Zheng Xuan looked at the manuscript in his hand.
My head hurts a little.
After arriving in Chang'an, something happened, which made Zheng Xuan feel somewhat uncomfortable.
The manuscript in front of Zheng Xuan is "Li" that Zheng Xuan annotated some years ago.
As a great Confucian in the Han Dynasty, he was keen on teaching literature, so the so-called "annotations" are Zheng Xuan's understanding of the original text. Adding annotations to these ancient scriptures is of course not done casually, and not everyone has it.
To be qualified to add annotations to scriptures, you must at least be recognized by the majority of people...
Zheng Xuan annotated many scriptures, but he did not expect that his old annotations encountered new problems in Chang'an.
Zheng Xuan's original annotation on "The punishment of a doctor is not good enough" is, "The courtesy cannot be given to the common people, because they rush into things and cannot prepare things. If the punishment is not good enough for a doctor, they will not break the law with the sage. The violation of the law will be based on the eight opinions on the severity.
"Not in the punishment book"...
Now it seems that there are some problems.
A very difficult question.
In fact, not everything Feiqian said at Qinglong Temple is correct.
Zheng Xuan actually knew this in his heart.
In fact, in the "Book of Rites", there is not so much additional understanding as in later generations. The "Book of Rites" is just a pure record of the etiquette of the ancient Zhou Dynasty...
Just like the articles written by a tree planter often appear in the reading comprehension of later generations. Sometimes his articles may not have that much meaning. If they are written lyrically, they are mainly lyrical; if they are written sarcastically, they are mainly lyrical.
Sarcastic means accusatory, that is, the main accusation. It is impossible to be lyrical, sarcastic, accusatory, enlightening, etc. in one sentence. The power of words is indeed powerful, but it is limited to a certain paragraph and is sincere.
too busy.
Articles serve the purpose of the text.
The Book of Rites, or Rites of the Zhou Dynasty, was written to record the "rituals" of the Zhou Dynasty, that is, the rules. In the understanding of later generations, they added their own ideas, resulting in various interpretations.
For example, Zheng Xuan's annotation, and the description of General Fei Qian's visit to Qinglong Temple...
In fact, Fei Qian and Zheng Xuan's annotations on "Execution cannot reach a doctor" represent two different directions of understanding.
And the direction that the two people understood was inevitably taken out of context.
This is "private goods".
Zheng Xuan sighed, turned out the original copy of "Book of Rites" on the side, and then found the sentence "The doctor cannot be punished"...
It is written in "Book of Rites", "...the king of the country cares for the officials, the officials care for the officials, and the etiquette for the officials is not the same as for the common people. The punishment is not for the officials. The punishment is not on the king's side. The chariot is not equipped with military chariots, Suijing, and the chariots are tied..."
Well, there was no sentence to read in ancient times.
Zheng Xuan's annotation connected the privileges of scholar-officials during the Qin and Han Dynasties with "the courtesy cannot be extended to the common people, and the punishment cannot be extended to the officials", indicating that if the "officials" break the law, there are "eight opinions" that can reduce the severity and severity, and are not included in the punishment book.
This is a fact, and this is indeed the privilege obtained by "doctors" from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States to the present day.
When Zheng Xuan annotated this section, he also referred to some other people's annotations, such as Jia Yi's annotation on this sentence. In addition, Zheng Xuan himself was also a half-literary official. He enjoyed some privileges as a "literary official", but he also
The higher and more corrupt "scholar-officials" expressed hatred and shame. Therefore, under such circumstances, it is naturally understandable that Zheng Xuan made the previous comment on "the punishment cannot be punished for the officials".
but……
Anyone who has studied some literature, excluding Gang Jing, generally knows that "contacting context" is a very important prerequisite for reading comprehension.
So, this original text in the "Book of Rites" actually only records the specific etiquette of riding in a car.
Because according to the context, "Etiquette cannot be extended to common people, punishment cannot be extended to officials" should actually be divided into two sentences, and the commas should be changed to periods. These are two sentences, not meant to be juxtaposed for comparison, that is to say
"The king caress you like this, and the great ministers do it. The great man caress you like this, and the scholars do it. The etiquette is not the same as for the common people." This is connected together, and it talks about the general etiquette of riding in a car.
During the Zhou Dynasty, all those riding in the carriages were "scholars" or above, so when two carriages met, they had to show respect to each other.
