The main body of classics - the "Thirteen Classics"
The core of classics research is the "Thirteen Classics" regarded as classics by Confucian scholars of all ages. The "Four Books" such as "The Doctrine of the Mean", "The Analects of Confucius" and "Mencius" are more important, but "The Great Learning" and "The Doctrine of the Mean" are chapters in the "Book of Rites" after all, and "The Analects of Confucius" and "Mencius" are also included in the "Thirteen Classics". Therefore, the main classics of Confucian classics are still included in the "Thirteen Classics". The history of Confucian classics for more than two thousand years has been roughly centered on the establishment, textual research, elucidation and annotation of these thirteen classics, which have been continuously extended, repeatedly argued and developed in twists and turns. The thirteen sutras are the main body of the sutras, and the numerous other sutras are all works derived from them. Therefore, understanding the "Thirteen Classics" is the key to grasping the classics. The general situation of each of the "Thirteen Classics" is as follows:
"Zhouyi"
The full text is more than 24,000 words. It was originally called "Yi", also known as "Yijing". The divination book was later regarded as a philosophical classic by Confucianism. According to legend, there are three kinds of Yi books used for divination in ancient times: one is the Yi of the Xia Dynasty, called "Lianshan"; one is the Yi of the Shang Dynasty, called "Gui Zang"; and the other is the Yi of the Zhou Dynasty, which is the existing "Zhou Yi". 》. The first two have been lost, while the "Book of Changes" has been handed down to this day. In the "Book of Changes", the two most basic symbols '-' and '--' are used to represent Yang and Yin; these two symbols are stacked in three layers, such as three (Qian), three (Kun), etc., to form eight types The combination form is called Bagua; by overlapping the hexagram images of the Bagua, it can be combined into sixty-four hexagrams; each of the sixty-four hexagrams has six lines. Each of the sixty-four hexagrams has a hexagram and each line has a line, which respectively explains the meaning of each hexagram and line. The hexagram and line are the scriptures of the "Book of Changes". Many scholars who study the "Book of Changes" believe that the hexagrams and linea poems were written in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, because the content they record contains stories about the ancestors of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, as well as historical facts from the early Zhou Dynasty, but there is no trace of future generations.
In addition to hexagrams and lineaments, there are also interpretations of "彖传" upper and lower, "Classical Chinese" and "Xici" upper and lower, "Shuo Gua", "Preface Hexagram", "Xiang" upper and lower, and "Miscellaneous Hexagrams" The transmission of scriptures is collectively called the "Ten Wings". The author of Ten Wings is not one person, nor did he write it at the same time. Shiyi's interpretations of the Zhouyi passages may not always conform to the original meaning, so they cannot be relied upon to understand the text.
There have always been two schools of "Yixue" studying the "Book of Changes". One school focuses on the number of images and divination of disasters, such as the Yixue of the Han Dynasty;
"Shang Shu"
The full text is more than 2,500 words. It was originally called "Shu". It is a compilation of some historical documents and legendary materials in the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. It later became the second source of Confucian propaganda. The holy scriptures on the governance of the emperor, the three kings, the Duke of Zhou, and Confucius. The content of "Shangshu" can be divided into the so-called modern texts and ancient texts. The current text of "Shangshu" was handed down by Fusheng of Shandong in the early Western Han Dynasty, and contains 28 chapters. After the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, the ancient text "Shang Shu" written in the characters of Zhou and Qin was discovered many times. The ancient text "Shangshu" failed to establish itself as an academic official in the Han Dynasty, so it was completely lost after the Western Jin Dynasty. Today, only the titles of its chapters can be seen.
During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Yuzhang Neishi Meiju compiled 25 chapters of the so-called ancient "Shangshu" based on some scattered "Shangshu" texts, which later generations called "pseudo-archaic "Shangshu". He also absorbed the original and modern "Shang Shu" and separated it into 33 chapters. The two were pieced together to match the number of 58 chapters in the ancient "Shang Shu" annotated by Liu Xiang and Zheng Xuan, and presented to the court. The ancient text "Shang Shu" presented by Mei Ji is included in the current version of the "Commentaries on the Thirteen Classics". It is actually a merger of the modern text "Shang Shu" and the pseudo-ancient text "Shang Shu". Therefore, among the modern "Book of Documents", only the modern version is the authentic version, while the ancient version was forged by Mei. The Commentary on the Thirteen Classics also contains 13 volumes of the "Biography of the Book of Shang Shu" forged by Mei Zhen, which is said to be the interpretation of "Shang Shu" by Kong Anguo in the Western Han Dynasty. These fake books compiled by Mei were not completely exposed until Yan Ruochu wrote "Ancient Documents Shangshu Shuzheng" in the Qing Dynasty. In the ancient study of "Shangshu", in addition to the commentaries in "Commentaries on the Thirteen Classics", Cai Shen's "Shu Ji Zhuan" in the Song Dynasty is also an important result of the study of "Shangshu".
