ABSTRACT
Of the many scholars to have interpreted the Spring and Autumn in the long and rich history of scriptural studies from the classical to the contemporary period, Tung Chung-shu was unquestionably one of the most influential. In Tung's vision of the Spring and Autumn, rendered as "The Way of the Unadorned King," Confucius embodied the highest ideals of the reform-minded scholar just as his textual legacy defined the parameters of legitimate rulership. Intimately connected with Tung's revision of emperorship was a concerted attempt to enhance the powers of the scholar-official. The metaphysical ideas Tung Chung-shu associated with the Spring and Autumn influenced Han politics in conflicting ways. In depicting the ruler as high-priest and sage-king, Tung Chung-shu emphasized that the emperor must subject himself to Heaven's authority. Tung Chung-shu upheld and greatly expanded the ethical import of the text through his discussions of the cardinal Confucian values humaneness.
