Some readers asked the small story, "Jin Sheng Yu Zhen" The idiom is used to describe whom? In the opening paragraph, the idiom "Jin Sheng Yu Zhen" is used to describe Confucius.
"Golden sound and jade zhen" is a very beautiful idiom, which describes the loud and harmonious rhythm of music performance, and later also metaphorically compared to people's profound knowledge and learning.
In fact, "Jin Sheng Yu Zhen" was not originally used to describe an adjective of a certain person, the original meaning of this idiom was only related to musical performance.
The "golden sound" in "Jinsheng Yuzhen" refers to the bell, and the interpretation of "bell" in the Shuowen Jiezi is "bell, le zhong also." The bell is characterized by "the first flood and the last killing", that is, the sound will gradually change from large to small when it is struck.
Jade, the "rock" in classical musical instruments, explains: "Pan, the name of the instrument, is also based on jade." The sound of the rock is characterized by "the same end from end to end", and there is no change of high and low.
Because the original meaning of "Golden Sound and Jade Zhen" is to play music with bells and rhyme with chimes, there is a beginning and an end. Therefore, "golden sound and jade vibration" is usually used for sound and music, and has the meaning of loudness and harmony.
For example, the Ming Dynasty literary scholar Xie Hazel wrote in his "Poetry of the Four Mings": "The line of recitation is cloudy and flowing, the sound of gold and jade is heard, the view of The Ming Xia is scattered, and the unique cocoon of the lecture is drawn." This poet four levels".
The use of "golden sound and jade zhen" to evaluate Confucius is the earliest from the pre-Qin literary work "Mencius Wanzhangxia": "Confucius's words are a collection of masterpieces. The set of dacheng is also the same, the golden sound and the jade zhenzhi also. The golden voice is also the beginning of the organization; the jade zhen is also the final rule. The first one who is methodical is also the thing of wisdom; the one who is finally methodical, the thing of the holy. Mencius used the analogy of musical performance to illustrate that Confucius was a sage who had gathered great achievements.
Since Mencius, many Confucian scholars have further sublimated this view on this basis. The Southern Dynasty literary critic Liu Xun said in the "Wenxin Carved Dragon Yuan Dao" section: "To Ruofuzi jisheng, Duxiu Qianzhe, melting jun six classics, will be golden and jade zhen." ”
This sentence means that Confucius compiled the Six Classics, wrote poems, books, rites, and music, and these works began like ringing a bell and ended like a chime, and these works were masterpieces that inherited both the previous sages and surpassed the previous sages.
It can be seen that Mencius was the initiator of the connection between Confucius and the "Golden Sound and Jade Zhen". So why did Mencius use music performance as a metaphor to compare Confucius to a person who "sounded golden and jade"? The main reasons are as follows.
First, because "jinsheng yuzhen" itself is a word with a beautiful meaning
The first point, from the original meaning of jinsheng yuzhen, with the bell sound, with the chime rhyme, there is a beginning and an end, this kind of beginning and end is a virtue, representing a kind of completeness, there is a head and an end, it can be seen all the time.
Therefore, Mencius said, "The one who is first and the most orderly is also the thing of wisdom; the one who is finally well-organized is also the thing of holiness." "Methodical beginning and ending is about wisdom.
Second, when the material used in the rock is jade, gold and jade itself represent a kind of beauty. In the context of traditional Chinese culture, gold and jade as natural objects are often regarded as the essence of all things in mountains and rivers, and are endowed with a unique cultural character.
The ancients had a worship of gold and jade itself, and this worship has a long history, and a considerable number of Chinese characters in chinese characters are jinbu and jade, which is the specific embodiment of the cultural information of gold and jade worship.
The ancients often used "golden jade sound" or "golden jade sound" as a metaphor for sound, or even poetry. The Tang Dynasty poet Qian Qiqi wrote in the poem "Sending Li Si to The Province of Qi": "Qi sings the YangChun Song, only the king is golden and jade." ”
Bai Juyi's poem "Cui Huzhou Gifts Red Stone Qin" wrote: "Eliciting landscape and water thoughts, helping to become Jin Yuyin." The Southern Song Dynasty poet Wang Yuanliang also wrote in "Sauvignon Blanc": "The empty valley lady Jin Yuyin, who knows this heart."
In addition, Chinese idioms such as Jinyu Mantang, Jinyu Liangyuan, Jin Ke Yu Law, Jin Kou Yu Yan, Jin Feng Yu Lu, Jin Zhi Yu Ye and other Chinese idioms all reflect the preciousness of gold and jade and their interconnection with each other.
Third, the golden jade was originally the representative of Zhong Pan, and the bell pan is an important part of the liturgical music, is the playing instrument of the gagaku, the jade pan is only used by the Son of Heaven, and the doctor below cannot enjoy the "music of the golden stone", so it is impossible to use the bell pan.
From this point of view, Zhong Pan is also a symbol of status, and it is also a symbol of high status, representing the difference in hierarchical status, so Zhong Pan adds a layer of noble meaning and representation.
Fourth, Confucianism combines liturgy with virtue, giving JinSheng Yuzhen a symbolic meaning of beautiful virtue, Li sheng is born of virtue, music is born of liturgy, and only those who have virtue can be golden and jade zhen.
