There is a popular saying on the Internet: It is not that you read less, but that you read less classics. That's right. Intensive reading of classics! Any discipline, which can be called a discipline, has a large number of research works, which may be overwhelming, but it can be called a classic, and there are not a few ten books. If you read these ten books carefully and master them, you will become an expert in this field.
Zuo Zhuan is a book that must be read intensively to understand or study the history, literature and thoughts of the pre-Qin Dynasty, and intensive reading should start from rough reading.
According to the basic ability of reading ancient books, reading Zuo Zhuan can be divided into three situations.
In the first case, the ability to read ancient books is average, and there is no systematic knowledge of ancient Chinese, so we can only understand the original text through annotations.
In fact, except for professional workers, most of them are in this situation, but this does not prevent us from trying to start reading through Zuo Zhuan.
At first, don't expect too much of yourself. The main purpose is to understand the meaning of exegesis and words, have a preliminary understanding of the content and form of this book, and cultivate the feeling and fun of reading ancient books.
What book are you reading? At present, the most popular annotation is Yang Bojun's Four Volumes of Zuo Zhuan in the Spring and Autumn Period. For beginners, I don't recommend starting here, let alone the notes of the Thirteen Classics. Why? The first thing to emphasize is that Mr. Yang Bojun's notes are very good! Since ancient times, there are many books about Zuo Zhuan. Yang Bojun's Notes on Zuo Zhuan in the Spring and Autumn Period not only epitomizes great achievements, but also creates a new situation. This is by far the most important annotation and the most influential academic work. We always say that reading and doing things can only be achieved by taking the road of law. Why not start here?
There are three main reasons:
First, reading ancient books must pass the language barrier. If this barrier fails, the best things in the notes will be meaningless to us. We haven't even understood this sentence yet. Discussing the controversy about time, geography and people can only get us into a fog. Just like a teacher giving a lecture. The students just started talking about their latest research results, even before they started. It is much better to guide students to start from the basics.
Second, reading needs a macro grasp and in-depth details. I can't go into details at the beginning, only the trees can't see the forest. Pay attention to and sparse vertical typesetting, and pay attention to the small words under the text to truncate the text. Many of Yang Bojun's notes are academic discussions, and sometimes they are very long. After reading the notes, I forgot the text. It is difficult to read a voluminous book, and after reading it, there is only fragmentary knowledge, so it is difficult to form a complete understanding.
Third, intensive reading is a gradual process. Generally speaking, our ability to read ancient books is not very high, so we suggest reading some modern annotated books. This popular version is generally horizontal, with comments after a paragraph, followed by vernacular translation. If you don't understand the vernacular, read the notes. If you don't understand the notes, refer to the translation.
At the beginning, you can read Zuo Zhuan as a literary work, and it is fun to read it, so you don't have to introduce yourself in the future. Today, excellent ancient culture not only needs scholars to study, but also needs the needs of the public. Cultural needs should be gradually cultivated. At this stage, reading Zuo Zhuan, although we can't appreciate the essence of Zuo Zhuan, we can already appreciate the fun of reading.
In the second case, when we have the ability to read the vernacular, we can read it in many ways.
First of all, read Bai Wentong of Zuo Zhuan several times, and take a proper look at Du Zhu's comments. The more you read, the smoother it is, and the more interesting it is. Scholars of the older generation can recite it. It is important to study hard and understand hard. Don't get caught up in other people's arguments too early, first find the problem yourself and argue with yourself.
Second, prepare a historical atlas, prepare four Yang notes, read a few pages every day, and gain something every day.
Third, as Mr. Qiu said, you can directly read the annotation of Zuo Zhuan in Chunqiu. The fine print of Zhonghua Book Company is 486 pages, which actually includes Spring and Autumn Annals, Zuo Zhuan in Warring States, Du Zhuyu in Jin Dynasty, Kong Shu in Tang Dynasty and collation of Ruan Yuan in Qing Dynasty. Reading an average of one and a half pages a day, even the most difficult books can be read, and they are all read in less than one year. For the Spring and Autumn Annals and Zuo Zhuan, we have a profound understanding of traditional scholarship. It is not difficult to study, but it is difficult to persevere.
