□ Yamada Gengfu
Talking about the relationship between Confucius and the Book of Songs will remind people of a question, that is, what does Confucius value in the Book of Songs? To tell the truth, The Book of Songs is a folk song, which mostly comes from the people except the "national style". In this way, most later experts and scholars were interested in the literary value of The Book of Songs, and few people studied its social value from the perspective of poetry.
However, Confucius in the Spring and Autumn Period was different. He compiled the Book of Songs from a political perspective. Why? This problem should be viewed from the social function value of The Book of Songs in the Spring and Autumn Period. For example, the political intention of The Book of Songs and so on. Some people say that The Book of Songs is the earliest classic in China to convey political opinions in the form of poetry. Although this statement has not been recognized by the authority, I think there are still reasonable places for us to see the elegance of the Book of Songs. This is why Confucius attaches so much importance to the social value of The Book of Songs, which lies in the poetic interpretation of his political ideas.
Ok, I will talk about my views from the following aspects for researchers to discuss.
First, the Book of Songs interprets Confucianism in words.
Before the Spring and Autumn Period, The Book of Songs appeared sporadically. It collects folk poems (to be exact, folk songs) under the jurisdiction of the vassal States in the Yellow River Basin, especially in The Wind, where there are many folk poems. And "elegance" and "ode" come from the poems and songs of the ruling class and temples. At that time, poetry appeared in the form of songs, and more than 90% of poems could be sung with joy. Therefore, most of the poems in The Book of Songs are used to serve the imperial court, especially in times of peace and prosperity.
Just like this, Confucius once said, "If you don't learn poetry, you have nothing to say." You can't speak without learning poetry. Even speaking such an ordinary thing requires learning the Book of Songs, which is simply "everything is inferior, and only learning the Book of Songs can be high". When Confucius arrived, he even emphasized the importance of studying the Book of Songs. Confucius said: "It is not consistent to recite 300 poems and give them political power;" I can't be specific about it in all directions. It's a lot, but what do you think? "Its significance is self-evident. At that time, almost all the terms of the nobles, whether on official business or visiting vassal States, came from the poems in the Book of Songs. Therefore, it can be seen that the Book of Songs has become the official language of the ruling class and the spokesperson of official thoughts.
This is one of the reasons. Secondly, under the climate of ritual and music culture in the Yellow River valley, Confucius' hometown of Shandong (now Shandong) is a country of ritual and music. Influenced by it, Confucius took the culture of rites and music as the criterion and included it in the Book of Songs, which prepared a profound cultural foundation for later Confucianism.
In the era of Confucius, The Book of Songs had been compiled, but it is said that Confucius and his disciples have completed the detailed work of compiling the book, such as the guiding ideology and the classification of selected manuscripts. At that time, there was no printing technology, and books were all handwritten with bamboo slips. This series of activities gave birth to Confucianism. On the contrary, the whole process was dominated by Confucianism. So some people say that the completion of the Book of Songs and the formation of Confucianism are interactive.
According to Zuo Zhuan (also known as Zuo Zhuan in the Spring and Autumn Period), Shangshu and other historical records in the early Spring and Autumn Period, nobles used the Book of Songs to express their political intentions on various important occasions. This strongly proves that in the history of China's political thought, The Book of Songs is the earliest collection of poems to explain Confucianism in the form of poetry. Some people say, "Poetry is the product of political thought". This statement should be very reasonable.
Second, Confucius' later study of The Book of Songs expanded the historical space and preserved detailed historical materials across disciplines.
