Study On The Evolution Of Confucian Identity And The Rise Of Humanism In Pre-qin Period

The origin of "Confucian" identity can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty.At that time,"Confucian" were clerics engaged in religious sacrificial activities.In the late Shang Dynasty,the formation of the system of "Sacrifices Ancestors" marked the institutionalization of religious sacrifice and the professionalization of ritual sacrifice.According to the identity of "Confucian" as a religious sacrificial personnel,it can be called "Religious Confucian".During the Western Zhou Dynasty,"Da Shi Liao" was the main institution of religious sacrificial activities,and its interior was mainly composed of nobles and religious sacrificial personnel from the "people left by the Shang Dynasty".Compared with the merchants’ worship of "ghosts and gods",the Zhou Dynasty people paid more attention to the sacrificial ceremony.People will gradually turn their attention to the secular social life,and the status of the "Da Shi Liao" who preside over religious activities began to decline.The institutionalization of religion promoted the further specialization of sacrificial rites.At this time,"Confucian" lived in the Western Zhou Dynasty as the master of sacrificial rites.Different from Religious Confucian in the Shang Dynasty,the "ritualized" society made "Confucian" pay more attention to the perfect reproduction of rituals.Therefore,it can be called "Rites and Music Confucian".In the Spring and Autumn Period,"knowledge was monopolized by the aristocracy" was broken,and the historians(lower nobles)became the new class "Shi".They used "rule for funerals and ceremonies" as their profession and formed the early "Confucian" in the Spring and Autumn Society.Represented by Confucius,Confucianism proposed to use the system of "benevolence and rites" to solve the current social and political problems.During the period of Confucius,the "Confucian" actively devoted themselves to politics and regarded "Cultivate one’s morality,Manage your family,Govern the country,Govern the world with virtue" as the foundation of "settle down and get on with one,s pursuit".Therefore,during this period,Confucian showed great righteousness,and it is not too much to call it "Political Confucian".The evolution of "Confucian" identity is accompanied by the rise of humanism.The Shang Dynasty had a strong religious atmosphere.The discovery of human sacrifice shows the trampling of human life.In the Western Zhou Dynasty,people reconstructed the "mandate of heaven",and judged whether the rulers carried out"the rule of virtue" by "the people’s conditions".The emergence of "valuing the people" is the bud of humanism.In the Spring and Autumn Period,Confucius emphasized the subjective initiative of individuals and established the ideal personality of "person of noble character" and "sage".The individual’s pursuit of"virtue" forms the behavior of "self-cultivation",and the "other-force constraint"formed by "propriety" can be actively practiced.Confucius’ discovery and affirmation of man is the rise of humanism.Confucian humanism has the qualities of"respecting human nature and ren qing" "shaping an independent gentleman’s personality" and "pursuing harmony between people,people,society,and nature".This obviously has certain enlightenment significance to the problems such as "individual development" and "the relationship between man and collective"which exist in a certain range in contemporary society.