Chapter 4 Section 4 The "New Text" and "Ancient Text" of the Scriptures

There have been different schools of thought in the transmission of scriptures since the pre-Qin period.After the Qin and Han Dynasties, various schools evolved into many branches.According to the "Han Shu Rulin Biography", there were fifteen or six important factions in the Western Han Dynasty: : There are Shiyu, Mengxi, Liangqiuhe, and Jingfang.Among them, the Shi, Meng and Liangqiu schools evolved from the Tian He school, a scholar of the early Han Dynasty.During the reign of Emperor Wu, only one doctor was established, that is, the Tian He faction; during the reign of Emperor Xuan, Shi, Meng, and Liangqiu each established a doctor.The inheritor of the Jingfang School was Jiao Yanshou, who was appointed a Ph.D. during the Yuan Emperor.In addition, there is Fei Zhi's school, Dr. Wei Li.

"Book of Books": There are three schools of Ouyang Hebo, Xiahousheng (also known as Daxiahou), and Xiahoujian (also known as Xiaoxiahou).It was handed down by Fu Sheng, a doctor of the Qin Dynasty who entered the Han Dynasty.During the reign of Emperor Wu, the Ouyang family established a doctorate.During the time of Emperor Xuan, the Xiaoxiahou family also established a doctor. : There are three factions: Shenpei, Yuangu, and Hanying.Its origins are all before the Han Dynasty.Shen Pei is from Lu, so the "Poetry" he handed down is called "Lu Poetry".Yuangu is from Qi, so the "Poetry" he handed down is called "Qi Shi".Han Ying is from Yan, but the "Poetry" he handed down is not called "Yan Shi", but "Han Shi".Lu and Han two established a doctor when Emperor Wen was in power, and "Qi Shi" also established a doctor when Emperor Jing arrived.

"Book of Rites": At that time, "Book of Rites" refers to the 17 chapters of "Shili" (that is, "Rituals") passed down by Gao Tangbo, a beginner in the Han Dynasty, which were later divided into Dai De (also called Da Dai), Dai Sheng (also called Xiao Dai) ), Qingpu three.During the reign of Emperor Wu, there was only one doctor in the "Book of Rites".During Emperor Xuan's reign, Dai and Dai respectively set up doctors. "Book of the Later Han Dynasty Rulin Biography" said that "all three schools have doctors". "Spring and Autumn Classics": "Gongyang Zhuan" has two families, Yan Pengzu and Yan Anle, whose descendants are Hu Wuzidu.During the reign of Emperor Wu, only the doctor of "Gongyang Chunqiu" was established.Emperor Xuan Shi Yan and Yan two established doctors respectively. "Guliang Biography" has Xieqiu Jianggong's family, the successor is Shen Pei, who established a doctor when Emperor Xuan.

Generally speaking, in the Western Han Dynasty, these major schools of classics and scriptures all established doctors, and the scriptures they used were all current editions written in official script. After Emperor Jingdi, some ancient scriptures from the pre-Qin period were successively discovered in various places.According to the "Hanshu·Jing Thirteen Kings Biography", Liu De, the king of Hejian who loved ancient books, had collected many old books in the pre-Qin period, including "Zhou Guan" (that is, "Zhou Li"), "Shang Shu", "Book of Rites", "Mencius", "Laozi" and so on.In addition, there is a King Lu Gong who likes to build palaces. He once demolished the old residence of Confucius to expand the palace, and found ancient scriptures in the walls.According to the records of "Han Shu Liu Xin Biography", there are "Yi Li" (ie "Zhou Li"), "Shang Shu" and "Zuo Zhuan".According to "Hanshu Yiwenzhi", there are also "Book of Rites", "Book of Filial Piety" and so on.In addition, ancient books are also discovered from time to time among the people.According to "Lunheng Zhengshuo", Hanoi women demolished old houses during Emperor Xuan's reign and found one each of "Yi", "Li", and "Shangshu".

These newly discovered ancient scriptures are all written in the ancient characters of the pre-Qin period.It is the kind of writing generally called "big seal" on the pre-Qin bronze wares displayed in the museum.Compared with the official script of the Han Dynasty, the seal script is an ancient script, so these ancient scriptures are called "Gu Wen Jing", and the popular scriptures written in official script are called "Jin Wen Jing". "Jinwen" means "contemporary writing". Whether it is the ancient text or the modern text, the manuscripts at that time have long been lost.However, in 1973, a tomb of the wife of Hou Licang, Dai Dai, was discovered in Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province, from which a number of ancient books from the Western Han Dynasty were unearthed. It is called "Silk Book".Based on this, we know that the manuscripts of Jinwen Jing in the Western Han Dynasty are roughly like that.

