| Ge Hong(283-343?),a Taoist theorist during the Jin Dynasty,established the theoretical system of Immortal Taoism,and also laid the theoretical foundation of Taoist ethical thought.In the face of the social reality of the spiritual decline of Confucianism,the deterioration of the social order caused by the Weijin Metaphysics,Ge Hong put forward the ethical thought of integrating religion and secularity,and involving both physical value and spiritual value,which had a profound influence on later Taoist figures and ordinary people.Interpreting Ge Hong's thoughts from the perspective of ethics is an attempt of multi-disciplinary nd multi-angle research,which not only helps to enrich the study of ethical thoughts in the Wei and Jin dynasties,but also helps to explore the antecedents of Immortal Taoism ethical thoughts.Absorbing nutrition from traditional culture and interpret new ideas is also instructive for the construction of virtue ethics,emotion ethics and public ethics in the new era.This paper takes Ge Hong's ethical thought as the research object,discusses mainly from the following three aspects:The first is the discussion of the source of Ge Hong's ethical thoughts,which is completed by “The first chapter: The source of Ge Hong's ethical thoughts”.The formation and evolution of Ge Hong's ethical thoughts are related to his life,his learning experiences,the changes of his thougts,and the background of the times.He was born in a family of Confucian scholars and Daoists in the south of the Yangtze River.His elders were Confucians and famous Taoists.He studied from Confucianism,and then involved in everything else.Due to the decline of the family when he was born,the social unrest and war in the Jin Dynasties continued,life was difficult.It was also a time of great intellectual prosperity,of seclusion and of religious doctrine.In such an environment,Ge Hong,who was diligent and knowledgeable,gradually formed his own ideas,and his own education and moral will also played a very important role.In terms of theoretical sources,Ge Hong absorbed the early Taoist concept of life,the pre-Qin Taoist concept of non-doing nature,the integration of Confucianism and Taoism between Huang-Lao Taoism and Weijin Metaphysics,the Confucian moral concept which had developed into a standard meaning of morality,and the legalist theory of heavy punishment,etc.Confucianism,Mohism,Taoism and Legalism in the pre-Qin dynasty to a large extent laid the foundation for the development of ethical thoughts in the later history of Our country.Although with the passage of time,its connotation will change profoundly,we can still find support from the pre-Qin Dynasty.This paper traces the origin of Ge Hong's ethical thoughts from the pre-Qin period to the completion of Master who Embraces Simplicity,or Bao Pu Zi,which can not only find the theoretical and practical sources of Ge Hong's thoughts,but also provide support for in-depth understanding of Ge Hong's ethical thoughts.The theoretical and practical sources can also provide support for in-depth understanding of Ge Hong's ethical thoughts.The interaction between external factors and internal conditions finally formed his ethical thought which was both religious and secular and compatible with various thoughts and theories.The second is the analysis of the main content of Ge Hong's ethical thought or the composition of his ethical thought,which is the main and key content of this paper,composed of the second,third and fourth chapters of the text.“Chapter two: The Moral Basis of Ge Hong” discusses the theoretical basis of Ge Hong's ethical thought.In terms of natural ontology,Ge Hong continued the concept of “Tao”,and transformed Lao Zi's Taoist philosophy based on“Tao” into Immortal Taoist philosophy based on “one”,rather than giving“Tao” a divinity like the early Tianshi Taoism,which has the characteristics of Immortal Taoism.“Yi”or “One”,located in the Arctic deep ocean,is a material and spiritual entity.He believed that “Tao” originated from “One”and “keeping one” was the only way to connect divinity.Therefore,“One”was where “Tao” exists,to keep one was the key to grasp “Tao”.At the same time,Ge Hong put“xuan”in a higher position,achieving the“xuan”was getting to the highest realm,“xuan triplets original one”,in this process,“one”as an abstract and changed entity was the part that human can grasp.“Xuan”was the ideal spiritual realm human pursued,and “One” was the way to reach it,“Tao” was the basis for all existence.Then where do all things come from?Ge Hong believed that “the innate fate and the acceptance of qi” came from“Nature”.Ge Hong accepted the view that humanity came from nature and put morality into human nature.“Qi” or “Nature”was the origin of morality.For human beings,the natural way of life was moral life.Based on the view of natural human nature,Ge Hong believed that filial piety and kindness between father and son,fraternal love between brothers and other moral emotions were derived from human's natural emotions,which were inherent objective existence and were caused by nature.“The Confucian ethical code to human beings was like water to fish.”Always put public affairs before private affairs,were the result of external influence.At the same time,“desire originates from nature”,human nature was also accompanied by desire,selfishness and other factors,but human beings had the intelligence of the universe,human morality was the basis for human beings to be distinguished from other species.“If seduced by desire,then one's nature extincted.”Fortunately,learning moral had no difference with born nature.Moral cultivation can help overcome some shortcomings in human nature,morality also played a cohesive role in helping a country avoid or resist the destruction of internal and external bandits,and at the same time contributed to the continuation of cultural traditions.Therefore,Ge Hong also attached great importance to the role of moral education and moral cultivation,and actively advocated to get morality through acquired learning.In order to ensure the acquired nature was good,Ge Hong proposed to probe truth and assure nature,the methods including spiritual cultivation and theoretical learning.