"The Book of Songs"
The full text is more than 39,000 words. It was originally called "The Book of Songs". It is the earliest collection of poems in my country and is divided into three categories: "Wind", "Elegance" and "Song". , including poems about temples, poems about officials, and folk songs, ranging from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, various schools of thought had studied "Poetry" and used "Shi". However, compared with other schools, Confucianism had the highest level of organizing "Shi" and the most systematic teaching of "Shi". "Shi" gradually became a specialized Confucian classic. . The Book of Songs was taught by four schools of Qi, Lu, Han and Mao in the Han Dynasty. The first three schools belonged to Jinwen Poetry and were established as academic officials, but they gradually declined after the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Mao's "Poetry" passed down by Mao Heng and Mao Chang belongs to ancient Chinese poetics and has been handed down to this day. There are a total of 310 chapters, six of which only have chapter titles and no poems. The achievements in the study of "The Book of Songs" in the past dynasties include, in addition to Mao Zhuan, Zheng Jian, and Kong Yingda Zhengyi in the "Commentary to the Thirteen Classics", Zhu Xi's "Collected Poems" of the Southern Song Dynasty, Chen Huan's "Mao's Poetry Biography" in the Qing Dynasty, and Ma Ruichen's "General Interpretation of Mao's Poems", Yao Jiheng's "General Theory of the Book of Songs", Wang Xianqian's "San Jia Yi Shu Ji", etc. have also made outstanding achievements.
"Etiquette"
The full text is more than 57,000 words. It was originally called "Etiquette". It was also called "Shili" and "Book of Rites" in the Han Dynasty, and was called "Etiquette" after the Jin Dynasty. , which is the earliest surviving book recording ancient etiquette.
"Yili" was written in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, but the various rituals contained in the book should have existed before this book. When Confucius was running a private school, he compiled and edited the ancient rituals to form the teaching material "Li". Rituals were an important course in Confucius's lectures and an important content of Confucianism.
At the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, 17 chapters of "Etiquette" were handed down by Lu Gaotang. In the Western Han Dynasty, they were divided into three schools of etiquette: Da Dai (Dade), Xiao Dai (Dai Sheng), and Qingpu. They all It belongs to Jinwen Classics and is established as an academic official. In 1959, many chapters of "Shili" copied on wooden slips from the Han Dynasty were unearthed in Wuwei, Gansu Province, belonging to the Qingpu biography, which provided an important reference for the study of "Li". The "Yili" that has been handed down to this day is Liu Xiang's "Bielu" annotated by Zheng Xuan of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Its number of chapters is the same as the "Yili" written by academic officials in the Western Han Dynasty. Both have 17 chapters, including the ceremony of crowning a scholar, the ceremony of dusk, and the meeting of scholars. Ceremony, rural drinking ceremony, rural archery ceremony, Yan ceremony, big archery ceremony, betrothal ceremony, official meal ceremony, court ceremony, funeral ceremony, scholar funeral ceremony, evening ceremony, scholar Yu ceremony, special animal food ceremony, Shaolao ceremony Food rituals, Si Che, etc. According to the records of "Hanshu·Yiwenzhi", there are 56 chapters in "The Ancient Book of Rites", which is the ancient "Book of Rites". Among them, 17 chapters are basically the same as the modern "Book of Rites", and the other 39 chapters were called "Yili" in the Han Dynasty. ", has been lost. In the study of "Yili", in addition to Zheng's annotations and Jia Shu's "Commentaries on the Thirteen Classics", Zhu Xi's "General Commentary on the Ritual" of the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhang Erqi's "Reading of Zheng's Commentary on Yili" by Qing Dynasty, and Ling Tingkan's " "Explanations of the Book of Rites" and Hu Peiyun's "Etiquette and Justice" are both more important works.
"Book of Rites"
The full text is more than 99,000 words, also known as "Book of Rites of Xiaodai". While pre-Qin ritual scholars taught the "Li", they also taught some related reference materials. This kind of material is called "ji", which explains, explains and supplements the content of the "Li". In the Western Han Dynasty, the Book of Rites was established by academic officials, and doctors of Rites also used some "notes" as auxiliary teaching materials when teaching the Book of Rites. In the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were only two types of "notes" that commented on the "Book of Rites": one was the 85-part version of "Da Dai's Notes" compiled by Dai De; the other was the 49-part version of "Xiao Dai's Notes" compiled by Dai Shengsuo. Zheng Xuan wrote annotations for the "Book of Rites of Xiaodai", so more and more people followed it and its influence became more and more important. This is the "Book of Rites" that has been passed down to this day. Since Zheng Xuan also annotated "Rites" and "Zhou Rites", the three books are collectively called "Three Rites".
