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The title of the article, Cha Jin, is the eighth article of Lv Chunqiu Shen Dalan III, which is slightly abridged. Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals, also called Lu Lan, was written around 239 BC. It is a theoretical work produced at the end of the Warring States Period and an expository written by Lv Buwei's disciples. This chapter covers 12 years, 8 readings, 6 papers, ***26 volumes, plus preface, * * *16 (existing 160), about 200,000 words.
The eighth chapter of "Lu Chunqiu Shen Dalan III"
original text
Shanghai violates the law of the king? If you are immoral, you will be punished for it. The law of the former dynasty, from the end of the world, is also beneficial to people and harmful to people. Can Hu get the law? Although people have profits and losses, it is still a rule not to get them.
Every law of the late king must be timely. Time does not exist with the law. Although the law exists today, it is still impossible. Therefore, the former king's interpretation of the law and the law are the law. Why did the late king become a Buddhist practitioner? The reason why the late king was a Buddhist practitioner is that man is man. Therefore, you can know people by looking at yourself, and you can know the past by looking at today. Ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, people are like me. A person who has a way is more valuable in knowing the distance from the near, knowing the ancient from the present and seeing what he knows. Therefore, we can know the change of yin and yang by investigating the yin under the hall; A bottle of water sees ice, and the world is cold, and fish and turtles hide. When you taste the meat, you will know the taste of iron pot and the sound of ding.
Jing people want to attack the song dynasty, so that people can show their water first. Those who drown are beneficial, and the Jing people know it. They follow the table and wade at night. More than 1000 people were drowned, and the army was surprised and bad. We can guide them at the beginning, but now that the water has changed and benefited a lot, the Jing people still follow the table and guide them, so they lost. The laws of the Lord of this world are similar to those of previous kings. At that time, the former king's law was used to lose money. It is said that the former king's law is also good, and the law thinks it is a rule. Aren't you sad?
Therefore, if you can't govern the country, it will be chaotic. If you obey the law and change, it will be contradictory. If you are in chaos, the country will be lost. The world has changed, and reform is appropriate. For example, if you are a good doctor, your illness will change and your medicine will change. If the disease changes and the medicine remains the same, it will be a pity for the people. Therefore, everything must be done according to the law, and people who change the law will change with the times. Therefore, there are seventy-one saints in the world, and their methods are different; Unless things are the opposite, times are different. Therefore, the good sword period is about to break, which is unexpected; A good horse is thousands of miles away. A successful husband is thousands of miles away from the king.
Some Chu people waded in the river, and their swords fell into the water from the boat, so they made an agreement with the people on the boat and said, "My sword fell from above." The ship stopped at the destination, and the Chu people jumped into the water from the marked place to find the sword. The boat works, but not the sword. If you want a sword, isn't it confusing? It is the same to take the old law as the country. Time has passed, but the law has not. It is not difficult to take this as a criterion!
Those who walked too far on the river saw someone holding a baby and trying to throw him into the river, and the baby cried. People ask them why. Yue: "This father is good at doing things." Although the father is good at traveling, is the son good at traveling? Taking this as a matter will also be counter-productive. Jing's administration is similar to this.
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Why didn't the monarch imitate the legal system of ancient emperors? It's not that it's not good, but that future generations can't learn. The legal system of the former king was handed down through the long ancient times. Some people added, some people deleted. How can we learn from it? Even if people don't increase or decrease, they still can't get it.
All the laws and regulations of the former king meet the needs of the times. Times can't coexist with the rule of law. Even if the (ancient) legal system still exists, it cannot be copied. Therefore, we should abandon the former king's existing legal system and take its legal system as the basis. What was the basis for the former king to make laws and regulations? The former king made laws and regulations on the basis of human beings, and he himself was a human being. So you can infer others by observing yourself, and you can also infer ancient times by observing yourself now. Ancient and modern times are interlinked, and others are interlinked with themselves. The value of a reasonable person is that he can infer the distance from the near, the ancient from the present, and the invisible from what he sees. Therefore, by observing the light and shadow under the house, we can know the movement of the sun and the moon, the changes in the morning and evening and the seasons of cold and heat; When you see the ice in the water in the bottle, you know that the world is (already) cold, and fish and turtles are (already) lurking. When you taste a piece of meat, you will know the taste in a pot and the seasoning in the whole pot.
The Chu people wanted to sneak attack on the Song State, so they sent someone to erect a monument in the water first. The drowning man got up (suddenly), but the Chu people didn't know it. At night, crossing the water along the (original) sign drowned more than 1000 people, and the frightened voice of the soldiers was like the collapse of a big house. In the past, when they set up signs, they could cross the water. Now the water level has changed and the water has risen a lot. (But) the Chu people still crossed the water according to the original sign, which is the reason for their fiasco. The current monarch adopts the legal system of the first king of France, just like this. Their times are no longer suitable for the former king's legal system, but they still say that this is the former king's legal system, so it is not sad to use this way to govern the country for reference!
Therefore, it is impossible to govern the country without chaos, and it is impossible to stick to the ancient laws without changing them. Absurdity (justice) can't cure the country. With the changes of society and times, it is necessary to change the legal system. For example, a good doctor, symptoms (will) change a lot, medication (will) change a lot. It's diseased. The medicine hasn't changed. People who could have lived a long life are now short-lived. Therefore, everything should be carried out in accordance with laws and regulations, and the revision of laws and regulations should also keep pace with the times. Therefore, the 7 1 emperors who ruled the world all had different laws and regulations; It is not necessarily that the requirements are different, but that the times are different. So: for a good sword, people expect it to cut things, but they don't expect it to be a famous sword like a shovel; For a good horse, people expect it to travel thousands of miles every day, not to be a BMW like Ji Ao. Those who have both fame and fortune are the goals pursued by ancient emperors.
There was a man crossing the river in Chu State. His sword fell from the boat into the water, so he quickly carved a mark on the boat with a knife and said, "This is where my sword fell." The boat stopped and he went into the water from the marked place to salvage the sword. The boat moved, but the sword didn't. Isn't it silly to find a sword like this? The same is true of governing the country with the old legal system. Times have changed, but the law has not. Isn't it difficult to govern (the country) like this?
A man was walking by the river when he saw someone pulling a baby and trying to throw him into the river. The baby cried loudly. Someone asked him why (he did it). (He) said: "The child's father swims very well." Even if the child's father is good at swimming, is his child necessarily good at swimming? It must be ridiculous to handle things like this. The same is true for Chu to govern the country.
Brief introduction of the author
Lv Buwei (? -235 years ago), a famous businessman at the end of the Warring States period, later prime minister of Qin State, politician and thinker, from Puyang (now hua county, Henan). Lv Buwei was a big businessman in Yangzhai (now Yuzhou City, Henan Province). His hometown is on Dalu Street in the south of the city. He ran around, buying at low prices and selling at high prices, so he accumulated thousands of dollars of wealth. He is known as a "rare commodity to live in". He assisted the king of Qin Zhuang to ascend to the throne for thirteen years and had three thousand guests. Organize people to compile Lu Chunqiu (also known as Lu Lan, which is the masterpiece of Miscellaneous Feeling). In 235 BC, Lv Buwei was forced to commit suicide by drinking zhenniao.