That is "ritual".
When superiors meet subordinates, they don't have to get out of the car, but they have to hold on to the crossbar in front of the carriage and nod to salute; when subordinates meet superiors, they have to get out of the car and salute. This is "the king caressing you, the doctor caressing you. The doctor caressing you, the scholar caressing you."
』
right?
This is the original meaning.
Very Zhou Dynasty meaning.
As for common people, hehe, common people have carriages, they are just mud-legged, and naturally they don’t have this set of clothes, so they don’t have to abide by this set of etiquette patterns, so it’s called “courtesy is not inferior to common people.” It’s like
It is an internal rule of some companies that when subordinates see their superiors, they must stop and salute, and the superiors will nod and walk straight past. But can the etiquette within the company be used outside the company, so that people outside the company can follow suit?
"The punishment does not go to the doctor, and the person who punishes is not at the king's side." is a complete sentence. It is still talking about driving etiquette, indicating the punishment for violating the driving etiquette. If it is a relatively high-ranking doctor, the monarch cannot simply use
The punishment was humiliating, and at the same time, the king could not bring the executioner with him to intimidate his subordinates into bowing.
Because in the ancient Zhou Dynasty, at the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period, the authority of the "jun" was not very great, and sometimes it was even less powerful than the "literary officials", especially the new monarch...
Just like a new manager in a company cannot wear HR on his belt and force old employees to salute respectfully when they meet, otherwise they will make a fuss about firing the old employees and punish them?
As for the following "Military chariots are not in style, Wu chariots are in Suijing, and German chariots are in knots", they are still talking about driving etiquette, and are alternative methods of riding etiquette for special vehicles.
Therefore, it is obvious that in the Book of Rites, there is no so-called "class oppression" or "class privilege" from beginning to end. This passage is just talking about the etiquette of riding in a car. This is also in line with the "Book of Rites"
The positioning of "Ji" itself is that it only talks about the etiquette and norms of the Zhou Dynasty...
As a result, later generations mixed "the courtesy should not be extended to the common people, and the punishment is not to the officials" into one sentence, which separated the specific context of riding etiquette in the "Book of Rites", and believed that "the courtesy should not be extended to the common people" refers to being rude to the common people, "
"You can't punish a doctor" means that nobles can be lawless. This is like calling out the "Primary School Student Code" and saying that it is class oppression of primary school students and condones the class privileges of adults.
Therefore, it can now be said that there is something wrong with Zheng Xuan's annotation.
Similarly, Fei Qian's annotation is also problematic.
Adding the original meaning of "Book of Rites", there are three explanations...
Watching and thinking about it, Zheng Xuan's head hurt even more.
This is the trouble with a king who is too smart and cannot be fooled! If he is a fool who does not understand the scriptures, he will just say whatever he says, even if he knows it is wrong, he will not even let out a fart!
The scriptures are normal, but the annotations are hidden secrets.
At present, Zheng Xuan's own original annotation conflicts with the annotation of General Hussars at Qinglong Temple. If he continues to use his own annotation, the consequences may not be very good. After all, if an employee blindly confronts the boss and does it unreasonably, there is probably nothing wrong with it.
Good ending.
But Zheng Xuan would not be willing to change it to Fei Qian's set of annotations.
Because of the "Eight Discussions".
In other words, it is "Eight Pi", which means the same thing.
"Eight Yi" refers to the eight types of people who commit crimes and must be handed over to the emperor for judgment, or the punishment can be reduced according to the law. There are also many privileges for the royal family, such as Yiqin, which is the emperor's relatives; Yigu, which is the emperor's past; Yiyi
Guests, that is, descendants of the previous monarchs are honored as state guests. On the surface, it seems to be protecting the imperial power, but in fact, the "Eight Discussions" are not to respect the imperial power, but to restrict the imperial power.
Because the authority to propose the "Eight Discussions" is not in the emperor's hands!
Will the emperor personally conduct trials and pronounce judgments? Obviously, most of the trials and pronouncements are done by ministers.
Having said that, does the emperor need "eight discussions"?
Among the royal relatives and old relatives, once a crime involving the imperial power occurs, it is almost certain to die, or at least life imprisonment, and there is no such thing as eight discussions.
