The Shaping Of The Image Of Shun And The Generation Of Confucian Spirit From The Pre-Qin To The Han Dynasty

The Confucian tradition of revering the past has made Shun an important ideological spokesman.By sorting out and analyzing the life and words and deeds of Shun as recorded in the canonical texts of the pre-Qin and Han dynasty,and following the classical Confucian tradition of cultivating one’s moral character,reconciling one’s family relationships,governing one’s country,and pacifying the world,we can grasp the important cultural symbolic role played by the image of Shun in Confucianism,better understand the generation of Confucianism and the Chinese national spirit on the basis of concrete examples.It is also a better guide to the construction of modern harmonious society and socialist core values.This paper takes Shun’s acts of filial piety as an entry point and elevates the individuality of filial piety in Shun to the universality of virtue in the people through the changes in his personal situation and status,expanding virtue from the family to a stable society and state,combining personal ethics with social ethics,and finally clarifying that Shun received his position by virtue and the mandate of Heaven.The first chapter takes filial piety as the representative of Shun’s virtue and analyzes the germination of Confucianism in the cultivation of the body and the family in the context of specific examples.The first chapter analyzes the relationship between grievance and adoration by taking the case of Shun,who "cried to Min Tian" but"adored his parents all his life",as the starting point,and thus explains the Confucian concept of "no grievance" and human feelings in the context of Confucianism.Through the descriptions of the cases of "burning the granary","filling the well",and "marrying wives without telling parents" in the case of Shun,the historical facts of the Qin and Han dynasty are taken into account,reflecting the existence of the element of change in the filial piety advocated by Confucianism and the circumstances of the time.The descriptions of the cases of "stealing and fleeing" and "dividing Youbi to Xiang" reflect the dilemma of human feelings and morality in the filial piety advocated by Confucianism and the importance attached to the human relationships between husband and wife and their offspring under the circumstances of the time.In this section,we focus on the traditional Confucian ethics that places more emphasis on kinship,especially on the choice of opportunity,through the analysis of the evaluation and interpretation of this case by Confucian scholars in the pre-Qin and Han dynasty,as well as the combination of historical facts and institutional laws of the time.In the second chapter,after Shun’s cultivation of his own virtues and harmonious family relationships,the generality of virtue,represented by filial piety,is extended to the people,and its virtuous effect of ruling the country and the world without doing anything is developed.The influence of Shun’s personal virtue on the people,the state and the world is explained,while the limitations of virtue in real life and practice and the remedies offered by Confucianism are analyzed in more detail.The limitations of moralization are reflected in the personal and family ethical relationship,mainly in the expression of "be obedient to parents but not liked by them" and "Zhu Xiang does not change";in the governance of the family,it is reflected in the personal favor of the saintly ruler is not as strong as the state;in the subject and time limitations of moralization itself In the case of the two states,the effect of virtue is weakened by the limited life span of the sage kings and the temporal nature of virtue.In response to these limitations,Confucianism in the pre-Qin and Han dynasty responded and made up for them from the corresponding perspectives,the application of criminal law as a supplementary means of virtue,and the selection of virtuous officials to their respective positions.At the same time,the highest requirement for the selection of virtuous officials was to choose the most suitable ruler for the world,i.e.,the Confucian system of meditation,and to select a person like Yao and Shun who had the mandate of Heaven and acted in accordance with it.This is complemented by the views of other schools of thought in the Qin and Han dynasty,which provide a preliminary response to the inescapable problem of the transfer of power from qi to yi and the system.The third chapter starts from the unity of virtue and blessing of the monarch.The starting point is the Confucian view that Shun is a model of virtue and blessing in the traditional view of destiny,and that the individual’s ability in character is related to his fate.In the light of the mystical ideas incorporated in the Han dynasty,the academic traditions of celestial induction and prophecy,as well as the manifestations of attaining heavenly destiny from the perspective of face reading,auspiciousness,and the ability of the heavens to warn people,the specific timing of destiny to be considered in the implementation of heavenly destiny is given on the premise of clarifying the consistency of virtue and fortune,and the confusion about the phenomenon of inconsistent virtue and fortune in the pre-Qin and Han dynasty.In the end,this view of the Mandate of Heaven,which is consistent with virtue and blessing,is attributed to the methodological approach of cultivating virtue and grasping the timing.The essence of Confucianism’s view of the destiny of heaven is thus embodied:on the premise of affirming and seeking the ideal state of consistent virtue and blessing,one rationally accepts the possibility of different kinds of virtue and blessing,and maintains a positive human attitude based on virtue,constantly changing one’s life situation for the better by cultivating oneself and seizing the right time.