A son who doesn't resemble his father? Love you, old man, see you at Xuanwu Gate!

Chapter 234 Heresy
His lifespan is coming to an end.

Gongsun Hong's fear of many things lessened day by day, and he even spoke of the Confucian sages he had always admired in court.

It is true that Confucian scholars studied under Confucius and regarded him as a sage, but not all Confucian scholars took Confucius as their role model and a model to follow. Gongsun Hong was one such example.

Inherited from Confucianism, based on the Gongyang Commentary, and revered as a synthesizer of the Hundred Schools of Thought or a traitor to Confucianism, Xun Kuang, the later sage Xunzi.

The reason for this is that Xunzi had fundamental differences with the orthodox Confucianism represented by Confucius and Mencius in his theories on human nature, governance, and criticism of traditional Confucianism.

Confucius advocated that "human nature is similar, but habits make them different," while Mencius explicitly proposed the theory of "human nature is good," believing that people are born with conscience and abilities.

Xunzi, on the other hand, proposed that "human nature is inherently evil, and goodness is acquired through practice," believing that humans are born with desires, and that indulgence leads to strife and chaos, and that these desires must be restrained by acquired rites and laws.

This viewpoint runs counter to Confucianism and undermines the inherent humanistic foundation of "benevolent governance" and "rule by virtue."

At the same time, Xunzi believed that "rites" did not originate from inner morality, but were designed to restrain desires and distinguish social classes. He advocated "emphasizing rites and laws" and even proposed "the legal principles of monarchical power," emphasizing external norms and institutional constraints.

This is clearly in stark contrast to the inner cultivation paths of Confucius ("the practice of benevolence depends on oneself") and Mencius ("reflecting on oneself").

In addition, Xunzi did not blindly follow Confucius and Mencius, and openly criticized the lineage of "Zisi and Mencius", believing that Confucianism was too idealistic and detached from reality.

Then, Xunzi absorbed Legalist and Daoist ideas, advocating that "the course of Heaven is constant, it does not exist for Yao, nor does it perish for Zhou," opposing the mysticism of "respecting ghosts and gods but keeping them at a distance," and promoting the rational spirit of "controlling and utilizing the mandate of Heaven." This "unorthodox" attitude made him always regarded as a heretic by orthodox Confucian scholars.

It can be said that Xunzi's subversive reconstruction of the core concept of Confucianism—no longer regarding morality as an intrinsic nature, but as an external norm, no longer relying on the teachings of sage kings, but relying on institutions and power.

This shift in thought led Confucianism from "governing the country with virtue" to "governing the country with rites," and even paved the way for Legalism's "governing the country with law."

The fact that Xunzi nurtured Legalist figures such as Han Fei and Li Si further reinforced this impression.

Therefore, in the minds of Confucian scholars, Xunzi was not the successor of Confucianism, but rather its rebel.

Gongsun Hong openly revealed his intentions, which did not surprise the ministers and officials of both the central and foreign dynasties, including nobles, relatives, and members of the imperial clan. After all, the old prime minister's governing style had long shown the demeanor of a disciple of Xunzi, and his teachings to his students, such as Zhang Tang and Mozi, were almost replicas of Xunzi.

As for accepting Huo Guang, the brother of the Grand General and Grand Marshal Huo Qubing and a Confucian student, as a disciple, many princes and ministers viewed it more as a "fig leaf."

Now, the old prime minister is no longer trying to hide anything and has directly put Xunzi's name on the table during the court meeting, immediately making the eyes of the Confucian officials red with envy. People like Xunzi and Gongsun Hong are intelligent and capable of leading a generation of Confucian scholars, so why, why are they unwilling to push Confucianism to a higher level, but instead want to trample on some of its key ideas?

Many Confucian scholars knew that the theory of natural disasters was full of irrationalities, such as the examples of natural disasters that Dong Zhongshu found in the Spring and Autumn Annals.

