A Study Of The Concept Of Life And Death In Lv’s Spring And Autumn Period

Lv’s Spring and Autumn Period is a work compiled by Lv Buwei,the Qin prime minister,who organized his followers in the late Warring States Period under the background of academic convergence and political unification.Its content is complex,involving many fields such as politics,economy,military,philosophy,agriculture,education,music and so on.The outlook on life and death is also included.Starting from the natural system of the Tao of Heaven,the concept of life and death in Lv’s Spring and Autumn Period places the "life and death" of human beings in the changes of seasons and changes in time,and constructs a system of the concept of life and death in line with the Tao of Heaven.At the same time,as a part of the political system of his monarchy,it is full of Lv’s ideal design about life and death awareness,value judgment and political choice of the state monarchs and ministers after reunification.The purpose of this book is to enrich and perfect Lv Buwei’s "Wang Zhi" thought and to set up a general policy and ideological plan for the ruling class.This paper mainly discusses the outlook on life and death in Lv’s Spring and Autumn Period in four parts.The first part mainly introduces the background of the concept of life and death in Lv’s Spring and Autumn Period and its concrete formation process.Firstly,it clarifies people’s understanding of life and death in different periods of pre-Qin society from the two aspects of general knowledge and thinkers’ understanding,and concludes that the concept of life and death has developed and changed on the basis of inheriting the tradition.On the basis of summing up the tradition,Lv’s Spring and Autumn Period sublates some of the prevailing views on life and death of the scholars and the society at that time,especially absorbs the Taoist and Confucian views,and gives a set of "life and death" concepts with clear political intentions in combination with its own "Wang Zhi" purpose.The second part mainly elaborates the view of life and the unique health-preserving thought in Lv’s Spring and Autumn Period,and elaborates the essence,reason,method and object of health-preserving.Lv’s health-preserving thought is mainly aimed at the monarch,which is based on "law heaven and earth",and combined with the change ofpower structure during the Warring States Period and the strengthening of the importance of the monarch highlighted therefrom.The third part elaborates the life and Death Outlook of Lv’s Spring and Autumn Period and the theory of sacrifice of life and value of subjects.First of all,for the viewpoint of death and longevity in the society at that time,Lv’si expressed the view of "all men are dead".Then,when facing the choice of life value,he explained in detail the specific contents of the value of life choice that subjects need to abandon,and pointed out that the view of life and death was mainly aimed at the subjects,which was also a part of their monarchy system.The fourth part mainly expounds the essence and attitude of Qin Shihuang on life and death in Lv’s Spring and Autumn Period.Lv’s outlook on life and death is mainly distributed in the twelfth period of the whole book,starting from his system of heaven,while health-preserving thought and life-giving theory are aimed at the two objects of the monarch and subjects respectively,which are still serving the goal of "rule by the king" in general,so they are also part of the monarchy system.Lv’s outlook on life and death mainly hoped to be practiced in the governing body,but the Qin Emperor’s ultimate practice ran counter to this.The article briefly analyzed the reasons leading to this result.