Let’s take a look at the other contents of the Eight Discussions…
Yixian refers to a person with high moral character;
Yi Neng, that is, a person with outstanding talents;
Yi Gong, that is, a person with outstanding merits;
Yigui refers to officials of third rank or above and people with first rank title;
Yiqin, that is, a person who is diligent and hardworking...
That’s right, even “hard work” can be discussed!
Of course, the contents of the Eight Discussions were slightly different in each dynasty, but on the whole they were similar. The "scholar-officials" kept these contents in tacit agreement with each other so that they or their friends could open a discussion if something happened.
Backdoor, big things become trivial.
No matter whether they are ancient or modern, Chinese or foreign, those who serve as officials in the court are not worthy of being called bosses if they cannot account for more than four of these five. Ordinary officials can also have two or three, and at the worst, they can just grab a straw.
Take a deep dive.
Therefore, even though all the big scholars who studied scriptures in the past dynasties clearly knew that "the punishment is not good enough for the doctor" was problematic according to the explanation of the eight chapters, but no one would poke holes in the window paper.
not a single one.
And now he was stabbed out by the hussar general Fei Qian, and Fei Qian not only stabbed him, but also gave him a stick along the way.
"The courtesy cannot be extended to common people, and the punishment cannot be extended to officials!"
"Punishment" is used to regulate the common people, and "officials" cannot just use the "punishment" of the common people as the standard of conduct, but also go a step further and require "rituals" as their daily rules!
This is quite troublesome...
According to Fei Qian's explanation, the same two sentences have almost completely opposite meanings!
Even if Zheng Xuan knew that the earth was round, he couldn't go around it!
The most important thing is that Fei Qian once again occupied a high moral position and suppressed the "Eight Discussions". The reason why today's Han Dynasty and the Confucian scholar clan can command from a high position is that they first substituted themselves into the identity of "disciples of sages"
Go there, and then put on a bright and shiny "moral guardian" robe, and then you can naturally kill everyone, without any disadvantage.
It turns out that the word "morality" was not passed down by the Confucius and Mencius themselves, but that the descendants of Confucius and Mencius got it from the next door neighbor. Laozi said in the "Tao De Jing": "Tao is born, virtue is the animal.
The shape of things is determined by the potential. Therefore, all things respect Tao and value virtue. The respect of Tao, the nobility of virtue, and the fate of people are always natural." Xunzi later put it forward, and it was said in the chapter "Encouraging Learning"
, "Therefore, learning only ends with etiquette. This is called the ultimate morality."
What’s interesting is that Lao Tzu is not a Confucian, but Xunzi, although he is a Confucian in name, but in his heart he pays attention to "propriety and law". If we compare it with the so-called traditional Confucian "benevolence and righteousness"
Xunzi is facing off, and I'm afraid he won't be defeated by the old man...
Basically, morality is a code of conduct and norms set by human beings in order to live together.
Therefore, as long as it is morally reasonable, it is basically in line with most people's ideas. This is not absolute, because basically there are no absolute things in the world. Just like the situation Zheng Xuan is facing now, which one is right?
That's the mistake?
If it is said that Zheng Xuan surrendered, then it is not a matter of simply modifying one sentence!
This means that Zheng Xuan’s personal information hidden in the annotations of the "Book of Rites" may need to be rewritten! It may even affect other annotations of scriptures!
This is what Zheng Xuan has the most trouble with.
The "moral" standards respected by "scholar-officials" are very high, almost as high as those of sages. It is okay to talk and criticize others, but if you want to use these "sage morals" as a measuring standard for yourself...
Zheng Xuan felt terrible just thinking about it.
Zheng Xuan was not a saint, so when he annotated the scriptures, he would more or less add some personal information based on his own wishes. This is a very common behavior. Confucius did this, Jia Yi did it, and Zheng Xuan did it too.
After that, a group of people later did the same thing.
Because in the process of translation and annotation, it is simply too easy to "include private goods".
There are some novices in later generations who often say that articles written by others are "containing private goods". It seems that by saying this, they are standing in the position of judge, superior and comfortable, but in fact these novices
I don't even know the definition and scope of "containing private goods". I just heard others say it, and then followed it myself to show my "smartness", just like those guys who are stupid when reading the annotations of the Bible.
.
There were only two ways before Zheng Xuan.