“Chapter Three Enlighten wisdom: Ge Hong's Moral Cultivation theory”discusses Ge Hong's moral cultivation theory.Since morality can be cultivated,we should have wisdom in implementing it.Ge Hong believed that the most important thing to virtue was true knowledge or wisdom.With enough wisdom one could not be lured.Those wulgar naturalism who denied morality was undesirable,so he advocated learning and teaching.However,“virtue” was not an aim in itself,not the supreme good.Ge Hong exalted the value of “Ming” and placed “Ming”in a higher position than viture,and he believed that although viture had a powerful role in reality,it was not omnipotent.On the basis of emphasizing benevolence and valuing righteousness over profit,Ge Hong attached great importance to practical value,holding that “morality is coarse and and article is refined”“punishment is assistant of benevolence”and“Wisdom comes before benevolence”.Ge Hong believed that people of different status should have different virtues.For a monarch,the most important virtue was “Ming”,that is,wisdom.One should be able to select and employ officials accurately,because the virtue of an official was related to the moral fashion of the whole society,and thus to decide his rule's stability.If a monarch wanted to maintain his political rule forever,he must have a kind heart and understand the sufferings of the common people.It can be seen from the biography of the Immortals that Ge Hong did not advocate too many moral standards for the monarch,his main goal was to serve the stable imperial power.As court officials,they should pay attention to all kinds of moral norms,because they were the role models for the society to follow,and they should accomplish their task responsibly,which was conducive to the smooth career and the way to realize the value of life.For the common people,only by abiding by the moral principles necessary for political and social operation and the moral qualities required by a good ethical environment can they lead a good life.Only by observing the secular moral norms,being kindhearted and observant of rites,and possessing the qualities of being less selfish and less lustful,and not pursuing glory,can a person attain the goal of becoming immortal.“Chapter four: Ge Hong's View of Religious Life”discusses Bao Puzi's view of religious life.Although there were many moral cultivation advocates,Ge Hong's ultimate goal was to achieve eternal life on the basis of the true nature.Ge Hong exalted the meaning of life itself,regarded human life as an unknown field,and theoretically proposed that “my life is in the control of me,not in heaven”.From the perspective of naturalism,he objectified the body,affirmed the body,and even believed that the body had the possibility of immortality.Ge Hong regarded longevity as the ambition of life,but did not deny the achievement of social value.If the two conflict,the value of individual life came first.For this reason he strongly approved of the seclusion which prevailed at that time,because it was more conducive to the preservation of life,and thought it was foolish and absurd to attempt to save the country by oneself,especially when it cost life.Under the guidance of the concept of preserving life,Ge Hong put forward the practice methods which were beneficial to health preservation,from the ethical level,moral cultivation is one of them: “loyalty,filial piety and harmony”to protect one's health,“kindness to things” to prolong life,“accumulation of good virtue” to become immortal.He believed so devoutly that immortals could be learned and acquired that he wrote books to illustrate the existence of immortals.The premise of the above ideas on preserve one's life by virtue was “immortals could be learned”.The third part is a review of Ge Hong's ethical thought.The fifth chapter concludes this part.“Chapter five: The contribution,limitation and enlightenment of Ge Hong's ethical thought” is a summary review of Ge Hong's ethical thought.First of all,Ge Hong's theoretical contribution lies in the combination of morality and norms,self-cultivation and govern a country,and also in the combination of the ordinary person and the immortals.The Master who Embraces Simplicity and the Biography of Immortals show that Ge Hong's value system integrated physical value,spiritual value and social value.Bao Pu Zi has integrated the moral concepts of Confucianism,Taoism,Legalism and Immorality,and made them coexist with each other.The harmony of religious and secular ethical and moral thoughts not only reduced resistance,avoids obstacles for Immortal Taoism,but also eliminated ideological concerns.Obviously,Ge Hong wrote his ethical thoughts in order to make them useful and popular in the world,and the result was just what he expected.In the history of more than a thousand years after him,both Taoist and ordinary people were deeply influenced by his theory.To a certain extent,this is due to Ge Hong's eclectic attitude,which made great contribution to the official recognition of Taoism.In terms of practical significance,in the era when Confucianism was declining,he stuck to the traditional Confucian values,directly challenged the moral nihilism,and advocated keeping healthy by virtue,which objectively played a positive role in reversing the bad social atmosphere.Secondly,it must be admitted that under the social conditions at that time,Ge Hong's ethical thoughts inevitably had some limitations,including the disordered moral principles he advocated,and there even existed many contradictory discussions;and traditional superior and inferior consciousness.Not only did he not promote the equality concept of other Taosim,but he showed discrimination against women.Finally,Ge Hong's ethical thought has enlightening significance to the construction of contemporary ethical society.Ge Hong's exploration of moral origin,demonstration of moral norms and principles,and explanation of ideal personality and life value were positive attempts to rebuild the social value system.For the monastic person,Ge Hong attached more importance to “nature”and virtue;for the secular people,Ge Hong valued the Confucian ethical code more.His pursuit of “nature” can be regarded as a kind of ease of the rationality supremacy culture in today's society.Under the background of the new era without resorting to religion or traditional ethics,the society can rebuild the philosophical belief of respecting the “Tao of nature”. |
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