Tang Zhen
Tang Zhen
Tang Zhen (1630-1704) was originally known as a big pottery with the character of "Wan" and the number of "Pu Ting". He was born in Daxian County, Sichuan Province (now Pujia Town, Tongchuan District, Dazhou City, Sichuan Province). He was the 11th generation grandson of Tang Yu, and was a thinker and political commentator in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty.
Tang Zhen, together with Suining LV Qian and Xindu Fei MI, were called "three outstanding thinkers in the middle of Shu in the early Qing Dynasty". Together with Wang Fuzhi, Huang Zongxi and Gu Yanwu, they were called "four famous enlightenment thinkers" in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty. They were listed as "outstanding thinkers" by the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee and the State Education Commission, who had a great influence on Chinese history.
Tang Zhen wrote a lot in his life, and Qianshu is his main representative work. Liang Qichao once regarded the book as a summary of the thought of sages in China. It believed that it embodies the essence of the wisdom of Oriental philosophers, and is a good medicine for awakening people and a good word for their ears.
Life of the characters
Life and works: Tang Zhen, formerly known as Da Tao, was born in Dazhou, Sichuan Province. He was later renamed Zhen and named Pu ting. He was born in the third year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty and died in the 43rd year of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty. He was 75 years old. His life story is rather obscure. The general catalogue of Siku has identified the author of Hengshu as Tang Datao and the author of Qianshu as Tang Datao. When he was young, he traveled with his father to Wujiang, Beijing and Nanjing. In the second year of Shunzhi, the city of Nanjing was destroyed, and father and son took refuge in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. In the 14th year of Shunzhi, Ding you (1657) was the magistrate of the eldest son County of Shanxi Province. In October, he toured Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and other places for more than 20 years. Later, he was trapped in Jiangsu and still aspired to be the king's teacher. In 1962, Beijing Zhonghua Book Company published "Qianshu", which is attached with the Editor Li Zhiqin's article "a study of Tang Zhen's deeds".
Ideas and propositions
Political views
First, the feudal monarch did not carry out the policy of enriching the people, but carried out the policy of forgetting, abusing and harming the people. As a result, he was "increasingly impoverished in the four seas, including farming, industry, market and official" (Qian Shu · Cun Yan). Second, feudal officials plundered the people's property. They watched the people's sufferings and greedily sought their own interests. Third, the heavy and various taxes have aggravated the hardship of people's life. Fourth, financial resources are exhausted and the amount of money loaned is small, which leads to the fact that financial loans cannot be circulated. "In today's world, no one is poor, not poor in money, but poor in silver" (Qian Shu Geng coin). After discussing the causes of the people's poverty, Tang Zhen put forward the political reform measures of getting rich from the people. Tang Zhen pointed out that the people are the foundation of the country and the political leader is to enrich the people. "Without the people, there are no four policies! In feudalism, the people strengthen it; in the Treasury, the people fill it; in the imperial court, the people respect it; in official posts, the people support it. " (Qianshu Mingjian) only when the people are well fed and well fed, can the country prosper; if the people are poor, it will lead to the country's demise. He said: the only way to build a country is to be rich. Since ancient times, there has been no one who can be a poor country. The rich are in the household, not in the Treasury. If the household is empty, though the wealth of the Treasury is like hills and hills, it is a poor country, not a country. Therefore, the wealth of a nation lies not in the wealth of the national treasury, but in the wealth of the people. Tang Zhen stressed that "governing the way is the most important thing" (Qianshu · Quanshi), which is really rich for the people. He said: "wealth is the treasure of the country and the life of the people. Treasure should not be stolen and life should not be hustled." (Qian Shu enriching the people) wealth is the life of the people and the treasure of the country, so the only way to build a country is to enrich the people. Tang Zhen put forward various measures to enrich the people. First of all, we should do our best to enrich the people and eliminate the policy of abandoning and abusing the people. In his opinion, the politics of a country, therefore, is not rich in the national treasury, but rich in the people's life. Tang Zhen stressed that "governing the way is the most important thing" (Qianshu · Quanshi), which is really rich for the people. He said: "wealth is the treasure of the country and the life of the people. Treasure should not be stolen and life should not be hustled." (Qian Shu enriching the people) wealth is the life of the people and the treasure of the country, so the only way to build a country is to enrich the people. Tang Zhen put forward various measures to enrich the people. First of all, we should do our best to enrich the people and eliminate the policy of abandoning and abusing the people. In his opinion, the political policy of a country should aim at enriching the people. "Although there are many posts, they are not poor." although there are hundreds of official posts and duties, they should be attributed to the cultivation of the people. "Therefore, Tang Zhen especially emphasized the practical governance of enriching the people, and pointed out that" for the country to govern, merit to merit, merit to the people, food to nourish the people, "and" the way to cultivate the people, Provincial officials should be the first task "(Qianshu · provincial officials), but in addition to the harm of tyranny on the people, officials should attach importance to the honest and capable talents who support the people." honest people must make the people thrifty and rich, and talented people must make the people diligent and profitable. Only when all the monarchs and officials carry out the policy of enriching the people, can the people