Liu Xin's second contribution in the history of Confucian classics is to open up a new way to interpret classics with words and history. In order to carry forward the ancient classics, Liu Xin and others attached importance to exegesis, not only by reading the classics, but also by interpreting the classics according to the glyphs and meanings of ancient Chinese.
Liu Xin's third contribution in the history of Confucian Classics was to break the monopoly of modern literature on Confucian Classics, which opened the way for the development of classical Confucian Classics in China. If Dong Zhongshu initiated the study of Confucian classics in modern Chinese, in a word, it is of great significance, then the study of classical Chinese classics, which attaches importance to the system of names and things, is Liu Xin who opened his gate.
Liu Xin has made great contributions to the collation of ancient books of the Five Classics, and Zuo Zhuan is his favorite and the most studied. When Emperor Ai of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, Liu Xin suggested that Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals, Shi Mao, Yi Li and Wen Gu Shangshu should all be listed as scholars. Ai Di sent a letter to consult his liegeman opponent, Dr. Zuo Chuan, and asked Liu Xin to discuss Confucian classics with Dr. Jing. After more than 20 years' efforts, Liu Xiang and Liu Xin have successfully completed the large-scale book sorting and cataloging organized by the government for the first time in the history of China. In this work, Liu Xin created a set of scientific methods. In order to correct and delimit the chapters and texts of books, they first have many copies and extensively search for different copies; Then select the title and remove the repetition; After that, correct the typos and proofread the text; Finally, the title of the book was assigned and a new version was made. Tianluge and Shiquge collected a total of 33,090 books and established the first national library, which made great contributions to the spread of ancient books in the pre-Qin period and the spread of books from official collection to folk popularization. Their systematic method of sorting out ancient books has led to the emergence of collation, identification and textual research.
On the basis of Bielu compiled by his father Liu Xiang, Liu Xin further processed and compiled a comprehensive book classification catalogue, Seven Laws, which is the first book classification catalogue in China and a book with academic and historical value. There are seven volumes in Qilue, in which Jilue is a narrative record of the book, and the other six volumes include Liuyilue, Zhuzi Lue, Poetry Lue, Military Lue, Shu Lue, Ji Fanglue, etc. The recorded books are divided into six categories, 38 species, 603 families and 6500 families. "Qilue" is divided into chapters, and each category is added with a small preface to explain its academic origin and generic meaning, which not only greatly promoted the academic development at that time, but also had a far-reaching impact on later bibliography and became a model of China's catalogue books. Dr. Yi Chang, an important document in the history of Confucian classics, has a cylindrical standard measuring tool. According to the inscription of the measuring instrument, the pi used is 3. 1547, which is called "Liu's heart rate" internationally.
The collation of books led by Liu Xiang and Liu Xin has created a set of scientific methods. In order to proofread and calibrate the chapters and texts of books, they first have many copies and extensively search for different copies; Then select the title and remove the repetition; After that, correct the typos and proofread the text; Finally, the title of the book was assigned and a new book was copied. A total of 33,090 books were compiled. An important task in the collation of Liu's father and son's ancient books is to compile a catalogue. First, after collating and copying each book, Liu Xiang and his son collected its contents, described his will and wrote down narrative records, which is the summary of future generations. Then, the narrative records of all the books are collected together and copied into a book, which is called don't record. This is mainly done by Liu Xiang. Finally, on the basis of Bielu, Liu Xin further processed and sorted out a comprehensive book classification catalogue-Seven Laws.
Liu Xin first studied Poetry, Book, Book of Changes and Biography of Gu Liang with his father, and he was very accomplished in the study of Confucian classics. In the process of investigating and proofreading China's secret books, he found the Biography of Zuo's Family in the Spring and Autumn Period, which was copied in ancient pre-Qin prose and he particularly liked it. Therefore, he learned from He Zhai, who studied Zuo Zhuan, and put forward many questions and their meanings in the book. At the same time, he and his father Liu Xiang discussed and discriminated the contents of Zuo Zhuan. Zuo Zhuan is also used to "teach children and grandchildren, down to women, who are all studying." He compared Zuo Zhuan with Biography of Ram and Biography of Gu Liang, which were established by scholars at that time, and thought that "Zuo Qiuming likes and dislikes the same sage, seeing the master himself, while Ram and Gu Liang, who is over 70 years old, have different details." The value of Zuo Zhuan is above that of Ram and Gu Liang.
