The imperial reading system has gradually formed since the Eastern Han Dynasty; by the Song Dynasty, the royal family formally established the sutra system.
In the past, most of the officials of the feast were forbidden to preach the scriptures by the imperial court officials, but the Song Dynasty officials were regarded as a special honor if they were also engaged in lecturing. Song Yingzong once said: "The bachelor's office is close to the land, not other officials"; Fan Zhen also said in the "Chronicle of Dongzhai "The Chronicle of the Eastern Zhai" that "the lecturer ... Its number of gifts is excellent, but the ruling minister is also Mo and also! ”
In the Song Dynasty, if a Hanlin scholar was a lecturer, he did not serve as a Hanlin scholar, that is, he was full-time in lecturing. Among them, the Bachelor of Attendants, the Bachelor of Attendants, the Attendants, the Servants, and the Chongzhengdian Storytelling, are also collectively referred to as the "Sutra Feast".
Song Renzong stills
One day as a teacher, a lifetime as a father
Between the officials and the emperor, there is both a relationship between the monarch and the subject, and the relationship between the teacher and the student. Although in the Song dynasty, the official position of the Jing Feast was low, and he could only enter the "waiter" to "set up a lecture" for the emperor, but in the Song Dynasty, when Confucianism was revived, respecting the teacher and the Tao was a common ethic known to all subjects.
Moreover, after the Song Emperor ascended the throne, he did not have a father to respect, and the concept of "one day as a teacher, one life as a father" may not necessarily exist in the hearts of the emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty, but it is possible to regard the jingzheng official as a respectable and trustworthy elder.
For example, during the reign of Emperor Shenzong, Yuan Dai, a senior scholar of the Imperial Household and a servant of the Imperial Household, asked for resignation on the grounds of old age and illness, saying that he was old and his son was not in good health, and he was afraid that once he died, the remains would not be able to be buried in his hometown.
As a result, The Divine Sect comforted him: "It is better to rule for the secretary of state, although the hundred sons are added." "It is not willing to resign from Yuan Dai to return to his hometown, and he is incomparably close to Yuan Dai."
Song Dynasty chancellor stills
And the feast official would also shoulder the responsibility of training the emperor. In December of the fourth year of the Yuan Dynasty, when fan Zuyu heard that he was looking for "milk concubines" in the palace, he immediately spoke to Empress Gao, believing that Emperor Zhezong's fourteenth year was not the time to be close to "female color", and Shangshu advised Emperor Zhezong to "enter the virtue and love the body", and also advised Empress Gao to "protect the upper bow" and "say what is true".
How much respect did the Emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty respect his teachers?
Since the jing feast official was a three-fold identity of a subject, a teacher, and a father, in the eyes of the emperor, he was naturally different from other courtiers, and he was bound to be doubly courteous in the court.
When Emperor Zhenzong was serving for fifteen years, Emperor Zhenzong asked to return to his hometown because of his old age and illness, so he said to him, "If you can have power over this state, why should you fake it?" Therefore, he studied as a scholar of Hanlin to know Cao Zhou.
On the day of his departure, Emperor Zhenzong "gave him the garment and the golden belt, opened the Dragon Pavilion, summoned his courtiers to feast on the Hall of Worship, and gave them two poems of five or seven words." "In the second year, he was summoned back and continued to serve the feast.
Song Zhenzong stills
In the third year of da zhongxiangfu, Xing Fu was seriously ill, and Zhenzong "came to ask about the disease in person, and gave the famous medicine a piece, a platinum instrument thousand two, and a thousand horses of color". In the same year, when The Hanlin attendants Guo Zhen and Xing Fu died, Zhenzong "cried with his own hands" and "abolished the dynasty for two days".
In the seventh year of Emperor Renzong's celebration calendar, Jixian School Counselor and Tianzhangge Attendant Zeng Gongliang was promoted to Tianzhangge to be in the system, and when he entered the xie forbidden period, Emperor Renzong specially summoned him at the Ying Pavilion and gave him three golden and purple clothes, according to the old system, there was no ceremony to change the dress, but Renzong said: "The lecture seat is given to Qing, so he respects The Confucian courtiers are also respected." Zeng Gongliang was in the feast for more than ten years, and Renzong "met him with kindness" every time.
Emperor Renzong was five years old, and after feasting on Zhao Shimin's illness due to the summer heat, Emperor Renzong specially wrote the word "peace" on the fan in flying white, and gave it to Zhao Shimin, hoping that he would recover soon. Before Zhao Shimin took office, Emperor Renzong personally wrote poems to send to Zhao Shimin, regarding him as "Ru Lin Old Virtue".
During the reign of Emperor Yingzong, Liu Chang, a scholar of Hanlin, was ill and asked for an external transfer, but Emperor Yingzong refused and said to the government: "If Liu Chang is easy to get." Every time he saw other Hanlin scholars, he would inquire about Liu Chang's condition and reward Liu Chang with a new orange, and treat Liu Chang very kindly.
All these show that the emperors of the Song Dynasty had special respect and trust for the officials of the feast.
There is no place to sit at the feast!
During the Northern Song Dynasty, the number of officials was not a certain number, and there were only about a few people at the time of Zhenzong.
The small number of speakers reflects the importance attached to the selection of speakers. However, by the third year of Emperor Renzong's reign, the number of people who had been feasted had increased to fourteen, including ten of them. Due to the large number of people, "there is no place to sit in the feast of foreign discussions.".
Ouyang Xiu stills
The reason why Ouyang Xiu even criticized the indiscriminate increase of the number of officials was that in recent years, the bachelors had inherited many of them, and many of them had this position, and the imperial court thought that it was a rule and did not hesitate to push favors. Some people believe that it is a part-time reading position to subsidize the bachelor's degree.
After the celebration of the calendar, it evolved into "all those who come out of hanlin bachelors, for example, change to waiters to study bachelors, and then become stories". It was not until the fourth year of Emperor Zhezong's reign that he formally issued an edict stipulating that "the number of attendants shall be three".
Can the overcharged survive?
The Song Dynasty jing feast officials were officials who were specially designed for the emperor to read, so although the number of sutra feasts in the Yuan Dynasty had increased, if there were improper candidates to serve as sutra feasts, they would still be immediately criticized by the yan officials or ridiculed by the people of the time.
In the second year of Emperor Renzong's celebration calendar, when Dr. Taichang and Tianzhangge were talking about the I Ching at Lin Yujing Feast, they actually suggested that Renzong "frequently go out to feast and travel, and play well on land and water" to conform to the image of the I Ching. Renzong listened to the "shocked words".
When Jia Changchao, the storyteller of the Chongzheng Temple, heard about it, he immediately impeached Lin Yu for "not teaching the words of the saints, and exclusively threatening heresy to listen to them, and it is not appropriate to listen to them in the scriptures", and changed the name of "Virtuous Gentleman" Zhao Shimin as the chongzheng hall to speak for the Chongzheng Temple.
During the reign of Emperor Renzong, Cheyenne was a bachelor and attendant at Longtuge. Although An Zhi "took advantage of the world's wealth and was quite self-reliant", he was "uneducated", and his request to enter the sutra feast was also ridiculed by the people of the times.
During the reign of Emperor Zhezong, Zhao Yanruo, a scholar and attendant of Hanlin, was also dismissed from the post of attendant because of the "evil of concealing the son" and was not allowed to enter the feast of the scriptures.
From these examples, it can be seen that the Northern Song Dynasty attached great importance to the selection of officials for the feast.