Chapter 31 Chapter 7 The Value of the Stone Scriptures

Publishing stone scriptures was time-consuming and labor-intensive. It was originally a last resort to publish statutory scriptures to the whole country before the invention of printing, and of course it was the only feasible method at that time.Therefore, the stone scriptures at that time did, to a certain extent, play the role of unifying the scriptures of the national manuscripts with the national statutory scriptures.The first three stone scriptures introduced in this chapter, namely the "Xiping Stone Classic" in the Han Dynasty, the "Zhengshi Stone Classic" in the Wei Dynasty, and the "Kaicheng Stone Classic" in the Tang Dynasty, all had such direct practical value in their respective eras.This is also the original and most basic function of the Stone Book.

After the Five Dynasties, woodblock printing appeared.As the legal text of scriptures, there are "Jianben" scriptures (that is, scriptures edited and published in the name of Guozijian) published by Taixue in the past dynasties. Scholars do not need to go to Taixue to copy scriptures, and it is much more convenient to use Jianben .Therefore, after the Five Dynasties, from a practical point of view, there was no need to publish the Standing Stone Classic.However, in order to show their "cultural governance", the dynasties of the past dynasties were still interested in publishing the Lishi Jing.As stated in the edict of Emperor Qianlong quoted earlier, "I have a prosperous culture and respect for Confucianism and Daoism." scriptures), another stone scripture should be engraved, "with the meaning of the right text of the scriptures of Fuzhen Zun".Therefore, the main purpose of publishing Lishi Jing after the Five Dynasties was nothing more than embellishing "cultural governance" and making an official article of "advocating Confucianism and Daoism".

However, no matter what the starting point of the successive dynasties' publication of the Lishijing is, from the perspective of philology, all kinds of stone scriptures are useful materials for the study of ancient books.Because when the scriptures were published in the past dynasties, the scholars who participated in the matter had to proofread the scriptures before they could be published.From the engraving of the "Xiping Stone Classic" in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Yong and others "revised the text of the Six Classics" and engraved different texts from various schools, to the Qing Dynasty when the "Qianlong Stone Classic" was engraved, Peng Yuanrui, the vice president, ordered the vice president to "correct and determine" the scriptures, and wrote The 13 volumes of "Summary of Textual Research on Stone Classics" were published, all of which are very meaningful philological work.Therefore, for our descendants, these stone scriptures, including their collation and textual research, are treasures with philological value, and they are of varying degrees to our current and future collation of scriptures, and even the collation of ancient books. reference value.Among the seven stone classics mentioned above, the three stone classics of Han, Wei, and Tang are particularly important in philology, collation, and history of Confucian classics.However, the stone scriptures of the Han and Wei Dynasties have been destroyed too much, and there are very few remaining steles and characters, which will inevitably affect their function.

In the first section of the third chapter of the previous article "Shangshu's Jinwenjing and Guwenjing", it was mentioned that "Shangshu" has "modern text", "ancient text" and "pseudo-ancient text".In the stone scriptures, the stone scriptures of the Han Dynasty are the modern scriptures, the Wei stone scriptures are the ancient scriptures, and the Tang stone scriptures are the pseudo-ancient scriptures. The Han, Wei, and Tang stone scriptures each occupy one of them, reflecting the classics and classics. Historical evolution from Han to Tang.If more Han stone scriptures are unearthed in the future, the scriptures of various schools of Han Dynasty Jinwen can be understood more clearly; if more Wei stone scriptures are unearthed, there may be hope of partial recovery of the original authentic ancient scriptures of the Han Dynasty .This may be just a fantasy of the author, but in the history of the development of human civilization, fantasy is also very much needed.

In addition to the above-mentioned values, Tang Shijing has an important historical significance.Because the engraved scriptures of the Five Dynasties were first based on the Tang Shijing.It can be said that Tang Shijing is the first ancestor of engraved scriptures after the Five Dynasties, and it is also a bridge for Confucian classics from handwritten editions to engraved editions. According to "Yuhai", the engraving of Confucian classics began in the third year of Changxing (AD 932) of Emperor Mingzong (Li Siyuan) of the later Tang Dynasty in the Five Dynasties, and was printed by the Guozijian at that time according to the engraving of Tang Shijing, and other miscellaneous manuscripts were banned at the same time.It was not until the last generation of the Five Dynasties, that is, the third year of Guangshun (AD 953) of Zhou Taizu (Guo Wei), that this engraved scripture was completely engraved, which lasted 21 years.All engraved scriptures since then are reprinted editions derived from Tang Shijing.Therefore, Tang Shijing has an important position in the history of the development of books in our country.

After Tang Shijing was engraved, it was criticized by some scholars.According to "Old Book of Tang Wenzong Benji": (October in the winter of the second year of Kaicheng) Guimao, the minister sentenced the son of the country to sacrifice wine, Zheng Tan, to enter the stone wall with nine classics in one hundred and sixty volumes.Good writing at the time, Zheng Tan used the scriptures to inspire and break the writing.So he set up a doctor of the Five Classics, and set up a stele in Taixue according to the stele published by Cai Bojie in the Later Han Dynasty.The emperor also ordered Tang Xuandu, the calligraphy official of Hanlin Le, to resume the school, and the fonts were well-behaved and imitated by the method. Therefore, after decades of stone scriptures, famous Confucians did not look at them, thinking that they were too messy and tiring.

It is true that Tang Shijing has out-of-text, wrong words, and poor proofreading.But no matter how people evaluate it, the Tang Shijing is the earliest complete scripture in my country, and it is also the earliest statutory scripture inscribed in stone in Tang Dynasty after the promulgation of "Five Classics of Justice".It is the source of all printed scriptures today.Its historical status is unique, so it deserves our special treasure. The above introduces the general situation of the "Five Classics" and "Four Books".For readers who have never been in contact with these classics, the basic issues that should be explained are generally covered.Most of the materials and opinions in it are collected from the works of former sages, and the foolishness of two or three ones has yet to be corrected by the Fang family.

In order to get acquainted with the cultural heritage of our nation, in addition to general knowledge, we also need to walk into this treasure house to browse it.That is to say, in order to understand the original features of the "Five Classics" and "Four Books", after understanding the general knowledge, it is still necessary to have direct contact with these classics, at least to look through them, to have a deeper impression and to read them. Make abstract knowledge concrete. If conditions permit, some scriptures still need to be read carefully.For example, like, "Mencius", the two most basic works of Confucianism, you might as well read them carefully.On this basis, according to your own interests, conditions and needs, then consider dabbling in other fields. , "Mencius" these two books, you can read Yang Bojun's "Annotation of the Analects of Confucius" and "Annotation of Mencius" (published by Zhonghua Book Company).These two books not only have text annotations and modern Chinese translations, but also set up a "remaining discussion" item at appropriate paragraphs to discuss the thoughts and theories of the two Confucian masters, Confucius and Mencius.If you finish reading these two books carefully, you will not only have a basic understanding of the origin of Confucianism, but you will also be able to significantly improve your level of ancient Chinese.Interested readers may wish to give it a try.

Of course, we read these Confucian classics today to gain a deeper understanding of Chinese cultural traditions, which is fundamentally different from the "respecting Confucius and reading the classics" advocated by some people in the past. Confucian classics have been criticized excessively after the "May 4th Movement", but in recent years they seem to be overstated.Our attitude should be, and can only be: read and study carefully, criticize its feudal dross, and absorb its democratic essence, so as to serve the construction of our new national culture.This is what the author would like to share with young readers.

Supplementary note on November 8, 1995