Confucian Classics: As a famous scholar at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Xin sharply criticized Confucian Classics, which had flourished since the middle of the Western Han Dynasty. In his view, the study of Confucian classics in contemporary literature is wordless and tedious, and scholars can't learn it. It is impossible to achieve the goal of moral education for the people by using the method of fewer days and more animals. Therefore, he asked to keep the main idea, give full play to the scriptures, and end the tedious style of study with more than one million words as soon as possible. In addition, Liu Xin also criticized the drawbacks of Confucian Classics, believing that they knew nothing about their biographies and were ignorant. What they have done is nothing more than to achieve the political goal of being party member and being jealous of the truth. Liu Xin's criticism hit the nail on the head. Since the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the revitalization of the study of classical Chinese classics is inseparable from Liu Xin's active advocacy. In the process of proofreading Chinese secretarial books for a long time, he came into contact with a large number of ancient books and records in China that were invisible to outsiders, and thus developed a strong research interest and made unprecedented achievements. Specifically, there are the following points:
Firstly, the order of the six arts was rearranged, and the Book of Changes was put in the first place. At the same time, he assisted Liu Xiang in collating the Book of Changes found in the Secret Collection of the Inner Dynasty, making Fei's Book of Changes a classic of ancient Chinese. Since Confucius, the order of the six arts has always been "Poetry" and "Book" first, followed by "Rite", "Yue" and "Spring and Autumn". Liu Xin thinks that "the writing of six arts, ……" is "original". He has studied the Book of Changes, and thinks that the Book of Changes was written by three sages, namely, the ancient Fuxi, the king of ancient prose and the ancient Confucius. So he said, "The Book of Changes is profound, people are more saints, and the world is three ancient." So the Book of Changes should be the first of the six arts. Since then, the chronology of the past dynasties and the order of the six arts in the catalogue are all based on Liu Xin's statement. About the spread of Yi, Shi, Meng, Yuan, Fei, Gao and so on. All the books in the Western Han Dynasty were copied from official script. Liu Xiang and Liu Xin discovered the ancient prose left in the Warring States Period and used them to proofread all kinds of official scripts. As a result, only Feiyi was the same as the ancient prose, so he decided that Feiyi was a classic of ancient prose.
Secondly, it reveals the origin of Chinese ancient literature history and Yi Li for the first time, and spreads the hidden ancient China classics to the inner dynasties, so that more scholars can have the opportunity to learn. King Lu Gong discovered the ancient prose "Shangshu" and "Yi Li" from Confucius' former residence, which were presented to the imperial court by Kong Anguo and hidden in the secret mansion. When Xin Xiang and his son were sorting out, they found that there were more ancient prose "Shangshu" 16 articles than today's articles, and they also checked Ouyang Jia's and Xiahou's today's articles and found some missing words. Liu Xin first disclosed the fact of Confucius' ancient books in Dr. Tai Chang's Book, which made all scholars in the government and the public know that there were ancient books and Yi Li. This has played an important role in promoting the widespread dissemination of China's ancient classics.
Third, Shi Mao was listed as an ancient China classic for the first time. Liu Xin studied the poetry of Jinwen when he was young, and later read Shi Mao. According to the information of the imperial palace's secret government, he knew that "there was another study of Mao Gong, which was spread in the summer and offered a good king in the river, but it was not established."
Fourthly, Zhou Guan was called "Jing" for the first time and was included in China classical literature. Zhou Guan's name first appeared in Historical Records. Originally, it was not called "Jing" and had nothing to do with Confucian classics. When Liu Xiang and Liu Xin sorted it out, they began to fall into the category of "six arts and strategies", which was called "Saturday Story".
Fifth, reorganize Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals and explore the significance of the whole book. From the beginning of Han Dynasty to the period of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, Zhang Cang, Jia Yi, Zhao, Yin and their sons Yin Xian, Zhai and Fang Feng made new progress. Because "Zuo Zhuan" is all about Gu Yan and Gu Yan, scholars only preach it, but don't visit it. "Liu Xin to China secretary at school, see the ancient prose of Zuozhuan" excellent ". So I learned Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals from the prime ministers Zhai and Shi Yinxian, and questioned its meaning. Xi He was called Taishiling in the Western Han Dynasty. After Wang Mang seized power, he changed many official names to ancient official names. He was a civil servant of Emperor Yao (about 2 1 century BC), so why did Wang Mang rename Taishiling? When Liu Xin was a civil servant, he did a very important astronomical work, that is, he compiled three calendars, which recorded all his contributions to astronomy.
Three kinds of calendars are adapted from the taichu calendar law, and many new contents have been added. Taichu calendar was compiled by astronomers, Luo and others in the early Han Dynasty. It was used from the first year of Taichu (BC 104) to the end of the Western Han Dynasty. Liu Xin systematically narrated the contents of taichu calendar, supplemented a lot of original and brief astronomical knowledge, and carefully analyzed and verified astronomical documents and records since ancient times, and wrote Sanli.
For the first time, the calculation method of "aged stars are over-aged" is put forward: Three Chronicles In the history of astronomy in China, the calculation method of aged stars is put forward for the first time. The year-old star is Jupiter, which is super-real, that is, it runs from west to east about every 1 1.86 years on the star background. Because 1 1.86 is very close to 12, it was considered as a Sunday of 12 in ancient China, so it was divided into 12 minutes, which was called 12 times. It is considered that Jupiter passes once a year, and 12 just runs 65438+. Because the period of 1 1.86 years is a little faster than that of 12 years, after several years, the actual position of the satellite is 1 times earlier than the position calculated by the day of the week of 12 years, which is called satellite timeout. Suppose the old star crosses X years and runs X times according to the day of the week of 12; According to the day of 1 1.86, the annual star movement12x/11is listed as the equation: x = (12x//kl.
Liu Xin was also the first astronomer in ancient China who put forward the idea of approaching the correct solar eclipse cycle. Eclipses include solar and lunar eclipses. The coitus cycle was first recorded in Sima Qian's Historical Records, but it was difficult to determine its cycle value because of the confusion of some figures in Liu Xin's era. Liu Xin firmly believes that solar and lunar eclipses are natural phenomena with laws to follow. By analyzing the records of eclipses in various books, he put forward the lunar eclipse cycle value of 135 lunar months with 23 eclipses.