live a rich life. Secondly, Tang Zhen put forward the idea of enriching the people by developing diversified production for the benefit of nature. Tang Zhen denied the traditional concept of "agriculture is the foundation of Commerce", and proposed that in order to make the people around the world really rich, it is necessary to develop a variety of production, such as agriculture, handicraft industry and commerce. In his opinion, the most important thing to support and enrich the people is to vigorously develop agriculture, as well as to develop commerce and handicraft industry in an all-round way. "The way to govern is to start with fields and markets" (Qianshu · Pushi). He pointed out that "there are many woods in the mountains, many fish in the ponds, many fruits and vegetables in the gardens, and many sheep and boars in the railings" (Qianshu · Dazheng). Only by comprehensively developing agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery can we realize the prosperity of the people. At the same time, Tang Zhen strongly advocated the textile industry of planting mulberry and raising silkworms, and advocated improving people's living standards through commodity circulation. Third, Tang Zhen put forward the commercial measures of reforming currency lending and promoting circulation. He pointed out that the use of silver as loan currency restricted the exchange of money and loans and hindered the development of Commerce. "The harm of husband's wealth lies in gathering together. Silver is easy to gather. " In order to promote the prosperity and development of Commerce and realize the prosperity of people's life, "save the people today and use money as scrap money" ("Qian Shu Geng coin"). Therefore, Tang Zhen believes that only by replacing silver with copper money can commodity exchange be better carried out, and the disadvantage of easy accumulation of silver can be eliminated, and the circulation function of loan currency can be brought into play. His thought of social and political enlightenment is mainly reflected in his hidden book, which was written in 30 years. It was originally 13 chapters of Hengshu, which meant "to balance the world". Later, it had to be preserved because of "not to meet the difficulties", so it was added and renamed as Qianshu. There are 97 papers in Qianshu, which are divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the study of mind and nature, which is the unity of "doing one's best" and "doing one's best"; the second part focuses on politics, which aims at the practical governance of the world. Pan Lei said that he "respected the king of Mencius in his academic studies, valued his experience, despised his mouth and ears, and rejected the vulgar learning; while he advocated frugality and simplicity in his governance, weakened his power, saved officials, eliminated redundant officials, and wanted the monarch and the people to be close to each other as one family, which was the way to govern." (Qian Shu · preface to pan) therefore, Qian Shu "observes the way of heaven from the top, observes the personnel from the bottom, corrects the historical sites from the far, approaches the present, and makes the journey rooted in the heart, just as it seeks its political position." (Qian Shu · Qian Cun) is a book that not only established Tang Zhen's historical position in the enlightenment trend of thought in the early Qing Dynasty, but also had a profound impact on the development of Confucianism at that time.
Heart nature theory
Another important part of Tang Zhen's thought is that in his reflection on traditional Confucianism, he put forward the theory of mind and nature, which is the unity of nature and achievement. He inherited and carried forward the thought of heart learning from Mencius to Wang Shouren, and sharply criticized the empty and unsophisticated habits of Cheng and Zhu who only talked about heart and nature and did not pay attention to work. Tang Zhen highly praised Mencius' thought. Mencius' thought specifically covered the theory of "sage ruling the world." although Zhen is not sensitive, he is willing to learn from Mencius. " (Qianshu · Qiancun) at the same time, he also thinks that after Mencius, Lu Jiuyuan and Wang Shouren are the two people who can understand the learning of sages best. Tang Zhen thinks that why Mencius, Lu Jiuyuan and Wang Shouren can hold the pivot of sage learning and get the way of sage lies in their study of mind and nature. He said: "since Yao and Shun, preaching to spread the heart" ("Qian Shu Zong Meng"), only knowing the heart, can we know the way of sages, this is the way of learning. Therefore, he inherits Mencius' thought of "wholeheartedly knowing" and Wang Shouren's thought of "to conscience", and further expounds his theory of mind. In his opinion, conscience, heart and nature are one thing, which are integrated into "Tao", "Tao comes from heart, not from outside" (Qian Shu · Ge Ding), "heaven and earth and Tao, heart and heaven and earth" (Qian Shu · Jing Xiu). He said: "nature governs heaven and earth, preparing all things", "heart governs all things" (Qianshu Lianggong). Nature is the way of four virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom. "Four virtues are owned by myself, not by the outside world". To combine benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom with all things in the world is to know nature with all one's heart. He believes that "conscience can be achieved, the original mind is to see, benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom are all practical skills". Practical skills are manifested as "benevolence can help the world", "righteousness can control the world", "propriety can model the world", "wisdom week the world" (Qianshu zongmeng). Tang Zhen pointed out that the essence of Confucianism is to use the four virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom to conform to the nature of heaven and earth, which is the fundamental purpose of the way of sages. He said: "Confucianism is the most valuable, which can calm down chaos, eliminate violence and pacify the people. If the Confucianists don't make contributions But why is it different from every woman? " Therefore, he not only criticizes the Taoism's thought of "health preservation" and the Buddhism's thought of "clear death", but also criticizes Cheng Zhu's doctrine of "self-awareness and no salvation". Tang Zhen believes that the two can not be separated, but unified. He said,
Chinese PinYin : Tang Zhen
Tang Zhen
