Thinkers have long pointed out that evil is a powerful lever that drives the wheel of history; however, the concept and pursuit of good are always correcting the direction of the wheel of history. A harmonious society has always been a lofty ideal that mankind strives for. It is under the inspiration and guidance of this lofty ideal that human society has struggled to transform and overcome the temptation of evil, and strive to move forward in the direction of good. As a political philosophy, Pre-Qin Confucianism faced an era in which "rituals and music collapsed", the world was out of order, and evil was manifest, but thinkers embraced the belief in the "goodness" of human nature more firmly than ever before. , looking back at the civilizational tradition of rituals and music, re-exploring the spiritual direction for solving practical problems, and proposing a basic political practice plan of "denying oneself and restoring rituals", trying to awaken people's moral consciousness and rational responsibility for ethical responsibilities based on blood ethics, And then rebuild a civilized and harmonious etiquette order.

1. "Speaking" and "composing": Interpretation of the significance of the ritual and music tradition

Hegel said: "Philosophy begins with the decline of a real world." Because, as a spirit, Although the necessary philosophy has its own internal vitality and development motivation to generate and define itself, it still needs external historical conditions. Philosophy will only appear when the spirit of a nation develops to a certain stage of consciousness. Therefore, "We can say that when a nation breaks away from its specific life, when class status is differentiated and differentiated, and the entire nation is about to decline, there is a rift between inner requirements and external reality, and the old When the religious form is no longer satisfying, the spirit is indifferent to its real life, or expresses boredom and dissatisfaction, and the common ethical life is thus disintegrated, then - spiritual escape in the emptiness of the mind will begin to appear. In the field, it builds a kingdom of ideas to resist the real world." Specifically, "the decline of the real world" means the collapse of the once harmonious and stable orderly world, and human life has therefore fallen into an unstoppable state. In the expected chaotic state, without the minimum sense of security for survival, helplessness, worry, tension and pain have become an inescapable nightmare in life. Anger breeds poets, and sorrow breeds thinkers. Athens is both the cradle of poets and the hometown of philosophers. “In Athens, due to the corruption of people’s lives in Athens, a period of prosperity for philosophy came instead.” Moreover, as the essence of the spirit of the times, philosophy’s specific manifestations are closely related to the environment in which it is placed. The survival form of a specific nation is closely related: "It coexists with the nation's legal system and political system, ethical life, social life, technology, customs and material enjoyment in social life." The beginning of the pre-Qin era in China also confirms Hegel's profound insights.

As the source of Chinese civilization that has written records and can be tested, the real historical scenes and the basic way of people's lives in the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties still need to be in-depth study and detailed description by historians. We can still only judge the nature of civilization generally, or even poetically. But the real existence of "rituals and music" indeed constitutes the basic reference for people to grasp the "three generations" civilization. In Confucius' view, the rites of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties came from the same origin, and the Zhou rites were the culmination of them all. He said: "The gains and losses of the Yin Dynasty due to the Xia rites can be known; the gains and losses of the Zhou Dynasty due to the Yin rites can be known. Those who may succeed the Zhou Dynasty can be known even if they last for hundreds of generations." This understanding and judgment are in line with historical facts. . Through Zhou Gong’s making of rituals and music, the cultural tradition of rituals and music in ancient China was finally finalized and matured. According to literature, the ancient Chinese political culture before the Western Zhou Dynasty was a witchcraft culture with primitive religious nature: Xia people "obey orders, serve ghosts and respect gods"; Yin people "respect gods, lead the people to serve gods". Fan Wenlan therefore called Xia culture "obeying orders culture" and Yin and Shang culture "respecting gods culture". In the "respect for life" and "respect for gods" cultures of Xia and Shang, although rituals and music had emerged and developed to a considerable extent, they mainly existed as external forms to assist religious and political activities. By the Western Zhou Dynasty, the political significance of "mandate of destiny" and "divine will" was greatly weakened, while the political "virtue" of what humans could do became greatly highlighted. Duke Zhou organized and transformed the rituals and music from ancient times to the Yin and Shang Dynasties on a large scale, turning them into systematic social regulations and behavioral norms. In particular, the inheritance law of establishing direct descendants was established through the ritual system in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. The establishment of the system promoted the construction of the trinity of patriarchal, feudal, and hierarchical social political systems, and fundamentally solved the problem of orderly political operations. The establishment and stabilization of political order has become an object that can be grasped and manipulated by human reason, and the mysterious factors have been minimized. Therefore, corresponding to the Xia and Shang, the political culture of the Western Zhou Dynasty can indeed be called "ritual and music culture" according to its nature.

