The Practical Significance of Dong Zhongshu’s Thought of Rites and Music: Music salvages the drought

Abstract

Dong Zhongshu(董仲舒)summarized the calligraphy, disaster and difference of drought recorded in the Spring and Autumn Annals(《春秋经》) as well as the causes of drought.  He also discussed how to manage the drought in time after its occurrence from a practical standpoint, offering  Emperor Wudi（汉武帝）useful guidance techniques for managing disaster and new ideas for Western Han（西汉）scholars studying disasters. Dong Zhongshu believed that the drought was caused by the imbalance between Yin and Yang（阴阳）and the excess of Yang. As reflected by the personnel listed above. it is shown that the king lacks sufficient moral cultivation, dogmatic, disregards ministerial counsel, and acts out of time. On the one hand, Dong Zhongshu’s thought reflected the virtue of man and monarch through disaster, which enabled the king to reflect on his own actions and make timely corrections. On the other hand, it is a good solution to link disaster with persons to prevent human resources from changing or reversing the disaster.  The two-way interaction between disasters and individuals makes them promote and influence each other.. In addition to enabling the king to pursue his own virtue and apply the rule of virtue, disasters can also be mitigated and even eliminated by the monarch's personnel changes and corrections.  Music and dance played an active role in praying for rain, and if the country was in a severe drought, it would let a group of witches dance to perform rituals. Dong Zhongshu believes that people of different ages and identities will be used in the rain ceremony in different seasons to perform music and dance, so as to achieve a powerful means to please the gods and communicate with heaven and man. In the rain ceremony, the instrument “drum” will also be used in it, and at this time the drum is not only a musical instrument, but also as a magical tool. The purpose of praying for rain can be achieved only when a variety of utensils are used.