I remember that some scholars once said that the era we are in is called the era of science and technology black box, although everyone uses the most cattle technology, but basically everyone does not understand the principles of science and technology. It's like everyone uses a phone, but not everyone knows how it works.
Similarly, we are very familiar with some of the things we use in our daily lives, but we really don't understand how he came to be. For example, when we go shopping, we often say mantras, go shopping.
So the question is, why do you have to say that you buy something when you go shopping? Why can't we say North and South? A small question is enough to overwhelm a large number of people, and it is interesting that in the past, Mr. Zhu Xi asked his students about this, so what is the answer?
In life, most people have had the experience of shopping, and everyone says that shopping is shopping, which is absolutely nationally unified, the only difference is that the language expression is different.
But I don't know if you have found a problem, generally speaking Chinese are broad and profound, but can be clearly expressed. As Zeng Shiqiang said, when western bicycles come in, we can immediately organize language, called bicycles. A simple three words directly and concretely describe the usage and meaning of this thing.
But what is more bizarre is that when shopping, we can't specifically describe what we want to buy, and as a result, our text actually describes everything in the name of buying. East and west are two directions, we can understand, but there are four directions between heaven and earth, east, west, south and north, why only need to buy half of it when shopping?
Therefore, there is a lot of content behind a simple thing, and I believe that many modern people cannot figure it out. In fact, not only modern people can't understand it, but even the ancient people and even the great philosopher Zhu Xi can't figure it out, and they also use this question to question students.
It is said that Zhu Xi was teaching students at that time, but suddenly a woman carrying a basket came out of the classroom, and as a result, everyone's attention was distracted, and even some people stared at the little lady, completely forgetting that Mr. Was still teaching.
Seeing that the atmosphere of the class was disturbed, Zhu Xi did not force everyone to continue to lecture on the text, but simply took advantage of the situation to ask questions to everyone. Zhu Xi asked, You saw the woman carrying a basket in her hand, so what is this basket used for?
Perhaps in modern society, the teacher's questioning in this way will be considered a playful classroom, but at that time, Zhu Xi was particular about science and emphasized the knowledge of things, that is, he thought that everything has its own truth, as long as people can have an epiphany.
The students immediately understood what Mr. Li meant, so everyone diverged their thoughts, all in all, there were all kinds of answers, and one of the students had the loudest voice, directly shouting that she must be going to buy something.
Originally, this topic was very simple, and there was no topic at this point, but Zhu Xi suddenly asked, so why did he have to buy something instead of buying North and South? What does the word mean?
At this moment, everyone was confused, and the originally lively class became silent, and no one could answer. Even Mr. Zhu Xi began to think for himself, wanting to see what was going on? Just as everyone was pondering, a ten-year-old child suddenly raised his hand with trembling. Everyone thought that the little guy was going to go to the toilet, but they didn't expect the little guy to stand up and say, sir, I know what's going on.
Zhu Xi was very curious at the time, and he was also eager to know the answer, so he asked the little guy to stand up and answer. Only to see this little guy said that the so-called shopping for things does not actually refer to a specific thing, but to the direction. According to the Five Elements Theory, the east belongs to wood, the west belongs to gold, the south belongs to fire, the north belongs to water, and the middle belongs to earth.
And a basket belongs to wood, so it will inevitably be burned when it encounters fire, and it will inevitably leak when it encounters water and soil, so only wood and gold can be accepted. Therefore, when you go to the market, you become a shopping thing instead of north and south or middle.
The child's remarks immediately caused applause from the audience, and even Zhu Xi couldn't help but touch his beard and say yes.
It can be said that in this story, Mr. Zhu Xi's Q&A with the child seems to perfectly solve our questions, and the so-called shopping is how it comes. So the question is, is buying something really such a statement?
First of all, it must be explained that the Q&A about Zhu Xi and the child actually had another version during the Chongzhen period. According to Qing Dynasty documents, once, the Chongzhen Emperor once asked about the market price when discussing, and it turned out that when it came to buying things, he asked why he was buying things instead of north and south. As a result, the minister Zhou Yanru gave the above answer, but his view was slightly different, the north and south were water and fire, and water and fire were incompatible, so they could only buy things.
But it is clear that these accounts and legends are far-fetched and cannot be argued for their authenticity. Teacher Yu Gengzhe, a professor at the Hundred Pulpits, once quoted the scriptures and specifically talked about this matter.
According to historical records, in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the idea of buying things appeared, and this concept has never been seen before. So where did this concept come about? At present, the historical community is inconclusive, but there are many documents that can give arguments. For example, one of the records suggests that the Chinese script at that time emphasized an omission, such as dividing the year into four seasons, but we always only mentioned spring and autumn. So the direction has southeast, northwest, and so let's generalize and call it east and west.
Therefore, the purchase of goods is not clearly defined, it requires a large concept to include, and the biggest concept is the five directions. So buying things came into being.
However, more scholars believe that another record is more reliable, and this record is proposed, because at that time, trade at home and abroad was developed, especially with the East and West. Therefore, the transaction with the East and the West became synonymous with shopping, which conjured up the idea of buying things.
Therefore, the origin of the term buying things is either a characteristic of the Language of the Spring and Autumn Period, or a trading tradition of the East and the West. As for those pointed out on the Internet, the so-called purchase of things is the combination of east is buying horses, Western-style buying saddles, and the combination of things and two cities is pure nonsense.
As for Mr. Zhu Xi's argument with a ten-year-old child, I am afraid that it is only a folk tale, and it can only be regarded as the embodiment of a theory of knowledge.
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