Chapter 7 Section 2 Private Confucianism

Confucius' name is Qiu, and his style name is Zhongni. He was born in Zou [zou] Yi (now southeast of Qufu City, Shandong Province) in the state of Lu.Born in 551 BC and died in 479 BC, he was the founder of private Confucianism.When Confucius was about 30 years old, he set up a school in the north of Qufu City and began to give private lectures.Later, it gradually gained fame and more and more disciples, and Confucius Private School became a large-scale teaching group.Confucius opened a private school, advocating that "there is no distinction between teaching and learning", that is, the objects of education can be enrolled regardless of region, age, nobleman or commoner.The students of Confucius private schools are mainly composed of common people, and only a few people are really from the nobility.The object of Confucius private education was extended from the nobles to the common people, which met the requirements of the rise of the scholar class at that time, and followed the trend of academic and cultural decline. This is of great significance in the history of the development of school education in ancient China.The educational purpose of Confucius Private School is to cultivate political talents with both ability and political integrity, which is the so-called "study and excellence will lead to officials". The original meaning of "you" in "study and excellence is official" is "Rao Ye", "Kuan Ye" and "Yu Ye", that is, "to spare power".This sentence means that if you have studied, you can become an official if you have spare energy.The so-called "have enough energy" means to have the time to study leisurely, and the extension means to learn more broadly, deeply, better, and better before becoming an official. "Excellence in learning makes you an official" implies that if you don't study or you are not good at studying, you are not qualified to be an official.This is a big criticism and great progress for the hereditary salary system in the Western Zhou Dynasty.Because in the Western Zhou Dynasty, the qualifications to be an official were obtained by hereditary law.At that time, there were a lot of phenomena in the selection of talents such as "being an official without studying", "being an official without studying" or "learning without being excellent".Before entering the school, the children of the aristocrats were already natural candidates for officials. At that time, there was no requirement of "studying well would make them an official". They went to school to learn a little knowledge commensurate with their noble status.

Confucian Private School inherits the educational tradition of the Western Six Arts—Li, Yue, Archery, Royal, Shu, Mathematics—and educates students to learn the knowledge and skills of the "Six Arts" extensively. "There are strict requirements on both ability and morality.Therefore, in terms of educational content, it is more extensive and profound than the "Six Arts" of the Western Zhou Dynasty.During his more than 40 years of teaching career, he carefully organized the collected historical and cultural materials and compiled them into teaching books, which were regarded as Confucian classics by later generations.The "Six Classics" handed down from generation to generation are basically handed down after Confucius and his students continued to organize and supplement.

(1) Poems from the Western Zhou Dynasty in the Book of Songs.It is said that there are more than 3,000 manuscripts of ancient poems, and Confucius collected, collated, and collated them, and 305 of them remained.The works are roughly from the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, and are divided into three categories: one is "Feng" (that is, folk songs); the other is "Ya" (that is, court music);Confucius said that the three hundred "poems" can be summed up in one sentence as "thinking without evil", that is, the content of their thoughts is in line with the principles of "Zhou Li".Poetry has the characteristics of thinking in images, and Confucius has noticed this feature. He said: "Poetry" can be prosperous, that is, poems have the characteristics of metaphors and associations. emotion. "Poetry" "can be observed", that is to say, through studying poetry, you can observe the rise and fall of social customs, so as to cultivate the observation ability of young people. "Poetry" "can be grouped" means that through learning poetry, it can arouse emotional resonance, so as to cultivate the gregariousness of young people and enhance their mutual friendship. "Poetry" "you can complain" means that by studying poetry, using satirical forms, and criticizing political gains and losses, it is a way to cultivate young people to learn satire.To sum up, studying the Book of Songs can educate young people to understand the ethics of "serving their father and serving their emperor" and cultivate the moral sentiment of being loyal to the emperor and filial to their father.In addition, you can also learn a little natural knowledge, such as "the names of birds, beasts, plants and trees".

