Chapter 30 look at the sky

Ouyang Xiu wrote "On Orthodoxy" to analyze which dynasties can be considered orthodox and which ones can't. The core is to question the various wanton actions of the predecessors.For example, the Han people said that the Qin Dynasty was not orthodox because Qin Shihuang did not practice rituals and music, and imposed severe punishments. Then Ouyang Xiu asked: Qin State did not start with Qin Shihuang, so since Xia, Zhou and Xia were not punished because of Jie and Zhou’s violence The Shang capital rejected it, so why should the Qin Dynasty be castrated because of the rage of Qin Shihuang alone?

For another example, some people thought that the Eastern Jin Dynasty was orthodox, and Ouyang Xiu retorted that it was right that the Eastern Zhou Dynasty succeeded the Western Zhou Dynasty as the orthodox, because King Ping of Zhou was originally the prince of King You of Zhou, and although the Zhou Dynasty moved eastward and the world was in turmoil, no one else dared to do so. Establish a new emperor authority.But what about the Eastern Jin Dynasty?Emperor Sima Rui of Jin and Yuan was not the real heir at all, but just a vassal king who pretended to be respectful, and there were usurpers everywhere in the Central Plains, he dared not crusade, so what qualifications did he have to be called orthodox?

Some people thought that the Northern Wei Dynasty was orthodox, and Ouyang Xiu retorted that the Northern Wei Dynasty was just a usurping barbarian and di, so how could it be called orthodox? So, during the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Eastern Jin Dynasty was not orthodox, nor was the Northern Wei Dynasty.Orthodoxy sometimes ends, not one dynasty following another, so the five elements prevail, which orthodoxy won the Sui Dynasty?The five elements are born together, from which orthodoxy did the Sui Dynasty come from?Pure bullshit. As soon as Ouyang Xiu's "On Orthodoxy" came out, there was an immediate public outcry, and idlers from various factions started to debate.First, Zhang Wangzhi wrote "Ming Tong" to discuss with Ouyang Xiu, and later Su Shi also wrote "On Orthodoxy"-which dynasty is considered orthodox, which dynasty is "dominant", "partial", "stealing", and so on.A series of weird nouns were all released, and they were debated until Wang Fuzhi in the early Qing Dynasty.But most of them were discussing historical issues, and did not follow Ouyang Xiu to continue to attack the Five Virtues.

On the contrary, some people continue to exaggerate the five virtues by talking about orthodoxy.For example, Yin Zhu, who is a master of prose with Ouyang Xiu and promoted the movement of ancient prose, once said: "Heaven and earth have constant directions, calendars have constant parameters, society has constant monarchs, and people have constant beliefs, so the so-called monarch , must match the position of heaven and earth and the parameters of the calendar.” This is still saying that personnel affairs are related to the so-called God’s will, fortune, and calendar. Like Ouyang Xiu, he is a historian. Zhang Fangping, who helped to edit the "New Book of Tang", wrote "On the North and South Zhengjun", saying: "When an emperor rises, he must accept the prophecy of heaven and change his name according to the righteous way. Set up a unified system, calculate the calendar to match the five virtues..." The meaning in the words is even more obvious.

Regarding the Eastern Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Zhang Fangping insisted on taking the Northern Wei Dynasty as orthodox. To Ouyang Xiu's question, he replied: "What happened to the Yidi? When the Yidi entered Zhongxia, it was Zhongxia. I think Xia Yu came from Dongyi, and King Wen of Zhou came from Xiqiang. , After gaining the world, didn’t they all become orthodox? Why can’t the Northern Wei Dynasty be counted? Besides, the Han Dynasty regarded the Qin Dynasty as an intercalary system and directly inherited the Zhou Dynasty that had perished for more than 60 years. Based on this inference, the Northern Wei Dynasty also Can you inherit the Western Jin Dynasty that has perished for more than 60 years..."

Two "more than sixty years", well, he came here to make time.According to Zhang Fangping, orthodoxy will not be cut off, but it is possible to rely on a "leap" to make the transition. As long as this transition is made, the five virtues will naturally be connected-it is only about 60 years, how long?Not long also. The real big earthquake started from Wang Anshi.We know that Wang Anshi assisted Song Shenzong to carry out the reform. Whether his reform was right or not, whether it was successful or not, let’s not worry about it for the time being. What we want to say is that the reform movement was attacked by conservatives at that time. The weapon is the vision of natural disasters closely related to the five virtues.Once there is any trouble, the conservatives will jump out and say: "Look, the old king is making God unhappy again!" They hid them all and dared not see anyone.

Of course, reformers want to refute these arguments of conservatives, so they insist that natural disasters are natural phenomena and have no necessary connection with human eating, drinking, and sleeping.Wang Anshi himself once said: "Heavenly changes are not enough to be feared, ancestors are not enough to follow the law, and people's words are not enough to be sympathetic." It means that no matter what changes in the celestial phenomena, what laws our ancestors have, or any objections from scholar-bureaucrats, I will treat them as farts and do what we do. , Don't hit the south wall and don't look back.These words are really crazy, and later generations commented, "Your brother is not afraid of anything, and you don't care about anything, so what is the power to be restricted?"How to judge good or bad?However, it can also be deduced from this that those who opposed the reform at that time mainly used the so-called "change of heaven", the success of their ancestors, and the resistance of the people to drag Wang Anshi back.

Although Wang Anshi's reform failed in the end (he is so crazy, it is difficult not to fail), but after such a debate, or more precisely, after such a toss, the Five Virtues Theory could not help but lose its vitality. Status plummeted. But although it has plummeted, it has not yet reached the point where everyone shouts and beats it like a mouse crossing the street. The reason is very simple, because the ruler still needs it.For example, Zhu Xi, the great Neo-Confucianist in the Southern Song Dynasty, had a similar view of orthodoxy to Ouyang Xiu's, except that he did not say "absolute orthodoxy" but "no orthodoxy". It's just that Ouyang Xiu respected Cao Wei as orthodoxy on the issue of the Three Kingdoms, and Zhu Xi respected orthodoxy. The Shu Han is orthodox, and the syllabus is not too different, but there are some differences in the focus.However, Zhu Xi did not oppose the five virtues. His student Shen Wei once asked him directly: "Is it really reasonable that the two sayings that the five virtues are mutually beneficial have not been abolished in the founding of the dynasties?" Zhu Xi replied: "It should make sense, but those guys who calculated the five virtues in the past were not right." But how can they be right?Zhu Xi did not say so.

Another disciple of his, named Jin Quxu, also asked a similar question. Zhu Xi replied: "Everything is inseparable from the five elements, so the five virtues must be reasonable. Why is it wrong? Mainly because Those things in ancient times are recorded too briefly in the scriptures." Jin Quxu asked again: "Then the cycle of five virtues, do you know whether it is the opposite of mutual generation or mutual restraint?" Zhu Xi pointed him clearly: "The mutual generation and opposite .” Zhu Xi himself is very idealistic, so it is impossible to break the five elements, and it is impossible to break the five virtues.To what extent is he idealistic?For example, on the question of whether the stars in the sky are left-handed or right-handed, astronomical experts in the past have repeatedly observed, calculated, and debated. Knock down with one stick.So the same is true for the five virtues. Zhu Xiguang said that it makes sense, but he just doesn't tell you where the reason is.

All in all, the five elements are the basis of the five virtues, so as long as a person believes in the five elements of yin and yang, it is impossible not to believe in the five virtues, without breaking the five elements of yin and yang first, the theory of the five virtues is still a rooted grass (although this root itself has problems ), it is impossible to disappear suddenly.