Chapter 28 Whether there was democracy in ancient China

The Chinese nation has produced the I Ching culture in the understanding and transformation of nature, and the "I Ching" culture is composed of two parts: "Hetu" and "Luoshu", which are the innate gossip and acquired gossip that fortune tellers often hang on their lips.

Now whether it is Eastern civilization or Western civilization, in fact, all the cultures practiced by human beings are included in the culture of the Book of Changes. It's not gibberish, it's a fact. That is to say, whether it is ancient or modern, the political program or ideology practiced by human beings is contained in the Book of Changes, whether you are Eastern civilization or Western civilization, no matter how sound and profound your cultural system is, you will not be able to jump out of the tight spell of the Book of Changes.

The reason is that human civilization is interconnected, and culture is the carrier of civilization, and there can be no civilization without culture, because if you can't use words to convey the narrative, the spread of civilization is limited under oral transmission. The "Hetu" and "Luoshu" parts of the Book of Changes are the common cultural carriers recorded by the written transmission of human civilization.

Now it can be said that whether you are an Eastern civilization or a Western civilization, the political program and ideology you practice are all at the hands of fortune tellers or wizards. This sentence is light and thin, but it is the same in essence.

Let's not think of culture as noble, in fact, all advanced culture comes from slang.

In his Lectures on the History of Philosophy, Hegel argues that the culture of Confucius is "only a kind of common-sense morality, which we can find everywhere, in every nation, and perhaps better, which is nothing outstanding at all." This also shows that his culture also comes from common sense morality and slang. Again, something that doesn't have anything outstanding.

Don't think that Hegel's culture is necessarily superior to Confucius's, not really. Looking at Hegel's concept of culture as a whole, it can be summed up in one sentence: human civilization is a civilization under the domination of the spirit, and everything survives, develops, and continues only under the domination of the spirit (mind). Confucius culture, on the other hand, believes that human civilization survives, develops, and continues under one yin and one yang, and that human civilization exists in a world where nature and man are one.

The core of Hegel's culture is that all human beings must abandon the human worldview and human ideology under the domination of spirit (mind) in order to achieve the unity of speculation and method. To put it simply, all people should abandon their thoughts and rise to the level of the spirit (mind), because the mind is changeable, and the spirit (mind) is unchanging. The spirit (mind) can strengthen the will of human beings without wavering. This is the ultimate goal of Hegel's Absolute Spirit (Idea). Indeed, his theory has found a theoretical framework for the constitutions of contemporary countries, especially for the idea of limiting the monarchy.

In fact, this is exactly the case, if the monarch spreads his ideas to the lower echelons every day, and constantly changes his thoughts, it is indeed impossible for the people to follow, and the constitution is the unity of the human worldview and methodology from the spiritual (ideological) level of human beings.

The core of Hegel's culture is to abandon thought, possess spirit, stand on the height of absolute spirit, and respect spirit, because the spiritual constitution is the will of the people and cannot be changed at will.

This proposition of Hegelian culture is indeed more clever than Confucius's "unity of heaven and man", and the monarch is exercising power for heaven. But it does not mean that Confucius culture is "just a common sense morality." However, he was right when he said, "The philosophy of Confucius is the philosophy of the state."

Confucius culture is indeed an atheistic secular culture that denies the existence of the spirit (mind).

Confucius culture is an empiricist culture from beginning to end, emphasizing a closed culture of empirical correctness and political correctness. This is absolutely true, and there is no need to argue about it. Confucius culture is the philosophy of the state, a culture of centralization, closure and dictatorship.

Why did ancient China fully adopt Confucius's culture of centralization, closure and dictatorship, rather than the democratic culture of decentralization, openness and democracy?

Why is Taoism a democratic culture in China? Why has the political ideology completely abandoned Taoist culture since the Ming Dynasty?

To be precise, Taoist culture does not belong to atheistic culture, Taoism is a divine culture, a democratic culture.

Taoism believes in God, and Taoism recognizes that human beings have spiritual (mind) existence, but Taoism is a pantheistic culture, and Taoist gods are very general, so many as cattle hairs. Taoists like to be gods, but anyone who dies, whether it is a human or a dog, as long as your behavior when you are alive is enough for future generations to admire, you can be a god. The dog of the god Erlang is worshiped as a roaring dog because of its loyalty, and it is a divine beast. Sun Wukong jumped out of the crack in the stone, and was still named the Buddha for his wit and bravery.

Today's world culture is classified into theistic culture and atheistic culture, and theistic culture is the materialist and idealistic culture represented by Western philosophy, which recognizes the existence of God. Atheistic culture is Confucianism and Confucianism, which denies the existence of gods.

