Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty was a virtuous and promising monarch in China's feudal era, and his achievements and deeds are widely known. Kangxi's achievement has a lot to do with his years of knowledge accumulation and ability training. Kangxi was diligent in studying and reading, which was rare among ancient emperors. ?Emperors who diligently seek governance must study classical studies to make contributions to enlightenment? There is no time when they fail to give lectures and understand the truth as their first priority? To this end, he took action. According to his own account: He knew how to read at the age of five. He made great progress in his studies after he ascended the throne at the age of eight. By the age of seventeen or eighteen, he became more dedicated to learning. He got up at five o'clock every day (three to five o'clock in the morning) and studied first. After finishing his official duties at night, he then discussed and studied with the ministers. He even became ill from overwork and had blood in his phlegm. But even so, he did not stop his studies, which shows that he worked hard. Diligence. As an adult, I have to deal with many things every day, but I still keep learning. ?In my spare time from government affairs, I only study classics and history. ?Every day he insisted on talking about classics with civil servants, even in the wind, rain, cold and heat, and toured the south and the north without stopping. Kangxi's attitude towards reading and scholarship has long been praised by future generations.
Taking classics as the basis for reading, and reading a lot of books at the same time
Kangxi’s reading list is based on traditional Chinese classics and history books:? Since ancient times, classics and history books have re-invented the mind. To benefit politics, we must study it carefully and carefully, so that we can become a sage within and a king outside. ?Especially the Confucian classics, which are regarded as fundamental and studied repeatedly. He commented on the "Five Classics": "The Book of Changes" has the profound meaning of the connection between heaven and man, "Book of Changes" has the rules of emperor's political affairs, "The Book of Songs" has the principles of expressing human feelings, "Book of Rites" has the connotation of etiquette, and "Spring and Autumn" has the meaning of ancient times. The praise and blame of the saint. These classics are "intelligent and profound", and are the foundation of "animal virtue" (accumulation of virtue). History books record the rise and fall of the past dynasties and the ways of governing the country, and the experiences and lessons are all contained therein. The records often contain implicit praise and criticism, and enlightenment and enlightenment. They have also been valued by emperors of the past dynasties, and have become another type of must-read books after Confucian classics. Among the many historical books, "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" is the most highly regarded. As the most important ideological resource and mainstream ideology in ancient China, Confucianism infused in classics and historical books was naturally highly praised by Kangxi, and achieved the effect of establishing authority and serving the people. As a feudal emperor, the classics he valued and the views and attitudes he upheld certainly had a conservative and pedantic side, but just this emphasis on classics, core values, and spiritual power, hoping to promote morality and correct the world through classics The practice still has its positive significance.
Unlike most feudal emperors who were blinded by the deep palace, Kangxi had a strong spirit of exploration and desire for knowledge. In Kangxi's book list, in addition to "traditional subjects" such as classics and history, there are also Chinese and foreign books on all aspects of ancient and modern times. From various schools of thought, Buddhist scriptures and Taoist canons, medical divination and astrology, calligraphy and painting, and even astronomy and calendars imported from the West, Kangxi studied them all to varying degrees, and he could be said to be well-read. He is even quite proficient in some aspects of knowledge. For example, he claims to have studied arithmetic, astronomy, and geography, but he has not studied it in detail; he has studied phonology for twenty years, and even if he has never been to places, he knows the accents of the locals; he has also paid attention to geography since he was a child, and he has paid attention to the names of mountains and rivers in ancient and modern times. , even in the wilderness of the border, we must examine the books to make sure they are correct. Although there is some conceitedness in it, one can finally see the depth of his hard work. Of course, Kangxi's criteria for selecting "miscellaneous books" still depended on whether they conformed to the "principles" of Confucian classics. Those books that he considered to be "dirty and ignorant books and crude writings" were absolutely rejected or even banned. Is it appropriate to use classic principles as the criterion for evaluating books? Different people have opinions. However, it is still very necessary to be able to follow certain standards and handle the relationship between reading, mastering and becoming knowledgeable.
Studying should establish ambition and persevere
Kangxi believed that in order to persevere in reading and achieve success in learning, we must first establish ambition: Ambition is the foundation of morality and the direction of ambition. , There is no limit to the distance, no matter where the ambition is, there is no limit. ?Set up the ambition to study, and learning will have the fundamental support and motivation to move forward. After making a decision, you must persist in implementing it without interruption. Because the human heart is the smartest and smartest, but the smartest and smartest is also the most susceptible to temptation and distracting thoughts. Even if you set an ambition, it will always change and be difficult to achieve. So you must persevere so that you can be focused. For this reason, Kangxi also wrote a special article "On the importance of perseverance in reading", warning people to be afraid of being diligent at first and lazy at the end. Only by perseverance and perseverance can we achieve greater wisdom and greater admiration. We must not slacken off from day to day, advance rapidly and slow down, as a result, nothing will be achieved.
