-"Historical Records"
Portrait of Confucius
During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty 2000 years ago, when Tai Shigong wrote The Family of Confucius, Confucius' theory had been passed down for more than ten generations and was regarded as the standard by the whole world. Hundreds of years have passed, and Confucius' influence is far ahead of kings and sages of past dynasties, so Tai Shigong said that Confucius is "the most holy".
If Taishi Gong knew how high Confucius' position and influence was in later generations, he would be amazed.
The Analects of Confucius was written in the early Warring States period, collecting quotations from Confucius and his disciples, and gradually became a compulsory course for scholars in past dynasties. It was listed as one of the "Thirteen Classics" in the Southern Song Dynasty. In traditional culture, The Analects occupies an important position, which has profoundly influenced the spiritual outlook of the Chinese nation.
It is of course a kind of "preheating" for primary school students to read The Analects. It is very beneficial to read it from an early age, rather than asking children to understand how much it is. In fact, some sentences in the Analects of Confucius are not easy to understand, and some difficulties have been controversial since ancient times, so it is difficult to explain clearly. Here are two examples.
Debate on the word "ge"
Let's look at a simpler one first. "The Analects of Confucius is a political chapter" III. Confucius said: "Confucius said:" The Tao is the government, and the punishment is imposed by punishment, and the people are exempt and shameless; Tao is virtue, courtesy, shame and dignity. "How to explain the word" case "in the last sentence? Ancient scholars have different opinions on this.
Zheng Xuan, a master of Confucian classics in the Eastern Han Dynasty, interpreted it as "Ge, Lai Ye" in the Annotation to the Analects of Confucius, and Zhu explained it as "Ge, Lai Ye" in the Southern Song Dynasty. However, scholars in the Wei and Jin Dynasties of the Three Kingdoms agreed that "Ge" here means "Zheng"; For example, in Hanshu, there is a saying that "the virtue of Tao is the courtesy of Qi, and the people are ashamed and respected", and some scholars in Qing Dynasty said that "Ge" means "Ke, respect". ,
There is a passage in the Book of Rites, "If you teach it with morality and treat it with courtesy, the people will have a heart; If you teach it by politics and punish it by punishment, then the people will also care about it. " Here, "Singh" is opposite to "escape from the heart" and contains the meaning of "submission", so some scholars in modern times believe that "Singh" means returning to the right path. This is also the mainstream opinion.
People who have horses lend them to others.
Compared with the word "ge", another sentence in The Analects of Confucius is more puzzling, and it has been inconclusive since 2000.
In the fifteenth chapter of The Analects of Confucius Wei Linggong, Confucius said, "I still lack literature in history. If you have a horse, you can borrow someone to ride it. I am dead today! "
In the modern annotations of The Analects of Confucius, there is almost unanimous view on this. I have also seen that there are doubts and blanks in history books, and people who have horses will lend them to others to ride. Now there is no such spirit! The implication is that Confucius' attitude towards historiographers' revision of history is no longer rigorous, and he laments that the world has changed.
But if you look at this explanation carefully, it doesn't make sense. It is true that the first sentence "I am still lacking in history" is really talking about history books. However, "people who have horses lend them to others" is not easy to explain. What is the connection before and after? What is Confucius saying?
It is not surprising that people who have horses lend them to others to ride, but it seems abrupt after appearing in The Missing of History. It is further explained that people who have horses will not be trained, but will lend them to others for training and taming. However, whatever the reason, what does it have to do with the revision of history?
The common explanation of the fifteenth paragraph in Wei Linggong comes from Annotations on the Analects of Confucius, in which Bao Xian, a scholar of the Han Dynasty, is quoted as saying: "If you have doubts about ancient history, you will lose something, so you can wait and see." "If you have a horse, you can't adjust it, so you can borrow someone to take it. Confucius claimed to have seen him like this, so far there is no such thing. When you say that, you are using vulgarity to make more holes. "
with different opinions
Yang Xiong, a master of literature in the Western Han Dynasty, supported Bao Xian's view and further pointed out that The Book of History compiled by Confucius was damaged by bamboo slips, and later generations speculated wildly, which was really an addendum.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu Zhu annotated The Analects of Confucius, saying that "Yang said" and borrowed people from horses, but Confucius still saw these two things. My husband died today, and the benefits of mourning were stolen. Here Yang refers to the Neo-Confucianism in the Northern Song Dynasty, and "stealing" can be understood as "muddling along". Shi Yang believed that Confucius felt that the world was getting worse.
Generally speaking, the ancients had the same view on the sentence "I still love history", because when Confucius compiled a history book, if he found that the bamboo slips were incomplete, he left them intact, preferring to have missing words rather than trying to complete them. "Sages dare not benefit from the lack of history."
map-matching
However, some later scholars often go their own way, supplementing the gaps in history books only by guessing, and even inventing some chapters. This practice has been criticized.
However, many ancient scholars did not explain Confucius' next sentence, "If you have a horse, borrow someone to ride it", because it was a bit out of touch with the previous sentence. For example, Hu Yin, a scholar in the Northern Song Dynasty, thinks that the fifteenth chapter of Wei Linggong is doubtful. "This chapter is doubtful and cannot be explained forcefully."
If it is necessary to run through it, Confucius agreed that there is a lack of articles in history books, and later said that people with horses lend them to others to ride. "It was my husband who died today." Literally, it seems that there is a contradiction between waiting for future generations to supplement the lack of history books.
Liu Yuancheng, a scholar in the Northern Song Dynasty, put it more bluntly in Continuing Old News. "Those who have horses borrow people to ride" is the lack of history. The husband has a horse, and it is hard to blame to borrow someone to ride it. History contains this, and it must be a flaw. "It means that it is not difficult to lend a horse to someone to ride, but it is written in The Analects of Confucius. This sentence itself is short of text and cannot be forcibly explained.
Conclusion: The Analects of Confucius has a long history and was first written on bamboo slips. Like many pre-Qin ancient books, it is not surprising that there are missing words or some mistakes. There are many problems with ancient books like "People who have horses borrow people to ride". Don't blindly believe in some far-fetched translations, which are just the "lack of history" lamented by Confucius.
Reading ancient books, it is better to learn from Tao Yuanming's attitude, that is, "study hard, don't ask for a solution", but let go.