(2) The Book of Books Confucius compiled the official political and historical documents of the past dynasties before the Spring and Autumn Period (called "Shangshu").It preserves important historical materials since the Xia and Shang Dynasties, especially the early Western Zhou Dynasty. The purpose of editing scriptures is to summarize and preserve them, and to teach young people the experience of ruling slavery countries. (3) The Book of Rites is Zhouli, including the hereditary system of patriarchal clan hierarchy of slavery, moral norms and corresponding rituals.Confucius attached great importance to etiquette. He said: "Serve the country with etiquette", "If you don't learn etiquette, you will not be able to stand."He believes that the establishment of a country should take the ritual system as the core and establish a new social order.He emphasized that "ritual" must be based on the thought and emotion of "benevolence".Without "benevolence", "ritual" is meaningless, so it is required to achieve the unity of "ritual" and "benevolence".The so-called "benevolence" is a kind of spirit proposed by Confucius to deal with the relationship between people. ,benefit.In this way, it is convenient to adjust the relationship between the various classes and make them harmonious.He advocated infusing the spirit of "benevolence" into "Zhou Li", and "Zhou Li" can play the role of "peace is the most precious" only after being enriched by "benevolence".Confucius also put forward an idea of ​​rectifying names, the essence of which is to appeal to social authority.It can be inferred that it was at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, when the society was turbulent, various orders coexisted, and people's hearts were fluctuating.That's why Confucius talked about "junjun, ministers and ministers, father and son, son and son". like the Father; the Son shall be in the Son's place, and be like the Son.Its purpose is to maintain the necessary sense of authority, and this idea is still very valuable.Because the society at that time was in a period of mutual transformation between old and new authorities, care must be taken to prevent gaps in the field of authority, otherwise it was inevitable that society would lose control.

(4) "Le" in the Book of Music is music. "Music" is connected with "poetry". Separately speaking, "music" refers to music, and "poetry" refers to lyrics. Taken together, "music" also includes "poetry". "Music" and "ritual" cooperate to carry out political and moral education, and its function is to cultivate sentiment.Confucius said that a person's self-cultivation should start from learning "poetry" to stimulate emotion and will; then learn "rituals" to restrain his words and deeds; and then learn "music" to form his character.This is what he said "prosper in poetry, establish in ritual, and succeed in music".Confucius was not only a music lover, he was probably very connoisseur.He sang with others, and if others sang well, he must ask others to sing it again, and then he sang it again with others.Confucius heard Shun's "Shao" music in Qi State, which made him "not know the taste of meat in three months", which shows that his whole body and mind were intoxicated in "Shao" music for a long time.He commented on "Shao" and said: "It is beautiful and perfect", and when he commented on the "Wu" music of King Wu of Zhou Dynasty, he said: "It is beautiful but not perfect." Here he puts forward two standards of literature and art: one One is the political moral standard, which is called "goodness"; the other is the artistic standard, which is called "beauty".Among these two standards, "goodness" is the first, and "beauty" is the second, but he still advocates "perfect beauty, perfection", that is, the perfect harmony and unity of political moral standards and artistic standards.This has a great impact on the formation of ancient Chinese art traditions and aesthetic education traditions.The ancient Chinese art and aesthetic education traditions pay attention to simplicity, elegance, innocence, restraint, and propriety, "resentment without anger, sorrow without injury", happiness without revealing, anger without indulgence, containment without poverty, courage without recklessness , perfection, gentleness, ancient Chinese literature, art and aesthetic education traditions, just like the character of the Chinese nation: both warm and quiet, both profound and simple, both gentle and elegant, both subtle and straightforward, becoming the essence of ancient Chinese traditional culture , The education and infection of the Chinese people is profound.

(5) The Book of Changes is also called "Book of Changes", which was probably formed during the Yin and Zhou dynasties, including 64 hexagrams and their hexagrams and lines, as well as diagrams of hexagrams, Taiji diagrams, river diagrams, and Luoshu.It was originally a divination book that explored the changes of yin and yang to predict good and bad fortune, but the book absorbed the achievements of natural sciences at that time, such as ancient astronomy, ancient meteorology, and ancient mathematics, as well as complex phenomena that were often encountered in social life. It tries to make various explanations and explanations for these phenomena, so it is not only a religious superstition book, but also contains rich philosophy.Confucius attached great importance to it. He read "Yi" repeatedly, and he broke the leather rope connecting the bamboo slips of "Yi" three times.In his later years, he said: "Let me live a few more years, and study at the age of 50, and I will not make any major mistakes!" Not only did he enjoy reading "Yi" himself, but he also taught it to his students as a classic.

