Chapter 16 Part XV On Poetry

In the seventh year of Duke Ai of Lu (488 BC), Confucius was sixty-four years old. In late autumn, Confucius decided to revise the "Poetry", and his chief assistant was Zixia. Poetry existed in Xia and Shang, and it became even more prosperous in the Zhou Dynasty.At the earliest, the royal family had officials responsible for collecting poems from all over the world.Therefore, there are not only many poems in the Zhou Dynasty, but also clear classification.By the time of Confucius, there were more than 3,000 recorded poems.However, these more than 3,000 poems are mixed with fish and dragons, of varying quality, and are too complicated for ordinary people.

In fact, before Confucius, some people had deleted and edited poems.And Confucius also planned to delete and edit these more than 3,000 poems.Of course, according to your own standards, how can you delete and edit? It is recorded in "Historical Records". According to "Historical Records".There are more than 3,000 poems in the ancient "Poetry", as far as Confucius, to get rid of the importance, and take what can be applied to etiquette and righteousness. Chaos is the beginning of the wind, deer crowing is the beginning of Xiaoya, King Wen is the beginning of Daya, and Qing temples are the beginning of praise.”The three hundred and five chapters are all sung by Confucius, in order to harmonize the sounds of "Shao", "Wu", "Ya" and "Song".From now on, ritual and music can be obtained and described, so as to prepare for the kingly way and form the six arts.

The general meaning is this: There are more than 3,000 ancient poems, and Confucius removed those repetitive works according to the standard of whether they conform to the etiquette and righteousness, and finally selected 305 poems, which are the later ones.Basically, these poems start from the ancestors of the Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period, and also include some poems from the Shang Dynasty.The first capital of the three parts of Feng, Ya and Song is very particular. The first song of Feng is "Guanju", the first song of Xiaoya is "Lu Ming", the first song of Daya is "Wen Wang", and the first song of Song is "Wen Wang". The first song is "Qing Temple".

Why are these poems in the first place? "Guanju" talks about the ceremony of marriage, "Luming" talks about the ceremony of the monarch and his ministers, "Wen Wang" talks about the ceremony of serving heaven, and "Qing Temple" talks about the ceremony of worshiping ancestors.Therefore, each poem chosen by Confucius has its own reasons. The Master said: "Three hundred poems can be summed up in one sentence: 'Thinking is innocent.'" Confucius said: "Three hundred articles can be summed up in one sentence, that is, 'Don't have evil thoughts'."

The first part is "national style", and most of the national style is about the love and resentment between men and women, which is considered to have the color of "prostitution".So Confucius explained that as long as you don't want to be crooked, it's fine. Whether you are lewd or not depends not on the content of the poem, but on your own brain. Naturally, this was something that happened after Confucius was repaired, otherwise the "three hundred articles" would not have been mentioned.Obviously, after editing, the disciples were a little surprised, thinking that this is not the teacher's style.So, Confucius made such an explanation.

Coincidentally, "Thinking Wuxie" is also a poem in the book, which comes from the fourth paragraph of "The Book of Songs·Lu Song·駉": "駉駉 stallion, in the wild of 坰".Those who speak lightly, there are 骃 and 騢, there are scorpions and there are fish, and they use carts to get rid of them.Think innocent, think masi. Many people think that the "siwuxie" in Confucius's poem is the "siwuxie" in this poem, and the "siwuxie" in the poem should be interpreted as the meaning of having no other distractions. However, judging from what Confucius said later, the "thinking without evil" he mentioned here means not to have evil thoughts, because indeed many people think it is more obscene.

If human beings do not have "sex" and "emotion", they will lose the basis and pleasure of existence.So since ancient times, things between men and women have been talked about with great interest.Whether it is a song, a poem, a story, or a movie, "sex" and "love" are indispensable themes. The so-called eroticism actually depends on the viewer. Today, when it comes to body art and more, it can be summed up in one word: think without evil. The Master said: "Guan Ju, joy but not lewdness, mourning but not hurt." Confucius said: "The poem "Guan Sui" is happy but not dissolute, sad but not sad."

