practicing the feudal rules and rituals can people follow the "Way of Heaven", and can they fundamentally grasp the changes in the world and achieve the ideal state of "unity of nature and man".

On the other hand, Confucianism also demonstrates the objectivity of human political order and the scalability of its specific manifestations from the perspective of human ethics. When discussing the Confucian theory of "Government by Virtue", the author pointed out that China's political order developed from the "family". The enfeoffment system of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the political model of the family and the world after the Qin and Han Dynasties all revealed the core role of patriarchal blood relations in the construction of political order. Because "family" is the basic unit of social organization, it is natural for ancient politicians and thinkers to regard "human ethics", the relationship between people and between people and groups, as a political principle. That is to say, the political organization of society is only an expansion of human relations. Only with the order and stability of "human relations" can coordination among people, individuals and groups be achieved, and the whole society can be orderly. Therefore, "The Great Learning" has "cultivation, harmony "Family, rule the country, and bring peace to the world". According to this logic, "rituals and laws", that is, the hierarchical order of feudal ethics, are naturally regarded as the "way of nature", the "classic", and the highest principle that restrains individual behavior and maintains the social order of the entire world. Moreover, people also want to Follow this "Sutra" to arrange the order of the personal inner world and build a personality system. The responsibility of politicians is to make the entire society follow and practice this "ritual" and strictly follow the order of "lord, minister, father, son, son", so that all names in society match the reality, thereby maintaining feudal rule. Of course, since Confucian ethical and political philosophy uses the laws of human ethics to deduce and demonstrate the "Way of Heaven and Earth" and demonstrate the principles of etiquette and law in the world, then human ethics is not something "in itself" by nature, but contains the element of "emotion". There are factors that can be accommodated. Therefore, although the responsibility of politicians is to adhere to and maintain the "jing" of feudal principles, at the same time they have to take into account human feelings and physics and adhere to the "moderate" to avoid paranoia or "harming the Tao with emotion." All of this and so on confirm an important issue from a methodological sense, that is, it is reasonable and necessary to carry out "contingency" on the premise of adhering to the "normal".

It can be seen that the understanding of "change" and "constancy" in traditional Chinese philosophy, while emphasizing "constancy", itself recognizes the objective existence of "change" and the rationality of "contingency". After all, there is a difference between normality and abnormality in everything, and the complexity of the relationship between "change" and "normality" in reality also requires people to coordinate the use of different methods of "change" or "normality" to deal with different situations. . In other words, under certain special circumstances, it is necessary to "change from power to change" and adjust policies to adapt to various specific situations in reality.

On the contrary, using rigid dogma to standardize and tailor the rich and colorful real life will inevitably lead to half the result with half the effort, or even be counterproductive.

This corresponds to a well-known saying: "Theory is gray, but the tree of life is evergreen." The same goes for political philosophy. Any kind of political theory must have its own self-adjusting mechanism in the process of being implemented in social practice. If it does not have a certain degree of adjustment ability and flexibility, no matter how rigorous and seemingly perfect its system is, it will inevitably fail in social practice. Hit a wall. The political theory derived from Confucianism based on the "Tao of Change" and the principles of human ethics - "The Tao of Jingquan" itself contains two mutually reinforcing aspects of "keeping the scriptures" and flexibility, including the correct handling and grasp of The understanding of the relationship between principle and flexibility in political life thus provides the methodological basis for "doing politics" and has a profound impact on the political operations of China's past dynasties, including border management.