Chapter 1,281 Neo-Confucianism has become a prominent school
Chapter 1289 Neo-Confucianism has become a prominent school
Watching Zhang Cheng eating cold pagoda soup cakes, Zhang Yue looked nostalgic. He couldn't help but think of the scene when he, Fan Zuyu, Huang Lu, and Han Zhongyan came to this noodle shop to eat noodles.
But now the small store has become a large store on the third floor facing the river.
The number of people coming in and out has become more and more well-dressed, and the noodle shop where a few imperial students could afford to eat for tens of pennies has already changed its appearance.
Zhang Yue asked: "Do you have any good classmates in Taixue?"
Zhang Cheng said: "There is a man named Huan Guo!"
Zhang Yue thought for a moment and said, "I have heard of his name. He is probably Mr. Yichuan's disciple. You should learn more from him."
"Okay, let's go back early!"
After Zhang Cheng returned to Imperial College, Zhang Yue sat by the window and quietly watched the scenery of the Bian River.
I came to see Zhang Cheng next to Taixue, not only to see my youngest son who had left home, but also for other reasons.
Soon there was the sound of footsteps on the stairs, and the person who came was Cheng Hao from the Second Chengzhong who was currently drinking wine at the Imperial College.
When Zhang Yue saw the other party standing up and saluting, Cheng Hao chuckled and said, "My right minister called Cheng here to have noodles. Cheng is very grateful."
Zhang Yue said with a smile: "Mr. Mingdao, you are too polite. Zhang has always respected his scholarly study of Confucian classics. I happened to pass by Taixue today and wanted to visit his old place again. I thought that Mr. Mingdao was in Taixue, so I invited him to talk about it."
"It's not official business, let's just treat it as catching up on old times and having a bowl of noodles."
Cheng Hao smiled and sat down after hearing this.
Er Cheng has two temperaments. Cheng Yi has an old-fashioned temperament and never makes any mistakes. He and Zhang Yue would start to quarrel after chatting for only a few words.
But Zhang Yue and Cheng Hao have similar temperaments.
There is a classic story about Er Cheng's character. Someone invited Er Cheng to a banquet with a prostitute. Cheng Yi pushed the prostitute away and left, but Cheng Hao sat down and drank three glasses of wine in a row.
The two brothers have different styles of doing things, so their academic theories and ideas are also different.
Later generations put the two Chengs together and thought that the two brothers had the same ideas, but in fact they were different. After Yuanfeng was reorganized, Zhang Yue took the initiative to invite Cheng Hao, an old friend, to serve as the Imperial Academy's minister of wine, which was unexpected.
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After Cheng Hao sat down, Zhang Yue asked: "Mr. Mingdao, what do you want to eat?"
Cheng Hao said: "Same as the Prime Minister."
Zhang Yue nodded and immediately ordered the waiter: "Bring two bowls of hot noodle soup!"
Unexpectedly, Cheng Hao said: "I also have two bowls of hot noodle soup!"
Zhang Yue was stunned when he heard this, and then laughed with Cheng Hao.
Zhang Yue smiled and said, "Mr. Mingdao really likes to joke."
Cheng Hao chuckled and said: "You cannot be rigorous in studying knowledge, so I often make this joke with the Zhishuo people."
Zhang Yue nodded and said, "This is also where I highly recommend Mr. Mingdao."
"Before, among the Imperial Colleges, Mr. Mingdao and Mr. Yichuan's Luo School, Mr. Hengqu's Guan School, and Jing Gong's New School were originally three pillars."
Zhang Yue said: "Before, I thought that Mr. Hengqu's Guan School would replace Jing Gong's new society, but I didn't expect that among the Taixue students, Mr. Mingdao and Mr. Yichuan's Luo School are the most highly regarded by the Taixue students. This is really unexpected.
What I expected."
Zhang Yue thought that Zhang Zai's Qi studies would replace Jing Gong's new studies, but he did not expect that Taixue would now be dominated by Luo studies.
Cheng Hao said: "What the students of Taipei University studied before were the "New Meanings of the Three Classics" and "Shuo Zi" written by Wang Jinggong."