This is the first chapter of "Guanguan Jujiu, in the river island. A fair lady, a gentleman is a good man." A love poem, Confucius wants to explain this poem. In fact, Confucius explained why "Guan Sui" is the first poem in the whole work. According to "Han Shi Wai Zhuan", Confucius once said to Zi Xia, "The poem "Guan Ju" talks about the supreme Reason. Two men and women in the wilderness, beside the mountains and rivers, everything is in nature, isn’t it a match made in heaven? Isn’t the truth described in "Guan Ju" the most basic way of survival for human beings? If there is no love between men and women, human beings How to reproduce? What kind of benevolence and righteousness do we still talk about? Therefore, "Guanju" talks about the most beautiful, noble and benevolent things in the world. If such a poem is not the first, what can be the first?"

Why did Confucius say this passage and explain it like this?Of course, some people raised doubts, or were discussing secretly. Love without sex, sex without lust, lust without lust.Love is the pleasure of men and women; sex is the embrace of men and women; prostitution is the intemperance of sexual intercourse between men and women; lasciviousness is large-scale fornication. The Master said: "From the beginning of Master Zhi, the chaos in Guanju is full of eloquence!" Confucius said: "Starting from Tai Shizhi, "Guan Sui" has been played richly and beautifully, and it lingers in my ears." At the end of "Sui", rich and beautiful music echoed in my ears.")

Regarding "The Rebellion of Guanju", the historical explanation is "the last part is "Guanju" or "the end of "Guanju". beginning".However, such an explanation is obviously wrong. If the ending is "Guan Ju", then we should talk about what the beginning is. How to explain the record in "Historical Records" that "the chaos of Guanju was thought to start with wind"?Therefore, "The Rebellion of Guanju" is "Guanju", and the sentence of the whole sentence should be like this.The master said: "From the beginning of Shi Zhi, the chaos of Guanju is full of ears!" Chaos, here is the interpretation of the performance.

