Confucius "letter" Concept Study

This paper mainly studied several important confucious texts before Qin dynasty, such as Shang-shu, Shi-jing, Yi-jing, Zuo-zhuan, Guo-yu, Lun-yu, Meng-zi, Xun-zi, Zhong-yong etc, from which we want to find the origins and developments of Xin. In the begging, Xin was a religious and mystery word. Later it gradually became an important philosophical category in Chinese culture.The origins of Xin thoughts could trace back to human's early times when mankind held in high esteem mysterious power of the nature which they didn't know, threrfore they produced the totem adoratio. The word Xin, however, appered very late. It was not found in the oracle-bone scriptures, untill it was seen in Shangshu Tangshi.The two classic books Shang-shu and Sh-jing could be treated as the source head of confucious Xin thoughts, in which we could find that Chinese people in early times how to value and understand Xin. The two books reflected special features of the Xin thoughts between West Zhou and Spring and Autumn period, which had strong religious mysterious color at that time, and was communication media between person God. The Xin thoughts in books Zuo-zhuan and Guo-yu gradually changeed to serve politics from mystery, which started even paying attention to personnel things, and became the morals ethics norm gradually.The core thoughts of Confucius is Ren(仁), and Xin thoughts is an very important part as well. Xin is a kind of important ethics morals in Confucius' thoughts. Meanwhile, it is one part of Ren(仁). Men-zi found his thoughts on the base of a theory that human is good when they were born. So Meng-zi proofed the foundation philosophy of Xin thoughts' exist from arguing human nature. And he put Xin in the big frame of Yi (义) to explain, ruled Xin thoughts' scope. Namely, virtuous person talks a sentence to keep promise, the behavior not necessarily sticks to the end, with Yi (义) together at, depend on Yi (义) and then go, also is to must match the Yi (义) . Xun-zi coneected Xin thoughts to maintaining a nation's stability and cultivating human natures , from which he outstanding important realistic meaning of Xin thoughts. Xun-zi also conncted Xin thoughts to his Tian thought, and argued Xin...