Looking back on history, starting from the Zhou Dynasty, the political program and ideology of the Zhou Dynasty came from the hands of King Wen of Zhou and Jiang Zhiya. They are proficient in the art of Huang Lao and are good at the fortune-telling culture of Zhou Yi Bagua. Therefore, the political system practiced by the Zhou Dynasty came from the hands of these two fortune tellers. The feudal system of the Zhou Dynasty was a democratic system, similar to the system of separation of powers practiced by modern Westerners. The feudal system of the princes in the early Western Zhou Dynasty was a democratic system of decentralization, openness and democracy, but the democratic system of the Zhou Dynasty was just a division of power under the imperial system, but the essence was that the situation was clear and the rules were clear. The world is square, and it stresses rules, order, democracy, compromise, struggle, plunder, sharing, openness, and other ideological propositions, and ideology is to stress democracy, decentralization, and openness.

Chinese culture talks about the heaven and the place, in fact, the Western culture also talks about the heaven and the place.

World cultures are essentially the same, but the superstructure is selective in its use of ideology, and if the whole world does not exercise its political system selectively, then it may be the same regime all over the world.

The feudal system practiced by the Zhou Dynasty is the ancestor of the modern Western system of separation of powers, and this idea comes from the "Luo Shu" acquired gossip part of the Book of Changes. This system was implemented in the Zhou Dynasty for more than 800 years, and it was not until the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that it was expelled from the superstructure and replaced by Confucian culture, which was the ideological blueprint of the "Hetu" innate gossip part of the Book of Changes.

After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Confucian culture experienced more than 100 years of application, and at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, under Wang Mang's extreme admiration, it led to major confusion in the ideology of the Western Han Dynasty. In the case of Wang Mang's reverence for Confucianism and usurpation of the throne, people began to doubt the usability of Confucian culture. Therefore, after the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu began to implement a political policy of respecting Taoism and suppressing Confucianism in terms of political program and ideology. In the end, Taoism in the late Eastern Han Dynasty had the upper hand in ideology, and the social atmosphere was highly free, so that the Yellow Turban Army of the rebel army used naked **** as a ritual to worship God when they sacrificed before the war, which shows the openness and freedom of social weathering at that time.

After the Han Dynasty, nearly 500 years of national division and war followed.

After the Han Dynasty until the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, China was in a period of war and strife, and the Three Kingdoms, the Two Jin Dynasties, and the Northern and Southern Dynasties were the period of Taoist ideology. During this period, the ethnic minorities in the north invaded the south on a large scale, and the political programs of many countries were chaotic, which is the so-called "prosperity in troubled times".

Under the "troubled times", the political program is chaotic, and freedom follows. "Freedom" is the foundation for stressing democracy, stressing the separation of powers, and stressing the rule of inaction. Without "freedom", there can be no democracy, separation of powers, and rule by inaction. Therefore, under the superstructure occupied by Taoist ideology, the national political program is basically a cultural phenomenon such as "compromise, struggle, plunder, sharing, and openness" referred to by modern culture. In this period, there were the most evil sects, vertical and horizontal arts, yin and yang techniques, fortune telling, girls' yin and yang techniques, room techniques, alchemy, etc., all produced in this period, and this period of the West is the period of philosophical development and perfection.

The political system of the Tang Dynasty was also a political ideology of Confucianism and Taoism. It was only in the middle and late periods that Buddhism appeared, so the social phenomenon of the coexistence of the three religions appeared in the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, when the three religions coexisted, the Confucian ideology was not reused, but the two ideas of Buddhism and Taoism prevailed in the Tang Dynasty, which can be strongly proved from the freedom and moderation of women in the Tang Dynasty. The middle and late Tang Dynasty was a society that emphasized democracy, decentralization, and rule by inaction, with a high degree of political freedom. As in the late Han Dynasty, a high degree of liberal democracy eventually led to nearly 500 years of division and war in China.

After the Tang Dynasty was destroyed, nearly 500 years of national division and war followed.

The arrival of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms completely sent the Chinese nation into an era of war and strife, and the people lived a life of displacement in the famine or war. This period was also an era of large-scale invasion of the northern ethnic minorities to the south, and the political programs of the multinational era were chaotic, and it was still a "prosperous road in troubled times".

During the period when Taoism was rampant, national politics was a society with a high degree of freedom, and the political program and ideology were about "compromise, struggle, plunder, sharing, openness" and so on. Therefore, ancient China not only had democratic politics, but also implemented it in three periods in a very formal manner.