(6) The Spring and Autumn Classic "Spring and Autumn" was originally a chronicle of the Lu State. Because it was compiled according to the year, it was named after the two characters of spring and autumn in the four seasons of the year, and it was called "Spring and Autumn".Confucius processed this book, revised it once, and used it as a historical textbook.Although this history book has a clear record of the year and month, the text is too simple, and the historical facts recorded are only an outline or summary, and the details of the events are not recorded in detail.So later someone added narration and comments to it.These narratives and comments are called "biography".There are three "biography" for the "Spring and Autumn Classics": the one written by Gongyang Gao from Qi during the Warring States Period is called "Chunqiu Gongyang Biography", the one written by Zuo Qiuming from Lu in the late Spring and Autumn Period is called "Chunqiu Zuoshi Biography", and another The work written by Gu Liangchi, a native of Lu, is called "The Spring and Autumn Period of Gu Liang".

The Six Classics—Poetry, Book, Ritual, Music, Book of Changes, and Spring and Autumn Period, represent all fields of cultural knowledge before the Spring and Autumn Period, and are valuable as historical materials.Zhang Xuecheng, a scholar in the Qing Dynasty, said: "The Six Classics are all history", which affirmed the historical role of Confucius teaching the Six Classics in terms of the value of historical materials. The Six Classics is the main course of Confucius' private school. Some people say that "Poetry" is equivalent to a literature class, which is equivalent to a political class, "Li" is equivalent to a moral and ethical class, "Le" is equivalent to a music and art education class, and "Yi" is equivalent to philosophy. class, "Spring and Autumn" is equivalent to a history class. Although this statement is not quite appropriate, it is not unreasonable.

The Six Classics had a profound influence on ancient China.China is a country of etiquette. Chinese people like to abide by social morality, abide by rules, and pay attention to etiquette. This is influenced by the "Book of Rites". Chinese people are optimistic and romantic. It is influenced by "Poetry" and "Music"; the Chinese character is multi-faceted and multi-level, concerned about politics, passionate about history, and pursuing philosophy, which is influenced by "Spring and Autumn" and "Yi". The teaching content of Confucius’ private school has less religious content. He is unwilling to talk about ghosts and gods and the afterlife, which shows his indifferent attitude towards religion. This is a major advantage, but the content of Confucius’ private school education involves production skills and theoretical natural knowledge There is less research and teaching, which is another major disadvantage.In Confucian private schools, nature is only used as a metaphor in analogical logic, and has not become the main object of teaching and research, which has had a profound impact on ancient Chinese school education.Ancient Chinese school education has formed a tradition of ignoring nature and rejecting technology. School education is out of touch with science and technology. Both school education content and examination content exclude scientific and technological knowledge, which is very unfavorable to the development of natural science and technology in ancient China.

Confucius "never tired of learning and teaching others" all his life. In his private teaching, he created a teaching method of teaching students in accordance with their aptitude centered on cultivating self-awareness.The gist of it is: (1) Pay attention to individual differences.Confucius often understands the differences in students' intelligence and personality through observation, question and answer, etc. Confucius then conducts targeted teaching according to different personality characteristics.He doesn't have to preach in the same way, often different students ask the same question, but his answer is not the same.For example, a student Zilu asked Confucius: "Should I immediately practice a truth when I hear it?" Confucius said: "With my father and brother, how can I immediately practice it without asking my father and brother for instructions?" Another student Ran Qiu also asked the same question. , Confucius said: "Yes, you should implement it immediately." Other students did not understand that Confucius had two different answers to the same question.Confucius explained: "Ran Qiu has always acted slowly, so I encourage him to act boldly; Zilu has always been bold and aggressive, so I asked him to ask his father and brother for instructions."