Precisely because the ritual and music culture of the Western Zhou Dynasty developed and matured on the basis of the Xia and Shang civilizations, and was the vitality that had been nurtured for a long time, even though it is like a religious commandment, it requires people to respect it. Fenghe and abide by it, but it does not bring a sense of "strangeness" to people's lives. It just shapes people's lives and brings them the sense of order, stability and security that are indispensable for life. Feelings, so that people use it daily without knowing it, and there is no possibility of rational reflection and understanding of the meaning of ritual and music itself.

However, after the pre-Qin history entered the Spring and Autumn Period, a huge change occurred. In this great change, "the descendants of the Zhou Dynasty lost their order day by day." The destruction and disorder of the patriarchal human order marked the political system established through the ritual system. The disintegration of the system model, and the situation of "the collapse of rituals and the collapse of music" as mentioned in history books has seriously faced people.

However, Confucianism founded by Confucius has a special liking for this kind of ritual and music culture. Is it really stubborn and conservative that does not want to make progress? If we relate to the historical concept of "profit and loss" that Confucius specifically mentioned, the problem is by no means so simple. The fundamental reason why the pre-Qin Confucians were able to carry out a systematic intellectual review and in-depth interpretation of the "Three Dynasties", especially the "making of rituals and music" of Zhou Gong, was that the Spring and Autumn Period in which they lived was already characterized by the "collapse of rituals and the collapse of music". ", the authority and effectiveness of ritual and music have become memories of the past. It is in the process of recalling and thinking about the ritual and music culture of the past that the spiritual value and significance of the ritual and music culture world are presented to people. To a large extent, it can be said that it was the destruction of the normative order of rituals and music that gave birth to the first ideological era of Chinese civilization - the era of "a hundred schools of thought contending"; the pre-Qin scholars all responded to the collapsed order of rituals and music. They should conduct introspection and understanding, and construct their own ideological system based on this. The so-called "contention of a hundred schools of thought" is rooted in their different judgments on the spiritual essence and social function of the traditional ritual and music order. As Yu Yingshi pointed out, the "collapse" of ancient China had two meanings: one was the social order, which was the disintegration of the so-called "feudal" system; the other was the cultural order, which was the so-called "feudal" system. When etiquette breaks down, music collapses." "From the perspective of intellectual history, the 'philosophical breakthrough' or 'transcendental breakthrough' in ancient China originated from the 'collapse' of the cultural order. In other words, it was a response to the 'collapse of rituals and the collapse of music'. Direct or indirect reactions. The central theories of Confucianism, Mohism, and Taoism can all prove this."