The Confucian norms and requirements for liturgy are essentially to require gentlemen to have virtue, and etiquette and music are only ways and means to make gentlemen virtuous, and etiquette restricts people's behavior externally, and pleasure influences people's thoughts and feelings internally.
Therefore, Jin Sheng Yuzhen also has two meanings of pleasure and etiquette at the same time, which is very appropriate to describe the virtue of a gentleman. This gentleman's virtue naturally also represents a beautiful quality.
Second, Mencius's use of "golden sound and jade zhen" to describe Confucius is an apt and figurative metaphor
In the early Western Zhou Dynasty, the "Golden Sound and Jade Zhen" was the most artistic part of the ceremonial ceremony, so Confucius was a staunch supporter and defender of the ritual music system, and the founder of this well-ordered ritual music system of the Western Zhou Dynasty was the Zhou Gong.
Confucius believed that Zhou Gong's liturgical thought and system were a set of institutional systems that were in line with the norms at that time. Confucius spent his life worshipping the Duke of Zhou and devoting his life to restoring the Zhou rites.
In fact, the "lile" system established by The Duke of Zhou is a set of hierarchical patriarchal orders, and the way to build order is "law" and "ceremony" respectively, and "le" is actually to let people strictly abide by the order and integrate into the order.
In the era of Confucius's life, liturgical music was also widely used for sacrifices, township drinking ceremonies, large shooting ceremonies, swallow ceremonies and other occasions, and was an important part of the life of the aristocratic class Zhong Mingding.
The State of Lu was the center of Zhou culture in the East, well preserving the ritual music system of the Zhou Dynasty, and Confucius's understanding of the ancient ritual music system had a strong and simple feeling.
Lile is an important source of Confucianism and an important part of the Six Arts of Confucianism. It can be said that as the essence of the liturgical music system, "Golden Voice and Jade Zhen" has become a musical metaphor for morality, ethics, personality and ideals.
However, in the late Spring and Autumn Period, this system of ritual music was gradually collapsing because of the perennial conquests of the princes (some people say that "spring and autumn without righteous war"), so Confucius issued a lament of the collapse of the music.
Confucius's words are recorded in the Analects of Yang Goods: "Three years of mourning is a long time coming." If a gentleman does not do it for three years, the etiquette will be bad; if he does not enjoy it for three years, he will collapse. ”
Third, the combination of Confucius's thought and "golden sound and jade zhen"
Confucius was a famous thinker and educator in ancient China, and the founder of the Confucian school. Confucius particularly emphasized the idea that the culture of imparting knowledge and cultivating moral conduct must be unified.
As an educator, Confucius required teachers to "teach without class" and "through the state of the world" in terms of teaching methods, and Confucius advocated the teaching methods of "teaching according to aptitude" and "heuristics".
"Lile" is one of the main contents of Confucius's moral education, and Confucius believes that Lile culture is not a study of what life is, but a standard that regulates human behavior and adjusts interpersonal relationships. In order to adapt to the trend of cultural downward movement, Confucius opened private schools to impart the knowledge of liturgical music culture, thus becoming one of the earliest educators in the history of the mainland.
Confucius was the first person in China to make the academic public, to take education as a profession, when he was educating students to read and learn homework, he regulated students' thoughts and behaviors with etiquette everywhere, not only passing on words, but also influencing students by example, which had a huge impact on China's education and still has its indelible value today.
In later generations, in order to commemorate Confucius, many temples of literature were built in various places, and the temple of literature was the ancestral temple commemorating Confucius and the sages of Confucius in various places, and it was an important doorway for the cultivation of traditional Chinese studies and the teaching side.
In the fourth year of Tang Zhenguan, Tang Taizong, in order to promote Confucian thought, issued an edict that "all states and counties in the world have established Confucius temples", so that "if there is no learning in the prefectures and counties, then there is no temple of the first saint", and the temple of literature has achieved unprecedented historical development, so there are two or more temples of literature in some places. The Temple of Literature not only includes a community of sacrificial buildings, but it is often organized with the official palaces at all levels.
The Temple of Literature is not only a space for "rituals", but also a space for "music" that complements "rituals". Confucius taught his disciples to "aspire to the Tao, according to Virtue, according to Benevolence, and travel in art", to enter the moral cultivation according to the standards of Benevolence and to learn the Six Arts, so that the connotation of carrying and inclusiveness in the Temple of Literature and Learning Palace is very extensive.
There are many plaques in the Temple of Literature praising Confucius, and these plaques generally have inscriptions, most of which are affirmations of Confucius's thoughts and morals, such as: "The Table of The Master of The Ten Thousand Worlds", "Teaching the Ten Thousand Worlds", "The Virtue Crown of the People", "The Heaven of Learning", "Sven Zaizi", "The Virtue of Heaven and Earth" and so on.
Confucius's hometown of Qufu, Shandong, has a world-famous Confucius Temple, and to the south of the confucius temple gate there is a stone arch, which was built in the seventeenth year of Ming Jiajing (1538).
On the archway are the four large characters of "Jin Sheng Yu Zhen", which were personally inscribed by Hu Yizong, a famous literary scholar from Gansu Province in the Ming Dynasty. It can be said that these four words are people's affirmation of Confucius's learning, thinking, and morality for thousands of years.