Through comparative research, the ancient official script unearthed at Mawangdui is different from the regular script that is in use today not only in fonts, but also in some words and sentences, and even in the order of chapters.Take it as an example, the arrangement order of "Bagua" is different from that in the current "Book of Changes".Also different from this book.In this book, "Tao Jing" comes first, and "De Jing" comes after, so it is called.The ancient version is just the opposite, with the "De Jing" in front and the "Tao Jing" in the back, becoming the "De Dao Jing".From today's point of view, the unearthed Lishu scriptures are today's ancient scriptures, and the current regular script scriptures are today's Jinwen scriptures.The difference between the ancient and modern texts of the Han Dynasty scriptures, to put it bluntly, is just that.

From the standpoint of today's collection of ancient books, no matter what differences there are between ancient and modern times, it is enough to compare and study all the books.But preaching the scriptures in the Han Dynasty was not about sorting out ancient books.At that time, Confucius was regarded as a great statesman who made laws for all generations, and the "Five Classics" were followed as the guiding principles of state governance.Therefore, the explanation of scriptures has a strong political color.Moreover, Taixue at that time was an official institution, so setting up a doctor of classics in Taixue was called "standing in the school".A certain family scripture said that once established as a school official, it means that it has obtained legal status and becomes an "official school". Compared with the "private school" among the people, it has political authority.

As far as the scribes are concerned, they also have a lot of stakes.At that time, it was often possible to achieve success only by "passing the first classic".During Emperor Wu's time, there was a man named Gong Sunhong who relied on a copy of "Gongyang Biography" to be an official to a minister.According to the "Hanshu·Xiahousheng Biography", Xiahou's lectures often advocated to the students: "As long as you understand the scriptures, it is easy to be an official. If you can't read the scriptures, it is better to go home and farm." There is also a man named Wei Xian He said: "Leaving a basket full of gold to your son is worse than teaching him a scripture." It can be seen how important it is for a person's future to master a scripture.It is conceivable that they spent a lot of effort and finally mastered the Jinwenjing, and suddenly came up with an ancient Wenjing to sing against them. Wasn't it to invade his territory and take away his profits?Therefore, the differences between modern and ancient scriptures often involve the interests of different people, even different schools of thought, and different political groups.Especially behind the scenes of "standing in school officials", there are often sharp and complicated political struggles.It is very difficult for the ancient school of classics to get involved in the academic officials controlled by the masters of modern scriptures.Therefore, although the discovered ancient texts were reported to the imperial court, they were shelved and did not receive due attention. They were not rediscovered by Liu Xin, the son of Liu Xiang, a scholar at that time, until the end of the Western Han Dynasty.Liu Xin was originally a scholar of modern scriptures, but he came into contact with ancient scriptures earlier.According to his friend Huan Tan's "New Theory", Liu's father and son had already read "Zuo Zhuan", and even the women in the family could recite it satirically.During the reign of Emperor Ai of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Xin edited books at the Zhongmi (Royal Library), and saw more ancient classics such as "Zhou Guan" and "Mao Shi".So he suggested to Emperor Ai to set up a doctor to teach him, but he was unanimously opposed by the doctors of the Jinwen School.Aidi asked Liu Xin to discuss it with the doctors, but the doctors simply ignored him.So Liu Xin wrote a letter criticizing them (historical books call it "Shi Rang Taichang Doctor's Book", see "Han Shu Biography of Liu Xin").The letter stated that they "preserve the incomplete and deficient, with selfish intentions for fear of being seen (fear of being denied), but do not have the public heart to obey righteousness". )", and also buckled a big hat of "violating the imperial edict, breaking the holy will (violating the imperial edict)".The doctors did not show weakness, and instead said that Liu Xin "recklessly changed the old chapter, not destroying the old emperor's establishment (slandering the doctor established by the old emperor)".Although Emperor Ai rescued Liu Xin, saying that he only wanted to promote the scriptures and could not be said to have "destroyed the establishment of the former emperor", but Liu Xin knew that he would not end well if he offended the ministers in power, so he asked to be transferred to a foreign post and left the court.

Since then, the two factions of modern and ancient Chinese have been in an incompatible state of hostility.According to "Han Shu Rulin Biography", ancient texts such as "Zuo Zhuan", "Mao Shi", "Shang Shu", "Yi Li" were once established as academic officials when Wang Mang was in power at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, but they were all used in the Eastern Han Dynasty. undone.Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty once established a doctor in "Zuo Zhuan", but due to the fierce struggle, only Li Feng was retained for one term, and it was dismissed after Li Feng died.

The struggle between the ancient and modern schools of literature and classics was not only staged in the academic and political circles of the Han Dynasty, but also used by some politicians in the Chinese feudal society for more than a thousand years, until the end of the Qing Dynasty. The Kangliang Reform can still see its shadow.