The Generation And Application Of The Folk Moral Education Model In The Ming And Qing Dynasties

The construction of social morality needs to learn from our excellent traditional culture.Based on ancient Chinese unique Spiritual Account Books Ledgers of Merits and Demerits,this paper studies the history of social moral education and focuses on the utilitarian and realistic side of traditional moral education thoughts.It also tries to present the interaction and tension between common people and scholar-bureaucrat-class in moral cognition and practice,during the formation of moral education model.So it could provide new thinking for the moral construction of modern society in China to some extent.Firstly,the paper traces back the process from the generation of Ledgers of Merits and Demerits to becoming the model of folk moral cultivation in three stages.It also analyzes the Confucian characteristics and folk attributes of the folk moral books,represented by Yan Maoyou’s On the Accordance of Virtue and Happiness and Chen Xigu’s Compilation of Ledgers of Merits and Demerit.Then,by discussing the moral cultivation function of Ledgers of Merits and Demerits in civil society from three aspects,which refer to circulation premise,application mode and education effect,it summarizes the commendable characteristics and historical limitations of the Ledgers of Merits and Demerits.Finally,based on the historical analysis of Ledgers of Merits and Demerits,the paper puts forward some suggestions on the moral construction of modern secular society in China.According to the historical investigation,the thought of the integration of three religions is a final product of the combination of traditional retribution view,Buddhist reincarnation view and Taoist theory of Chengfu,which lays a solid ideological foundation for the formation of Ledgers of Merits and Demerits.Since its formation,the Ledgers of Merits and Demerits have generally shown the development trend of Confucian ritual education and secular standardization.From the self-reported moral training manual in Taoism,and the practical guide for scholars to accumulate morality,to the model of folk moral education,the key lies in the transformation and popularization of Ledgers of Merits and Demerits by Confucian scholars in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.The concrete transformation method is to take the incomplete remarks of Confucian sages as the basis,compromising and reconciling the conflict between the virtue ethics and utilitarian ethics on retribution,justice and benefits,supernatural beings.By using this method,it achieves the purpose of harmonizing the above two ethical thoughts.Literature analysis shows that as a model of folk education in the Ming and Qing Dynasties,Confucian Ledgers of Merits and Demerits for enlightenment was indeed widely popular among the people and played a vital role in ethical enlightenment.The spread of such texts among the people has its realistic basis,such as the relatively high literacy rate of the people and the high accessibility of Ledgers of Merits and Demerits.It is committed to the folk moral education by acting as the code of conduct of the school,the handbook of the gentry’s duty,the group moral cultivation guide,public propaganda content and the components of daily use books in Ming and Qing Dynasties.At that time,the circulation of this moral education model and the prosperity of philanthropy could serve as proof that it has spread among the people and produced a positive social impact.Dialectically,Ledgers of Merits and Demerits are indeed commendable in the arrangement of texts,the application of moral education methods,and the incentive and supervision mechanism for good deeds.At the same time,it also has limitations,such as the lack of the cultivation of the general moral spirit,the maintenance of the social hierarchy,the retention of supernatural factors,and the use of secular rewards to attract people to virtue.In the current society where values are equally diverse,this article attempts to explore the viable path of moral construction in modern Chinese society from the four aspects referring to the compilation and promotion of Social Ethics Reader,the construction of social moral security system after the decline of religious belief,the integration of virtue ethics and utilitarian ethics and the risk of quantitative ethics through the analysis of this model of folk moral education in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.