Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 139: Annotations of Mencius! (First, a 3K)

The entire city of Bianjing was immersed in the holiday carnival, but Su Yun was unable to extricate himself from the books of sages.

Su Yun was not impressed by the Spring and Autumn Annals. In fact, he kept discovering problems while reading it.

Recently, Su Yun has finished reading Zuo Zhuan. Zuo Zhuan mainly records history and does not contain much discussion. In other words, Zuo Qiuming did not put much personal opinion into it and there is nothing much to say.

When Su Yun finished reading Gongyang Zhuan and Guliang Zhuan, he had already filled a notebook with notes.

Oh, that’s what Su Yun thinks should be corrected.

Let me give you some basic knowledge. The Six Classics were compiled by Confucius, and the Spring and Autumn Annals is one of them.

However, the history recorded in the Spring and Autumn Period is too brief, so most people cannot understand it, so annotations are needed.

There are five more famous annotations, namely Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals, Gongyang Zhuan, and Guliang Zhuan. In fact, there are also two other annotations by Zou and Jia.

However, it was lost as early as the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, since the Han Dynasty, scholars can only study the "Spring and Autumn Annals" based on the "Three Commentaries".

But the question arises again, if some people still cannot understand the Spring and Autumn Annals based on the Three Commentaries, what should we do?

Then we can only make more annotations, and there are many such annotations, but each one has a relatively recognized classic.

That is Zuo Zhuan, annotated by Du Yu of Jin Dynasty and commented by Kong Yingda of Tang Dynasty.

Gongyang Zhuan, annotated by He Xiu of Han Dynasty and edited by Xu Yan of Tang Dynasty.

Guliang Zhuan, annotated by Fan Ning of Jin Dynasty and commented by Yang Shixun of Tang Dynasty.

Not surprisingly, these annotators all inserted a lot of their own personal opinions into it.

In other words, the Three Traditions were first stuffed with the personal opinions of Zuo Qiuming and others, and then Kong Yingda and others stuffed a lot of their personal opinions into the Three Traditions when they annotated them.

There is nothing wrong with this. If you don't put your own personal opinions into a book, then the book would be written in vain. The so-called "The Five Classics annotate me and the Five Classics annotate me" means just this.

When Su Yun wrote commentaries on the classics, he also wanted to insert his own personal opinions into them.

The things Su Yun wrote in his notebook were the parts he picked out and planned to re-explain.

By this time, Su Yun had gradually formed a relatively complete idea.

It is in accordance with Zhu Xi's approach that the concept of the Four Books was proposed.

Raise "Mencius", "The Great Learning" and "The Doctrine of the Mean" to a position on par with the Analects, and then put forward the epistemology of "investigating things and seeking knowledge".

Hehe, everyone knows about the art of investigating things to gain knowledge, right?

The idea of ​​"investigating things and seeking knowledge" was actually mentioned in the Book of Rites, but there are many different interpretations among Confucian scholars of different generations. However, this is not important. For Su Yun, the idea of ​​"investigating things and seeking knowledge" is the science of later generations.

Well, first occupy a theoretical high point, then introduce the concept of "investigating things to acquire knowledge", and then introduce physics, chemistry, biology, social sciences and other tools to investigate things to acquire knowledge.

When the scholars of the Song Dynasty used tools such as physics, chemistry, and mathematics to solve social problems, they would prove that Su Yun's theory of knowing through investigating things was correct.

It can also prove that his annotations on the Four Books and Five Classics are correct.

To put it more clearly, Su Yun proposed a theory, and then used tools such as physics and mathematics to prove that these epistemologies were correct, and finally turned this theory into universal values.

That's about it.

However, Su Yun did not intend to start from the Spring and Autumn Period, but instead set his sights on the book of Mencius.

The reason is not only because his research on Mencius was the most in-depth, but also because the book of Mencius was not originally taken seriously.

Although there have been many promotions since Han Yu in the Tang Dynasty, and many more have been promoted in this dynasty, their status is still not high enough.

As for the new theory, Su Yun must make some attempts.

If one's status is too low, not many people will pay attention to what he writes. But if one's status is too high, he will inevitably be attacked if he puts forward many new theories at once.

Mencius is in a rising period, but is not yet regarded as a role model. Trying to comment on him at this time is a good start.

After Su Yun finished reading the three commentaries on the Spring and Autumn Annals, he immediately immersed himself in the annotations on Mencius.

After Su Che's introduction, Su Yun's study of Mencius had actually become sufficiently in-depth.

He introduced the later communist theory for comparison, making Mencius' theory more profound and substantial.

Of course, Su Yun did not copy communism in its entirety, but rather drew on it for reference.

Mencius' theory itself has a communist flavor. Some people say that Mencius is the first great scholar to construct a "communist" society where people are well-fed and well-clothed and live happily together from the three aspects of economy, thought and politics.

For example, Mencius’ “Four Beginnings” embody the highest qualities of human beings under the “communist” system.

In Mencius' "Well-field System", the land was divided into a well shape, and the land around each well was cultivated by eight families, with each family cultivating a part of the land and making a living together.

The land in the middle is public land, which is cultivated by everyone and the harvest belongs to the public.

Mencius also proposed the theory of emphasizing agriculture without suppressing commerce, which improved the traditional economic idea of ​​"emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce".

These theories naturally have idealized parts, but what kind of theories are they if they are not idealized?

What Su Yun wanted to do was to describe Mencius' theory in depth and make it concrete.

