Confucian classics and judgment reasoning

The "Judgment of destroying the Fang Wa" is the examination question of the "Book Judgment of the Outstanding Branch" in the nineteenth year of Tang Zhenyuan (803), and the Quan Tang Wen contains the judgment of Yuan Shu's "Judgment of destroying the Fang Wa". Because the evaluation criteria of the Tang Dynasty officials' trial judgment were based on the Confucian scriptures, Yuan Shu quoted many original Confucian classics in this judgment, and in the judgment of only more than one hundred words, he directly quoted two places of the original text, and quoted two places of the original text that had been changed, so that the reasoning of the judgment was more thorough.

The term "destroying the square tiles" comes from the "Book of Rites and Confucianism": "Mu Xian tolerates the public, and destroys the square and the tiles." Eastern Han Zheng Xuan's note: "Go to your own Big GuiJiao, and go down with everyone Xiao Heye." Kong Yingda of the Tang Dynasty: "Mu Xian and rongzhong, to see the xiansi qi, is Mu Xianye; pan loves everything, is Rong Zhongye." Those who destroy the square and the tile are combined, the square of the square is the square of the object has the gui angle, the tile is broken and the combination is also, the Confucian is square, and the square of the destroyer is the same as the mortals, such as the broken gui angle and the tile vessel. "In layman's terms, it is to destroy the edges and corners, to merge with the rubble, and to compare itself to the crowd.

The facts of the case of "destroying the Fang WaHe Judgment" are: "The Taixue official taught the guanzi to 'destroy the Fang Wahe', and Si Ye thought that it was not the basis of the discipline and was not allowed." That is, the Taixue scholar taught the noble disciples to "destroy the square tiles", grind away the sharp edges and corners, and unite with the crowd like broken tiles. Si Ye, the deputy governor of the Guozijian, did not allow it, believing that this move was not the basis of discipline.

The judgment proposed by Yuan Shu in this case has three meanings:

The first is to make the point of view clear. "If the teaching is the best, though there is no one to be ashamed of, if it is tolerant of the multitude, it is destroying." If you learn too well, you should first bend yourself. That is to say, the Taixue official is responsible for teaching the noble disciples that although they should not be infected by the muddy winds of the world, with the intention of bringing people close to the wise, if they want to be lenient and tolerant, it is necessary to remove their own square edges and corners. Taixue takes enlightenment as its mission, and should first teach it to submit to oneself and obey others.

The second is to lay out arguments. "A gentleman must have an empty heart, but if he has no way out, why should he be self-righteous?" Because of the good temptation, the style of thinking and respecting, will abstain from the sincerity of the dust, and the reputation of the land will be declared. Humble to self-shepherding, Zhongni tasted to be Confucian, Li Gui used peace, and Zi Zhang did not reject me. Yuan Shu twice directly quoted the original text of the Confucian Classics, such as "Gentleman Does Not Instrument", from the Analects of the Analects for Government, "Zi Yue: Gentleman Does Not Instrument", which means that a gentleman should not stick to the means without thinking about the purpose behind it. Another example is "humble to self-shepherd", from "Zhou Yi Qian Gua" "humble gentleman, humble to self-pastoral also", which means humble and self-preservation. Twice quoted the original text of the Confucian Scriptures that he had changed, such as "Must have a humble heart", which is originally derived from the Zhou Yi Xian Gua "There is Ze on the mountain, salty, and the gentleman accepts the words and deeds of others with a humble attitude", which means that the gentleman accepts the words and deeds of others with a humble attitude. "Etiquette is precious and uses harmony", originally from the "Book of Etiquette and Confucianism", "Etiquette is precious", which means that the role of etiquette is to value harmony.

Yuan Shu quoted these Confucian scriptures to show that those who have morality should not be proud, and gentlemen should be humble and tolerant, and should not be arrogant. The scholar guides the students to always think obediently, to be with the light and dust, and to admonish themselves at any time, just like the pottery made of hehe clay. Confucius also advocated humility and self-preservation, bending oneself and accommodating the public, and not alienating those he did not approve of.

The third is to draw conclusions. "Righteousness is not proud, the Tao is praiseworthy, the foundation of goodness is not obedient, and the words of Chengjun are not ignorant." The morally righteous should not be arrogant, the words and deeds of the scholar are in line with the essence of education, and the words of the siye are simply ignorant.

In the Tang Dynasty, the Confucian scriptures were respected, the imperial court governed the country, and the virtue and etiquette were the basis of politics and religion, which was reflected in the selection of officials, and naturally it was natural to take the Confucian classics as the criterion for judging the selection of dengdi. The "Judgment of Destroying the Fang Dynasty" seems to be a dispute between the "Taixue Official" and the "Siye", but in fact it requires the candidates to discuss the education of students to make friends and how to deal with the world. Yuan Shu's sentence not only conforms to the ancient meaning of the scriptures, but also reflects his realistic educational concept and the gentleman's and rongzhong's proposition of dealing with the world, and of course he will be listed after the examination.

Throughout the history of the Chinese legal system, successive generations of officials have adjudicated cases, and lyrical reasoning such as Yuan Shu's quotations from scriptures abound. This is because in the history of Chinese civilization, a large number of classics have been passed down from generation to generation, profoundly influencing the Chinese people. It suddenly occurred to me that today's judgments, especially civil judgments, can also appropriately quote traditional classics such as the Analects, the Book of Filial Piety, and the Tang poems and Song Ci to promote the traditional virtues of good neighbors, relatives and friends, and even parents and children, who have been seized in court due to disputes over real estate, wills, money, and so on, and add some words of ethics and moral advice to promote the traditional virtues of goodwill between relatives and neighbors, filial piety, brotherhood, brotherhood, brotherhood, and "courtesy first". This not only enhances the rationality and persuasiveness of the judgment, but also inherits and carries forward the spirit of traditional Chinese culture. Of course, this requires judges to increase their learning.

(The author is a retired judge of the Liaoning Provincial High People's Court) (Mouth Left Lianbi)

(People's Court Daily)