There are really incomparable treasures in China's traditional culture. Like the Book of Rites, two of the Five Classics, Daxue and the Doctrine of the Mean, are also from the Book of Rites, and the Book of Rites should play a particularly important role in Confucian classics. But when I read the Book of Rites, it was a long time ago, and the gold hidden in the cave was basically buried by thick historical dust. One of the most important Confucian classics is still so, let alone others. On the other hand, the rich cultural heritage of our Chinese nation is far beyond our understanding and imagination. Moreover, our heritage is alive, unlike the pyramids in ancient Egypt and the temples in ancient Greece, which makes people marvel at the incredible creativity of the ancients; But today, our overall scientific and technological strength is certainly much stronger than that of the ancients, whose wisdom is condensed in material civilization. The biggest role is to warn people today, especially modern people who think they have mastered the scientific and technological means to transform nature, not to be too conceited. The ancient people's thoughts, philosophies and wisdom are condensed in China's writings, which not only makes the Chinese nation the only ancient nation with thousands of years' history, but also plays a correct leading role in the construction of the future world, which is a great boon for the construction of the new world, because these thoughts, philosophies and wisdom have stood the test of thousands of years' history and been proved by a large number of positive and negative experiences and lessons. As long as we dig a little bit of this treasure, China and even the world will benefit a lot.

Yue Ji attributed "music" to "heaven", "ceremony" to "earth", and "the ceremony and music are ready, and heaven and earth are officials." Pure and complete rites and music are like officials who perform functions on behalf of heaven and earth. Why do you say that? Because "every voice is from the heart." When the heart moves, everything does its best. Emotion is moved by things, so it is shaped by sound. The sound is corresponding, so it changes; Turn into a square, that is, sound; It's fun to listen to the sound. Dry your feathers. It's called joy. Musicians, where does the sound come from? It is based on people's hearts and feelings about things. "Music comes from people's hearts. It is people's hearts that touch things, cause emotional changes and make them sound. Emotional changes are the most intuitive and easy to communicate with. It is easy to cause * * * and it can't be suppressed, and it happens constantly. So "music" belongs to heaven. The ancients defined "heaven" as follows: first, it is innate, which is the cause of occurrence, not the result of development; First, the function of heaven is to "live" and create. The so-called "born, made in the earth." "Music" is spontaneous among the people and constantly created in daily life, so it belongs to "heaven".

Compared with "music", "ceremony" is acquired, a summary of behavioral norms, and the precipitation and sublimation of etiquette and customs in people's spontaneous cultural activities, such as sacrifices, weddings, funerals, making friends, banquets and other activities, so it belongs to "land".

After such a portrayal, Yue Ji concluded: "The sky is high and the earth is low, and everything is scattered, but the ritual system is feasible. The flow is endless, the contract is transformed, and the joy is endless. Spring is long and summer is long, and benevolence is also; It is also righteous to gather in autumn and store in winter. Kindness is close to joy, righteousness is close to ceremony. Those who are happy are harmonious, drawing God from heaven, while those who are polite are not, and the living ghost is from the ground. Therefore, saints greet the sky with joy and match the earth with courtesy. Rites and music are ready, and heaven and earth are officials. "

"Let happiness meet the sky" and "Meet the sky" correspond to the creativity symbolized by "the sky", that is, let people feel happy and exert their creativity. Therefore, the function of "music" is regarded as "spring grows and summer grows", and "benevolence" and "benevolence" are love.

"Matching the land with courtesy" means matching the achievements of the symbol "land", that is, letting people cooperate, compete and live in groups according to certain rules of the game. Therefore, the function of "courtesy" is regarded as "hiding in winter and hiding in autumn", and "righteousness" is "reason". The rules of the game are not the product of anyone's subjective will, but are formed according to logical rules, which can be proved or falsified through logical speculation. It is also "profit". If you play by such rules of the game, you can win and make a profit. It is also "easy", and it is the most appropriate to act according to the rules of the game, that is, the minimum internal friction, the lowest cost and the highest income. Therefore, "courtesy" is the result of civilization, and it is a summary and improvement of previous action experiences and lessons.

