Han officials

Chapter 73 The trembling Liaodong students

It is said that Bing Yuan and Guo Yuan suddenly started fighting, which really caught Wei Zhe off guard.

To be honest, Wei Zhe didn't want to see either of them win or lose.

However, in the face of academic disputes, Wei Zhe's words are useless as the sponsor.

One was a famous young scholar, and the other was a disciple of Confucianism.

No matter who they are, they both have their own pride and will not succumb to external forces.

So when persuasion failed, Wei Zhe could only join the group of people watching the fun.

After all, if the fun comes right to your doorstep, you’d be a shame not to watch it.

But then again, it was only after Wei Zhe arrived in the Han Dynasty that he discovered that there were also ideological disputes at the time.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that the two ideological camps are called “Ancient Text Confucianism” and “Modern Text Confucianism”.

But in fact, "ancient texts are not ancient, and modern texts are not modern."

The so-called modern text classics actually refer to the scriptures and explanations that were recited by old Confucian scholars in the early Han Dynasty, passed down orally, and recorded by disciples in the official script (modern text) of the time.

As for the ancient text classics, it does not mean that they are more "ancient", but refers to the classics written in the ancient Zhuan characters (ancient text) of the pre-Qin period that were discovered by King Gong of Lu from the wall of Confucius' former residence during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty.

Therefore, compared with the "Modern Text Classics", the "Ancient Text Classics" appeared later.

……

The next day, south of the Korean city.

Lelang County School, Xiuwen Hall.

The spacious lobby was already packed with people, and even in the corridors outside the lobby there were Confucian scholars waiting eagerly, as if all the Confucian scholars in Liaodong had come to Lelang today.

However, Bing Yuan and Guo Yuan, who were sitting in the middle of the lobby, didn't care at all and only had eyes for each other.

Since the dispute arose from the copy of the "Three Rituals Commentary" that Guo Yuan gave to the county school, several debates also revolved around this core.

"During the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius had never heard of the book 'Zhou Li'. Can the book published later be considered ancient rituals?"

Although Bing Yuan appears calm on the outside, his words are not polite at all and he directly denies the existence of "The Book of Zhou Rites".

Of course, he was not saying that the Zhou Dynasty was rude and lawless. Even if Bing Yuan had ten times the courage, he would not dare to say so.

The "Zhou Li" he mentioned was the book "Zhou Guan Li" which appeared in the late Western Han Dynasty.

It is said that Confucianism has always had the theory of the Six Classics, namely "Book of Songs", "Book of History", "Book of Rites", "Book of Changes", "Book of Music" and "Spring and Autumn Annals". These six ancient books were not written by Confucius, but are ancient books handed down from ancient times.

However, before Confucius, it was owned by princes, royal nobles and hidden deep in the palace.

When Confucius obtained them during the Spring and Autumn Period, he reorganized and revised them, thus making them the Confucian classics.

The same is true for the "Spring and Autumn Annals". The events from Duke Yin of Lu to Duke Ai of Lu, a total of 244 years, were originally recorded by the historians of the State of Lu, and much of the content is even the original text of the history books of the State of Lu.

If Confucius did not comment on various things later, "Spring and Autumn Annals" should actually be called "History of Lu" like "History of Qi".

Fortunately, it was revised by Confucius, otherwise the "Spring and Autumn Annals" would probably have been destroyed in war like the "History of Qi".

But even so, the Six Classics of Confucianism have been lost to this day, and the "Book of Music" will never be reproduced.

But what’s interesting is that some classics become less and less popular as they are passed down, but some classics become more and more popular as they are passed down.

For example, the "Book of Rites" actually originally referred to the "Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial" which recorded the ritual system of the Zhou Dynasty.

It was not until the reign of Emperor Xuan of the Western Han Dynasty that the great Confucian scholars Dai De and Dai Sheng, uncle and nephew, revised and compiled the articles on the "Yili" by Confucian scholars from the Warring States Period to the Qin and Han Dynasties, and integrated the questions and answers between Confucius and his disciples, and also included other classics from the pre-Qin period. They then combined many articles into one place, collectively known as the "Book of Rites".

Because there were also differences between uncle and nephew, there was a division between "Da Dai Li Ji" and "Xiao Dai Li Ji".

At this point, "The Book of Rites" became a general term for "The Book of Rites" and "The Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial".