The uniqueness of pre-Qin Confucianism is that they are not affected by the chaos of real politics and the pain of society. They ridicule, criticize and deny the tradition of rituals and music; on the contrary, they firmly believe that it is precisely because people have abandoned the tradition of rituals and music that led to the disaster; while they highly affirm and praise the tradition of rituals and music of the three generations, they also ignore the fact that it can be seen everywhere in real life. Publicly express condemnation, criticism and hatred for the behavior of destroying and destroying rituals. From the founding of Confucianism by Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC) who lived in the late Spring and Autumn Period, through Mencius (about 372 BC - 289 BC), to Xunzi (about 313 BC - 238 BC) in the late Warring States Period Years), pre-Qin Confucianism never gave up the lofty ideological mission of interpreting and promoting the spiritual value of the tradition of ritual and music. Although during the Warring States Period, traditional rituals increasingly lost their importance in shaping the order of social and political life, and were reduced to insignificant human etiquette in daily life, pre-Qin Confucianism always embraced the idea of ??rebuilding social politics based on traditional rituals. ideals and beliefs of order. Zhang Xuecheng even pointed out: "Confucius is so great that one word about studying Zhou rites can cover all of him." Confucius indeed repeatedly expressed his admiration for the tradition of rituals and music, especially Zhou rites: "It's so great that I'm declining! It's been a long time and I can't. I dreamed of seeing the Duke of Zhou again!" "Zhou was in charge of the second generation, and he was so depressed!" But this does not mean that he is "conservative and ignorant of world affairs". To understand and grasp the inner spiritual essence of ritual and music in a positive sense, as well as the value and significance it may have for society, politics and life, that is, to explore and reveal the "Tao" contained in ritual and music, is to The basic stance adopted by Confucius in thinking about traditional ritual and music culture. It was through reflection on specific rituals and music that Confucius abstracted the "Tao" of general rituals and music, and then formed an ideological system of "benevolence and Tao" that was higher than the norms of specific rituals and music, marking the founding of Pre-Qin Confucianism. Although rituals and music existed long before Confucius, the spiritual essence of rituals and music has not been truly understood and grasped by people. People follow the rules of rituals and music passively and habitually. To a large extent, it can be said that Knowing it but not knowing why it is is far from reaching the conscious awareness of the spirit of ritual and music.

Confucius claimed to "state without writing, and believe in the ancient times." Confucius, who lived in the era of the collapse of rites and music, did not create new rites and music. He had no intention of proposing a new set of institutional norms. sexual conception. In his opinion, making rituals and making music is the work of a saint, but he himself never dared to think of himself as a saint. But he is by no means a stickler for the past, nor is he a historian in the modern sense. It is different from the so-called historical scientific research of today. He is a thinker and a philosopher, and his basic perspective and stance in considering the "Three Generations" mark the birth of Confucian political (legal) philosophy; what he emphasizes is the moral responsibility of the "gentleman" for historical responsibilities. Although it was difficult for Confucius, who lived in the Spring and Autumn Period, to describe the civilization of the "three generations" in detail and in detail, he was far more confident than people today that the culture of ritual and music was shared by the "three generations". He mainly grasped the "profit and loss" of "rituals" that occurred in the process of inheritance from generation to generation as the finalization and maturity of the ritual and music culture, and Zhou Gong's "making rituals and music" was a sign that the ritual and music culture was becoming highly conscious. . As for the destruction of ritual and music culture that he faced directly, the fundamental reason was not the inherent flaws of the ritual and music culture itself, but another reason.

The reason why Confucius "loves the past" is that he hopes to reveal the roots and crux of practical problems in the process of recalling the history of "ritual and music culture"; at the same time, it will present a kind of historical consciousness and the rational foundation of the national spirit; and then highlight the practical plans of real politics. "History" is the source of legitimacy and opposes any individual's wanton behavior, which is the fundamental cause of disorder in the world; and the subjective creative spirit of people necessary for the "profit and loss" of rituals is based on respect for the tradition of rituals The premise of protecting and protecting people should be like Zhou Gong's "making rituals and music", through serious "learning" of rituals, "reviewing the past and learning the new, you can become a teacher." Those random thoughts that lack a historical foundation are harmful and useless, " Learning without thinking leads to failure, thinking without learning leads to peril.” As a political philosopher, Confucius paid special attention to the issue of education. In his view, learning or moral cultivation should start from understanding ancient laws, regulations, etiquette, music and etiquette, because ordinary people are unable to obey spontaneously, let alone consciously establish behavioral norms and principles. Only by reading historical classics Only by documenting and practicing etiquette can we become a "benevolent person" and ultimately reach the state of "doing what one wants without going beyond the rules." The fundamental reason why he highly praised Zhou Gong's "making rituals and music" was to enlighten the spiritual direction of rebuilding the social and political order. As for the historical and true knowledge archeology of Zhou Gong's "making rituals and music", it was not within Confucius' vision.

