Confucius is the founder of Confucianism. He created the culture of private lectures and advocated benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom and trustworthiness. So what do you know about the "Six Classics" compiled by Confucius? If you are interested, then you must not miss this article!
Basic information
China Confucius, the founder of the Confucian school, compiled the "Poems", "Books", "Li", "Yi", "Music" and "Spring and Autumn" in his later years, which later generations called the "Six Classics".
Among them, the "Book of Music" has been lost, so it is usually called the "Five Classics". "Book of Rites": The Han Dynasty refers to the "Book of Rites", and the "Book of Rites" in the "Five Classics" after the Song Dynasty generally refers to the "Book of Rites". In the "Three Character Classic": "Poetry and Book Changes, Rites of the Spring and Autumn Period, and the Six Classics should be paid attention to." ?Etiquette refers to "Big Rites" and "Small Rites", one of which was later lost and renamed "Book of Rites".
These six ancient books were not written by Confucius, but existed long before Confucius. Confucius only did some sorting work on them. [1]
These six ancient books have survived from ancient times. Before Confucius, they were owned by the royal family and nobles, and were deeply treasured by rulers of all ages. "Guoyu? Chuyu Part 1" records that the teaching materials listed by Uncle Shen when he talked about educating the royal princes include these six ancient books.
Righteousness. ?Nine kinds of ancient books are mentioned here: "Spring and Autumn", "Shi", "Poetry", "Li", "Music", "Ling", "Yu", "Old Records" and "Xun Dian". Most of the Six Classics compiled by Confucius are included in it, and these titles have been frequently seen in other pre-Qin documents.
The role of the Six Classics
In "Book of Rites. Interpretation of Classics", the role of the "Six Classics" is mentioned: Confucius said: When you enter his country, you can know its teachings. He is gentle and honest as a person, and also poetic. The sparse notice is far away, and the book is also taught. He is broad-minded, easy to learn, and happy to teach. It is quiet and subtle, and easy to teach. Being respectful, thrifty and respectful is also the code of etiquette. It is the teaching of Spring and Autumn Period that words are used to compare things. Therefore, the loss of poetry is foolishness. The loss of the book is a false accusation. Loss of happiness, luxury. Easy to lose, thief. Loss of etiquette is annoying. The loss of the Spring and Autumn Period, chaos. As a human being, he is gentle and honest but not stupid, which makes him deeper than a poet. If the notice is sparse but not false, it is deeper than the book. A person who is broad and easy to learn but not extravagant is a person who is deeper than a happy person. If Jie is quiet and subtle but not ruthless, it is deeper than Yi. Those who are respectful, thrifty, solemn and respectful but not troublesome are those who are more profound than etiquette. The words are compared to things without being confusing, which is deeper than those in the Spring and Autumn Period.
Exploring the Works
"Hanshu Yiwenzhi" says that Confucians wrote in the Six Classics. The so-called "Six Classics" refer to "Poems", "Books", "Li", "Yue", "Yi" and "Spring and Autumn". These documents were not called "Six Classics" at that time. It was not until the late Warring States Period, when Zhuangzi quoted Confucius's words and talked about these six works to Laozi, that the term "Six Classics" began to be mentioned.
In the Han Dynasty, hundreds of schools of thought were deposed and Confucianism was respected only. Scholars respected Confucius, and it was only then that Confucius deleted the "Poems" and "Books", fixed the "Li" and "Music", and wrote the "Book of Changes". "Spring and Autumn" theory. In fact, this is not entirely historically accurate.
"The Book of Changes" is the first of the group of classics. It is a philosophical work with profound ancient origins and profoundness. It is the source of Chinese philosophy. It is one-sided to regard it as a superstitious book. "Yi" originated from Hetu Luoshu. There were three "Yi" in ancient times: Lianshan, Guizang and Zhouyi. The first two copies were lost, so the I Ching is now equivalent to the Zhouyi. "Yi" has three meanings. One is change, that is, the endless changes of everything in the world; the second is "simplicity", which means simple interpretation of complexity and "limited change in six lines"; the third is "unchanged", that is, eternal change. . Many ideas in Chinese philosophy, such as self-improvement, virtuous conduct, repentance, and walking on ice all come from this work. Many scientific phenomena also coincide with the theory of "Zhouyi" and reflect the wisdom of ancient Chinese.
"Shu", also known as "Shang Shu", is a political document collected by the Zhou royal family. "Shangshu" can be divided into two categories in terms of content, the sacrificial category and the war category, which is the so-called "major events in ancient times, only sacrificial offerings and military affairs". In terms of stylistic form, it can also be divided into two categories, namely ascending memorials and descending edicts. The articles in "Shangshu" have a complete structure and clear levels. They are very particular about propositions and chapters, and many chapters are full of literary talent. However, due to the passage of time, the language has become ancient and difficult to understand.