However, however, it is very emphasized that after three periods of very formal implementation, what has been brought to the Chinese nation is the great division, the great war, the great disaster, and the great hardship.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Han women were treated as two-legged sheep and were served with the sheepfold for the army.

The late Eastern Han Dynasty, as well as the middle and late Tang Dynasty, were essentially democratic politics and were very open, especially the Tang Dynasty, which at that time could be described as the first in the world in terms of openness.

The degree of openness of the Tang Dynasty is estimated to be incomparable even to today's Western Europe and the United States.

The Tang Dynasty was the world's largest power at that time, and the gross national product accounted for more than half of the world, but I am only a conservative estimate without data, in fact, the gross national product of the Tang Dynasty was far more than this number, that is to say, when the Tang Dynasty people in China ate big fish and meat, Westerners were still living a life of lack of wealth and lack of people, and the people were not able to make a living, and they ate bran and vegetables. There is no doubt about that.

Take the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi as an example, Bai Juyi was born in a small and medium-sized bureaucratic family in the Central Plains, but Bai Juyi's family raised a lot of subordinates, and raised geisha, which were specially used by high-ranking officials and nobles for communication. What kind of concept is this, even if you are a billionaire today, I am afraid that you can't afford to live like Bai Juyi's family, that is to say, a billionaire nowadays you don't dare to raise a troupe and geisha for your enjoyment. The key is that there were no banks in the Tang Dynasty, and the rich did not lend, they were all really rich people who did not take out loans. It's not like now, but all the rich people take out a lot of debt.

In the Tang Dynasty, any dignitary could live a luxurious life, which shows how abundant the economic aggregate of the Tang Dynasty was at that time.

However, every time the ancient Chinese engaged in democratic politics on a large scale and had a glorious period, what they brought to the Chinese was hundreds of years of disaster, suffering, and great division, and there was not a single time when they were not unified after hundreds of years of division.

After many disasters, pains, and great divisions, the Chinese began to think about change, so Confucianism entered the political arena, and it was not until Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty in the fourteenth century that the imperial court was truly "exclusive to Confucianism".

Zhu Yuanzhang completely blocked other ideas from entering the political field, thoroughly cleaned out the political programs and ideological propositions of Taoism and Buddhism from the upper ideology, and implemented the policy of exclusive respect for Confucianism in a real sense, so that China could live and work in peace and contentment for nearly 600 years. However, the excessive closure of the Qing Dynasty attracted the strong ships and cannons of the Western powers, and brought great disasters and humiliation to the Chinese.

In the late Zhou Dynasty, there were disputes for hundreds of years. The two Jin and Northern Dynasties of the Later Han Dynasty were divided for hundreds of years. After the Tang Dynasty, there were five dynasties and ten kingdoms, until the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, and then divided for hundreds of years. The three times the democratic system was implemented and the three times failed, all that brought disaster, suffering, and great division to the Chinese nation.

It can be seen from this that the "Luo Shu" acquired gossip thought of the Book of Changes is not the ideology and ideological proposition of human experience and political correctness, and there are major political program and ideological defects.

The "Vena Shu" acquired gossip thought is the theoretical basis of Chinese Taoist culture, as well as the theoretical basis of modern Western political culture.

However, since its inception to the present, China's Taoist culture has not formed a complete and perfect theoretical system, but has become a hotbed of cults and crooked ways.

In fact, the reason is very simple, because Taoism has never been able to get rid of the shackles of natural science, has not studied and developed Taoism as a human knowledge, and has never jumped out of the trigonometric geometry principle of "one life two: two gives birth to three, three gives birth to all things" summarized by Lao Tzu in the Tao Te Ching, and was trapped in the circle of natural science and could not extricate himself. As a result, in the study of natural science, the Taoists produced a lot of half-understood heresies. For example, Yin and Yang Technique, Vertical and Horizontal Technique, Guigu Technique, Fortune Telling, Girl's Technique of Collecting Yin and Replenishing Yang, Technique in the Room, Alchemy, Cult and so on are all produced in this situation.

Under the guidance of philosophy, Western political culture got rid of the shackles of natural science and developed Western democratic culture on the basis of the principle of triangular cubes.

However, under the guidance of immature Taoist thought, ancient China practiced Chinese-style democratic politics three times, and each time led to the great division of wars and bitter situations, and finally Confucianism was pushed to the superstructure of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and became the political program and ideology under the rule of the emperor.