After the Eastern Han Dynasty, the status of "Book of Rites" gradually increased. This is because "Book of Rites" only records some ritual systems, while "Book of Rites" discusses more about the significance and meaning of these ritual systems. It theoretically expounds the Confucian idea of ??"rule by ritual", which is more conducive to the ruler's performance and utilization. So in the Tang Dynasty, the "Book of Rites" was upgraded from its original status as a canon to a canon, and replaced the "Book of Rites" and entered the "Five Classics" of the Tang Dynasty.
As a Confucian miscellaneous collection, "Book of Rites" has a very complex content. There is a lot of content specifically explaining "Rites", such as "Guanyi", "Hunyi", etc. These chapters explore the profound meaning of rituals and are an important basis for studying Confucian etiquette thoughts; some chapters talk about Confucianism's influence on the country. , social system assumptions, such as "Kingdom" and "Ritual"; some chapters talk about the philosophy of life and moral cultivation, such as "The Great Learning", "The Doctrine of the Mean" and "Confucianism"; some chapters use the name of Confucius to explain Confucian theory, such as "Zhongni Yanju", "Confucius' Leisurely Residence", etc.; there are also "Xue Ji" which talks about education, and "Yue Ji" which talks about music. In addition, there are many chapters on various etiquette systems, etiquette rules and funeral attire. In addition to Zheng’s annotations and Kong’s annotations on the Book of Rites in the Commentaries on the Thirteen Classics, the more famous works that annotated the Book of Rites include the Collection of the Book of Rites by Wei Shi in the Song Dynasty, and the Book of Rites by Zhu Bin in the Qing Dynasty. "Ji Xun Compilation" and Sun Xidan's "Collected Commentary on the Book of Rites".
"Zhou Rites"
The full text is more than 45,000 words. It was originally called "Zhou Guan". At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Xin renamed it "Zhou Rites". This is a book describing the political system. Confucian scholars during the Warring States Period designed an ideal system based on the Zhou royal family and the official system of various countries in the Spring and Autumn Period, and based on Confucian political theory. "Zhou Li" is divided into six parts: Tianguan Zhongzai, Diguan Situ, Spring Guan Zongbo, Xia Guan Sima, Autumn Guan Sikou, and Winter Guan Sikong. Among them, "Dong Guan Sikong" has been lost. The Han people used the ancient pre-Qin book "Kaogong Ji" Make up for it. The book records more than 300 official positions and introduces their responsibilities. Many of them are faithful records of the political system of the Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, "Zhou Rites" is still an important classic for studying ancient systems.
According to the "Book of Han·The Biography of Liu De, King of Hejian Xian", during the reign of Emperor Jing of the Western Han Dynasty, King Xian of Hejian collected the ancient version of "Zhou Guan" from among the people. Yu Xueguan. "Zhou Li" In addition to Zheng Zhu and Jia Shu in "Commentaries on the Thirteen Classics", "Zhou Li Zhengyi" by Sun Yirang of the Qing Dynasty is an important work for studying this book.
"Spring and Autumn" and three biographies
"Spring and Autumn" was once used as a general name for the national history of various countries in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. The existing "Spring and Autumn Classic" is a specific name for the national history of the Lu Kingdom during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. It records the history of the State of Lu from the first year of Lu Yin (722 BC) to the fourteenth year of Lu Aigong (481 BC) to 244 years. Confucius once revised and organized the "Spring and Autumn" and listed it as one of the "Six Classics" as a teaching material for imparting historical knowledge in private schools. The introduction of historical events in the "Spring and Autumn" scriptures is very brief. The whole book is only more than 16,000 words, so there are some "biographies" explaining the "Spring and Autumn".
According to "Hanshu·Yiwenzhi", there are five families who interpreted "Spring and Autumn" in the Western Han Dynasty, namely the Zuo family, the Gongyang family, the Jianliang family, the Zou family and the Jia family.
