Chapter 5 2. The Prosperity of Confucius’ Edited Six Classics and Private Writings

Confucius (551-479 BC), named Qiu, styled Zhongni.A native of Zouyi (now Qufu, Shandong) in the state of Lu.A well-known educator, thinker, and philologist in my country during the Spring and Autumn Period, the Confucianism he founded had a huge influence on Chinese history.Confucius' ancestors were noblemen of the Song Dynasty, who emigrated to the Lu Kingdom after their decline.The State of Song was the fief of the descendants of King Shang, and the State of Lu was the fief of Duke Zhou. These two countries completely preserved the culture of Shang and Zhou.Confucius learned a lot about ritual and music in such an environment.He served as the Sikou of the State of Lu, but he was dismissed because he could not display his political ambitions. Then he began to give lectures, educate students with his own ideas, and traveled around the world to promote his ideology.Confucius claimed that "there is no distinction between teaching and learning", and he taught his disciples with poems, books, rites, and music. There were 3,000 students successively, many of whom came from scholars and common people, and made contributions to the spread of culture.

Another great contribution of Confucius to the history of Chinese culture is his collation of Shang and Zhou literature classics.In order to educate students, Confucius extensively collected and sorted out the literature records handed down from ancient times, and formed the final version as a teaching material.In the process of sorting out, Confucius first extensively collected the collections of the royal families of Lu, Song, and Zhou. He also sent his disciples Zixia and others to "seek Zhou Shiji" and "obtain a hundred and twenty national treasure books", and asked Laozi several times. .He successively sorted out and edited six works, namely "Poetry", "Li", "Yue", "Yi" and "Spring and Autumn", which are called "Six Classics".After the Qin Dynasty, "Yue" was lost, and only the Five Classics remained, which were called "Five Classics".

The "Five Classics" compiled by Confucius cover philosophy, politics, history, literature and other aspects.It is a book used for divination in ancient times, which contains the simple thought of natural dialectics, which is the core of Confucius' philosophy. "Book of Books", also known as "Shangshu", contains official documents and archives in ancient times. Confucius chose the ancient books collected by historians. It is a classic with high historical value. There are hundreds of original books. After the book, there are only twenty-nine articles left.It is the earliest collection of poems in my country. It preserves 305 poems from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle Spring and Autumn Period. It is divided into three parts: Feng, Ya, and Song. It is not only valuable in literature, but also a precious material for studying Zhou history. "Li" was compiled by Confucius for his disciples to study the ritual system. Its content is the ritual system accumulated over a long period of time in the Zhou Dynasty, also known as "Yili".It is called "Book of Rites" together with "Zhou Li", which is the book written by scholars in the Warring States Period describing the official system of the Zhou Dynasty, and "Da Dai Li Ji" and "Xiao Dai Li Ji", which are written by the Confucian scholars Dai De and Dai Sheng in the Western Han Dynasty. The "Three Ceremonies" are important classics for studying Confucianism, artifacts and systems before the Warring States period. "Book of Music" has been lost. "Spring and Autumn" is a chronological history book, which is compiled by Confucius based on the history of 242 years from the first year of Lu Yin (722 BC) to the 14th year of Duke Ai of Lu (481 BC) recorded by the official historian of the State of Lu. history books.The book embodies Confucian political thought and aspirations.The "Chunqiu Zuozhuan", "Chunqiu Gongyang Zhuan" and "Chunqiu Guliang Zhuan" of later generations are all works to explain and supplement "Chunqiu".

After the death of Confucius, his students scattered all over to promote his theory, forming the "Confucianism" school in the history of Chinese thought.Until Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "removed all schools of thought and only respected Confucianism", Confucianism was regarded as the unified ideological theory of the people.Until the end of the Qing Dynasty, the "Five Classics" compiled by Confucius still became the textbooks handed down by intellectuals in various dynasties.Confucius’ creation of private education and common people’s education, as well as his writings, had a profound impact on my country’s social, cultural, thought and book history.

At the beginning of private lectures and writings, in addition to Confucius imparting his Confucianism, there were the "Tao" theory of the contemporary Laozi, and the "Mo" theory of Mo Zhai later.At the turn of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, three schools of "Confucianism", "Taoism" and "Mohism" were formed in the history of Chinese thought. At the beginning of private lectures and writings, in addition to Confucius imparting his Confucianism, there were the "Tao" theory of the contemporary Laozi, and the "Mo" theory of Mo Zhai later.At the turn of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, three schools of "Confucianism", "Taoism" and "Mohism" were formed in the history of Chinese thought.

Entering the Warring States Period, the emerging landlord class gradually replaced the slave-owner aristocrats on the stage of history.In order to consolidate their political rule, the intellectuals of the landlord class began to explore ways to govern the country. Starting from their own standpoints, they put forward various plans for the rulers to adopt. Many schools of thought emerged in the field of social and political thought, and they recruited many apprentices. , wrote books and argued with each other, there was a situation where a hundred schools of thought contended, and a large number of private writings appeared, among which the famous ones are:

Taoism was created by Lao Tzu (also known as Lao Dan).The representative works of Taoism are "Lao Tzu" and the Two Books. "Lao Tzu", also known as "Lao Tzu", is a book rich in philosophical content. It is a rhyme poem written in folk proverbs, with a full text of more than 5,000 characters. Although the author of "Laozi" believes that high and low, strong and weak, misfortune and fortune are not static, he put forward dialectical ideas such as "misfortune depends on blessings, and blessings lie on misfortunes", advocating "a small country with few people" and "quiet and inactive". ".