In order to strengthen ambition and encourage persistence, Kangxi also emphasized that there should be no fear of difficulties in reading and studying. He laughed at those people who always complain when they are studying: "I can't do it? I can't do it?" They are just fools and making mistakes. Learning, especially beginners, is indeed difficult and hard. You must not give up at this time. You must have "unswerving ambition", and at the same time, you must have "a courageous and diligent heart" and a "steady and unyielding mind". Only by persevering can you succeed in learning.
?Reading? Talking? Thinking? Acting? Combination
Regarding the specific methods and steps of learning, Kangxi had a four-in-one approach of "reading? speaking? thinking? acting?" . He once quoted a Song Confucian saying: "The reason is not one end, and the gain is not one place." Either you get it from reading, you get it from speaking, you get it from thinking, or you get it from doing things. The advantage of "reading" is many, the advantage of "speaking" is speed, the advantage of "thinking" is deep, and the advantage of "acting" is practicality.
Although the four go hand in hand, they cannot be neglected and must be used comprehensively. Kangxi himself practiced this.
Kangxi read a lot, as mentioned above, so there is no need to mention it. In terms of "lectures", Kangxi believed that simply reading or listening to lectures often passes by without in-depth thinking, and even makes learning activities a formality. Therefore, knowledge must be deepened and solid through personal explanations, debates, retelling knowledge, and organizing thoughts. . Therefore, during court lectures, Kangxi specifically requested that after each official lecture, he would speak again himself. Whenever there is a word or sentence that is unclear, we must discuss it repeatedly with the ministers until the truth is understood. The foundation of lectures lies in "thinking". He once said: "The way to knowledge lies in solid research." ?After reading and giving lectures, if you don’t think about it, it will be just a vain name, and what good will it do to your body and mind? Therefore, Kangxi said that every time he lectured, read and studied, he must think deeply and carefully to make sure the truth is clear.
In addition to thinking and speaking, Kangxi also attached great importance to "acting", that is, practice. He believes that learning should not be empty talk, but only through personal practice can you benefit. The object of practice, in Kangxi's view, is ordinary daily human ethics: self-cultivation starts with being careful in words and deeds, keeping the family together starts with respecting relatives and elders, and being rational starts with reading and discussing Taoism. Only by transforming lofty ideals and goals into something "near and easy" can we practice and implement it, and will it be easiest to achieve results. In order to verify the knowledge in books, Kangxi even conducted scientific experiments. For example, he used a flag to measure the wind direction and found that the wind direction was different in different places at the same time, so he believed that the old saying "different winds in different places" was accurate. He also used the pendulum method taught by Chinese Europeans to measure the speed of sound, and experimented with the statement in the "Book of Changes" that "shock (thunder) shocked hundreds of miles", and found it credible. In short, Kangxi strived to integrate reading, thinking, lectures, and practice to continuously improve the effect of learning.
Don’t trust all the books
Due to the emphasis on thinking and practice in reading and learning, Kangxi also developed a reading view of not trusting the books. He once pointed out that the contents of many books, including some ancient books and official histories, often cannot be completely trusted. Mistakes in recording are only secondary, but fallacies in opinions and theories are even more dangerous. Therefore, he warned his descendants not to be fooled by books. He also cited the words of Dong Zhongshu, a great scholar of the Han Dynasty, in his article: The wind does not blow the branches and the rain does not break the blocks. It is said that the wind does not blow the branches and the rain does not scatter the clods. Is this really the case? Kangxi disagreed. : If the wind does not blow, how can the vegetation grow? If the rain does not break the trees, how can the fields be sown and cultivated? This way of writing is nothing more than whitewashing and cannot be believed to be true. Even if the principles in some books seem to be good, Kangxi believed that they should not be too rigid. He cited "Wun Ding Chen Sheng" in "Book of Rites" as an example (that is, a filial son serves his parents, goes to bed in the evening, and looks at him in the morning) as an example, and warned the prince: "Wun Ding Chen Sheng" is nothing more than telling people that being a son You must do your best to be filial. Scholars only need to understand the meaning, and they should not stick to the words and have to implement them rigidly every morning and evening. He used an analogy with himself: I have many descendants (Kangxi only has 24 adult princes). Every morning they come to greet me one by one, and every evening they come to greet me one by one. It is estimated that I, the emperor, cannot even eat a meal. There is no leisure time for rice, so it is simply not feasible. Therefore, it would be good if everyone should study the original meaning of a book and get it in his/her heart.