The Study On Ethical Thought Of Sima Guang

Reform and opening up has had a history of more than30years, which has created a remarkable performance and caused a lot of modern problems at the same time. How to resolve such issues of modernity, which requires us to find the answer from the world, and also requires us to trace back to the history of our nation to find a feasible path for realizeing Chinese great rejuvenation. The Song Dynasty is an important stage in the history of our country, when a series of complex problems and the mechanism solving these problems have important enlightenment significance for us until today. In this context, researching on Sima Guang’s ethical thought, particularly studying his Justice and Profit Outlook of "Yi yi zhi shi ", his political ethical thought of "yi Li zhi guo, Kuan meng xiang ji"and his family ethical thought of "observing rules and rites", has a very important significance.In fact, in addition to " Zizhi Tongjian " this historical masterpiece, Sima Guang also written a series of ethics articles, such as "Three Virtues","Da xue zhong yong yi","Zhu gu wen xiao jing","Shu yi’ and" family norm". In a sense, Sima Guang’s "Zizhi Tongjian" is an ethical writings of history, because its purpose is "monitoring the rise and fall of past, and testing today’s gains and losses","Good as an example, Evil as a warning", and "governing the country based on past experience". Sima Guang’s ethical thoughts has its own unique position in the framework structure of the Song School, which not only challenges Wang Anshi’s "Xin XUe" ethics, but also critiques "Shu Xue" ethics represented by San Su, and has varying degrees of impact on "Luo Xue" ethics represented by Er Chen. Therefore, researching Sima Guang’s ethical thought, not only is the inherent need of deeply studying the Song ethical thoughts, but also contributing to the moral construction of today’s society, especially political ethics and family virtues.Sima Guang’s ethical thought is a product of the Song Dynasty’s economic, political and cultural development, and is closely related to the evolution of Chinese traditional ethics, so it can be said to have the background of the times and the ideological and theoretical origin. Sima Guang’s ethical thought is based on the Confucian Virtue ethics and the theory of "morality is paramount to all the others". The feudal moral codes and the avocation of Li and Yi constitute the base of its basic value. The Spiritual essence of his ethical thought is his Justice and Profit Outlook of "regarding altruism as Benevolence", which is an organic ethical value system composed of the concept of "seeking profits to health", the concept of "Yi yi zhi shi", the concept of "benefit the world "and the concept of "gentlemen value Benevolence’Sima Guang’s political ethical thought contains the"ruling country by rite" statecraft, the ethical view of monarch which centric content are "benevolence、intelligence、audacity", the ethical view of talented persons which centric content are"granting official position according to talent, rewarding or punishing only according to political performance", the ethical view of official morals which centric content are "loyal to the monarch and good at remonstrating with monarch, loving the county and concerning the people", and the ethical view of Huayi which centric content is "dealings with neighbors in good faith in order to get security and stability of both sides".The theoretical basis of Sima Guang’s economic ethics is the concept of justice and profit which centric content is regulating wealth by justice, and its theoretical purpose is storing wealth among the people. The centric content of Sima Guang’s economic ethics contains three aspects, including "Yang qi benyuan er xu qu zhi","Jiansun Forong er Shengyong zhi","Sui cai yong ren er jiu reng zhi", which refer to the production, distribution, consumption, management and other sectors of the economy.Sima Guang’s family ethics contains family precepts which centric content is "observing rules and rites and economically arranging household affairs", the ethical view of being parents which centric content is "Caring for their children and educating their children", the ethical view of being a son or a daughter which centric content is "being piety and sincerity and remonstrance without inverse", the ethical view between husband and wife which centric content is "harmony with each other", and the ethical view between brothers which centric content is "elder brother caring for younger brother, younger brother respecting elder brother".Sima Guang’s ethical thought is profound, involving many aspects, such as economic ethics, political ethics, culture ethics, and family ethics. Sima Guang put forward a series of theoretical propositions and perspectives which have far--reaching impact on future generations, such as "virtue is the commander of talent, talent is the resource of virtue","easy from extravagance into frugal, difficult from frugal into extravagance","integrity is the great treasure of the ruler", and "good rulers do not deceive his people, good parents do not deceive the ones he loves". The great man Mao Zedong has great passion for Sima Guang’s VZizhi Tongjian".""Zizhi Tongjian" is almost accompanied Mao Zedong’s life, which is always on his bedside. This is the book which is broken by his reading, and many pages of it are live with transparent stickers. He said that each read is benefited, and it is really a rare book.(Guo Jinrong "reading"Zizhi Tongjian"broken——Mao Zedong the last nurse recalled Mao Zedong") Needless to say, Sima Guang’s ethical thought has its own inevitable shortcomings and limitations, such as the shackles of feudal doctrines, the paranoid of "morality is paramount to all the others" theory, and the conflict between loyalty to the emperor and concern for the people, etc. We need to apply the Marxist stand, viewpoint and method to criticize and analyze realistically these limitations.