"Shi", also known as "The Book of Songs", is the first collection of poetry in Chinese history. It collects 305 poems from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period. And because the works in it can be sung with the accompaniment of musical instruments, "The Book of Songs" is also called the first collection of music and songs in ancient my country.
The Book of Songs has two sources. One is the travelers sent by the royal family to collect poems from the people, and the other is the poems presented to the Emperor of Zhou by the officials. However, no matter what kind of poems they were, they were all deleted and finalized by the collection room (i.e. the National Library) set up by the Zhou royal family in the temple. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the princes all composed poems during banquets and alliance gatherings. It can be seen that "Poetry" has been widely circulated.
The Book of Songs was originally called "The Book of Songs" or "Three Hundred Poems" in the pre-Qin Dynasty. Later, because Confucius attached great importance to it, when training politicians, he attached great importance to poetry education and placed poetry education in a very prominent position. Therefore, in the Han Dynasty, some scholars regarded it as a classic and called it "The Book of Songs".
"Poetry" is divided into three parts: style, elegance and praise.
The winds include the styles of the fifteen countries, and "Zhou Nan", "Zhao Nan" and "Wang" are folk songs from Luoyang area. Ya and Song are sacrificial songs and hymns of the royal family, with expression techniques such as Fu, Bi and Xing. Its basic style is simple and natural, and it dares to describe reality, opening up the excellent tradition of Chinese poetry.
"Music" is a musical work belonging to the Zhou royal family. Some people say that "Poetry" and "Music" are actually one. "Poetry" is a music and song, a poem is composed of lyrics, and a poem is composed of musical notation. "Yue" is a collection of the essence of music from the Xia and Shang dynasties. It was compiled by the Duke of Zhou in Luoyi and revised by successive music officials of the Zhou royal family. Now "Yue" has been lost, and its original appearance cannot be known.
"Li", also known as "Zhou Rites" and "Zhou Officials", are the regulations and systems managed by the uncles of the Zhou royal family. The Duke of Zhou made rites and music in Luoyi, laying the foundation for Zhou rites. The so-called etiquette is a strict hierarchical system that the emperor, princes, and officials must follow. Its main contents include the establishment of marquises and guards, the patriarchal system, the feudal princes, the five-service system; titles, posthumous titles, official systems, and auspicious and unlucky etiquette. "The Rites of Zhou" was completely burned by Qin Shihuang. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Xiang claimed to have discovered the ancient version and recorded it. This is the current version of "Zhou Rites". This matter is still doubtful to this day.
The name "Spring and Autumn" is the general name for history books by people in the pre-Qin Dynasty. In addition to the Zhou royal family, various countries also have historians. After Qin burned the books, all the national histories of various countries were destroyed. During the Western Han Dynasty, scholars used the excuse of hearing and organizing it into "Zuo Zhuan", "Gongyang Zhuan", etc. Han Confucians believed that the above books explained the "Spring and Autumn" written by Confucius. How exactly they are related to Confucius is yet to be determined.
The Zhou Dynasty attached great importance to aristocratic education, and aristocratic children referred to poetry, calligraphy, etiquette, Yi, music, and Chunqiu as the "six arts" (there are two kinds of "six arts", the other is etiquette, music, archery, Yu, Shu, Shu) is essential knowledge. The poems, books, rituals, music, Yi, and Spring and Autumn Period were hidden in the Zhou royal family. By the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, after the Zhou royal family was in chaos, a large number of classics were lost.
Therefore, except for the Spring and Autumn Annals, the rest of the Five Classics should be compiled in Luoyang. Gong Zizhen's "The Rectification of the Names of the Six Classics" said: Before Zhongni was born, there were already six classics; when Zhongni was born, he did not write one classic. Zhang Xuecheng's "Xiaoyu Tongyi" said: "Six Arts" is not a book by Confucius, but an old canon of Zhou officials. "Yi" respects Taishi, "Book" contains foreign history, "Li" belongs to Zong Bo, "Yue" belongs to Si Yue, "Poetry" praises Taishi, and "Spring and Autumn" exists in the history of the country. "Preface to the Genealogy of the Yuan Family (Yuan Keli) in Suiyang" of the Qing Dynasty: "If his poems and prose are based on the Six Classics, his virtues have been imitated by teachers for three generations, and his words are like a mantis, he is worthy of the Runan family tradition."
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