Shun, always called Yao, is the legendary holy king. "Historical Records" said that Shun was named Zhong Hua, and Huangfu Mi in the Jin Dynasty said that he was a gentleman.
Shun, also known as Yu Shun, is said to have the name of Yu. According to the custom of taking the country as the surname in the pre-Qin period, it is called Yu. It is also said that Shun was born in Yao market, so his surname is Yao, and his name is "Zhong Hua". However, according to Historical Records, Shun is a "man of Jizhou", and Zhang Shoujie in the Tang Dynasty specifically pointed out: "Hedong County of Puzhou belongs to Jizhou." It seems that Shun is from Hedong County. Hedong County of Puzhou in Tang Dynasty is now Yongji County of Shanxi Province, and it is now Puzhou Town. Mencius believed that Shun was a native of Dongyi. "Mencius": "Shun was born in various Feng, moved in the summer, and died in Mingtiao, and he was also a native of the East." According to legend, Shun's family background is very poor. Although he is a descendant of Emperor Zhuanxiang, the fifth is Shu Ren, who is in the lower class. Shun's experience was even more unfortunate. His father, Gu Sou, was blind and his mother died young. Gu Sou remarried, and his stepmother gave birth to a younger brother named Xiang. Shun lives in a family environment of "stubborn father, arrogant mother and arrogant elephant". His father is dishonest, his stepmother is duplicitous, his younger brother is arrogant and unruly, and several people collude to kill Shun. However, Shun did not lose his filial piety to his parents, and was very friendly with his younger brother. He never slacked off for many years. Shun fled in time when his family wanted to harm him; If you get a little better, go back to them immediately and help them as much as possible, so it is "if you want to kill, you can't get it; Seeking, tasting (often) in the side "is so unfortunate and the environment is so bad, but Shun can show extraordinary moral character and handle family relations well, which is a unique aspect of his legendary stories.
Shun's family was poor, so he engaged in all kinds of manual labor and had a rough experience. He cultivated and planted in Lishan (today's unknown place is Zhongtiao Mountain in Yongji County), fished in Leize (old saying is Gulei Xiaze in Jiyin, Shandong Province), made pottery on the bank of the Yellow River, made household utensils in Shouqiu (today's unknown place), and even made a small business in the summer (today's unknown place). In short, his livelihood was difficult and he was displaced, and he was running around to support his family.
It is said that Shun became famous when he was 2 years old. He was famous for his filial piety. Because he can stick to filial piety to his parents who abused and persecuted him, he was called Yang in his youth. Ten years later, Yao asked Siyue (the leader of the four governors) for a successor, and Siyue recommended Shun. Yao married his two daughters to Shun to test his character and ability.
Shun not only makes the two daughters live in harmony with the whole family, but also shows outstanding talents and noble personality strength in all aspects. "Shun Geng Li Shan, everyone who has experienced the mountain gives way; Fishing for Razer, everyone in Razer gives way. As long as it is where he works, the fashion of comity will rise; "Pottery riverside, riverside utensils are not bitter", making pottery can also drive people around to engage in earnest, strive for perfection, and put an end to the phenomenon of shoddy construction. Wherever he went, people were willing to follow him, so "in one year, he lived together (together is the village), in two years, he became a city, and in three years, Chengdu (with four counties as the capital)". Yao was very happy to learn these things, and gave Shun Yi clothes (fine ge cloth clothes) and Qin, cattle and sheep, and built a barn for him.
Shun got these rewards, and Gu Sou and Xiang were so jealous that they wanted to kill Shun and seize these possessions. Gu Sou asked Shun to repair the roof of the barn, but set fire to the barn below. Shun survived by jumping off the house with two hats as wings. Later, Gu Sou asked Shun to dig a well. The well was dug deep, but Gu Sou and Xiang filled it with earth. They wanted to plug the well and bury Shun alive. Fortunately, Shun was alert in advance, dug a passage next to the shaft, went through the passage and hid for a while. Gu Sou and Xiang thought that the plot was successful, and Xiang said that he had come up with the idea, that he wanted a piano when dividing things, and that Yao's two daughters would be his wives, and that he would share the cattle, sheep and barn with his parents. Elephant lived in Shun's house and played Shun's piano. Shun went to see him. Elephant was surprised, but the boss was unhappy, but he said, "I think Shun is boring!" " Shun doesn't take it to heart, as always, he is filial to his parents and friendly to his brothers; And more sincere and cautious than before.
Later, Yao asked Shun to participate in political affairs, manage officials, receive guests and undergo various tempering. Shun not only handled the political affairs in an orderly way, but also improved the employment. The "Eight Yuan" and "Eight Kai" that Yao failed to use have long been famous, so Shun made the "Eight Yuan" manage the land and made the "Eight Kai" disciplined; There are also "Four Fierce Families", namely, Di Hong's incompetent scholar Hundun, Shaoluo's incompetent scholar Qiong Qi, Zhuan Xu's incompetent scholar, and Jinyun's incompetent scholar gluttony. Although notorious, Yao failed to dispose of them, and Shun exiled the "Four Fierce Families" to remote and wild places. The implementation of these measures shows Shun's general plan of governing the country and his political talent.
After many tests, Shun finally got Yao's approval. Choose an auspicious day and hold a ceremony. Yaochan is located in Shun, which is called "Wen Zu at last" in Shangshu. Legend has it that Shun took the place of Yao in the administration of the son of heaven, although he had the right of the son of heaven, but he did not have the title of the son of heaven.
a legend that is quite different from these two theories is that Shun imprisoned Yao and refused to let his son Dan Zhu see him, so he became the Emperor himself, which was similar to the court coup of later generations, usurping power and seizing power.