The author is Zhuang Zhou (about 369-286 BC).The book uses a lot of fabled stories and dialogues to express his philosophical views.As the successor of Lao Tzu, he further developed Lao Tzu's doctrine that Tao follows nature. Mohism, its founder is Mozi, that is, Mo Zhai (about 468-376 BC), and its representative work is "Mozi".He advocated "universal love" for all people and opposed emphasizing "benevolence" between nobles; he advocated "non-aggression" and opposed wars where the strong bully the weak; It should be reused and opposed to the hierarchical system in Confucianism. The philosophical thoughts of "Mozi" reflected the wishes of small producers at that time.This school of thought declined after the Warring States Period.

Confucianism was created by Confucius, and the representative figure of the Warring States Period was Mencius.Mencius was named Ke (about 372-289 BC).As the successor of Confucius theory, in his book "Mencius", he advocated the implementation of "kingly way" and "benevolent government".Starting from the understanding that "the people are the most important, the country is second, and the king is the least", he advocates the implementation of benevolent government for the people.Mencius also advocated the "theory of good nature", saying that people are born with good natures such as "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom".It advocates that "those who work hard govern others, and those who work hard govern others".

Xunzi (approximately 313-238 BC) is another representative figure of Confucianism in the Warring States Period.His name is Kuang, also known as Xunqing.There is "Xunzi" handed down from generation to generation. He opposed the "mandate of heaven" theory and put forward the idea of ​​"controlling the destiny of heaven and using it".Xunzi also opposed the idealism of "being born with knowledge", and believed that knowledge and talents are accumulated through learning. He said, "If you don't accumulate steps, you can't cover thousands of miles; if you don't accumulate small streams, you can't form rivers and seas."His book is full of simple dialectical materialism.

Among the early works of Confucianism, there is another famous book.It was produced earlier than "Mencius". After Confucius' death, his words and deeds were collected and compiled into a book by his disciples and re-disciples.This is a famous book that has influenced Chinese history for thousands of years. Its significance is similar to that of the Bible in the West. In ancient China, there was even a saying that "half of the book governs the world".The style of the book is very similar to the quotations of later generations. There are twenty chapters in the book, which are the classics on which Confucianism is based, and are also important materials for the study of Confucius' thought. In addition, there are legalists, such as Shang Yang's "Shang Junshu" and Han Fei's "Han Feizi".Among the military strategists, there are Sun Wu and "Sun Tzu's Art of War", Sun Bin and "Sun Bin's Art of War", who are regarded as "Sage of Soldiers".Famous scholars include Hui Shi and Gongsun Long, who wrote "Gongsun Longzi".Strategists include Zhang Yi and Su Qin, and "Warring States Policy" reflects their thoughts.Miscellaneous, the representative is Lu Buwei, who presided over the compilation of "Lu Shi Chun Qiu" and so on. During the Warring States period, in addition to a large number of works on philosophy and political thought, there were also many works on literature, history and science and technology. In literature, Qu Yuan is the representative.Qu Yuan (340-278 B.C.), was born in a nobleman of Chu State, and was a left disciple of Chu State.In politics, he advocated strict laws and regulations, making the country rich and its army strong, and uniting Qi to fight against Qin.But he was exiled due to slander, and Qu Yuan sank in the Miluo River on the Dragon Boat Festival in the year when Qin invaded Chuduying (278 BC).Qu Yuan left many excellent poems, the famous ones are "Li Sao", "Nine Songs", "Heavenly Questions", and "Nine Chapters". In these poems, his deep love for the country, His political ideals and his spiritual connection with the people of Chu State have been strongly expressed. It is a heroic patriotic poem in the history of our country.Qu Yuan's poems absorbed the style of folk songs from all over the country of Chu, and created the poetry genre of "Chu Ci".In the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Xiang compiled the poems of Qu Yuan and his disciple Song Yu into "Chu Ci".Qu Yuan's works are not only a precious heritage of our country, but also a precious heritage of world literature. They have been translated into many languages ​​and recited by people all over the world. In addition to the aforementioned "Chunqiu Zuozhuan", there are also "Guoyu", "Shiben" written by historians in the Warring States period, and the chronicle history book "Bamboo Book Chronicles".These historical works preserve many precious historical materials and are valuable documents for studying the history of the pre-Qin period. With the development of social production in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, science and technology have also made great progress, and a number of scientific and technological writings have appeared.Among them, the famous astronomers Gan De from Qi State and Shi Shen from Wei State measured the positions of many stars, and based on the observation results, they wrote two books respectively, "The Book of Stars" and "Astronomy", which were later compiled into "Gan and Shi's Book of Stars" ", the coordinates of 120 stars have been recorded in the book, which is the earliest star table in the world.In terms of geography, in addition to "Yu Gong" and "Zhi Fang Shi" contained in "Shang Shu" and "Zhou Li", there are also monographs, which include mountains and rivers, roads, ethnic groups, products, medicines, sacrifices, witchcraft, etc. Medicine, etc., also has some myths.It has reference value for the study of history, geography, culture, transportation, folklore, etc. It also has records about minerals, which is the earliest mineral literature in the world.In terms of mathematics, the book "Zhoubi Suanjing", which was probably written in the Warring States period, summarized the mathematical achievements accumulated before the Warring States period, and proposed the Pythagorean theorem of the relationship between the quantities of the sides of a right triangle, which reached the advanced level of world mathematics at that time.In terms of medicine, Bian Que, a famous doctor at that time, wrote the book "Nan Jing".There are also "Huangdi Neijing" written by Huangdi. The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were a glorious era for the development of ancient Chinese culture. It laid the historical foundation for the development of Chinese culture. The books handed down from this period continued and developed the cultural tradition and are the treasures of Chinese culture.