The Book of Commandments is a letter written by Zhuge Liang, a statesman in the Three Kingdoms Period, to his son Zhuge Zhan before he died. Elaborated the profound truth of self-cultivation and scholarship. As can be seen from the article, Zhuge Liang is a noble and knowledgeable father, and his inculcation and infinite expectations for his son are all in this book.
The full text language is fresh and elegant, and the reasoning is approachable. With wise, rational, concise and accurate words, the author deeply expressed the love of the father in the world, making this letter from home a masterpiece for future generations of students to cultivate themselves and be selected as a Chinese textbook for compulsory education in China.
The Ten Commandments belong to the nature of family education and family instruction. As an ancient book unique to China, this kind of family education and lessons are based on traditional ethics, with the help of the authority of elders and the moral constraints of future generations. It is the carrier of the ancient people's ideology and culture of governing the family, being a man and being a teacher. The emergence of family education has a long history.
The ancient society of China was propagated in the semi-closed warm temperate continent, with agricultural economy as the basic means of survival and patriarchal clan system left over from clan society. These factors make China culture prefer boys to girls. Patriarchal culture is characterized by attaching importance to consanguinity and ethical order. Family education is the inevitable product of this patriarchal society.
"University" emphasizes the importance of family education: "If you want to govern the country, you must first put your family in order; If you want to reunite with your family, you must first repair your body. " This logical thinking of "self-cultivation-keeping the family in order-governing the country-leveling the world" makes "keeping the family in order" in a very important position in this link. The rise and fall of a family is of great importance, so the ancients attached great importance to family education.
The Duke of Zhou taught his son not to ask for help. Confucius told his son Apollo to learn poetry etiquette. These are just oral tutoring, which is very casual. However, a large number of tutors in the Han Dynasty appeared in the form of documents.
During the Han Dynasty, the newly-emerged noble families expanded their social influence through close family relations, and made family or family rules and regulations one after another. Zhuge Liang's Master Book came into being under such a cultural background.