However, the Zou family had no teachers and the Jia family had no books. In fact, it was Zuo Zhuan, Gongyang Zhuan and Yaoliang Zhuan that had a great impact. "Zuo Zhuan" is an independent historical work. It was called "Zuo Shi Chun Qiu" in Sima Qian's "Historical Records". The name "Zuo Shi Zhuan" was only used in the "Book of Han" written by Ban Gu of the Eastern Han Dynasty. When the Han Dynasty respected scriptures, it was regarded as a biography that explained the Spring and Autumn Annals together with "Gongyang Zhuan" and "Jianliang Zhuan". In fact, "Zuo Zhuan" is a historical work written with reference to the "Chun Qiu" sutra, and it is not just an explanation of the "Chun Qiu". During the Western Han Dynasty, "Zuo Zhuan", as an ancient text, had been circulated among the people. Before it was established as an academic official, Liu Xin "administered Zuo Shi" and quoted the texts to explain the scriptures ("Hanshu·Liu Xin Zhuan"), and strived to make it "Zuo Zhuan" was established by academic officials, but was opposed by Dr. Jin Wenjing. One of the reasons was that it did not teach the "Spring and Autumn". After Du Yu of the Western Jin Dynasty wrote the "Collected Commentary of Chunqiu Classics", he separated the "Zuo Zhuan" and attached it to each chapter of the "Spring and Autumn" into one book. After the two books are combined, it can be seen that the chronology of "Zuo Zhuan" begins in the first year of Lu Yin (722 BC) and ends in the fourth year of Lu Daogong (464 BC), which is 17 years longer than the Spring and Autumn Annals. There are still many "unscripted biographies" in the merged "Chun Qiu Zuo Shi Zhuan", which means that the original "Chun Qiu" does not contain them but the "Zuo Zhuan" has texts. Taking the Yin AD year as an example, there are seven articles in the Sutra, all of which are "biography"; there are 14 "biography" items, of which 7 are "biography without scriptures".
Among the three biographies of "Spring and Autumn", "Zuo Zhuan" is mainly narrative, while "Gongyang Zhuan" and "Yiliang Zhuan" are mainly exegesis with very few narratives. Therefore, the latter two The biography cannot be used as a history book, but can only be read as a pure scripture. "Gongyang Zhuan" and "Jiangliang Zhuan" in the Han Dynasty were both established by academic officials and belonged to Jinwen Jing. After the Han Dynasty, Confucian scholars often used these two biographies to express their political views. Therefore, these two classics and biographies, especially "Gongyang Zhuan", It also has a great influence on the history of Confucian classics and thought.
"The Analects"
This is a book recording the words and deeds of Confucius and a few of his students. The word "The Analects of Confucius" was first seen in "Book of Rites·Fangji", which shows that "The Analects of Confucius" was already popular before the Western Han Dynasty. According to the records in "Hanshu·Yiwenzhi", "The Analects" was compiled into a book by his disciples or secondary disciples after Confucius's death. In the Western Han Dynasty, it was also regarded as a kind of biography and chronicle, only as a supplement to the classics. It was only after the Eastern Han Dynasty that it was included in the "Seven Classics" as an official scripture. "The Analects" has more than 12,000 words and is divided into 20 chapters. The book preserves most of Confucius' rich ideological content and is a must-read for studying Confucius and his disciples. There are three popular Analects of Confucius in the Western Han Dynasty: the ancient Analects, the Qi Analects, and the Lu Analects. The former belongs to the ancient classics, and the latter two belong to the modern classics. Since the Han Dynasty, "The Analects" has received great attention, and research works have emerged in endlessly in the past dynasties. The more important research works include He Yan's Collection and Commentary and Xing Yu's Commentary on the Thirteen Classics, as well as Zhu Xi's "Collected Commentary on the Analects" of the Southern Song Dynasty. "The Analects of Justice" by Liu Baonan and Liu Gongmian in the Qing Dynasty.
"Mencius"
This is a record of Meng Ke's words and deeds, including questions and answers between him and his disciples. The book "Mencius" was mainly recorded by Mencius's disciples Wan Zhang and Gongsun Chou. Mencius himself polished it and wrote it in the late Warring States Period. The book has more than 34,000 words, divided into seven chapters: King Hui of Liang, Gongsun Chou, Duke Weng of Teng, Li Lou, Wan Zhang, Gao Zi, and Jin Xin. Each chapter is divided into upper and lower parts. Ban Gu's "Hanshu·Yiwenzhi" records "Mencius, all eleven chapters". Yingshao's "Customs and Meanings·Qiongtongpian" of the Eastern Han Dynasty said: "Mencius wrote eleven chapters, seven of which are the middle chapters and four of which are the outer chapters." Zhao Qi, who was at the same time as Yingshao, believed that the meaning of the four chapters of the outer books was superficial and doubtful It is a forgery written by later generations, so he only wrote seven chapters of "Mencius Chapters". Later, seven chapters of Zhao Qi's annotations were handed down, while four chapters of Waishu were gradually lost. In the Han Dynasty, "Mencius", like "The Analects of Confucius", was only regarded as a biography and narrative work. It was not until the Song Dynasty that it was included in the "Thirteen Classics" as a classic. "Mencius" was the last book to enter the "Thirteen Classics". "Three Classics". It reflects Mencius's systematic philosophical thoughts and social and historical views. Among them, the idea of ????valuing the people as "the most important, the king as the most important, and the country as the second priority" is very valuable. Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was extremely dissatisfied with this and ordered the abridgement of "Mencius" There are 85 chapters about valuing the people, and the book is called "Mencius Jiewen". Scholars are not allowed to study these deleted contents.
