Lesson 8 A hundred schools of thought contend

Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu was a native of the state of Chu in the late Spring and Autumn Period and the founder of the Taoist school of thought. Laozi, whose surname was Li Er, worked as a historian in the Zhou Dynasty and managed the royal collection of books. He was so learned that Confucius is said to have asked him for advice on many issues.

According to Laozi, all things have their natural laws and people should follow them; all things in this world have their opposites, such as difficult and easy, long and short, front and back, and the opposites can be transformed into each other. Lao Tzu is good at thinking from both sides of the coin. In politics, Lao Tzu advocated "rule by doing nothing" and that the world would be peaceful if people did not compete with the world. His doctrine is concentrated in the book Tao Te Ching. This book became the classic of Taoism.

Confucius and Confucianism

Confucius was a native of the state of Lu in the late Spring and Autumn period from the lower nobility. He studied rituals and music as a child, worked as a minor official when he was young, and then became a well-known scholar by taking on students and running a school. After his middle age, he was engaged in politics in the state of Lu, but not for a long time. Later, he traveled around the world and preached his political ideas, but they were not adopted by all countries. In his later years, Confucius returned to his hometown and was mainly engaged in education and compiling cultural texts.

The core idea of Confucius was "benevolence", and he proposed that "the benevolent man loves people", that is, to have love and compassion, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". He took "benevolence" as the highest code of conduct and ethics for human relations. In the face of the social turmoil at that time, Confucius respected the system of the Western Zhou Dynasty and advocated ruling by virtue, asking rulers to cherish the people's power and to be sensitive to public opinion. He opposed tyrannical rule and believed that only when rulers practiced virtue and made the people obedient would society be stable.

Confucius was not only a great thinker, but also a great educator. He founded a private school to break the monopoly of education by the nobility and the royal family, and advocated the idea of "having education without class". In his teaching, he emphasized moral education and cultural knowledge, discovered and summarized many educational laws, and proposed a series of teaching principles and methods. In his later years, Confucius made a great contribution to the transmission of ancient Chinese cultural classics and academic thought by carefully compiling important ancient documents.

Confucius was the founder of the Confucian school, and his ideas were later compiled by his disciples into the book Analects. Confucius' teachings had an important influence on the development of ancient Chinese culture, and some of his moral norms had a profound impact on the development of Chinese society.

The Hundred Schools of Thought

During the Warring States period, the old social system further collapsed and a new social system was gradually established. At this time, the academic and intellectual sphere was very active, and different schools of thought were formed, each presenting its own views, known as the "Hundred Schools of Thought". Among them, Mozi, Confucianism, Taoism, and Legalism were the most influential.

Mozi, the founder of Mohism, advocated "mutual love" and "non-attack", asking people to love and benefit each other, and opposing countries to attack and annex each other and kill each other. He also proposed to choose wise and capable people to govern the country, and criticized the luxurious life of the nobility and advocated frugality.

Confucianism was an influential school of thought during the Warring States period, and its main representative was Mencius. He advocated "benevolent government" and asked rulers not to exploit the people excessively; he also put forward the idea that "the people are the most important thing, and the ruler is the least important thing. Xunzi, another representative figure of Confucianism, advocated the "rule of manners" and a clear hierarchy of superiority and inferiority in order to maintain social order.

The representative figure of Taoism in the Warring States period was Zhuangzi, who developed the ideas of Laozi and emphasized the need to govern the country in accordance with nature and the people's hearts. Zhuangzi believed that life should pursue spiritual freedom and maintain an independent personality.

Legalism advocates that a monarch should rule by decree, power and might in order to deter the subjects. At the end of the Warring States period, Han Fei, a great master of Legalism, opposed the empty talk of benevolence and righteousness and emphasized the rule of law to establish the authority of the monarch and centralized autocratic rule.

At that time, representatives of various schools of thought gathered to give lectures, discuss theories and write books. They put forward various political ideas and strategies for ruling the country, hoping to solve social problems with their own doctrines. The different schools of thought and political views led to heated debates and mutual criticism, while at the same time influencing each other and complementing each other's strengths and weaknesses. This flourishing intellectual and cultural situation is historically known as the "Hundred Schools of Thought".

The Hundred Schools of Thought promoted the prosperity of thought and scholarship and became the first peak of intellectual and cultural development in ancient China, laying the foundation for the development of ancient Chinese culture and having a very important and far-reaching impact on future generations.（972words）