However, several decades later, Liu Xiang, the Grand Chancellor of the Former Han Dynasty, while proofreading books in the Shiqu Pavilion, claimed to have discovered an ancient pre-Qin edition from the palace's secret archives. He then compiled a collection of these texts, which were later supplemented by his son, the great scholar Liu Xin, resulting in the creation of the Zhou Li. Liu and his son claimed that the Zhou Li, like the Yili, was written by the Duke of Zhou.

So the original "Book of Rites" turned into three books in this dynasty, namely "The Book of Zhou Rites", "The Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial" and "The Book of Rites".

Although Zheng Xuan claimed to have integrated the ancient and modern times, he actually focused on ancient classics and also incorporated the strengths of modern texts.

As Zheng Xuan's disciple, Guo Yuan naturally also held this view.

However, the great scholars of the Modern Text School have always firmly opposed this statement. Those with a more conservative attitude could say that "The Book of Zhou Rites" might have been written during the time of the Six Kingdoms, while those with a more radical attitude even bluntly stated that "The Book of Zhou Rites" was forged by Liu Xin and his son.

For example, Bing Yuan scoffed at Zheng Xuan's annotations to "The Book of Zhou Rites", believing that the book was purely misleading to students.

Since the other person's knife had already cut into his vitals, Guo Yuan naturally stopped being polite and immediately gave a sharp rebuttal.

However, he did not follow Bing Yuan's pace and dwell on the topic of "Zhou Li", but instead spoke frankly about the shortcomings of "Yili".

"The Qin people don't understand Wu dialect, so words are more erroneous than written words." Guo Yuan said calmly, "Your parents were originally from Lu, so their accent is very strong. Moreover, you were already in your eighties when you recited the Book of Rites. So, can we trust the Book of Rites completely?"

Guo Yuan's words actually refer to an old story in Confucianism.

At the end of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the "Book of Rites" had been lost due to wars, and no written records could be found at that time.

At that time, the students in Lu had the best grasp of the basics and could still memorize and recite them orally, so they took on the important task of teaching etiquette.

Later, when the court sent people to restore the classics, his words were recorded in writing.

It can be said that the "Book of Rites" studied by hundreds of thousands of scholars in the Han Dynasty today was all described by this old man.

In this way, no one can know whether it is Confucius' "personal opinion" or Gao Tangsheng's "personal opinion".

Guo Yuan's words basically mean that the study of modern Confucian classics has been useless for the past few hundred years.

Guo Yuan was also smart. He did not deny the "Book of Rites" revised by Confucius, but directly questioned the reliability of the "Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial" believed in by the Modern Text Classics.

All I can say is that your enemies may even know you better than you know yourself!
Bing Yuan hit the nail on the head with one strike, and Guo Yuan also hit the vital point.

The two men exchanged words, and although it was just a verbal dispute, the onlookers felt as if they were seeing the flash of swords.

For a while, the two people who were debating were fine, but the many Liaodong scholars who were watching were sweating profusely.

There is no way. The Confucian scholars in Liaodong are too simple and have never seen such high-end scenes.

They even didn't quite understand how these two could say that.

Don’t you want to live anymore?

However, they do not know that the battle of ideas is worse than the battle of swords.

After all, weapons can only injure the body and take away life, but ideological disputes can destroy everything a person has.

Whether it is tangible or intangible, they can completely destroy it!
Compared with them, Wei Zhe, who knew little about Confucian classics, was relatively confused. It was only after Xi Zhicai's explanation that he understood a little bit.

So Wei Zhe, who was originally in a mood to watch for fun, suddenly realized the seriousness of the matter.

After all, many of the behavioral logics of the Han people today are closely related to the ideas and concepts they believe in.

For example, if Gongyang Confucianism is popular now, then the best way to become famous is undoubtedly revenge.

The more outrageous, tragic, and incredible the revenge, the more praise it will receive from Gongyang Ru.

Thinking of this, Wei Zhe began to listen carefully to the debate between the two...
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I'm still coding the next chapter and will definitely finish it before two o'clock.

In addition, this paragraph may be a bit boring, so I hope my fellow book lovers will forgive me. But I think that to describe an era, it is necessary to understand the social thoughts of that time.

For example, the hippie era in the United States in the last century, and the University of Tokyo, these seemingly intangible things are actually closely related to everyone and are closely connected. National affairs are driven by this, and ordinary people cannot escape the influence of this atmosphere.

So when writing about the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms, the struggle for hegemony in troubled times is certainly the focus, but I always feel that it is a bit pale without the territory of thought.

Of course, my ability is limited. At present, I can only look up information and learn passively. I am not yet able to have a deeper understanding of Confucian classics. If there are any mistakes or omissions, please forgive me!
(End of this chapter)