After Shun came to power, it is said that there were a series of major political actions, which made great efforts to govern the country. He revised the calendar again, and held a ceremony of offering sacrifices to God, the four seasons of heaven and earth, and the gods of mountains and rivers. He also collected the letters from the governors, then set an auspicious day, summoned the governors and princes from all over the country, held a grand ceremony and re-issued the letters.
when he ascended the throne, he toured all over the country, offering sacrifices to famous mountains, summoning governors and observing people's feelings. It is also stipulated that the patrol should be held once in the next five years to inspect the improvement of governors' performance and specify rewards and punishments. It can be seen that Shun paid attention to the connection with the local authorities and strengthened his rule over the local authorities.
In the legend, Shun's general plan of governing the country is another one, which is to "punish the elephant with a standard punishment and shed five punishments", and draw the shapes of five punishments on the utensils to play a warning role; Use exile instead of corporal punishment to show leniency. However, flogging, beating and redemption were also set up, especially for criminals who refused to repent. Shun exiled workers to Youzhou, Huandou to Chongshan, Sanmiao to Sanwei, and Gun who had failed in water control to Yushan. The bad guys were punished and everyone was convinced.
According to the legend in Historical Records, Yao died after 28 years of regency of Shun. After the three-year funeral, Shun gave way to Yao's son Dan Zhu and retreated to the south of Nanhe. However, all the governors in the world went to see Shun, but ignored Dan Zhu; People who went to court also complained to Shun, and the people made up many songs to praise Shun, and they all ignored Dan Zhu. Shun felt that the will of the people and the will of God could not be shirked, so he returned to the capital and ascended to the position of the son of heaven. However, the legendary capital of Shun is not in the same place as that of Yao. According to Kong Yingda's "Mao Shi Zheng Yi" in the Tang Dynasty, Huangfu Mi said; "Shun camp capital, or Yunpu Sakamoto." Puban was Hedong County in the Tang Dynasty, which is now Yongji County in Shanxi Province.
After Yao's death, Shun made another great political revolution. The responsibilities of Yu, Hao Tao, Qi, Abandon, Boyi, Kui, Long, Chui, Yi, etc., which have been used in the past, are not clear. At this time, Shun ordered Yu to be a common person to control water and soil; Life abandoned as Hou Ji, in charge of agriculture; Life contract as Stuart, the implementation of enlightenment; Hao Tao was appointed as a "scholar" and was in charge of criminal law; Life hangs as a "* * * worker" and is in charge of all kinds of work; Life benefits as "danger", in charge of the forest; Boyi was appointed as the "Rank Sect" and presided over the etiquette; He was appointed as a music official, in charge of music and education; Ordered the dragon to "accept the words", responsible for issuing orders and collecting opinions.
It is also stipulated that political achievements should be inspected once every three years, and promotion or dismissal should be decided by the results of three inspections. Through such rectification, all the work has taken on a new look. All these people have made brilliant achievements, among which Yu's achievement is the greatest. He devoted himself to controlling floods, set an example, cut mountains and dredge rivers, and finally conquered floods, making people all over the world live and work in peace and contentment.
when compared, "the merits of Emperor Shun are cherished in the four seas" and "all the world's virtues begin with Emperor Yu", showing an unprecedented situation of peace.
When Shun was old, he thought that his son was corrupt in business, so he decided that Yu, who had the highest prestige, was his successor, and Yu took charge of administrative affairs. Therefore, Shun, like Yao, is the sage king who abdicated in Zen.
It is said that after Yao's death, Shun reigned for 39 years, went on patrol in the south, died in the wilderness of Cangwu, and was buried in Jiuyi Mountain in the south of the Yangtze River, which was called "Lingling".
Shun, like Yao, was the ancient sage king respected by Confucianism and Mohism in the pre-Qin period. Shun is of special significance to Confucianism. Confucian theory attaches importance to filial piety, and Shun's legend is also famous for filial piety, so his personality image is just a model of Confucian ethics. Mencius made a great contribution to the development of Confucianism after Confucius. He strongly praised Shun's filial piety and advocated people to strive to be as filial as Shun.
said: "Shun, people are also; Me, too. Shun is the law in the world, but it can be passed on to later generations. I am (still) a countryman, but I can worry about it. What's the worry? It' s just awkward. " He even imagined that Shun was the son of heaven, and Gu Sou was arrested for murder. Although Shun would not use his power to undermine the criminal law and pardon him, he must secretly carry his father out of prison, escape to the seaside together, live a carefree life, and forget the status of the son of heaven in order to enjoy family happiness. Due to the propaganda of Confucianism, the legendary deeds about Shun have left a profound influence on China's cultural tradition.
At the beginning of this century, the school of ancient skepticism believed that Yao Shunyu's legend appeared later, and Yao Shunyu was later than Yu, so his legend was fabricated by later generations, and his person was totally false. It is generally believed in academic circles that the story of Yao Shunyu's abdication really reflects the situation at the end of primitive society. Although it is a legend, it has its own historical value.
Some scholars especially pointed out that Shun appointed "Eight Yuan", "Eight Kai" and Hao Tao, each of whom was in charge, reflecting that the Council of Tribal Alliance had begun to transform into an aristocratic deliberative body. It shows that using historical materialism to study the legend of Shun is helpful for us to understand the clues of historical development during the disintegration of primitive society.