Dong Zhongshu's philosophy is based on the theory of "harmony between man and nature". He believes that heaven is the supreme personality god, who not only created everything, but also created people. Therefore, he believes that heaven has the will, and like people, it has "emotions". Man and heaven
Is consistent. This idea of "harmony between man and nature" inherited the theory of Meng Si School and Zou Yan, a scholar of Yin and Yang, and developed it very exquisitely.
Dong Zhongshu believes that everything has a purpose. God's will is to be unified, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty is ordered by heaven. Princes in feudal countries were appointed by emperors and ministers by monarchs. In family relations, sons obey their fathers and wives obey their husbands. These layers of ruling relations are all done according to God's will. Dong Zhongshu's theological teleology of "the connection between man and nature" is precisely to order and rationalize everything and serve the rulers of the Han Dynasty to consolidate the centralized and autocratic system.
Dong Zhongshuli's theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements infers the relationship between the southeast and northwest directions and the five elements of Jin Mu. Moreover, he highlights his position as the master of the five elements, and thinks that the five elements are the expression of heaven, and then applies this theory of respecting yang and restraining yin to society, thus inferring "three cardinal guides and five permanents" The three cardinal principles mentioned here are "the monarch is the minister's cardinal principle, the father is the child's cardinal principle, and the husband is the wife's cardinal principle".
He believes that "Tao" originates from heaven, and "Heaven remains unchanged, so does Tao". In other words, the "Tao" of maintaining the ruling order, such as "three cardinal guides and five permanents" and "great unity", will never change. So, how to explain the change of the throne and the change of dynasties? To this end, he put forward the theories of "condemnation" and "reorganization". He believes that when a ruler is administratively negligent, disasters will happen every day to express condemnation and warning. If you don't repent, you will be surprised. If you don't know how to be afraid, then disaster will happen.
He believes that people's cognitive activities are dictated by providence, and the purpose of cognition is to understand providence. Judge right and wrong through introspection, and achieve the purpose of "knowing the sky". In addition, we must observe the yin and yang and the five elements to understand God's will and heaven. It is in accordance with the model of "wholehearted", "intellectual" and "knowing heaven" that the "harmony between man and nature" has been realized. He also believes that through sacrifice, he can communicate with God, let him see things that ordinary people can't see, and let him know the fate of ghosts and gods. This epistemology has reached a mysterious level.
On the theory of human nature, Dong Zhongshu is different from Mencius' theory of good nature and Xunzi's theory of evil nature, but advocates the theory of three natures. He believes that sex is determined by heaven and is naturally simple. Although it can be good, it is not good. Only "being well taught by foreign teachers is good", that is, human kindness is the result of education. Kings should obey God's will to educate the people. He emphasized education and put forward "preventing desire".
Dong Zhongshu's thought is the official philosophy of the Western Han Dynasty. It has summed up historical experience and gone through decades of choices, which has played a positive role in consolidating its ruling order and maintaining the unified situation. Dong Zhongshu is not only the founder of authentic theology, but also a famous Confucian scholar.
history
Dong Zhongshu likes to talk about mysterious things, saying that it is different to be good for disasters. In the fifth year of Yuanguang (BC 130), a fire broke out in the Gaomiao Temple in Liaodong and the Gaoyuan Hall in Changling. Dong Zhongshu explained his intention and wrote a draft of Historical Records, which has not been written to the emperor. Zhufuyan saw his manuscript in private, and because he was jealous of Dong Zhongshu, he stole the manuscript of Historical Records and played it in the court. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty handed it over to Confucianism in the DPRK for examination. Because of the irony of the current situation, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in a rage, put Dong Zhongshu in prison. Although Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty later attached great importance to him, a famous master of Confucian classics, and wrote a letter to absolve him of his sin, so that he could become a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner again and let Qiu Shouwang learn from him the ram study in the Spring and Autumn Annals, Dong Zhongshu never dared to talk about disasters again.