"Later on the case of Taixue Yufan, all the direct lectures appointed by Duke Jing were dismissed. Now Duke Zhang deleted the "Zhuo" and only retained the "Li" of "Zhou Li" in "The New Meanings of the Three Classics", supplemented by
"Tai Xue", "The Doctrine of the Mean", and "Mencius"."
"Unexpectedly, this is exactly in line with the opinions of our two brothers."
By this time the waiter had brought two bowls of hot noodle soup.
Zhang Yue gave Cheng Hao his chopsticks and said with a smile: "Mencius's book advocates the idea of 'people-centeredness'."
"The author of Zhongyong is Zisi, and the doctrines of Zisi and Mencius are in the same line! But how can we say that they are in perfect harmony with the two gentlemen?"
Cheng Hao was already eating the noodles in large gulps without any scruples. Zhang Yue also liked Cheng Hao's informal character and started eating with chopsticks.
Cheng Hao is a smart man, but he also has an unexpected simplicity.
This kind of simplicity can easily make people feel simple, but Zhang Yue knows that this is not simple but pure.
People who have reached this stage have no distracting thoughts and a clear mind.
If you have the opportunity to meet one or two such people in your life, and have an in-depth relationship with one or two, it will be a great opportunity.
Cheng Hao said: "The Simeng school mainly expounded the word 'sincerity', but our brothers extended the word 'honesty' to the word 'respect'."
Zhang Yue thought, yes, but he believed that Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism was still insufficient in elucidating the word 'Cheng'. On the contrary, it was Lu Wang Xin-Xue that truly grasped the meaning of the word 'Cheng'.
Now Zhang Yue inherits Wang Anshi's idea of "making scholars through classics", and will replace the "ministers of literature" in Jiayou's time with "ministers of classics" trained by Taixue in the future, and advocates governing the country with "righteousness". This is true.
The grasp of ideology in Taixue is particularly important.
Zhang Yue did not follow Wang Anshi's lead in writing "New Meanings of the Three Classics", and "Shuo Zi" served as the highest theoretical guidance for future reforms and governance.
However, he did not disclose to the ruling and opposition parties that he should use Ercheng's Neo-Confucianism as his "righteousness" to govern the country after he left office.
Although Zhang Yue now has Cheng Yi as the lecturer of the Sixth Prince of the Emperor, and Cheng Hao as the Imperial Academy's sacrificial wine, Yang Shi, Lu Dalin, You Zuo and other Cheng Yi's disciples are also the direct lecturers of the Imperial Academy.
He originally wanted to use Neo-Confucianism and Qi theory to repair Wang Anshi's new learning. He did not expect that Neo-Confucianism was now prosperous in Taixue, and many Taixue students worshiped Er Cheng's theory. This was unexpected.
Although Zhang Yue has always believed that Neo-Confucianism has problems with its practice, there must be reasons for Neo-Confucianism to flourish for five hundred years in history.
Zhang Yue said: "Mr. Mingdao, the imperial court no longer uses the method of 'one morality' to unify the scriptures and meanings of the world."
"My policy in politics is to be virtuous!"
Cheng Hao put down his chopsticks and said seriously: "Ming Mingde comes from Taixue, and this is what Cheng agrees with."
Zhang Yue said: "Ming Ming De is different from Jing Gong's 'One Morality'. If Neo-Confucianism is to be the official science in the court, Zhang can advocate and carry forward the ideas of Neo-Confucianism, but I will not suppress other theories."
Cheng Hao said: "So since Cheng offered wine to Taixue, both Mr. Hengqu's Qi studies and Jing Gong's new studies can be taught together in Taixue, forming an inclusive style of study."
"If there is something unclear about Cheng Cheng, with Zhang Gong's attainments in classics, why not establish a theory of his own and guide it to the students of Imperial College!"
Zhang Yue said with a smile: "You mean that I should also follow the example of Jing Gong's new school and create a Jiangong new school or Zhang's new school?"
Cheng Hao smiled and said: "It's not a bad idea."
Zhang Yue waved his hand and said, "I have no such plan."
"The way of heaven is like a bow. The more you consciously advocate something, then there will be another force pushing it in the opposite direction."