Above, I talked about the guiding ideology of the editors of The Book of Songs and the principles of editing and selecting manuscripts, which all reflected Confucius' Confucianism. The recent unearthed bamboo slips of the Warring States Period, Confucius' Poetics, further proves this point. Some people say that the Book of Songs was not compiled by Confucius, which only shows that the Book of Songs existed when Confucius compiled it, but it was mixed with authenticity at that time, not the Book of Songs we see now. Judging from the actual needs of Zhou Li's thought at that time, The Book of Songs needed to be edited comprehensively. Explaining this problem in the Book of Songs from this significance level can also prove that the Book of Songs was edited by Confucius and is completely credible. The current sample of The Book of Songs tells us that the specific operation of the chapter and content of The Book of Songs basically conforms to the basic principles of Confucius and Confucianism. This objectively proves that Confucius has done important work such as systematically sorting out and editing the Book of Songs. These important works of Confucius, especially the Book of Songs, further adjusted the scores and interpretation ideas of each article to make them more in line with Confucian political ideas. However, the general principle of Confucius' collation of The Book of Songs is still "words don't convey the full meaning", which basically maintains the original flavor of the poem and lays a data foundation for later important activities such as historical research, ideological interpretation and in-depth exploration of cultural civilization.
In the research works about The Book of Songs, I mentioned that The Book of Songs was the earliest "encyclopedia" in China. Confucius advocated learning The Book of Songs for two reasons. One reason is that many poems in The Book of Songs have "knowing more about the names of birds and beasts". No wonder Nalan Chengde said in the preface to Mao Shi that "there are as many poets as there are famous things in the Six Classics, from astronomical geography, palace utensils, mountains, rivers, flowers and birds." . It can be seen that Confucius' historical contribution to The Book of Songs goes far beyond the meaning of the poem itself, and has preserved detailed historical materials for our later study of other disciplines.
Thirdly, Confucius' comments on The Book of Songs initiated the criticism of ancient poetry in China.
Speaking of Confucius' historical comments on the Book of Songs, it reminds me of his editing principle of "speaking without writing", which is the overall understanding and evaluation of the Book of Songs and the most original comment on the Book of Songs!
Confucius later commented on the Book of Songs from its social function. He said, "The Book of Songs" can be appreciated, observed, grouped and resented. The significance of Confucius' comments is not only in the field of China's poetics, but also of great significance to China's literary criticism. In the history of China's literary criticism, he is regarded as the founder of Heaven.
Later, China literary critics found the most primitive way of poetry criticism from "enjoying the scenery and complaining". In the history of China's literary criticism, the famous literary critics Kong Anguo, Zhu and Zheng Xuan, and later Cao Cao's father and son, Liu Xie and other famous artists were also regarded as "leading the way"! They explained the historical significance of the existence of poetry from their different interpretations. One of the most basic similarities is that poetry reflects the real life of society. The fundamental attribute is that reading poems can help readers understand the ups and downs of customs, political gains and losses, help people communicate their feelings, learn from each other, improve their self-cultivation and criticize the political mistakes of rulers, and express their dissatisfaction with tyranny. This is Confucius' early understanding and summary of the aesthetic function, cognitive function and educational function of poetry and even all literary and artistic works.
In a word, Confucius said such a famous saying in the general review of the Book of Songs. He said, "The Book of Songs is 300. In a word, it says: the thought is innocent. " . His comments set a tone or a theoretical framework for later comments on The Book of Songs. Unscramble the "Innocence" in The Book of Songs from the aspect of political thought. For the future, we should also make our poems "innocent". This is not only the standard of poetry criticism, but also the aesthetic standard of poetry. Therefore, the word "thinking innocently" is Confucius' summary and generalization of all 300 poems in The Book of Songs. Therefore, some people think that in the process of sorting out Confucius, his deletion of the Book of Songs is also based on the basic principle of "thinking innocently".
From the perspective of poetry, ceremony and music, it fully embodies the basic principle of the trinity. Confucius said, "Prosperity lies in poetry, standing in ceremony and being happy." It basically embodies the social purpose or social function of "tenderness and honesty" in The Book of Songs. In this sense, the social function of The Book of Songs has gone far beyond the scope of China's ancient poems, extending the sense of touch to the fields of ritual and music system, Confucianism, culture and so on. Become a faithful interpreter of China's Confucianism.
In a word, Confucius' historical influence and contribution to The Book of Songs and China's ancient poems are unprecedented. In particular, the criticism of China's poetry and its later development has made great historical contributions, which is obvious to all, and the history of China's literary development has also proved this historically.
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