In fact, from Confucius to Mencius, and then to Xunzi, the entire pre-Qin Confucianism, although they embody a high degree of historical awareness, are not interested in exploring empirical history; they talk about the "Three Dynasties of Kings". They never adopted the so-called "scientific" attitude of the modern "ancient doubters" towards Zhou Gong's "making rituals and music", but always believed that it was true; of course, they did not advocate "restoration" based on empirical facts. We are not asking people to go back to "ancient times"; their descriptions of the sages and sages are just ideal expressions of rebuilding a harmonious social order. Their ideal expressions and construction of value order are indeed not conceptual and logical "speculative philosophy". Through the narration of documentary "history", they most directly expressed their deep concern to save the decadence of the era and rebuild a harmonious order. In their view, the "Zhou Rites" systematically established by Duke Zhou could combine the ideal values ??and the realistic institutional order, and had great exemplary significance. In other words, they pay more attention to the spiritual meaning and value concepts contained in "Zhou Rites", the core of which lies in the formulation and practice of political "morality" including "clear virtue", "careful punishment", "people's heart" and other connotations. . This is actually "statement" and "composition". It is a kind of interpretation of the meaning of political (legal) philosophy and a creative exploration and arrangement of the value system.

2. Inner and outer: the dual meanings of ritual and music culture

The harmonious ritual order that pre-Qin Confucians want to rebuild includes two levels: first, the external normative order; One is the inner spiritual order. The two are directly related. The inner spiritual order provides the human basis for the external normative order structure.

As we all know, Zhou rites have obvious hierarchical characteristics, but pre-Qin Confucians not only did not criticize them, but also greatly praised them. This is often criticized by believers in modern liberal political (legal) philosophy. Why did the pre-Qin Confucians appreciate the Zhou rites, which had obvious hierarchical characteristics? Ritual and music, as a normative culture related to the construction and maintenance of order, are different from the empirical science and knowledge system that explores what things are. The Confucian interpretation of the traditional ritual and music is a value discussion related to life and politics. The so-called "benevolence" Yes. It is the emphasis on the order value and significance of the ritual and music tradition that constitutes the basic feature of the pre-Qin Confucianism founded by Confucius. It determines that the "Tao" mentioned by Confucius does not have the meaning of objective laws. "Tao" refers to the relationship between life and politics. Of course and as it should be, it is an expression of life ideals and political ideas. This involves the relationship between desires and rules. Why is the world out of order? Why did the ritual system collapse? This has to do with the indulgence of desire. Why people abandon and trample on the tradition of rituals and music is the question that the pre-Qin Confucians want to explore. From this, they lead to the deep philosophical world related to human nature, and the root and crux of the real problems are actually here. Pre-Qin Confucianism did not only view human nature as seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages like Legalism, but always held a hierarchical belief in the quality of human nature and firmly believed that human nature is the cultivation and sublimation of "goodness". In their view, the protection of the external hierarchical structural order means the existence of basic conditions for the cultivation of human nature. The cultivation of human quality is undoubtedly directional, and the ritual order shows this direction.

As a political civilization, the cultural tradition of rituals and music is a cultural organism with inherent life. Generally speaking, it includes two aspects: "ritual" and "music". If the function of ritual lies in the establishment of external behavioral norms, then the function of music lies in the cultivation of internal spiritual order. In fact, the inside and outside promote each other, and etiquette and music are integral to each other. As the saying goes, "rituals, music, government, and punishment are the same." Ye." If "ritual" is regarded as "the king's great scripture", "the political opinion", "the order of heaven and earth", "when etiquette is done, everything will be at peace"; then, the meaning of "joy" lies in "Walking with joy and moral integrity, having smart ears and eyes, peaceful blood, changing customs, and peace in the world." In other words, the culture of ritual and music is first of all an institutional arrangement related to the social and political order, and this institutional arrangement is for the purpose of value orientation. People step out of the world of animal desires to truly enter the human spiritual world. Therefore, “it can be known that chaos can be controlled by observing its rituals and music.