Zhang Yue lamented that Wang Anshi's new learning was like this.
Why was the new learning eventually lost? Even the new meanings and word theories of the Three Classics, only a few fragments were left and passed down to later generations.
As a 'prominent scholar' at that time, he was strongly recommended by the imperial court, but it was definitely not like this.
The reason is that "Jing Gong Xinxue" uses too much force. Just like when teachers and parents always tell you a truth over and over again, the children will develop a rebellious mentality.
Therefore, Lao Tzu said that we must "abstain from the saints and discard wisdom." When you worship a saint or become superstitious about a book, the subjectivity of your thoughts will be gone.
Zhang Yue said: "There is a key point in the Tao Te Ching: abandon benevolence and righteousness, and restore filial piety to the people."
"If I were alive and could see today, I would definitely warn us not to believe in Confucian benevolence and righteousness. What is 'clear virtue' and 'one morality' are all absurd."
“The mistake of Confucianism lies in the fact that ‘when morality is lost, virtue is followed; when virtue is lost, benevolence is followed; when benevolence is lost, righteousness is followed; when righteousness is lost, propriety is followed’.”
Confucians always like to do this. The more they advocate something, the more it will be ruined.
It was the first to advocate Tao, but since Tao is gone, we can only talk about morality.
Later, virtue was advocated, but virtue was gone, so we could only talk about benevolence.
Nowadays, benevolence is promoted, but since benevolence is gone, we can only preach righteousness.
In the end, there is no righteousness, only etiquette.
In fact, Zhang Yue understood that Laozi was not opposed to benevolence and righteousness, but to the alienation of benevolence, righteousness and morality to people.
It's like money is supposed to make life more convenient, but people have become slaves to money. No matter how good you use something, it will wear out.
Zhang Yue said: "This is why the effort falls short."
Cheng Hao said: "That's why Zhang Gong did not promote his own theory in Taixue. This matter was beyond Cheng's expectation."
Zhang Yue said: "Mr. Mingdao, although Xining's reform was beneficial to the country, it failed to win the hearts of the people."
"I take Mencius as my scripture, which is to introduce the people-centered meaning and balance the new learning of Jing Gong. As for me, I don't want to have any private theories."
Cheng Hao said: "Only now do I understand the Prime Minister's painstaking efforts, but the Prime Minister's method is the best in the world!"
That's right, Zhang Yue did not engage in any "Zhang's new learning" in Taixue. Zhang Yue only introduced first-class doctrines to repair the theoretical loopholes in Jing Gong's new learning during the Yuanfeng period, but he did not replace Wang Anshi's new learning with his own theory.
Therefore, the Taixue under his leadership was to let various theories fight on their own, as much as possible without the guidance of the court, to see which theory would win in the end.
Zhang Yue said: "Mr. Mingdao, I don't understand why 78 out of 10 students from Imperial College now worship Luo School?"
"What is so deeply rooted in Luo Xue?"
What Zhang Yue feels now is that after he conquered the country, why was it Er Cheng who took the throne of emperor? Is it not Neo-Confucianism chosen by the ruling class, but Neo-Confucianism itself is the inevitable choice of the scholar-bureaucrat class?
Cheng Hao said: "Right Prime Minister, we Confucian scholars all say that we should cultivate our moral character, harmonize our family, govern the country and bring peace to the world."
"The emperor is above, the officials are in the middle, and the scholar-bureaucrats are below. How can we have a theory from top to bottom so that everyone from the emperor to the scholar-bureaucrats can pursue the Luo School that is unique to our brothers?"
"The rule of the world lies with the emperor, but the rule of the world lies with us, the scholar-bureaucrats."
"Since Duke Fan Wenzheng, he has been worried about the world before he became an official. He takes the world as his own responsibility instead of taking official positions as a way to make a living."
"Therefore, the way of the world lies in my Luo School, not in other people's schools!"
When Cheng Hao said these words, a sense of righteousness arose spontaneously.
Zhang Yue said: "Thank you, Mr. Mingdao, for your advice. I understand a little bit."
Cheng Hao sighed: "Actually, my brother and I didn't say a word. Our two brothers also benefited a lot from the Prime Minister's theory today."