The study of "Mencius" has begun in the Han Dynasty. Zhao Qi's chapters and sentences and Sun Shuang's Justice in "Commentaries on the Thirteen Classics" are important results. In addition, "Mencius' Justice" written by Jiao Xun in the Qing Dynasty was promoted as the highest-level work in the Qing Dynasty's annotation of "Mencius".
"The Classic of Filial Piety"
The "Classic of Filial Piety" has more than 1,700 words and is divided into 18 chapters. It is the shortest of the "Thirteen Classics". The basic content is to talk about how all kinds of people, from the emperor to the common people, behave filial piety, and then to encourage loyalty. "The Classic of Filial Piety" was included as one of the "Seven Classics" in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and rulers of all dynasties attached great importance to it.
After research by scholars, it was found that some of the contents of "The Classic of Filial Piety" were plagiarized from "Zuo Zhuan", "Mencius" and "Xunzi". According to the article citing "The Classic of Filial Piety" in "Lu Shi Chun Qiu Cha Wei Pian", it can be seen that "The Classic of Filial Piety" was written at the end of the Warring States Period. There was an ancient text called "The Classic of Filial Piety" in the Han Dynasty, but it was lost during the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
"Erya"
"Erya" is a special book among the "Thirteen Classics". In fact, it is not a "classic" itself, and its content has no classic meaning. It is just a compilation of ancient exegetical materials. Emperor Wenzong of the Tang Dynasty elevated it to the status of a "Classic" only after he created the "Twelve Classics" carved on stone during his reign.
Later scholars only used its exegetical knowledge to interpret the scriptures. "Erya" has 19 chapters, with a full text of more than 10,900 words. Judging from the documents involved, the system used, and historical facts, it is not a one-time work by one person, but a collection of exegetical materials from several generations. of. This book began to take shape during the Warring States Period. After the development of classic annotations in the Han Dynasty, it was supplemented to its current status. In addition to Guo Zhu and Xing Shu in the Commentaries on the Thirteen Classics, there were two other important works on Erya in the Qing Dynasty. Hao Yixing's Erya Yishu focused on confirming and supplementing Guo's commentaries. Shao Jinhan "Erya Justice" develops "Erya" from the perspective of Confucian classics.
Books on the interpretation of classics in Confucian classics
There are only 13 canonical books in the classics, with a total word count of only 650,000. One "Commentary on the Thirteen Classics" has only 416 volumes, and there are only 13 canonical interpretation books in the past dynasties. The number is hundreds of times greater. There are more than 3,900 classics and nearly 50,000 volumes recorded in the "Sikuquanshu General Catalog" and the sequel to "Buishu Ouji" alone. These are the most surviving and recorded classics books, and they have never been seen. There must be more than this number of writers, and it is impossible to count the classics that have been lost throughout the ages. Therefore, most of the classics writings are exegetical works.
The styles of interpreting classics in ancient times are the most diverse, ranking first among all kinds of classics. It is not surprising that a Confucian "serious scripture" has been annotated and developed by scholars of all ages in various styles and forms, and has produced hundreds of or even nearly cadres' works. The rich style of annotating classics in my country was basically complete before the Tang Dynasty. According to the "Sui Shu·Jing Ji Zhi", it includes biographies, stories, notes, notes, explanations, micros, generals, chapters, regulations, collections of annotations, collections of explanations, Writing styles such as Jishi, Jiyi, Yin, Jie, Jie, Jieyi, Tongjie, Shu, Zhuoshu, Yishu, Xun, Shi, zhuan etc. had all appeared at that time, and were basically followed after the Tang Dynasty, with few changes.
