The Early Emergence Of Confucianism

Guoyu,a national style history book that records the history of Spring and Autumn Period,is similar to Zuozhuan in the time when it was written.They correspond to each other in content.,and it has the historical status of "Spring and Autumn Annals",plays a certain role and helps to understand the historical features and historical facts of the Spring and Autumn Period.Through Guoyu,we can see the social changes and social trends of thought in the Spring and Autumn Period.The exploration of the early sprout of Confucianism in Guoyu is mainly from four aspects: the opening of humanism,the destruction and reconstruction of etiquette system,the preliminary formation of the thought of rule of virtue and the upsurge of the thought of emphasizing the people.The opening of humanism is manifested in the decline of the divine right of heaven,the germination of materialism and rational thinking,thus bringing people's attention to themselves.Between God and man,more emphasis is placed on the human factor,which is embodied in Confucianism and is the "benevolence" as the ethical order.Ritual system and morality are the two pillars of Confucianism and the main content of Guoyu.On the one hand,the etiquette system in Guoyu is constantly being destroyed,the violation of etiquette is increasing,but at the same time,once the violation of etiquette occurs,there will be people who defend the etiquette to dissuade or criticize,and both the observance of etiquette and the violation of etiquette exist at the same time,etiquette has become a criterion for judging right and wrong.In the process of criticizing and dissuading Ritual,the scholar-officials reconsidered and constructed Ritual;the theory of morality in Guoyu embodies the idea of early rule of virtue,and whether morality is followed or not influences the prosperity and decline of the country.Whether it is for political morality,personal morality,or women's morality,the object of application and the subject of implementation of morality are the upper political class,with the aim of using the means of rule of virtue through the promotion of morality.The rule of the present state and the initial formation of the thought of rule of virtue are indispensable links for the early emergence of Confucianism and important theoretical preparations for the thought of rule of virtue of Confucianism triggered by the thought of rule of rites and music in the Zhou Dynasty.The consciousness of emphasizing people in Guoyu reflects the upsurge of people-oriented thought in the Spring and Autumn Period.As a stratum of political life,emphasizing people is a requirement for rulers.The improvement of people's status and the rule based on people have become the inevitable choice of enlightened rulers.Therefore,the people-oriented idea in Guoyu belongs to the category of rule of virtue and the maintenance of Confucian benevolence.In a word,Confucius lived in an era in which he had a strong desire to save the world.The main purpose of Confucianism was to restore the prosperity of the early Zhou Dynasty and establish an orderly society through political means of obeying rites and governing by virtue.As a political textbook for monarchs and ministers,Guoyu was compiled for the same purpose as Confucianism.It is an important document for the early occurrence of Confucianism.