The Heaven Is Greatest—On Dong Zhongshu’s Political Philosophy

Dong Zhongshu was a representative figure of Confucianism in han Dynasty.According to the social development needs of the Han Dynasty,he took Confucianism as his school,integrating the thoughts of the masters,Mohism,Taoism,legalism and Yin-yang school,and established the political philosophy of “the king inherits the will of heaven to engage in,so he is subject to moral education rather than punishment”.He believed that the Han dynasty was a king under the mandate of Heaven,so it should follow the example of Heaven(Tao)to govern the people.He demonstrated the ethics and sacredness of “Heaven”,emphasized that the nature of politics is carrying out enlightenment by the kingly way as the inheritors of heaven,and established the guiding principle of the “Unification” and “Reform” of the Han Dynasty through explaining the theory of “Unification” and “To be a new king” which is advocated by the Spring and Autumn Annals of Confucius and of the Gongyang School.Dong zhongshu’s thought of political philosophy took “Mandate of Heaven” as the root of the monarchy and“Enlightenment ” as the essence of the monarchy.It had the characteristics of limiting the monarchy,and had an interdependent and mutually exclusive relationship with the monarchy,which affected the choice of political ideology of the rulers of the Han Dynasty and the later dynasties,and influenced the turning and development of Confucianism。Han Gaozu gained the world through peasant wars as a civilian,which was different from the qin Dynasty,which continued to dominate the world on the basis of the hereditary system of vassals appointed by The Zhou Dynasty.Under the background that the vassal states of The Zhou Dynasty had died,but the people remained and the concept of hereditary power had not completely disappeared,the Rulers of The Han dynasty naturally had to seek the most orthodox basis for their new dynasty.In the early han Dynasty,the emperors of the five generation guaranteed the long-term stability of the regime and proved their ruling ability by making compromises to the nobles of the six states,the military military groups,the liu clan and the nomads.However,all kinds of social contradictions have not been solved completely,until the time of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty,there was an urgent social demand for reform,and it was necessary to put forward the ruling idea and ruling method for the Han Empire theoretically,which was the background of dong Zhongshu’s political thought.Dong Zhongshu solved the problems of han Dynasty from three dimensions of transcendence,ethics and reality.“Mandate of Heaven” is the basis of Dong Zhongshu’s demonstration of political authority,which embodies the transcendent orientation of his political thought.“Enlightenment” is dong zhongshu’s regulation of political essence,which embodies the ethical orientation of his political thought.“Reforming” is the design of dong Zhongshu’s for political practical measures,which reflects the reality of his political thought.Dong Zhongshu believed that “the greatness of tao originates from heaven”,and“Heaven” is the transcendent and dominant subject.Dong Zhongshu held the cosmology which regards the “Heaven” as the fundamental basis of everything in the universe.Dong zhongshu illustrates the pattern of the movement of the universe with the concept“Shiduan ”.The first nine of “Shiduan” is “Heaven”,“Earth”,“Yin”,“Yang” and “Five Elements”,which constitute a complete natural universe.The appearance of the tenth“Human” makes the natural universe humanized and has the dimension of sacredness and ethics.Therefore,Dong Zhongshu said: “The way of Heaven is birth,The way of Earth is parenting,The way of Human is enlightenment.”Starting from the “Heaven”,Dong Zhongshu stipulated the “Human”.In Dong Zhongshu’s philosophy,“Human” is the existence of two dimensions.On the one hand,Dong Zhongshu proposed that man is the product of “Heaven”,“Heaven” is the great-grandfather of man,and established the kinship relationship between heaven and man,unifying the divine power,royal power and paternal power,and forming an ethical and political community.On the other hand,Dong zhongshu believed that ordinary people are ignorant,and morality can only be achieved by the enlightenment of the king or the monarch.Therefore,the political practice of the monarch must focus on“Enlightenment”,which had became the core idea of the later Confucian politics.The purpose of Dong Zhongshu’s political thought is “Reforming” based on the“Unification” of the country.During the period of Emperor Wu,a theory was urgently needed by the Han Dynasty to help realize and strengthen the political unification.Dong Zhongshu demonstrated the necessity and feasibility of national unification with the theory of “Unification” and “Tong San Tong”,and provided direction and conceptual guidance for the measures of “Feng Shan” and "Rforming" in the Period of Emperor Wudi of han Dynasty.This has the important promotion function to the whole Confucian official ideology establishment.Dong Zhongshu’s political thought still have enlightenment significance today.First of all,although Dong zhongshu believed that the power of the monarch was guaranteed by the will of Heaven,he also believed that Heaven would supervise the monarch,requiring the emperor to love the people and be moral,rewarding those who were moral and punishing those who were immoral.Under the influence of Dong Zhongshu’s concept,we should take morality first in selecting leading cadres today.Second,with the help of the will of Heaven and the method of emperors in ancient sages,Dong Zhongshu advised the monarch to lighten the burden of the people and assume the responsibility and obligation to serve the people,let the people live and work in peace and contentment.Dong zhongshu’s thought is the inheritance of the pre-Qin Confucian people-oriented thought,but also strengthened the people-oriented thought in the later Chinese political concept.The CPC’s goal of "a better life for the people" is an extension of this thought.,At last a distinctive feature of Dong Zhongshu’s political thought is“Unification".He stressed: "Great unity" is the theme of the Spring and Autumn Annals,is the eternal law of the world and history.Even if in the political system of modern sovereign states,national unification is the most important political pursuit.This has become our spiritual resources for safeguarding national unity and realizing national rejuvenation.