It seems that Guan Ju's ability to become the opening piece may have something to do with Shi Zhi. Perhaps Shi Zhi's performance left a very good impression on Confucius. Since Teresa Teng, love songs have been sung very warmly. "The glory of Tang Di is the opposite. Don't you think about it? The room is far away." The Master said: "Thinking before the end, how far is the husband?" There is an ancient poem that reads: "Tang Di's flowers are swaying lightly. How can I not miss you? It's just because I live too far away." Confucius said: "He still doesn't really miss you. If you really miss you Missing, what is so far away?" Confucius didn't understand customs, so he insisted on breaking others.What people are talking about is this kind of state, this kind of mood that you can't stop, and you can't stop, and you can't stop;Confucius didn't understand style all his life, so he divorced his wife and lived alone all his life.Later, Confucius’s sons and grandsons all inherited this point. The son said: “I don’t have a mother, why do you have a mother?” So he divorced his wife, and his grandson Zisi lost his mother; Divorced, let his son lose his mother. However, although Confucius didn't understand customs, he was not indifferent to human fireworks, and he kept a lot of love poems in his book. What does this mean?Explain that Confucius wanted to say: "If I have a lover, I will go to find her even in thousands of mountains and rivers." —My dear, I love you, but I am in Paris. —Fart, I'm at your house right now. —Ah, are you at my house?Why didn't I see you? —You shameless liar. Teacher Kong is right, anyone who uses distance as an excuse is an emotional liar. Confucius said: "Prosper in poetry, establish in ritual, and succeed in music." Confucius said: "Human society was in a primitive and natural state at the beginning, so there was poetry to express emotions; later, there was Lilly to restrain everyone, and society became a society; finally, with music, human society has achieved great success (Old translation: Confucius said: "(A person's self-cultivation) begins with the study of "Poetry", becomes self-reliant in the study of etiquette, and completes in the study of music.")" This passage is obviously not about individuals, but about human society.Poetry, ritual, and music represent the three stages of human social development, and are also the three steps of human learning. This seems to be the speech at the opening ceremony of the freshmen. As the saying goes: life is like a poem.However, there are really no good poems. The Master said: "Boy, why don't you learn husband's poetry? Poetry can be prospered, viewed, grouped, and resented. Those who are near are related to the father, and those who are far away are related to the king; most of them are known by the names of birds, beasts, plants and trees." Confucius said: "Why don't students study "Poetry"? Poetry can stimulate interest, understand society, know how to make friends, and express your grievances. It can teach you how to honor your parents; , can tell everyone how to serve the king; in addition, you can also know the names of many birds, beasts, plants and trees." What to sell and what to shout, after Confucius edited it, he began to vigorously promote it to the students.Basically, it's an encyclopedia, and you don't have to worry about anything after learning it. It can indeed allow people to learn a lot of knowledge and principles, but today, it is not so easy to learn.In fact, things that are light and pleasant always impress people more deeply, and they can learn a lot of knowledge and principles unconsciously. Brother, why don't you play games?The game can learn about history, learn knowledge, make friends, and vent dissatisfaction.If you are close, you don’t need to run around to avoid being stolen by thieves; if you are far away, you can know how human beings evolved.In addition, you can learn a lot of English words. The Master said: "Recite three hundred poems and teach them to govern, but they will not achieve success; if they are sent to the four directions, they cannot be specifically corrected; although there are many, do you think it?" Confucius said: "If you memorize three hundred chapters very well, let him handle government affairs, but he can't handle affairs; let him be a diplomatic envoy, but he can't handle negotiations independently; if you memorize a lot, what's the use?" This paragraph is negating my previous paragraph 15.6 (17.9), so even a saint sometimes confuses himself. Basically, it can be imagined that a student has memorized everything backwards and thinks he is great, so Confucius poured him a basin of cold water.In fact, Confucius still had something to say in his heart, which was roughly: What are you so good at?You see, Ran has a senior brother, but he has never learned it. How good is he as a housekeeper?Look at Senior Brother Zigong, he has only learned half the tricks, and when he goes on an envoy, there will be no disadvantages.You memorized a few poems and thought you were great?You are not far off! There are many people who can recite a few poems and think that they are child prodigies and writers. The son said to Bo Yu, "Is it true that a woman is Zhou Nan and Zhao Nan? A human is not Zhou Nan or Zhao Nan. Is it like standing in front of a wall?" Confucius said to Bo Yu: "Have you studied "Zhou Nan" and "Zhao Nan"? If a person does not study "Zhou Nan" and "Zhao Nan", it is like standing against a wall, right?" "Zhou Nan" and "Zhao Nan" are all poems in Li. This was after Confucius returned from the state of Wei, and his son was fifty years old.Confucius was not in the mood to educate his son at ordinary times, but he only occasionally said a few words of education, and his words were very blunt, quite a bit like "how did you give birth to such a thing".And the son seems to be very afraid of seeing him, and he has received only a handful of teachings.Confucius did not succeed in educating his son all his life. It can be said that he was negligent in educating his son. This passage was said very bluntly, with sarcasm in it. For example, if you teach your son to study hard, the general saying is "If you don't study hard, you won't be able to marry a good wife when you grow up."But if you say "what's the difference between being a fool if you don't study hard", the two sentences have completely different attitudes.The subtext of the latter sentence is: If you don't study hard now, you are a fool. Many famous educators can't educate their children well, just like many marriage experts can't keep their marriages.Confucius cultivated many talents, but he could not cultivate his own son.Therefore, although there is a saying called "I am a hero, I am a good man", in fact, the probability of "I am a hero, an asshole" is much higher.