Chapter 25 The origin of the first stone scripture

What is the Book of Stones?The Stone Scriptures are scriptures engraved on stone tablets, which are legal scriptures published by the government to the whole country through Taixue, the highest institution in the country.The stone scriptures of all dynasties are all established in Taixue, which can be regarded as the "stone edition" legal textbooks published by the government in ancient my country. Before the invention of printing, books were hand-copied.At first, they were copied on bamboo slips or wooden slips, called bamboo slips, and those with a little more attention were copied on silk, called silk books.After the invention of papermaking, paper was gradually used for copying books because paper was lighter.Because of repeated copying, it is inevitable that mistakes will be made. Not only typos, omissions, strings, and sentence breaks are unavoidable, but entire chapters and paragraphs are also possible to be reversed. Therefore, the scriptures used by scholars are often written in different words.However, the national examinations in the Han Dynasty could only be based on the official scriptures prescribed by the government, so disputes over writing often occurred.For this reason, not only did doctors criticize each other [jie rob], there was even a scandal of bribing officials in charge of government collections in an attempt to secretly alter scriptures to conform to personal private books.

Originally, by the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the style of study at Taixue had become increasingly corrupt.According to the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty Rulin Biography", in the Taixue in the era of Emperor An of the Eastern Han Dynasty: The doctor leans on the table and does not speak, and the friends and disciples look at each other and are lazy.The schoolhouses are decadent, and they are turned into garden vegetables (all of them have become vegetable gardens).Mu'er 獛 vertical (herds and woodcutters. 荛: rao Rao, firewood), as for the salary (firewood) under it. In the era of Emperor Shun of the Eastern Han Dynasty, although many school buildings were restored, the style of study continued to deteriorate:

The chapters and sentences (explanations of the scriptures) are gradually sparse, and most of them are glorified, and the style of Confucianism is declining!Later, there was an angry dispute, and they even told each other (speaking ill of each other).There are also private gold goods Dinglantai (palace library) lacquer scriptures to match their private documents. What we are talking about here is the matter of bribing officials in charge and ordering scriptures privately.Therefore, in the fourth year of Xiping Emperor Lingdi of the Eastern Han Dynasty, "Naizhao all Confucians corrected the Five Classics and published them on stone tablets", "The school of trees will make the world take the right way".That is to say, Emperor Ling made up his mind to engrave the standard scriptures on stone tablets, set them up in Taixue, and announce them to the whole country as national legal textbooks, with the intention of unifying scriptures across the country and preventing private abuse.Therefore, as soon as the Stone Book was published, it was immediately welcomed by scholars.According to "Book of the Later Han·Cai Yong Biography":

When the stele was erected, those who watched and copied it filled the streets with more than a thousand two (vehicles) a day. From the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, for more than a thousand years, from the central government to the local government, many stone scriptures were engraved.However, it is officially promulgated by the government in Taixue, and there are real objects to test. There are mainly the following seven parts.They are: Han Stone Classics are commonly known as "Xiping Stone Classics".It was carved in the fourth year of Lingdi Xiping of the Eastern Han Dynasty and completed in the sixth year of Lingdi Guanghe.

Wei Shijing is commonly known as "Zhengshi Shijing".Three Kingdoms Wei Feidi (Qi Wang Cao Fang) was established in the second year of Zhengshi. Tang Stone Classics are commonly known as "Kaicheng Stone Classics".It was carved in the seventh year of Emperor Wenzong's Yamato and completed in the second year of Emperor Wenzong's reign. Shu Stone Classics are commonly known as "Guangzheng Stone Classics".During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, it was engraved in the first year of Guangzheng (Meng Chang [changchang]), the Empress Lord of Shu (Meng Chang), and completed in the sixth year of Xuanhe, Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty.

The Stone Classics of the Northern Song Dynasty are commonly known as "Jiayou Stone Classics".It was engraved in the first year of Emperor Renzong's Qingli reign and completed in the sixth year of Emperor Renzong's Jiayou reign. The Stone Classics of the Southern Song Dynasty are commonly known as "Shaoxing Yushu Stone Classics", which were carved in the fifth year of Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty in Shaoxing and completed in the fourth year of Emperor Xiaozong's Chunxi reign. Qing Stone Classics are commonly known as "Qianlong Stone Classics".It was carved in the fifty-sixth year of Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty and completed in the fifty-ninth year of Qianlong's reign.

Of the seven largest stone scriptures, only two are still intact today.One is the Tang Stone Classic, which is now in the Xi'an Forest of Steles Museum.One is the Qing Stone Classic, which is now preserved in the Imperial College of Beijing.For the rest, due to war and other man-made destruction, like the Southern Song Dynasty Stone Classics, only a part of steles are left in Hangzhou, while the Han, Wei, Shu, and Northern Song Dynasty Stone Classics can only see a few unearthed residual stones. Regarding these seven stone scriptures, there are systematic descriptions in the chapter "Shangshu and Stone Scriptures of Past Dynasties" in Zhang Guogan's "Research on Stone Scriptures of Past Dynasties" and Liu Qizhen's "Case Study on the Origin and Biography of Shangshu".