(2) Be good at inspiring and inducing.The basic method of Confucius teaching students in accordance with their aptitude is to inspire and induce.He said: "If you don't feel angry, you don't inspire, and if you don't worry, you don't express." The word "enlightenment" comes from this. "Indignation" means that the heart seeks to understand but fails to get it;It means that to teach students, don’t enlighten him when he wants to understand but can’t, and don’t enlighten him when he wants to speak but can’t.This requires mastering the psychological state of the students during the teaching process, so that the teaching content and methods are suitable for the students' acceptance level and psychological preparation conditions, so as to fully mobilize the students' learning initiative and thirst for knowledge. (3) The combination of learning and thinking.Confucius believed: "Learning without thinking will lead you to neglect [wang], and thinking without learning will lead you to perish." If you only read without thinking, you will be easily deceived; if you only think without reading, you will still be puzzled.This view has touched the dialectical relationship between perceptual knowledge and rational knowledge.Confucius also emphasized that to acquire knowledge, you must learn more, see more, and ask more questions. At the same time, you must think about the content of learning, master it, distinguish right from wrong, choose the good, and follow the good. Learn from one example and learn from others.Confucius also asked to have an attitude of humility and truth-seeking when thinking about problems, "know what you know, don't know what you don't know", don't make guesses, don't be arbitrary, don't be stubborn, and don't be self-righteous.For the questions that have not been understood, we temporarily have doubts and wait for further discussion in the future, thinking that only in this way can we obtain true knowledge. (4) Combination of learning and action.Confucius asked to apply what he has learned, and what he learns must be seen in action, that is, to apply knowledge to political life and moral practice.At first, he believed too much in the words of the students, thinking that what the students said would actually be done, so he "listened to his words and believed in his actions".Later, after discovering that the students' words and deeds were out of touch, he asked the students to be consistent with their words and deeds: "Listen to their words and watch their actions." He hated students telling lies, empty words, and big words, and believed that exaggerating words and deeds is the most shameful.As far as moral cultivation is concerned, the fundamental requirement is to "change the good and correct the past".He said that learning is to improve one's knowledge and moral cultivation, not to be used as decoration for others to see.Confucius firmly believed that human wisdom and morality are formed and developed in the process of constantly overcoming shortcomings and mistakes. Sima Qian said in "Historical Records: The Family of Confucius": "Confucius taught his disciples with poems, books, rites, and music. There are three thousand people, and there are seventy two people who are proficient in six arts." The concentration of activities, the large scale of private schools, the large number of private students and apprentices, the rich educational experience of private schools, and the far-reaching influence on future generations are beyond the reach of other schools of private schools.After the death of Confucius, Confucianism was divided into eight schools, the most influential in education are Mencius private school and Xunzi private school, they inherited and developed Confucius' private school tradition from different aspects. Mencius (approximately 372 BC-289 BC), an educator and thinker in the mid-Warring States period, named Ke [ke Ke], was born in Zou (now southeast of Zou County, Shandong Province).The educational purpose of Mencius Private School is to "clarify human relations", to educate students to clearly and firmly believe in the ethical and moral principles of "father and son have relatives, monarch and minister have righteousness, husband and wife are different, seniors and children are orderly, and friends have faith".Mencius devoted most of his life to private education, taking "obtaining the world's best talents and educating them" as his pleasure.Mencius private school pays special attention to the cultivation of people's inner ability, advocates to develop people's natural goodness, regards education as the function of people's inner motivation, and believes that the function of education is not to inject things from the outside, but to inspire people Restoring innate moral concepts, prompting people to be conscious of innate "goodness", and then become sages, so as to achieve the realm of "wealth and honor cannot be promiscuous, poverty and lowliness cannot be moved, and might cannot be subdued".He emphasized "upholding one's aspirations and nourishing one's energy", "having few desires", "changing one's mistakes for the better", and "returning to one's own self". Sacrifice one's life for righteousness", adhere to the principle of morality, and emphasize that people hone their will from hardships and tribulations.From the point of view of good nature, Mencius emphasized introversion, self-cultivation and self-satisfaction, and called for efforts to recover the lost "goodness" and prevent the pollution of the external bad environment.Although these theories and experiences of Mencius's private education have some mysticism, they have already touched the inherent development law that restricts education, and have had a profound impact on later generations of Confucian education. Xunzi (approximately 313 BC-238 BC), an educator and thinker in the late Warring States period, was born in Zhao State (now southwestern Shanxi).The educational purpose of Xunzi's private school is to cultivate scholars, gentlemen, and saints, and the highest goal is to learn to be a saint.Xunzi's private school paid special attention to the influence of acquired human beings, and regarded education as an acquired process of "external transformation [shuoshu]", so it emphasized "changing nature from falsehood".The so-called "pseudo", which means "artificial", refers to the use of acquired artificial education methods to correct and change the innate nature.According to Xunzi's theory of evil nature, following the natural nature of human beings, they will inevitably develop into evil and compete with each other. Therefore, the role of education is to change and restrain human inner nature through external effects, establish artificial moral concepts, and accept social norms. Constraints to maintain social stability.Xunzi's private school attaches great importance to the education of traditional cultural knowledge, so it has a special status in the teaching of Confucian classics.Most of the masters of Confucian classics in the Western Han Dynasty originated from the Xunzi School in terms of academic thought.Xunzi private school had strict requirements on students and teachers had absolute authority, so it was able to cultivate top thinkers and politicians like Han Fei and Li Si at that time.