The word "chuan" means to tell. It is said that the ten chapters explaining scriptures in the "Book of Changes" are biographies written by Confucius, so it is also called the "Book of Changes". This is the earliest biography that annotates serious scriptures. Later generations used the "Zhuan" style to annotate scriptures in numerous works. For a single scripture, due to the different angles of annotation, the contents of various biographies are also very different. For example, "Chun Qiu Zuo Zhuan" mainly focuses on argumentation skills; while "Chun Qiu Gongyang Zhuan" and "Chun Qiu Huliang Zhuan" mainly focus on elaborating the meaning of the classics. There are also various forms of biography, some of which explain the scriptures word by word, such as "Exegetical Biography of Mao's Poems"; some use miscellaneous quotes from others and use the meaning of scriptures to prove the truth, such as "Han Shi Wai Zhuan".
The original meaning of "note" is to pour water into it to make it flow smoothly. It is extended to explain and clarify difficult words and sentences in ancient books. Zheng Xuan of the Eastern Han Dynasty once commented on the Qun Sutra, and there are still "Notes on Rites and Rites", "Notes on Zhou Rites", and "Notes on the Book of Rites" still extant. This style was promoted by Zheng Xuan and became the most common form of explaining and clarifying the meaning of the text. There are many classics called "notes" in the classics.
"Shuo" means explaining, which generally means explaining the main meaning. The style of "Shuo" also originated very early. According to "Hanshu·Yiwenzhi", "Yi" has "Wulu Chongzong Brief Introduction", "Book" has "Ouyang Shuoyi", and "Shi" has "Lu Shuo" "Han Shuo", "The Analects of Confucius" includes "Qi Shuo", "Lu Xia Hou Shuo" and "Yan Legend", and "Xiao Jing" has "Changsun Shi Shuo" and "Jiang Shi Shuo". Hui Shiqi of the Qing Dynasty wrote "Li Shuo", which does not contain scriptures, but arranges them in the order of the scriptures and explains the ancient sounds and meanings.
Jian "Jian" means recognition. This style was pioneered by Zheng Xuan. Zheng Xuanzhi's "Poetry" respected "The Biography of Mao". If there were any ambiguities in "The Biography of Mao", he would write down his own opinions and mark them next to them, making them "notes". After Zheng Xuan's "Mao's Poems and Notes", there have been many writings using "notes" to interpret the Bible throughout the ages. In the Qing Dynasty alone, there are Hu Yonggong's "Mao's Poems and Notes", Huizhao's "Zhou Guan's Notes", Wan Si's "Book of Rites Occasional Notes", Yu Yue's "Book of Rites Different Text Notes", Liu Fenglu's "Gongyang He's Interpretation Notes", Zhao Tan's "Spring and Autumn Different Text Notes", Pan Weicheng's "Collected Notes of Ancient Annotations on the Analects of Confucius", etc. .
Jie "Jie" means to analyze and explain. The style of "Jie" originated very early, and there are explanations in the works of various scholars during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. For example, "Jie Lao" in "Han Feizi" is a famous article explaining "Laozi". Later generations continued to use this style to interpret scriptures, which is sometimes called "Jie Yi" or "Jie Yi", such as "Chunqiu Zuozhuan Jie Yi" by Fu Qian of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Jia Kui's "Zhou Guan Jie Yi" and "Zuo Shi Zhuan". "Exegesis of Spring and Autumn Gongyang" by He Xiu has been preserved to this day.
Shu "Shu" means dredging. This style first originated from the "Yi Shu" in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Huang Kan of the Liang Dynasty analyzed in the preface of "The Analects of Yi Shu" that its characteristic is "to attract public opinion to show that it is widely known." By the Tang Dynasty, it seemed that the Han people's interpretation of the scriptures was no longer very clear, so a new annotation form of "Shu" appeared. Shu not only annotated the main text, but also annotated the previous annotations, forming a classic There are three levels: , note and sparse. Generally speaking, sparseness does not violate the meaning of the annotation. This is the so-called "looseness does not violate the annotation". The meanings compiled by officials in the Tang Dynasty were called "Zhengyi", such as Kong Yingda's "Five Classics of Justice" and later "Seven Classics of Justice". Private annotations are still called "Shu", such as Jia Gongyan's "Shu of Zhou Rites" and "Shu of Rites and Rites".
Zhangju "Zhangju" is mainly a chapter that analyzes scriptures. It was popular in the Western Han Dynasty and was commonly used by Confucian teachers to teach scriptures. The ancient books of the Pre-Qin Dynasty were written directly, without being divided into chapters or sentences. Later, Confucian scholars divided them into chapters and sentences, and also expressed their understanding of the content in the chapters and sentences. The only "chapter and sentences" of the Han people that have been preserved to this day are Zhao Qi's " "Mencius Chapters", from which we can see the characteristics of chapters.