It was obviously impossible to continue on the opposite path to Fei Qian's, and it was impossible for Zheng Xuan to jump out and criticize what was wrong with Fei Qian's annotation that "you cannot punish a doctor"...
Because no matter what he said, he could not get around the "ritual", so Zheng Xuan had to change his annotation at the moment, but how to change it was a difficult problem. One way is to block the back door that he originally opened, and follow the "
The original intention of "Book of Rites" is to only talk about the etiquette of driving, without adding anything else. The other direction is of course to be consistent with Fei Qian, and replace the back door originally given to the "scholar-officials" with the shackles of the "scholar-officials".
It seemed that it was more appropriate to choose to be honest and discuss the matter as it happened, but Zheng Xuan felt that something was wrong, and his intuition told him that if Zheng Xuan really did this, he would probably fall into another pit.
"Mr. Zheng..." A servant reported in the corridor, "Guo Zini came to pay homage..."
"Oh?!" Zheng Xuan raised his eyebrows, his face showing joy, "Please come quickly!"
Not long after, Guo Yuan walked in and prostrated himself before Zheng Xuan, "This disciple has met the Master! It is Yuan's fault that he has not been able to serve the Master for so many years!"
"Get up...let me see...it's still the same..." Zheng Xuan walked up and helped Guoyuan, "When will you come to Chang'an? Why didn't you let me know in advance, so I could send someone to pick you up?"
you?"
Guoyuan was dressed in black plain clothes. Except for a small piece of jade hanging from his belt as decoration, he looked as simple as a farmer. His complexion was slightly dark, obviously caused by the daily wind and sun, and
The appearance of ordinary gentry children is completely different.
"Replying to Master," Guoyuan said respectfully as before, "I am so stupid, how dare I bother Master... I arrived in Chang'an the day before yesterday..."
"The day before yesterday?" Zheng Xuan nodded. "Come, sit down..."
Zheng Xuan took Guoyuan and sat down in the hall. He asked his servants to bring some syrup and dried fruit snacks, and asked about what he had seen and experienced on Guoyuan's journey. Finally, he asked, "Zini...has he been there?"
Qinglong Temple?』
Guoyuan nodded in agreement.
The biggest event in the past two days was the public trial at Qinglong Temple. There was an uproar within Chang'an Sanfu.
"Hmm..." Zheng Xuan pondered for a moment, and then pushed his original annotation on the "Book of Rites" on the desk in front of Guoyuan, "Zini, come and take a look... I kind of want to change this annotation.
I just haven’t figured out how to change it yet..."
Guoyuan first greeted Zheng Xuan, then stretched out his hands to respectfully pick up the letter Zheng Xuan pushed over.
Zheng Xuan looked at Guoyuan's movements and couldn't help stroking his beard slightly. He had somewhat guessed what Guoyuan would say...
Sure enough, after a moment of silence, Guoyuan put the slip on Zheng Xuan's desk again, then lowered his head and said, "Master, why don't you just tell me directly?"
"Speak directly?" Zheng Xuan frowned slightly, "Why?"
Guoyuan indeed chose this plan, just like the person himself.
As upright as a stone.
"Then do you know..." Zheng Xuan frowned and tapped his fingers on the slip twice, "If you tell it directly..."
"Master..." Guoyuan bowed slightly, "The disciple knows that the master's move is for the safety of the students in the future. The master has worked hard, and the disciple also admires it."
Zheng Xuan's brows relaxed slightly, "Then why did you..."
"Master..." Guoyuan lowered his head and said, "Don't talk about what happened, don't admonish for what happened, and don't blame the past."... In the past, the sages were not afraid of hardships and dangers, nor were they greedy to change their ways.
How did the Six Kingdoms come to have peaches and plum blossoms bloom all over the world? The true meaning of the scriptures does not lie in the slips, but lies in the heart..."
Zheng Xuan took a long breath, pinched his beard, and was silent.
Zheng Xuan left these "back doors" not entirely for himself. Now that he is old, even if he can use these "back doors", how long can he use them? Zheng Xuan has experienced the disaster of party imprisonment. At that time, he
I just thought that if there were "Eight Comments", there wouldn't be so many Confucian students, including himself, who would have suffered so many unfair injustices...
But now Guoyuan's words confused Zheng Xuan again. Could it be that what he did was not necessarily right?
Could this be the meaning of hussar?
So, what exactly is right, and what should we do to achieve long-term success?