In ancient China, after the development of democratic politics failed three times in the Zhou, Han and Tang dynasties, the literati represented by Zhu Xi began to reflect on the ideological propositions of the "Zhou Yi" in the Song Dynasty and began to look for the defects in the "Luo Shu" acquired gossip thought. Under Shao Yong's excavation, the theory of innate gossip was reorganized and improved. As a result, Confucian culture was developed and consolidated under the expansion of Zhu Xi.

The establishment of the Ming Dynasty began to respect Confucianism in the true sense. Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di completely blocked the political program and ideological propositions of Taoism and Buddhism into the upper ideology, and vigorously promoted Confucianism, positioning Confucianism on the political program and ideology of the superstructure, bringing spring to Confucianism.

Confucianism is, in essence, a dualistic culture, a closed culture, a culture diametrically opposed to an open and democratic three-element culture. Confucianism is to close people's spiritual world, so that people can live in a cultural atmosphere of harmony, sharing, fairness, and harmony between man and nature, in order to achieve peaceful reunification, equality, mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. This is the fundamental proposition of Confucianism, which is to put an end to divisions, wars, and strife and realize a society of great harmony under heaven.

The ideological concept of Confucianism has a great relationship with the era in which Confucius and Zhu Xi lived, they were both born in the late stage of the war, the country was in a state of war in which the country was divided for a long time, the country was scarce, the people were living in misery, the country was in urgent need of peaceful reunification, the ideology was in urgent need of unification, and the people were in urgent need of stability and unity.

Zhu Yuanzhang's political program and ideological propositions of completely blocking the two schools of Taoism and Buddhism are also related to his life experience.

In the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, wars and natural disasters caused Zhu Yuanzhang to lose his parents, and he was a flower child who mixed in Taoist temples and temples. He deeply felt the openness and confusion of the minds of the two Taoist and Buddhist schools, and deeply hated the ugliness of the Taoist Buddha who used God's will to defraud the people of money. Therefore, after he won the world, he completely cleaned up the thoughts of Taoism and Buddhism from the upper ideology.

Zhu Yuanzhang's complete blockade of people's spiritual existence and the vigorous promotion of atheistic Confucianism are related to his youth experience.

Even in contemporary times, Taoism and Buddhism are cultural industries that must limit their development. The reason is that Taoist temples and Buddhist temples are not inherited family properties, nor are they public ownership of common industries. The industry of Taoist temples and Buddhist temples is an industry that develops unfettered and disorderly. It is neither public ownership nor private ownership, it is an exclusive industry without a supervision mechanism, and it is a small group of interest organizations in which a small number of people enjoy the wealth of society under the doctrine of God. The management of Taoist temples and Buddhist temples is in the hands of a small number of people, and a few people have the final say in the distribution of all benefits, so Taoist temples and Buddhist temples are the places where corruption is most likely to breed, and you can't manage their corruption, he is corrupt in the name of God, and you say how to manage your secular government.

Therefore, even in contemporary times, the two Taoist and Buddhist industries must be cultural industries with strict restrictions on development. The fundamental reason is that the industries of Taoist temples and Buddhist temples can develop in a disorderly manner without restrictions, so that this kind of economic entity loses the value significance of fairness and justice, and loses the true significance of human development towards civilization. Then it is a human civilization that should not exist and is unreasonable, and it is a human civilization that must be strictly restricted.

The real meaning of the development of civilization in human society is to become more and more intelligent and civilized, and if the existence of a certain social organization is not only not wise, but also more and more uncivilized, then the existence of such civilization is meaningless.

The same is true of Confucianism, in the case of the urgent need of social development, Confucianism occupies the superstructure is a necessary product, and when it cannot lead the Chinese nation to a higher and more civilized society, it is inevitable to abandon it.

However, no matter how much contemporary people hate Confucianism, objectively speaking, Confucianism still represents an upper-class culture of human civilization and a dominant culture in the ideological field.

Looking back at history now, don't think that the Chinese have not engaged in democratic politics, the Chinese have not only engaged in it, but have also engaged in it more than once. First of all, the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties were all democratic politics, but it was just a problem of the times, and the democracy at that time was different from the contemporary democracy, but the essence was the same, that is, decentralization and openness.

Why did ancient China not develop into a capitalist society like the West after the 13th century? The reason is very simple, because of the war.

Five centuries of war have left China with a lack of national deprivation and an urgent need for a stable and harmonious society. Therefore, the Chinese at that time firmly gave up decentralization, openness, and democracy, and firmly chose centralization, closure, and dictatorship, and brought nearly 600 years of unification to the Chinese nation.

This is the reason why what era produces what political program.