This writing style was also used by later generations, such as Zhu Xi's "Great Learning Chapters" and "Zhongyong Chapters" in the Southern Song Dynasty, which are both famous; in the Qing Dynasty, there were Jiao Xun's "Yi Chapters", Ren Qili's "Book of Rites Chapters", etc.
Jijie "Jijie" is a style that brings together the theories of various schools for annotation. He Yan's "Collected Commentary on the Analects of Confucius" and Fan Ning's "Collected Commentary on Chun Qiu and Liang Zhuan" in "Commentaries on the Thirteen Classics" are representative works of this style, while Du Yu's "Collected Commentary on Chun Qiu Zuo Zhuan" does not belong to this style. Its annotation is still the words of the Du family. The method of gathering the theories of many scholars into one place includes not only collection of explanations, but also collection of explanations, collection of notes, collection of lectures, collection of summary, collection of ideas, collection of collections, etc., which are widely used in various fields of annotation, and the number is quite large. many. In terms of "Collected Biography", the more famous works in the Song Dynasty include Zhu Xi's "Collected Biography of Poems", Cai Chen's "Collected Biography of Books", Su Che's "Collected Biography of Spring and Autumn Annals", etc.
A wealth of exegesis books were gradually accumulated with the development of Confucian classics. In the Spring and Autumn Period, there were only "Six Classics". After the Warring States Period, biographies and notes that explained the meaning of the "Six Classics" began to emerge in Confucian writings. The "Ten Wings" such as Yan Ci and Xiang Ci in the Zhouyi were the "Yizhuan"; the "Ji" attached to the "Li" and the "Ten Wings" The Chunqiu "Chuanqiu" are all early exegesis works, and it was only in the Han Dynasty that they were upgraded to "serious scriptures". The biographies and annotations written by classics scholars in the Western Han Dynasty mainly expounded the meaning of the classics, such as "Shang Shu Da Zhuan", "Han Shi Wai Zhuan", "Chun Qiu Fan Lu", etc. But at this time, some exegetical works began to suffer from cumbersome shortcomings. Huan Tan of the Eastern Han Dynasty recorded in "New Theory" that Qin Yanjun, the master of "Shu Jing", actually used more than 100,000 words to explain the meaning of the two words "Yao Canon". This kind of abuse often appears in subsequent exegetical writings. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, the annotation of classics gradually turned to the direction of exegesis and research on names and objects, mainly explaining the meaning of characters and verifying the system of names and objects. The study of exegesis of chapters and sentences was developed, and famous annotators such as Xu Shen, Ma Rong, and Zheng Xuan appeared. Those that have been handed down to this day include "The Biography of Mao's Poems", "Annotations on Three Rites", "Exegesis of Gongyang Zhuan", "Annotations on Mencius", etc., which are called ancient annotations in later generations.
After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, with the development of phonology, a large number of phonetic annotation works were added to the classics. model. The tradition of making phonetic annotations for the classics developed further in the Tang Dynasty, and a number of classic interpretation books for the phonetic notation of scriptures appeared. Among them, Lu Deming's "Classic Commentary" was the most successful. His phonetic teachings combined sound and meaning Combining and noting a different sound means expressing a different interpretation. The book has 36 volumes, collecting and commenting on more than 230 classics since the Han and Wei dynasties. Only "Mencius" is missing from the "Thirteen Classics" because "Mencius" had not yet entered the "canon" in the Tang Dynasty. Later, when Confucian scholars of the Song Dynasty published the Commentary on the Thirteen Classics, they scattered the contents of the Commentary on the Classics into the commentary on each classic, and called it "Lu Deming's Sound and Meaning".