The main function of "music" is "harmony". The concept of "harmony" comes from music. The word "Hu" in ancient "He" consists of two parts: Hu and He. "I" is a phonetic symbol, indicating sound; "Hu" is a semantic symbol, indicating meaning. Autumn is an ancient musical instrument. It is said that it was used to accompany the dance in Dayu era. It is said to be the predecessor of the flute. The word "autumn" has three mouths, and the word "book" in the lower half stands for horizontal arrangement, indicating that this instrument is multi-tube horizontal arrangement. When playing "Autumn", many pipes may sound at the same time, forming a chord, which is the initial intuitive image of "Harmony" in ancient China. "Harmony" is to integrate different personalities into a whole existence with rich content. Therefore, the ancients said, "Music is harmonious and everything is harmonious." (Eleven years of "xianggong", Zuozhuan in the Spring and Autumn Period). This is the origin of the word "harmony". From the definition of "harmony", we can see that "harmony" is not a general "similarity", as long as it is agreed. Harmony is a kind of advanced similarity and a kind of dynamic similarity. Not to suppress individuality in order to maintain individual unity, on the contrary, to carry forward individuality; It is not to eliminate the differences within the whole, but to maintain the richness within the whole. Therefore, this is done to make the whole full of overall vitality, so it is said: "Music is in harmony with heaven and earth."

The most important thing about "ceremony" is "festival", which means restraint. Confucius said, "see no evil, don't listen to evil, don't speak evil, don't move evil", so he said, "Great gifts are the same as heaven and earth".

"Rite" and "Music" have the same requirements, but "Music" is the same harmony, and "Rite" is the same festival, which is quite different in nature. However, with the strengthening of monarchical power and the intensification of autocracy, the understanding of "Tong" is more and more inclined to "Tong Jie", and "Tong" is becoming the yoke of the ruled. Confucius, who attached importance to etiquette, put forward music education in time, attributing "music" to "heaven" and "ceremony" to "land", meaning that "music" is higher than "ceremony", so as to correct the deviation that "ceremony is made in the land, and excessive system will lead to chaos". And "music" is the spontaneity of the people first. The monarch understands people's feelings by listening to music, thus improving political measures, which fully embodies Confucius' people-oriented thought. Since absolute monarchy has occupied the mainstream discourse since Qin Dynasty, even if Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "ousted a hundred schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone", what he admired was no longer Confucianism, and Confucius' spirit of attaching importance to music and advocating peace was ignored intentionally or unintentionally. Later generations only know the ethical code, but don't know that there is music education, or think that music education is an art education and an auxiliary means of ethical code. I didn't know that in Confucius' Confucianism, music education was higher than ethics. "Music" is creativity, and "ceremony" is the summary of achievements. Without the creation of "music", there would be no achievement of "ceremony".

In fact, there are different opinions about the difference between "harmony" and "sameness" in ancient China. The most famous one is Confucius' saying that "gentlemen are harmonious but different, while villains are identical but not harmonious" (The Analects of Lutz). But we don't know enough about the profound meaning of Confucius' saying this sentence. "Gentleman is harmonious but different" means to govern by doing nothing. Ignorant people are fearless, heartless, and never give up, and try their best to provide people with sufficient room for development of personality and creativity. To illustrate that Confucius didn't mean to exalt himself, I quoted a passage from Mandarin Zheng Yu.

Seeing Zhou Youwang's abnormal behavior, Zheng Huangong was very worried. He was afraid of hurting himself, so he asked Shi Bo, what are Zhou Youwang's shortcomings? Shi Bo said that Zhou Youwang is "harmonious but different" and pointed out that "husbands, like real creatures, don't follow. He is equal to what he calls the sum, so he can get rich and return things; If you are the same, you will be abandoned. " The policy of "harmony" is like sunshine, which can make everything grow, but "harmony" is not sustainable. What is "harmony"? "Balance him with others", regulate him with his nature and preferences, and let him develop smoothly. If "colluding with others" only benefits the small circle around you, and "abandoning everything", it will definitely be spurned by most people in the end. It is said that more than 200 years ago, Laozi and Confucius put forward the concepts of "harmony with its light dust" and "harmony without difference", which can prove that the ancient people in China had conducted in-depth research on the concept of "harmony".

In the past, China people were often confused when dealing with issues such as individuality and collectivity, development and stability, democracy and centralization. In the past, there was a saying that "if you catch it, you will die, and if you let it go, it will be chaotic." If we absorb the similar ideas of Laozi and Confucius about creative harmony and basic principles, it will be of great benefit to correctly handle these relations. It can also be seen that a harmonious society and an innovative society have the same name but are different, or that the concept of "harmony" provides conceptual support for an innovative society. From here, we can also see that if we didn't form a real "national studies" in the past, or that "national studies" is not a mature subject, then we should strive to build national studies today, because China's national studies not only have great theoretical significance and practical value for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, but also for the future development of the whole mankind. Contemporary China people, experts, scholars and intellectuals in China are duty-bound.