Sacrificial Rituals And The Concept Of "respect"

In Confucius and the early Confucian discourse system,human beings are indispensable and need to vigorously cultivate the emotions of "love" and "respect".In contrast,people pay more attention to "love"(or "benevolence"),but they have relatively little understanding of "respect".In fact,respect is most closely related to Chinese sacrificial culture.Sacrifice is a ceremonial act for the protection and well-being of supernatural forces such as the gods.The concrete manifestation is to pray or pay tribute to the gods with gifts in certain ritual acts.The original sacrifices have mysterious colors such as witchcraft,and then gradually transition.After the Western Zhou Dynasty,especially after Confucius,the humanistic nature of the sacrifices is more and more manifested,focusing more on moral and social functions,and becoming an important part of Confucian ritual culture.It has the role of stabilizing social order.People have seen that through sacrificial rituals,"the people's morality can be reduced to thick",and ethical values such as filial piety and faithfulness of the people can be cultivated.As a result,the moral value of the sacrifice has become increasingly prominent,and it has played a unique role in the establishment of the values of later generations.The rituals have a long history,and the specific origins are untestable.According to archaeological discoveries,the traces of religious beliefs were not found in the cultural relics of the early Paleolithic Age.In the former clan society,the primitive first people believed that everything was alive and simple.Worship of the gods.From the original nature worship to the belief in the gods,the awe of heaven,and then on the basis of the sense of anxiety in the Western Zhou Dynasty,gradually transitioned from the mysterious color of religion to the human nature.The objects of sacrifice can be roughly divided into gods,earth,and ancestors.Depending on the object,the time and type of the ritual items are not the same.There were many early sacrificial activities.During the Shang Dynasty,there was a saying of "weekly sacrifices." Later,during the Western Zhou Dynasty,the gods of sacrifices were reduced,and then gradually developed,and the rituals and intrinsic meanings of sacrifices were increased.Gradually,the emphasis on ritual activities has shifted to paying more attention to internal emotional attitudes.That is to say,in the process of sacrifice,the "respect" of the participants is especially important.This kind of respect can be said to be the respect of the rituals themselves,or the "respect" of the ritual activities such as rituals and music.As far as the sacrificial activities are concerned,the core is respect.Expanded,the core of the ceremony is respectful,the core of the gods is lost,and the sacrifice is just a ceremonial activity.During the Western Zhou Dynasty,Da Situ taught the people with respect,so that thepeople would not be sloppy.The pre-Qin Confucianism further developed the concept of respect,making it an important moral virtue,even rising to the height of ontology.Both "respect" and "love" are both important,and the two are regarded as "the extreme of humanity." Therefore,"respect" plays an indispensable role in personal moral cultivation and social governance.To be a man and to do things requires respect.For the rulers,not only do they need to be "respectful",but they also play a role of dedication,but also teach the people to "respect",thus stabilizing social order and achieving social stability.The concept of Confucianism in the pre-Qin period can be roughly divided into respectfulness: respect and love;sincere respect: respect and work;awe: respect and politics.These three are from the individual to the social governance,and all need to respect the political level.In the sacrifice,we must sacrifice our respect and respect,and reach the state of "the sacrifice is like",carefully pursue the distance,and the people's morality is thick.For the rulers,sacrifices and military affairs are national events and need to be cautious.For ordinary people,the issue of "death" and "final" is a top priority.On the one hand,sacrificial offerings are personnel.In this process,all recollections miss the ancestors and stabilize the family unity;on the one hand,sacrifice is a ghost,in this world full of hardships and uncertainties,out of fear of supernatural power,Fear and hope,people pray that the gods can shelter and bless,so for the individual and the country,sacrifice is a major event that affects life and death.Sacrifices are about the value beliefs of the Chinese.Treating sacrifices cautiously has a role to play in stabilizing social order and educating the people.At the same time,it plays an important role in today's moral education.