The Five Classics of White Tiger and Yi Tong, a Confucian classic in the Han Dynasty, said: "I thought that Confucius lived in the late Zhou Dynasty, and the tomb was late, and the rites and music were corrupt, and the strong bullied the weak and the masses were violent. The son of heaven dare not punish, Fang Bo dare not cut. Min's moral character is not good, so he found a job, hoping to be a virtuous person. Self-defense against Lu, knowing that I don't need it, I followed the Five Classics and did my own thing. " In other words, Confucius described Yao and Shun, drew a hundred officials, compiled the Five Classics and made Zhou Zong king. Before the music classics were lost, there were actually six classics: poetry, calligraphy, ceremony, music and Yi Chunqiu. "Book of Rites": "Submit poems, books and gifts to the king, so as to make the scholars happy. Spring and autumn teach rites and music, and winter and summer teach poetry and books. " Poetry, books, rites and music are the textbooks of the aristocrats in the Zhou Dynasty. Although poems, books, rites and music are classics handed down from generation to generation by Confucianism. But besides Confucianism, various schools of thought in the Warring States period also spread it. Confucius "governs the Six Classics of Poetry, Calligraphy, Rites, Music, Yi, Spring and Autumn". Confucius said, "Six arts are also used to cure one. Rites are used to save people, music is used to make peace, books are used to teach things, poems are used to express ideas, which are easy to deify, and spring and autumn are based on righteousness. " "Confucius said: When you enter its country, you can know its teaching. He is also gentle and honest, and "Poetry" teaches him. Is far from telling, book teaching; Broad and easy to be good, "music" teaches also; Clean and subtle, "Yi" teaches also; Zhuang Jing and Li also teach; It's a rhetorical matter, taught in the Spring and Autumn Period. Therefore, "poetry" is stupid and "book" is fake. The luxury of joy, the theft of easy, the annoyance of Li, and the chaos of the Spring and Autumn Period. He is gentle and honest, but he is not stupid, but deeper than a poet. If the notice is far from empty, it will be deeper than the book; Wide, easy, good, but not extravagant, deeper than yue. Being pure and subtle without stealing is deeper than the Book of Changes; Respect and thrift are deeper than "ceremony"; If it is words rather than chaos, it is deeper than Chunqiu. " "So this book, the discipline of politics; Poet, the stop of the middle voice; Rites and laws are great, and so is class discipline. Therefore, learning must stop at ceremony. Husband is called the extreme of morality. The respect of ceremony is also the sum of music, the richness of poetry and books, the smallness of spring and autumn, and the best between heaven and earth. " "Those who say heaven don't argue, those who say things don't argue, those who say style don't argue, those who say ambition don't argue, and those who argue don't argue."
Later, Qin Shihuang "burned books to bury Confucianism" and banned the words "poetry" and "book". "Take the words of hundreds of poems and books to fool the people and make the world forget." The spread of the Six Classics has been greatly impacted, but it is still spread underground in various places, mainly by word of mouth. "Zhou Li Zhu" said: "Therefore, the first emperor banned books, which made him extremely ill and destroyed his heart. He sought the unique knowledge of burning in order to hide it for a hundred years. Emperor Xiaowu began to break the law of carrying books and open the road of offering books, not only because of the wall of Yanfu, but also because of the secret house. "
The Five Classics include Yi, Shangshu, Shi, Li and Chunqiu. It is worth noting that the Book of Rites or The Book of Rites at this time refers to the Book of Rites. Because Zheng Xuan's annotation "The Book of Little Dressing" is highly praised by the world, the status of "The Book of Little Dressing" is gradually rising. When Confucius compiled Justice of the Five Classics in the Tang Dynasty, The Book of Rites of Xiao Dai replaced the Book of Rites for the first time as The Book of Rites of the Five Classics. After that, the status of Book of Rites Little Dai was even higher. In Song Dynasty, two articles, Daxue and Zhong Yong, which were originally in The Book of Rites for Little Wear, were called four books by Zhu, The Analects of Confucius and Mencius, and were gradually recognized, which stabilized the situation that The Book of Rites for Little Wear replaced The Book of Rites. In this way, the Book of Rites in the Five Classics
On this basis, the Eastern Han Dynasty added The Analects of Confucius, The Book of Filial Piety and The Seven Classics.
The Book of Rites in the Tang Dynasty is divided into three parts: Zhou Li, Yi Li and Li Ji (referring to the Book of Rites for Little Dai), and The Spring and Autumn Annals is divided into three parts: Chunqiu Zuozhuan, Chunqiu Gongyang Zhuan and Chunqiu Guliang Zhuan, except The Analects of Confucius and the Book of Filial Piety.
During the Tang Wenzong period, twelve Confucian classics such as The Analects of Confucius, The Book of Filial Piety and Er Ya * * * were added to the Nine Classics and placed in imperial academy. They are called "Ten Classics of Kaicheng" or "Twelve Classics of Kaicheng" in history, which is the Twelve Classics.
From the Tang Dynasty, Mencius and his position began to rise, and in the Song Dynasty, Mencius was also included in the study of Confucian classics, thus becoming the Thirteen Classics.