Archery-Moral Education (I)

Since the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou royal family began to decline, and its old system and old ruling order were destroyed; new systems and new ruling orders were established, and new class forces were growing. The root of this social change hidden in this process was the revolution of productivity characterized by iron tools. The development of productivity ultimately led to the reform movement of various countries and the establishment of the feudal system, which to a certain extent promoted the prosperity of ideology and culture. From the development of archery, with the decline of national archery games, the moral preaching in archery came to the fore; with the decline of the archery ability of the scholar class, the alienated throwing pot game became a substitute for archery; with the frequent war activities, the level of bow and arrow production has been generally improved.

1. The moral preaching of shooting is not the main skin. After "Zhou Gong made the ritual", the Zhou emperor maintained the authority of the common lord of the world. Under the requirements of the "ritual system", a grand archery game was held in the capital every year. The Archery Games, by formulating a complete archery system and a strict, orderly, comprehensive and effective operation mechanism, paid attention to the relationship between the princes and reminded people to abide by the social law of "the king is the king, the minister is the minister, the father is the father, the son is the son" to maintain the absolute authority of the Zhou royal family. However, with the intensification of internal contradictions within the ruling group in the late Western Zhou Dynasty and the struggle for land and political power, social contradictions intensified, which accelerated the demise of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Since King Ping of Zhou moved east, the Zhou royal family began to decline, only retaining the title of the common lord of the world without actual control ability. Chinese society has entered the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period since then. During this period, not only did the productivity characterized by iron tools undergo a huge change, but the production relations that followed also underwent unprecedented changes, which caused a profound social and cultural change. The old patriarchal system and a series of cumbersome ritual procedures fell into a serious crisis. The original social order and moral norms were disrupted, and what people called "the collapse of rituals and the destruction of music" appeared. As a result, in the development of archery, there was also a major transformation from the "ritual system" of the Western Zhou Dynasty to the "ritual governance" of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Although there is only one word difference between "ritual system" and "ritual governance", there is a fundamental difference. The "ritual system" of the Western Zhou Dynasty emphasized the institutional construction of the archery ritual movement; the "ritual governance" of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty emphasized the moral education of the archery ritual movement. "Ritual system" is manifested as external compulsion; "ritual governance" is manifested as internal self-discipline, so "shooting is not about the skin" appeared.

Explanation of "shooting is not about the skin"

The so-called "shooting is not about the skin" means that when shooting arrows, as long as you can hit the target, you don't have to shoot through the target like in the past. The archery ritual activities in the pre-Qin Dynasty actually went through an evolutionary process from "shooting through leather" to "shooting for the skin", and then to "shooting is not about the skin". What is "shooting through leather"? Guan means to penetrate; leather means animal skin. Bang Xuan's note in "Book of Rites·Justice" says: "Piercing leather means shooting through armor and leather." The meaning of piercing leather is to shoot and injure or kill prey or enemies, that is, emphasizing that archery must be able to penetrate animal skin and have strength, so there is a saying of "shooting through seven pieces". What is "shooting with leather as the main goal"? The leather here is no longer animal skin, but a target. The target is a target instead of animal skin, but the target is usually decorated with animal skin or painted with an animal shape. Of course, "shooting with leather as the main goal" still requires shooting through the target. But "shooting without leather as the main goal" is different. It only requires hitting the target without shooting through it. It can be seen that from "shooting with leather as the main goal" to "shooting with leather as the main goal" and then to "shooting without leather as the main goal", the requirements for archery power have been continuously reduced, and the "ritual" component in the process of archery has gradually increased.

It is in this context that some thinkers began to strive to save the value core of "ritual" from the increasingly collapsed ritual system, among which Confucius is one of the outstanding representatives. His greatest contribution was to incorporate "benevolence" into "ritual", so that ritual not only has external social and political functions, but also has internal spiritual morality, and proposed "self-restraint and restoration of ritual is benevolence". This theory is applied to archery culture, just like Confucius emphasizes the moral cultivation and construction in the process of archery to achieve the purpose of governing the country. As Confucius said: "Shooting is not about the target, it is about different strengths, this is the ancient way." That is to say, archery does not have to penetrate the center of the bull's eye, because there are different levels of strength in archery. It also tells people that in the process of archery, they should always remind themselves of their roles according to their own strength, which is the most important thing.

The teaching of "shooting is not about the target" is completely in line with the view of "benevolence" proposed by Confucius, as follows: one is to harmonize the mind, that is, to adjust people's attention; the second is to harmonize the tolerance, that is, to correct people's demeanor; the third is to focus on the target, that is, the technique and results of shooting; the fourth is to harmonize the music, that is, to conform to the music rhythm at that time; the fifth is to promote martial arts, that is, to show the spirit of martial arts. Therefore, "The Analects of Confucius # Shu·Bayi" says: "There are five good things in shooting, not only to hit the target, but also to take the etiquette and music tolerance." That is, to restrain oneself so that words and deeds conform to the norms of etiquette. Therefore, when social turmoil brought about changes in "ritual", archery activities in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period also followed the trend of the times. It was no longer the complicated hierarchical procedures of the archery ritual movement in the Western Zhou Dynasty, nor was it the mandatory regulations in the "Zhou Li". Instead, it was a social archery culture that "emphasized morality" after Confucius injected fresh blood to make it meet the requirements of the development of the times.

"Confucius shot in the garden of the prime minister, and the spectators were like a wall. When it came to Sima, he asked Zilu to hold the bow and arrow and shoot, saying: The general of the army, the minister of the ruined country, and the descendants of others are not allowed to enter." No matter you are a general, a minister, or even a concubine's son or a legitimate son, as long as you do something that violates moral construction, you cannot participate in archery. This implements the etiquette and moral norms to all classes, making "ritual" have a universal applicability principle. Based on this, Confucius put forward higher-level archery moral requirements to the society: "The young and the strong are filial and brotherly, the old and the old are kind, do not follow the vulgar, and cultivate yourself to wait for the dead." It can be seen that as a diffuse cultural influence, Confucius, in a way that conforms to people's emotions and moral consciousness, acts on people's words, deeds, and every move through the moral education of the archery process, so that people can accept the spirit of "ritual" in their hearts, practice the norms of "ritual" in their appearance, and finally abide by the contract of "ritual".

Therefore, Confucius repeatedly said: "A gentleman has nothing to argue about, so he must shoot!" "Therefore, an archer must be in the right manner when advancing, retreating, and returning. He must be upright in his mind and upright in his body. Only then can he hold the bow and arrow firmly; only then can he say that he hits the target. This can be used to observe moral conduct." ("The Book of Rites·The Meaning of Archery", Chen Shuguo's Annotated "The Four Books and Five Classics", Yuelu Publishing House, 1991, p. 670) This clearly tells people that archery is actually a kind of moral cultivation, a kind of internal and external cultivation that requires the mind to be upright and the body to be upright. It highlights the moral education function of archery culture in social development during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.