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Pre-Qin Confucians firmly believe that a harmonious social and political order cannot be separated from the maintenance of "rituals and music". The primary value they attach to Zhou rites lies in its orderly significance in regulating social life, especially political activities, rather than Empty moral evaluation of norms is because the premise of moral evaluation of norms is the existence of minimum norms, and the establishment and maintenance of normative order are inseparable from tradition, and are artificially established by completely disregarding tradition. It is difficult for a normative system to gain people's consciousness. The mandatory nature of norms and regulations obtains moral legitimacy through people's consciousness. The reason is that each person’s social status and the master-slave relationship between each other are stipulated through different ritual systems. This hierarchical ritual order is highly affirmed by Pre-Qin Confucianism. The so-called "rituals and righteousness establish the equality of the noble and the humble." This is true. The "restoration of rites" advocated by Confucius mainly refers to the Zhou rites, that is, the regulations, systems, norms and rituals since the Western Zhou Dynasty. In his view, it is the Zhou rites that are the most complete It stipulates the order of seniority and hierarchy among people, and the hierarchy of superior and inferior. This fully embodies the spiritual tradition of patriarchal human relations based on natural blood, and is committed to revealing and explaining the connotation of the traditional ritual order. Spiritual and human values ??are the ideological mission that pre-Qin Confucianism consciously undertakes.

Therefore, the first meaning of the so-called "ritual and music culture" is that people are transformed by ritual and music. Logically, ritual and music are the same. Human beings exist as animal desires, and their "adultness" lies in their becoming toward rituals and music. In other words, without rituals and music, human beings are indeterminate, and their "adultness" is generated toward rituals and music. The process is the process by which human beings obtain their own defining characteristics. The starting point of pre-Qin Confucian thought is the "differentiation between humans and animals". The demarcation between humans and animals has become the basic premise of thought. The real human world is established through ritual and music. "Birds and beasts cannot live together in the same flock"; "Without a father and a king, he is an animal"; "If a man is rude, he will not be born, and if things are rude, the country will not be at peace." ...The king and his ministers must respect each other, father and son must kiss each other, brothers must obey, and couples must rejoice. The young should be grown up, and the old should be nourished. Therefore, heaven and earth give birth to it, and saints make it come true. "Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi, although there are differences in their specific opinions, all regard rituals and music (righteousness) as the fundamental symbol that distinguishes humans from animals. It is rituals that make the primitive people in chaos have monarchs and ministers, superiors and subordinates. Differences in dignity, superiority and inferiority, seniority and youth, give the natural man, who is dominated by desire and acts according to instinct, rules and standards for behavior, thus allowing human beings to enter a cultural world, an orderly and harmonious community. , Pre-Qin Confucianism called this unity "group"

Rites are a system of norms and regulations; music is the embodiment of the inner spirit of rituals, which highlights the inner spiritual order of rituals and people. The implementation of rituals is inseparable from certain etiquette forms. Ritual and music existed as external forms to assist religious political activities in the Xia and Shang dynasties. The ritual and music culture of the Zhou Dynasty greatly diluted the role of politics. The religious mystery highlights the human significance of politics. In the process of performing rituals, people not only perform rituals mechanically according to prescribed procedures, but also appreciate the ritual form itself and generate pleasant inner feelings. By transforming externally mandatory rituals into internal spiritual needs, the quality of human nature is improved. In other words, the main reason why pre-Qin Confucians admired Zhou rituals was that in the Zhou Dynasty's ritual and music culture world, people were not. Like objects dominated by animal desires, they are merely objects to be manipulated by rituals, but they are great subjects that ultimately complete rituals and enable the human meaning of rituals to be demonstrated. People identify with and abide by various societies shown by ritual forms. When observing the differences in relationships and various social behavioral norms, you not only feel the majesty that you must obey, but also feel that you are respected as a person. Obeying etiquette is no longer helpless submission, but a surrender of the soul. Therefore, " While "etiquette distinguishes differences", it also contains the spirit of "pleasing harmony". Xunzi said: "Enjoying harmony, distinguishing etiquette". The system of rituals and music governs people's hearts. "Ritual" is transformed from a solemn external regulation into people's inner desires because of "joy", and people therefore produce the spiritual power of self-control from the heart. This is a subtle process of cultivating human nature. "Old rituals The enlightenment is also weak, and the evil is not yet manifested, so that people will drift away from good and evil without knowing it. " " Therefore, ritual means nourishment. " As a political civilization, the etiquette and music culture, in the view of pre-Qin Confucians, its main characteristic is a kind of spiritual upbringing. Confucius said when talking about a person's growth process: "Be inspired by poetry, established by etiquette, and achieved by music. ” Zhu Xi brilliantly explained: “Rites are what establish one’s body”, and “music is how one’s character is formed.”