The number of classics annotated in the Song Dynasty increased rapidly. During the Southern Song Dynasty, Confucian classics scholars identified a number of important commentaries on the "Thirteen Classics" since the Han Dynasty and published them in the "Commentaries on the Thirteen Classics" that were popular in the feudal era. In this set of annotations, the ancient annotations on Xiao Jing were annotated by Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty. Han people and people from the Wei and Jin Dynasties accounted for half of the ancient annotations. The Yishu part was completed by people from the Tang and Song Dynasties. Generally speaking, its content annotates many Han dynasties and many Tang dynasties, and tends to exegetical Sinology, which is completely different from the way in which Neo-Confucian scholars at that time annotated classics. Although very few of the Song Confucian exegetical works have entered the Commentary on the Thirteen Classics, the achievements of many of their writings have been recognized by scholars of all ages. For example, in terms of annotations to "Yi", Cheng Yi's "Yi Zhuan" and Zhu Xi's "Book of Changes Original Meaning" both have new ideas. In particular, Cheng Yi's "Yi Zhuan" was highly praised by Gu Yanwu, a master of Pu Xue in the Qing Dynasty. In terms of annotations to "Shangshu", Cai Shen's "Shu Ji Zhuan" and Jin Luxiang's "Shangshu Biao Annotations" in the late Song and early Yuan Dynasties are no less than "Pseudo Confucius" and Kong Yingda's "Justice", and were used by many scholars later. Notes on "Poetry" include Ouyang Xiu's "Original Meaning of Mao's Poems", which can often reveal the poet's intention. Regarding "Three Rites", Zhu Xi's "Comprehensive Interpretation of the Book of Rites" written in his later years divided "Rites" into chapters and sections with a clear outline, and quoted the contents of the "Book of Rites" for annotations to trace the source. Zhu Xi's "The Analects of Confucius" and "The Collection of Mencius" focus on the elaboration of meanings, but the words and sentences are concise and easy for beginners to learn. They can be read in conjunction with He Yan's "The Analects of Confucius" and Zhao Qi's "Mencius' Chapters and Sentences". Although there were a large number of exegetical classics in the Ming Dynasty, most of them were inherited from the Song Dynasty and failed to make any breakthrough progress.
The Qing Dynasty made brilliant achievements in interpreting classics. Not only were they numerous, but their research in many fields of classics surpassed those of the Han and Tang Dynasties. In terms of key points, first of all, it is of great significance in identifying the falsification of scriptures. Qing Dynasty scholar Wan Sitong's "Zhou Li Bian Fei" and "Yi Li Shang", Yan Ruochu's "Shu Zheng of Ancient Wen Shangshu", Hui Dong's "An Examination of Ancient Wen Shangshu", and Hu Wei's "Yi Tu Ming Bian" are all It was a masterpiece of doubting scriptures and identifying forgeries at that time. In particular, the book "Shu Zheng of Ancient Wen Shangshu" cites scriptures and lists 128 items to state the contradictions in "Gu Wen Shangshu" one by one, completely exposing the forgery of "Gu Wen Shangshu" and "Shang Shu Confucius" by Mei Yi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, making Issues that have lasted for thousands of years have been settled. Secondly, Qing Confucian exegetical works almost all have commentaries on the classics. Except for the "Book of Rites" and "Hu Liang Zhuan", each of the "Thirteen Classics" has several new annotations and new commentaries. The textual research and annotation of its meaning have reached a new level based on absorbing previous research results. Zhang Binglin, a scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, once studied the Qing people's interpretation of classics and selected a group of works as "New Collection of Classics", which is quite representative.
They list: "Book of Changes" includes Huidong's "Book of Changes", Jiang Fan and Li Songlin's "Supplement to the Book of Changes", Zhang Huiyan's "Book of Changes"; "Book of Changes" includes Jiang Sheng's "Book of Changes Annotations", Sun Xingyan's "Book of Changes" "Annotations on Ancient Chinese Texts"; "The Book of Songs" has Chen Huan's "Biography of Mao's Poems"; "Zhou Li" has Sun Yirang's "Zhou Li Zhengyi"; "Li" has Hu Peiyun's "Ritual Zhengyi"; "Zuo Zhuan" has Liu Wenqi "Zuo Zhuan Zhengyi"; "Gongyang" has Chen Li's "Gongyang Yishu"; "The Analects" has Liu Baonan's "The Analects of Justice"; "Mencius" has Jiao Xun's "Mencius Zhengyi"; "The Classic of Filial Piety" has Pi Xirui's "Zhengyi" "Commentaries on the Classic of Filial Piety"; "Erya" includes Shao Jinhan's "Erya Justice" and Hao Yixing's "Erya Yishu". These writings can roughly reflect the level of Confucian classics research in the Qing Dynasty. In addition, the Qing people also did a lot of work on sorting out classic annotations. The 1860 volumes of "Tongzhitang Jingjie" published by Nalan Xingde during the Kangxi period were edited by Xu Qianxue and He Feng. The editors collected the works of the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties. , there are 146 kinds of classics written by Ming Dynasty people on "Yi", "Book", "Poetry", "Spring and Autumn", "Three Rites", "The Classic of Filial Piety", "The Analects of Confucius", "Mencius" and so on. Among them, most of them are written by Confucian scholars in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and the collection is huge. There are many rare copies. In addition, Qing Confucianism also summarized contemporary exegetical works, such as "The Interpretation of the Huangqing Jing" compiled by Ruan Yuan and "The Continuation of the Interpretation of the Huangqing Jing" compiled by Wang Xianqian.