The Significance of the Poem King Wen

The year before last, when she went to Ruyuan Culture Group to study, President Hui Jin said in a lecture that foreigners said that we have no fixed religion and no faith, but she told those who said this with great momentum: China people believe in their ancestors!

Now I study with Teacher Xue, and finally I find the source of my belief in my ancestors from The Book of Songs, Elegance and King of Literature.

King Wen is a political poem written by Zhou Gongdan. The poem eulogizes the achievements of King Wen in establishing the Zhou Dynasty under the mandate of heaven, narrates the reasons for the rise and fall of Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and exhorts and encourages future kings to learn from the lessons of Yin and Shang Dynasties, emulate their fate, and implement the policy of virtue.

In the sixth verse of the poem, I wrote: "I don't miss my ancestors, I practice my virtues." Always say what you want and be more happy. Yin has not lost his teacher, and he is worthy of God. In view of Yin, your life is not easy. "The meaning of this poem is to feel the will of our ancestors and cultivate our own virtue. Long-term compliance with destiny can get multiple blessings. Businessmen can be commensurate with God's will without losing their hearts and minds. Yin Shang should take a warning, and fate is not immutable. From "Don't say what you want, but do more for your own happiness", we can find that Zhou people clearly captured the relationship between destiny and virtue from the demise of Shang and Zhou Dynasties, that is, virtue matches heaven, "Heaven cares about others, and heaven listens to others", and providence means public opinion, "Those who win the hearts of the people win the world, those who lose the hearts of the people lose the country, and those who win the hearts of the people gain the country". Therefore, the son of heaven should have a destiny, seek many blessings from himself and seek inward.

In the seventh verse of the poem, the last four sentences are "Heaven is loaded, silent and odorless, and all nations are blessed with punishment", which means that there is no sound or smell to distinguish what God has done, that is, there is no obvious law for us to follow. Heaven and earth can't talk, how can we know what providence is? How do you know what is the standard of providence? Since heaven and earth are silent, we have no legal knowledge and can only learn from others. Who should we learn from? Learn from our ancestors and follow the example of King Wen. If you can imitate King Wen well, you will be convinced and supported by all the princes in the world.

According to archaeological findings, in Xia and Shang Dynasties, ghosts and gods were mainly sacrificed, while in Xia and Shang Dynasties, 70% to 80% of the time was spent on sacrifices and divination. Therefore, people in the Yin and Shang Dynasties mainly served ghosts and gods, so there were burial pits to bury slaves alive, and they didn't take slaves' lives seriously. But in the Zhou Dynasty, especially after Duke Zhou and Wen, the worship of ghosts and gods here turned to ancestor worship. In this way, King Wen opened a door for the transformation of China culture from the worship of ghosts and gods to the worship of ancestors.

Besides, heaven and earth don't say anything, and we can't act according to God's will. We can only find an ancestor whose virtue is as high as that of Heaven and who can communicate the will of God and man to learn from him. This is King Wen. Wen Wang's behavior is recorded in history, and his way of doing things is tangible and observable. So we come to study, not only from the worship of ghosts and gods to ancestor worship, but also to open another door of China culture, called the practice of ancestors. Taking the former king as the law and imitating the former king will change from an intangible ghost to a tangible and memorable ancestor. The last four sentences of the poem echo the first verse, "King Wen is above the sky, and the sun shines on the sky". After King Wen died, his gods were uploaded to the sky. He can match heaven with virtue, so King Wen can act as a bridge and will between God and man. So we learn from King Wen and virtue from our ancestors. In fact, we have touched the sky and mastered the way and law of fate, so we have changed from god to man and from ghost to ancestor.

From God to man, from the worship of ghosts and gods to ancestor worship, from the worship of ghosts and gods to the king of France, China's brilliant and profound cultural spirit has been opened since then.

King Wen also opened another tradition of China culture, that is, attaching importance to historical inheritance, tradition, ancestors and the elderly. Old people are the objects we can emulate, ancestors are the objects we can learn, and tradition is the content we can inherit. Therefore, the Chinese nation attaches importance to history, ancestors and traditions, and ancestors and the elderly. All the changes in the source of ideas began in Zhou Wenhua.

The beauty of The King of Elegance is really beautiful. Its beauty lies not in its form, its writing style, and its lyrical description of scenery with images and concrete feelings like other national styles. Its beauty lies in the establishment of a series of keys, patterns, laws, consciousness and thinking of Chinese civilization.

Finally, I understand why President Hui Jin said "Believe in our ancestors" is so unforgettable!