After all, he had seen more things in later generations, and his understanding of these theories was much deeper than that of the Song people, so what he wrote was naturally more convincing. Su Yun had studied Mencius very deeply, so this collection of notes was written quickly, and it took only seven or eight days to lay the framework.

But Su Yun was very cautious and planned to make fine revisions before releasing it to the public.

It can be predicted that once this collection of Mencius's annotations is published, it will attract the attention of the world and will also attract overwhelming criticism.

This collection of annotations on Mencius is Su Yun's interpretation of an innovative philosophical system with the help of classics, although he has tried his best to attach importance to ancient annotations and pursue the original meaning.

But for those Confucian scholars who pursue the absolute original meaning of classics, this is a distortion of the classics!

Moreover, although the Song Dynasty ruled the country with benevolence and filial piety and had a tradition of loving the people, and even proposed sharing the world with the literati and officials, the concept that the people were more important than the emperor still did not take root in people's hearts.

Therefore, their criticism and accusations will be extremely serious at that time, and Su Yun will have to be cautious.

However, the risk is worth it.

Once his "Collected Commentaries on Mencius" is accepted by the world, Mencius' status will be greatly improved and he will become the second saint of Confucianism.

The impact will be unimaginable.

Once Mencius, who advocated that "the people are more important than the king", was officially established as the second sage, it would also mark the beginning of a period of enlightened despotism for China.

And Mencius's book also doubled its value, jumping from the Zi section to the Jing section!

With his own efforts, he promoted Mencius, a sage with relatively low influence in Confucianism, to the status of the second sage, and pushed the book of Mencius from the section of "Zi" to the section of "Jing". This event will also make Su Yun one of the great masters of Confucian classics in the world!

Hey.

Su Yun was looking at the completed "Collected Commentaries on Mencius" and laughing. Suddenly, he heard chaotic footsteps coming from outside and quickly put it away.

It's not a good time to be seen now.

I'm just a little surprised. Today is the Lantern Festival, so why are there still people coming here?

Feng Qian and others are all from Bian Jing. If it weren’t for the Lantern Festival, they would not have come to the Imperial Academy. Who is coming here now?

Just as Su Yun put the book away, Wen Huanghua's loud voice came in: "Brother Juzheng, you are indeed in the Imperial College. We have been looking for you for several days!"

Su Yun looked back and saw that Wen Huanghua, Pan Jingren, Xia Yongan, Yang Bing and others had all arrived. He was a little surprised and asked, "If I remember correctly, today is the Lantern Festival, why are you here?"

Wen Huanghua smiled and said, "Brother Juzheng, we have been looking for you so hard. We asked everyone where you lived, but no one knew.

Finally, I looked for Zhang Ze and found out that you were still living in the Imperial College. You are too serious. Have you been studying in the Imperial College since the Spring Festival?"

Su Yun smiled and said, "I don't really like crowds. Anyway, I don't have many friends in Bianjing City, so I might as well stay in the Imperial College and study."

Wen Huanghua cried out, his face full of grief, and said: "Brother Juzheng, what you said is really sad. Aren't we your friends? There are so many of us, how can you say you don't have many friends?"

Upon hearing this, Su Yun quickly bowed his hands to apologize and said, "I was wrong, I was wrong."

Everyone burst into laughter.

Wen Huanghua smiled and said, "Since you know you are wrong, come with us to drink and enjoy the lanterns today. That will be your apology to us."

Su Yun hesitated for a moment.

Yang Bing said with a smile: "Ju Zheng, tonight is the Lantern Festival. Bianjing City is very lively. No one will stay at home tonight. Most people in Bianjing City will come out to enjoy the lanterns, eat and drink, and attend various parties. You usually say you want to study, and we all respect you, but today we can't let you do whatever you want!"

Su Yun smiled and was about to speak when Wen Huanghua laughed and said, "Come here, arrest Ju Zheng and make him go to the restaurant with us tonight!"

The people behind started laughing loudly, and a few mischievous ones jumped out to start a drama and were about to arrest Su Yun.

Su Yun quickly begged for mercy, saying, "Okay, okay, I'll go. I'll go, okay? Wait for me to change my clothes."

Then everyone stopped and smiled, but did not leave.

Su Yun said helplessly: "Everyone, I need to change clothes, can you please step aside for a while?"

Everyone laughed again, and Pan Jingren said with a smile: "We are all men, there is nothing to be shy about, is it because Ju Zheng's capital is not good enough?"

Everyone burst into laughter again.

Su Yun sneered when he heard this: "You are asking for trouble."

Since they were not leaving, Su Yun was not a coward, so he changed his clothes in front of everyone.

Of course, I didn’t take off everything, after all, I was still wearing autumn clothes underneath.

After a while, everyone was in a trance.

Especially when Pan Jingren slapped himself in the face and said, "I am such a cheap bastard."

Su Yun changed his clothes, then looked down upon the crowd and said with a smile, "Don't worry about these details."

Xia Yongan was a mischievous person. Hearing this, he shouted, "Of course we don't care about the details. This is clearly a major event!"

Everyone burst into laughter.

They were all young people, and most of them spoke without airs, which made Su Yun feel like he was back in university in his previous life.

　Correction: The above article says that people go to school on the eighth day of the first lunar month. I checked and found that the Spring Festival holiday in the Song Dynasty usually started from the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month and lasted until the end of the Lantern Festival. During the Spring Festival, people in the Song Dynasty generally had three days off before and after the first day of the first lunar month, and seven days off for the Lantern Festival. In this way, most of the first month was spent on holiday, so people did not go to school on the eighth day of the first lunar month, and only started to go to school after the Lantern Festival.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)