In the process of reading, I personally understand that reading historical books such as Zuo Zhuan needs to pay attention to the following aspects.
First of all, establish space-time coordinates and locate everything that happens on this coordinate. An event with uncertain time and space can only be regarded as a story and cannot be used to study history. A clear narrative in time and space, even a novel, can also be used as a historical reference. Even if the characters are virtual, historical scenes and ideas are real.
Second, we must clarify the relationship between people. Zuo Zhuan involves many characters, more than 3,000 people, and the relationship between the characters is very complicated. Sometimes the relationship between people determines the course of history to a certain extent. Therefore, the ancients built various relationships through various means, established friendly relations between countries and families through marriage, and established clear hierarchical relations between vassal States through alliances. Personal behavior, speech and manners are restricted by these relationships. When the ancients read Zuo Zhuan, they would list their lineages.
Third, everything has a cause and effect. Understand historical events, interpersonal relationships and historical processes. You can't look at an event in isolation, and that understanding will be too superficial. Gao Shiqi, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, can refer to Chronicle of Zuo Zhuan. For example, at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Wu people entered China, which was a great event in the history of. It was recorded in detail in Zuo Zhuan and the story of Wu Zixu's flogging was interpreted in Historical Records. How did this big event happen, why did it happen, and what were the consequences? Why did Wu rise? What makes Chu weak again? What is the influence of Wu people's entry into Ying? Zuo Zhuan pays great attention to sorting out historical connections, but whether this understanding is correct or not is another question.
Fourth, any historical record is the author's intentional choice and the expression of the author's thoughts. In the past 250 years, many things have happened in Zuo Zhuan. Why only choose these things to record? On the one hand, it is limited by the objective constraints of historical materials and historical processes seen by the author. On the other hand, it is the author's need to express his thoughts. Different authors express different views through different approaches to historical materials. Everyone is right, maybe no one is right. We should learn to judge for ourselves.
Fifth, when reading pre-Qin documents such as Zuo Zhuan, we should pay attention to making full use of unearthed documents. To say that Zuo Zhuan is detailed, compared with other documents, Zuo Zhuan is less than 6.5438+0.8 million words. From today's point of view, it's just a little book. How is it possible to clearly record 250 years of history? Less than 200 years since the Opium War, we have modern history, modern history and contemporary history, how much information we have and how many problems we have. For the pre-Qin period, new materials must be unearthed underground. In recent years, amazing discoveries have been made. Huaqing Bamboo Slips Chronology, Anda Bamboo Slips Chu History, etc.
Sixth, don't be influenced by negative things in Zuo Zhuan, such as divination and prophecy. We should have a correct understanding of some mysterious records in Zuo Zhuan. There are many prophecies in Zuo Zhuan, most of which can be fulfilled. Instead of treating them as mysterious predictions, we should understand them as the author's understanding of history and think that this will inevitably lead to what consequences.
The third situation, after rough reading and intensive reading, can be divided into two categories when entering the research stage.
The first category is to use Zuo Zhuan for other research. For example, to learn ancient Chinese characters and sort out unearthed documents, we must be familiar with ancient books and Zuo Zhuan. Every one of us who reads Zuo Zhuan intensively will benefit from the research.
The second category specializes in Zuo Zhuan. This requires familiarity not only with the Yuan Dynasty, but also with current research results and important research results in ancient times. At that time, Gu spent almost his whole life studying Zuo Zhuan, and finished the Chronicle of Events in the Spring and Autumn Period, which is a very specialized knowledge.
Summarize how to read Zuo Zhuan.
First, find a book that you can finish, appreciate its beauty and cultivate the feeling of reading ancient books.
Second, read more vernacular Chinese and use your own mind to understand the position of everything in history. Besides, we should read for fun.
The intensive reading of Zuo Zhuan has direct and various effects on researchers. For amateurs, we can call it useless.