So, the second meaning of “ritual and music culture” lies in the joyful transformation of rituals, in rituals Internalization and spiritualization. Ritual is originally related to the stipulation of people's external behavior and is undeniably mandatory. In other words, the realization of the function of ritual is not easy, and the basic condition for its complete realization is that Confucianism must think about it. and solve problems, which leads the thought to the direction of people's inner psychology, emotion and spiritual pursuit, and the meaning of culture as culture can be truly reflected.

Without the consideration of people's inner spiritual world, a truly human world is impossible, because human autonomy cannot exist in the external natural environment. Ritual, which is originally unique to human beings, would not be possible without " "Enjoyment" is still the same as the desire and instinctive laws of animals for survival. It is still just a kind of coercion and oppression. The reason why people violate the etiquette precisely shows people's rebellion against "naturalness". The "auxiliary nature" of music actually lies in humanizing, internalizing and emotionalizing the externally prescribed "rituals", which is the connection between nature and humanity. "Etiquette and music must be used together. If etiquette is not music, it will not work, and if music is not etiquette, it will not be practiced." Therefore, Confucius said: "If you can't read the poem, it's based on etiquette; if you can't enjoy it, it's based on etiquette; if it's thin on virtue, it's based on etiquette." He also said: "If you are good at etiquette but not good at music, you are called the element; if you are good at music but not good at etiquette, you are called biased." Therefore, while the country is "making etiquette", it must also "make music", because " "Be happy with the image of government" and "examine the music to know the government". Whether the etiquette can be transformed into music is directly related to the stability and harmony of the country's political system.

Pre-Qin Confucianism related the reconstruction of order with the spiritual interpretation of the tradition of ritual and music, essentially to emphasize the spiritual value foundation of order construction. Therefore, they particularly emphasized that rituals and music must have "benevolence" as their spiritual connotation, which was not recognized by people who lived in the ritual order before. Confucius said: "If a person is not benevolent, what is the use of etiquette? If a person is not benevolent, what is happiness?" It can be seen that pre-Qin Confucianism paid more attention to the human basis of the inner spirit that supports the establishment and maintenance of the ritual order. On the one hand, it requires people to consciously perform etiquette and music in the spirit of "benevolence"; on the other hand, it hopes that through etiquette and music, people can be educated and cultivate the moral spirit of "benevolence" in their hearts. Pre-Qin Confucianism paid great attention to the role of ritual and music in changing people's psychological emotions and spiritual temperament. "Book of Rites and Music" gives a detailed description of this: "Rites and music must not be removed from the body, and joy can be used to heal the heart. Then Yi Zhizi's heart of forgiveness will arise spontaneously. When Yi Zhizi's heart of forgiveness arises, he will be happy, and he will be happy. If peace is long, then heaven will be there, and heaven will be trustworthy. God will not be angry but will be majestic. Giving courtesy and bowing will be solemn, and solemnity will be solemn. Majesty. If the heart is discordant and unhappy, a deceitful heart will enter; if the appearance is disrespectful, a arrogant heart will easily enter. If it is extremely harmonious and harmonious on the outside, if it is harmonious on the inside and obedient on the outside, the people will not be able to compete with it if they look at its appearance. Therefore, the virtue will move inside and the people will not be embarrassed. No one will fail to listen; if the rites are spread outside, the people will not fail to obey. Therefore, it is said that the way of rites and music can be implemented in the world without difficulty. "The culture of rites and music is not a simple political admonition, but a way to follow the natural laws of heaven and earth. People are oriented toward a harmonious and orderly state that is consistent with the natural nature of heaven and earth and is unified with knowledge and intention. This is what is said, "Great happiness is in harmony with heaven and earth, and great rituals are in harmony with heaven and earth." This is both a highly rational normative order and a highly humanistic meaning order.