During the reign of Duke Ding of Lu, the two palaces of Lu caught fire. Dong Zhongshu believed that the two palaces were originally reserved for the emperor, and that Lu's possession of them was undoubtedly a usurpation. The fire was like a warning from heaven to Duke Ding that there were usurpers in Lu and it was time to pay attention and remove them. However, Duke Ding did not understand heaven's meaning, and a second and third fire broke out in succession, this time at the Huan Palace and the Li Palace of Lu.

By then it was the reign of Duke Ai of Lu, but unfortunately Duke Ai of Lu did not pay attention to it either. A year later, the Hao She also suffered a fire.

Haoshe was a place where the remnants of the Yin-Shang people in Lu worshipped their ancestors. Dong Zhongshu believed that the State of Lu was granted to the Zhou Gong clan, and that preserving Haoshe, a place of ruins, was not in accordance with the rites. Therefore, the four consecutive fires, which belonged to the same type of building, were “unfit for establishment” and were Heaven’s repeated warnings to the ruler of Lu to remove the usurpers in the country.

Problems followed one after another. The usurper Ji Sun clan of Lu had been in power and had been undermining the ruler of Lu for quite some time. Why didn't Heaven issue a warning sooner?

Dong Zhongshu would naturally patch up this obvious loophole, explaining that Heaven would choose the most appropriate time to give warnings. Before the emergence of a sage, it would not be easy to get rid of the Ji Sun clan, and Heaven would not rashly allow people to take risks. However, during the reigns of Duke Ding of Lu and Duke Ai of Lu, the sage Confucius had already emerged, which was the best time to uphold the rites. Therefore, Heaven issued continuous warnings. This is called "not seeing the time, which is the way of Heaven."

Undoubtedly, this is sophistry. In Dong Zhongshu's description, Heaven, like mortals, has a clear attitude and stance. Regarding the chaos in the human world, Heaven plays the role of a "whistleblower".

Based on this, Dong Zhongshu put forward the theory of natural disasters, attempting to link the will of Heaven with natural disasters, but his real purpose was to influence the government's policies.

In simple terms, this means that the government's policies have gone wrong, and Heaven is showing signs of disaster to warn the monarch. If the monarch does not learn from this lesson and change course, Heaven will bring down even greater calamities. At that time, the calamities will not be as simple as just signs of disaster, but will cause more serious harm to the country, the monarch, and the people.

However, the correct cause-and-effect relationship is to directly deduce from the first link of the policy error to the third link of the public injury.

However, if ministers discuss politics in this way, firstly, it is too outspoken, and secondly, it lacks a legitimate basis. Therefore, Dong Zhongshu inserted a calamity representing the will of Heaven into the middle of this logical chain, so that he could use the majesty of Heaven to suppress the emperor.

The biggest problem with the theory of natural disasters is that the logical chain between natural disasters and their preceding and following events is very fragile. It is basically impossible to guarantee that the same natural disaster will occur before and after the same government decree. So how can different natural disasters be related to the same events?

It can be summed up in four words: "far-fetched and contrived"!
The idea of ​​natural disasters is absurd, but it is an important means for lower-ranking officials to get their rulers to back down and admit their mistakes.

If even this cannot be done, will the Han Dynasty, and even the whole of China, be better off if the power of the emperor and the Son of Heaven is left unchecked?
"Prime Minister".

Chu Daming knew that a huge trap lay ahead, but for the sake of his teacher, he had no choice but to step forward. Facing this "great scholar," he stared intently at him and said, "When His Majesty was in power, you used Confucianism to disguise the law, you distorted learning to flatter the world, and you even publicly expressed His Majesty's preferences as your own. Yet today, you wield immense power, speaking eloquently and eloquently, destroying learning and eliminating doctrines in the blink of an eye, extinguishing the lineage of future generations. It's like standing on the shore watching a boat capsize, trying to gain a reputation for integrity. Old Prime Minister, don't you think your great loyalty is actually hypocrisy?"

(End of this chapter)