Zheng Xuan was the first to annotate "Shi Shi" in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Since Song Confucianism separated "Da Xue" from the Book of Rites and became a part of the four books, the meaning of "Shi Shi" has gradually become a hot topic of debate among later Confucian scholars, even today. At present, the popular explanation of "teacher" in society is based on some viewpoints of Zhu's theory in the Southern Song Dynasty, which holds that "teacher" is to acquire knowledge and truth by studying things. Modern Chinese Dictionary interprets it as "studying the principles and laws of things and summarizing them into rational knowledge". The difference between the current popular viewpoint and Zhu's viewpoint lies in the explanation of "knowing". Zhu's so-called "knowledge" is intellectual-including wisdom and knowledge-while the "knowledge" in modern popular views only refers to knowledge, which may be due to the influence of the popular materialistic views in today's society.
Although Zhu is a great scholar in the history of Confucianism, his view of "learning from others" has become the mainstream of later generations, not because of the universal recognition of later Confucian scholars. In fact, Zhu's theory was dismissed as "pseudo-learning" because of the political party struggle in the Southern Song Dynasty, and many Confucian scholars in later generations also criticized Zhu's theoretical viewpoint of "learning knowledge by grasping things" more forcefully. However, Zhu's Notes to the Four Books was formally adopted as the standard of the imperial examination in the mid-Yuan Dynasty, and since Zhu's theory was regarded as the only official ideological authority in the four books, Zhu's theory has become the official dogmatic view in the imperial examination in the Ming and Qing Dynasties for more than 500 years. Therefore, Zhu's view of "understanding knowledge by studying things" became a popular view in later society under the authority of hundreds of years of official dogma. Therefore, in the Westernization School in the late Qing Dynasty, physics, chemistry and other disciplines were called "Gezhi", which is the abbreviation of "Wu Ge Zhi Zhi".
[Editor] The root of the dispute
Confucianism has always changed and evolved with the trend of the times. Although Confucius was the pioneer of Confucianism, the Confucianism founded by Confucius inherited the people-oriented thought tradition of Chinese civilization before the Spring and Autumn Period. Confucius' life-long thoughts mainly focused on human politics and morality, rather than the cultivation of mind and nature as in The Analects of Confucius? "Gongye Chang" records Zi Gong's feelings about Confucius' knowledge: "Confucius' articles are available and audible; The nature of Confucius' words and nature of heaven cannot be obtained and heard. ".However, at the time of Confucius, scholars had already discussed the nature of heaven; For example, Laozi, who was visited by Confucius in the Zhou Dynasty, described Hyunri of Taoism in Laozi, and Guanyin Zi was also a Taoist work at that time. Even in Guanzi, there are articles about spiritual cultivation. It can be seen that this tradition of spiritual cultivation, which later formed the Taoist tradition, never originated from Laozi, just as the tradition of Confucian people-oriented thought did not originate from Confucius; Otherwise, Chinese medicine that needs spiritual cultivation can't happen before Laozi. Therefore, after the death of Confucius, Confucian scholars tried to absorb and integrate the tradition of mind cultivation and natural philosophy of Taoism and Yin and Yang at that time in order to make up for the deficiency of Confucius' theory. The "Five Elements" in Zi and the "Nourishing Qi" in Gongsun Nizi are the results of the efforts of Confucian scholars in the early Warring States period. In the early Warring States period, Zisi wrote The Doctrine of the Mean, which was the first time to construct the Confucian theory of mind and nature based on Confucius' doctrine of the mean. However, the related vocabulary of "teacher" has never appeared in the ancient books of the pre-Qin period, so "teacher" should not be Confucianism in the pre-Qin period, but a conceptual product of the integration of Confucianism and Taoism among scholars in the Han Dynasty. Because it involves Taoism, it has caused difficulties in understanding to later Confucian scholars, and it has also formed a dispute of views for more than 1000 years.
The concept of "observing things and knowing things" is difficult to explain, which has caused controversy in Confucianism for more than 1000 years. First of all, the difficulty lies in that "learning from others" is not only the basic kung fu of the eight goals of "University", but also the cultivation foundation of "sincerity and faithfulness", which involves the fundamental foundation of the cultivation of mind and nature, transcends the ideological depth of pre-Qin Confucianism and connects with the research of pre-Qin Taoism. After the rise of Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty, Confucian scholars often denounced Taoism and Buddhism, making it more difficult to understand their original meaning. In the history of Confucianism, Confucianism rejected Buddhism and Taoism in the Song Dynasty, and Cheng Yi invented "reason" instead of "Taoism" (Confucius talked about Taoism but didn't talk about it), while Zhu even ignored the records in Historical Records and insisted that "the Laozi visited by Confucius during his visit to Zhou was not the Laozi of Taoism, but someone else's". Secondly, the difficulty lies in that it is difficult to properly explain the meaning of words because the exegesis of the meaning of words is difficult to be appropriate; This is also because of the lack of literature about the author's intention of "university", which can prove the correct meaning of "learning from the classics" Since then, the explanations of various schools of Confucianism have often been invented at will and forced to explain, resulting in the eternal mystery of Confucianism.
refer to
Dong Qiming, Positive Solution of "Learning from the Teacher": the Basis of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism (I) (This paper has some shortcomings in the evaluation of previous theories, and the author is revising them. )
The last article of "Da Xue" is explained by "sincerity", which is also the reason why Zhu thinks that "Da Xue" is flawed in "telling things and being a governor".
According to Lu Xun's preface to Scream.
"Zi-quan liu's book? Volume 38 "University Miscellaneous Words" Liu
Mao Zishui's Complete Works: A Brief History of Scripture Interpretation, Mao Zishui, pp. 250-232.
Xue Zong, Vol.5, No.4, Debate on Mind and Matter in the History of China Thought, Zhang Tiejun.
Chapter 5 "Eight Items and Background" of University Studies, the first item "Wu Ge", page 199-265 Zhao Zehou (Zhonghua Book Company, Taiwan Province Province? Taipei? 1972)
"University Notes" Zheng Xuan
"Five classics justice? Book of Rites Justice Kong Ying Da
Li Ao's Renaturation Book
Both Sima Guang and Zhi Zhi are talking about Wu Ge.
"The suicide note of Cheng" Cheng Hao
"The suicide note of Cheng" Cheng Yi
Zhu, university chapters and sentences
"University or Problem" Zhu
Complete works of Lu Jiuyuan and Xiangshan
Wang Yangming, the university asked
Wang Yangming, Notes of Guben University
Wang Yangming, Biography
Answer to Nie's Book Wang Yangming
Here, "consciousness" is another name for the so-called sixth knowledge in Buddhism.
Complete Works of Master Ou Yi 19 "University Direct" Ou Yi Xu Zhi
"Sleepwalking collection? Volume 44 "Doubts about the University Outline" Hanshan Deqing