Liu Zongyuan's life story

When Liu Zongyuan was born, the "Anshi Rebellion" had just been put down for 20 years. Although the short-lived peace existed for 20 years, the Tang Dynasty had already passed its peaceful and prosperous times and gradually declined. Various social contradictions developed rapidly in the Tang Dynasty.

After the mid-Tang Dynasty, various social abuses, such as the separatist regime of the buffer region, the eunuch's autocratic power and the clique's struggle for power, were taking shape. Liu Zongyuan spent his childhood in Chang 'an. I have heard and felt about the corruption and incompetence of the imperial court and the social crisis and turmoil.

In 803 10, Liu Zongyuan was transferred back to Chang' an as the censor. Since then, he has made more friends with the upper echelons of officialdom, gained a deeper understanding of the dark corruption of politics, and gradually sprouted the desire for reform, becoming an important figure in Wang's reformists.

Liu Zongyuan, one of the eight masters in Tang and Song Dynasties, was born in Yuncheng, Shanxi Province, and was called "Liu Hedong" and "Mr. Hedong". His literary achievements are very high. In terms of articles, he and Han Yu are also called "Liu Han"; In poetry, he and Liu Yuxi are both called "Liu Liu".

Liu Zongyuan was born in a family with a strong cultural atmosphere. His father, Jin Ryu, believed in traditional Confucianism and had a positive attitude towards the world and an upright moral quality. His mother is a typical wife and mother, a devout Buddhist.

His parents gave Liu Zongyuan a double influence on Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in terms of example and knowledge. When Liu Zongyuan was born, the "Anshi Rebellion" had just been put down for 20 years, and social contradictions such as political corruption and the separatist regime in the provinces gradually emerged.

However, Liu Zongyuan was not affected by the general situation. He had a successful career when he was young, and he became a scholar at the age of 20. A few years later, he entered the officialdom and began to participate in politics. After more than ten years of experience, Liu Zongyuan had a deeper understanding of political darkness and social reality, and sprouted innovative ideas.

After Shunzong ascended the throne, he began to appoint him and Wang, Wang Lai and other ministers to carry out reforms, which was called "Yongzhen innovation" in history. Unfortunately, the reform failed in less than half a year. Liu Zongyuan was also implicated and was demoted to Yongzhou, Hunan Province as Sima for ten years.

This incident became an important turning point in his life. During Liu Zongyuan's demotion, he was not passive and decadent, but devoted himself to writing books and studying some major issues in philosophy, politics, history and literature.

Extended data:

Liu Zongyuan's ideological theory;

1 philosophy

Liu Zongyuan was a political innovator and admired the movement of ancient Chinese prose.

In Liu Zongyuan's philosophical works, he holds a negative attitude towards the theory of "the image of Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties" advocated by Dong Zhongshu, a great scholar in Han Dynasty.

He opposed the theory of heaven, criticized theology, emphasized personnel, and replaced "God" with "man".

Liu Zongyuan turned his criticism of theology into a criticism of politics, explained the relationship between heaven and man from the materialistic point of view, and criticized the idealistic theory of destiny.

His philosophical thoughts were in line with the development of social productive forces and the level of natural science at that time.

He developed ancient naive materialism's atheism to a new height and was an outstanding thinker in the middle Tang Dynasty.

Liu Zongyuan's philosophical works include Non-Mandarin, Zhen Fu, Seasonal Theory, Criminal Argument, Tian Shuo, Tian Dui and so on.

In these works, Liu Zongyuan holds a negative attitude towards the theory of "the image of Xia, Shang and Zhou" advocated by Dong Zhongshu, a great scholar in Han Dynasty, opposes the theory of heaven, destiny and heaven, criticizes theology, emphasizes personnel, and replaces "arsenic" with "human".

Liu Zongyuan also turned his criticism of theology into a criticism of politics, and explained the relationship between heaven and man from the perspective of simple materialism. Some of Liu Zongyuan's social and political works are the concrete embodiment of his political thought and a means for him to participate in political struggle.

Liu Zongyuan believes that the whole social history is a natural development process, with an inevitable trend of objective development independent of human will.

From the standpoint of compromise and reconciliation, his speech gave a harmonious explanation of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.

2. Buddhist thought

Liu Zongyuan was a good Buddha all his life. He once said, "I have been a good Buddha since I was a child, and I have been seeking his way for thirty years.

These 30 years can be roughly divided into three stages: blindness in childhood, fashion in the ruling period, and consciousness after demotion.

During his stay in Chang 'an, he made friends with Wen Chang and other monks who went in and out of the officialdom and literary world. He appreciated the relationship between famous family members and monks Zhi Daolin, Shi Daoan, Hui Yuan and Hui Xiu since the Jin and Song Dynasties, and highly praised the lives of Confucianism and Buddhism at the same time.

Liu Zongyuan believes that "Buddhism is big and inclusive, and those who are ambitious and ashamed of the world must think about it."

"This is his true psychological state of being demoted to Yongzhou after the failure of political reform.

Therefore, "from mountains and rivers", more consciously seek comfort from natural mountains and rivers to solve the depression in my heart.

Liu Zongyuan is by no means indifferent by nature, and his attitude towards life is positive and persistent.

Although he is a good Buddha, his thoughts are basically Confucian.

He has two major activities in his life: one is to participate in Yongzhen innovation, and the other is to lead the ancient prose movement.

Both of them are related to his thought of reviving Confucianism and helping the world and applying it.

He not only practiced the political ideal of "making great efforts to govern, accumulating wealth and making great achievements, but also clearly put forward the proposition that" writers should take Ming Dow as their teacher "and the principle of" taking Confucian classics as the source ".

Although Liu Zongyuan claimed to be a "good Buddha since childhood", Tiantai Sect also listed him as a lay disciple.

However, he is not a devout Buddhist. He studies from many schools. Su Shi praised him for "the unity of Confucianism and Buddhism, and the pure preparation of Taoism."

His acceptance of Buddhism is mainly to understand the principles of Buddhism, and to integrate Buddhism into the Confucian ideological system with "the unity of Confucianism and Buddhism".

Baidu Encyclopedia-Liu Zongyuan