It stands to reason that Duke Zhou is the founder of the culture of rites and music, and Confucius is the successor. Why do we now see that many Confucius temples all over the country are holding ceremonies to worship Confucius instead of worshipping Duke Zhou?
In fact, due to the important influence of the Duke of Zhou on China culture, before the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Duke of Zhou mainly offered sacrifices in the Confucian Temple at that time, with Confucius as a foil. There are still many temples dedicated to Duke Zhou, such as Duke Zhou in Luoyang and Duke Zhou in Qishan, Shaanxi.
The change that later generations mainly sacrificed Confucius instead of Duke Zhou took place in the Tang Dynasty. In the early Tang Dynasty, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan mainly offered sacrifices to the Duke of Zhou, but after the Tang Dynasty, he was invited out of the Confucian Temple. In the Tang Dynasty, a minister suggested that the Duke of Zhou assist Zhou Chengwang. Although he was not an emperor, he was equivalent to an emperor. The emperor's ritual system should be used to sacrifice him; There is another important reason, and it is related to a woman, that is Tang Gaozong's empresses? Wu Zetian
In the history of China, Wu Zetian became the emperor as the only woman, which has never happened in thousands of years of history. She used to be the empress of the emperor, but now she wants to be the emperor herself. How can she justify herself? Because Wu Zetian is surnamed Wu, we talked about surname culture before. Wu surname comes from Ji surname, Huangdi surname Ji surname, Zhou royal surname Ji surname, such as Ji Chang, etc. So Wu Zetian said: I am a descendant of the Zhou royal family. She traced back to changing the name of the country to Zhou and moving the capital to Luoyang. Why did she move to Luoyang? Because Luoyang was once the capital of the Zhou Dynasty and the capital chosen by the Duke of Zhou.
After changing the name of the country and making its capital, Wu Zetian also implemented many measures. For example, she built Luoyang City, corresponding to the seven stars in the sky. She ordered people to build seven important buildings on the central axis of Luoyang city.
Wu Zetian ascended the throne in Luoyang city. After she ascended the throne, she also held a amenorrhea ceremony, which was not held by many emperors in ancient times. In 705, Wu Zetian, who was over 80 years old, was forced to abdicate. He died in the same year1February. Wu Zetian/Kloc-entered the palace at the age of 0/4. She started as a gifted scholar, became a concubine, then went to the queen and then to the emperor, and fought in the palace all her life. She left a will: after her death, she lost the title of emperor, called her the Great Sage Queen, and was buried with Tang Gaozong, leaving a wordless monument. Leave the merits and demerits to future generations.
According to "Old Tang Book" and other records, after Li Longji succeeded to the throne, in order to eliminate the influence of Wu Zetian, because Wu Zetian once changed the Tang Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty, Tang Xuanzong made Confucius the king of Wenxuan and the most holy teacher, and ordered the whole country not to sacrifice the Duke of Zhou, but only Confucius. After the Tang Dynasty, there were many Confucius temples dedicated to Confucius. Later generations, the Song Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty all followed the old system of the previous dynasty.
There were more than 1000 Confucius temples in the Tang Dynasty and 1560 in the Ming Dynasty. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, many countries studied the culture of China, so Confucius Temple was not only in China, but also in the whole East Asian cultural circle, including Korea, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Taiwan Province Province.
So that future generations have to sacrifice to Confucius before running a school, but Confucius really worships the Duke of Zhou and has been following the culture left by the Duke of Zhou all his life, so that Confucius said when he was old. Even if I fail, I haven't dreamed of Duke Zhou for a long time. ? He said I was afraid I was getting old. I haven't dreamed of Duke Zhou for a long time, and later generations thought that Duke Zhou was a dream interpreter. In fact, Duke Zhou is the real creator of China's ritual and music culture.