As we all know, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were one of the periods when Chinese thought was particularly active. In the frequent wars of the princes for hegemony, the transition of society from a slave society to a feudal society, complex social contradictions stimulated people to think about change, they boldly spoke, put forward their own views, and emerged new pioneers such as Confucius, Mencius, and Mozi.
They all belonged to different schools of thought and criticized each other's views, resulting in the prosperity of "a hundred schools of thought" in academia. There is a figure among them, which posterity rarely hears, and the historical records about him are rarely circulated. This person's name is Yang Zi, the name Zhu, also called Yang Zhu.
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His Yangzhu doctrine was close to that of Taoism, and at that time it could compete with Confucianism and moism. The two words at the heart of his mind are: "your own" and "for me." As the name suggests, it is the most important thing to be yourself, and life should think more about yourself. He is best known for his allusion to "a dime".
One day, when Yang Zi, Mozi and the two students were discussing their studies, the student bird asked Yang Zi: "If you let you pluck a hair, then everyone in the world can benefit, are you willing?" ”
Yang Zi said: "The problems in this world are not solved by me with a single hair. ”
The student then asked, "If it can be solved, would you like to?" ”
Yang Zi smiled and said nothing.
Later, Yangzi's student Meng Sunyang helped the teacher explain, "Everyone does not understand my teacher, if someone takes money to let you cut off a piece of skin, you will pay a higher price in the future because of more wealth temptations." Hairs, though tiny, are also part of the body. ”
For Yangzi, who highly advocated individual freedom, other schools were very unhappy. They trumpeted Yangzi's "dime", and since then it has become a word to describe miserly people. Mencius, the head of the Confucians, scolded Yang Zi bitterly, saying that he was only an individual in his thinking, not a monarch, and criticized him for deceiving the public with his evil words; Han Fei, the leader of the Legalists, bitterly criticized Yang Zhu for being cowardly and incompetent, degenerating and decadent.
What did Yang Zi propose to make other schools so angry?
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First of all, Yang Zi advocates that people should "value themselves", everyone should focus on themselves, do not have the feelings of the world, and the world will be too peaceful. If we have to use external means to govern the people, the people may not necessarily obey, and they are still physically and mentally exhausted; it is better to educate the people's hearts and minds more, and they will be quiet. It is better to govern than to rule by man.
Secondly, Yang Zi also proposed that the most valuable thing in life is life, a short life, to be happy in time, to protect themselves from harm. Life will not come again, and so will everyone. People may be born poor and lowly, and after death, they are all dry bones.
Moreover, man should conform to nature, indulge his nature, not envy fame and fortune, not be afraid of coercion and temptation, and dominate his own life. Even he advocated not believing in the gods of destiny, but believing in oneself, and that in the society he aspired to build, there was no monarch, and everyone needed to assume the responsibility of self-management, which was the concept of a free society.
From today's point of view, Yang Zi has a lot of wisdom in life, sees through it, and lives a dashing life. However, at that time, as soon as Yang Zhu's doctrine was put forward, it stood in opposition to Confucianism, Mojia, and Fajia, shaking their ideological foundation.
They were busy persuading the people. Confucianism advocates "the destiny of heaven", and the people must obey the rule; the Mo family advocates ghosts and gods, advocating the heart of "love at the same time"; the legalists use strict legal means to establish regulations.
Yang Zhu's theory is tantamount to dismantling the stage, so several people have united to criticize Yang Zi. Thought was never afraid to argue, but unfortunately, with the burning of books by Qin Shi Huang and the supremacy of Confucianism, the Yang Zhu doctrine did not circulate. Today, only some records can be found in the Confucian classics, but Yangzi's teachings remain in that splendid era.
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