Source: Zhongzhou Academic Journal, No. 5, 2021
Abstract: Confucius lived at the key historical node of the transformation of state governance from the integration of politics and religion to secular politics, and was not only the last ancient Confucian of politics and religion in the six generations, but also the earliest political neo-Confucianism in the Spring and Autumn Period, so his quotations have the characteristics of political and religious mixtures, as well as the tendency of secular politics. The disciples later learned to compile the Analects, which not only excluded a large number of religious quotations from Confucius, but also did not include all the long quotations of his political research and historical research, and only selected some short and scattered political quotations.
Its purpose should be: First, to highlight the image of Confucius as a secular politician, thinker, philosopher, and educator, so that Confucius Studies can completely become secular political science; second, to make the "Analects" that are easy to understand and easy to remember become the "popular version" of Confucius Studies, and the long quotations with strong theoretical nature become the "academic books" of Confucius Studies, and the two jointly establish the historical status of Confucius Studies as a theoretical summary of the six generations of learning and the study of the six arts, and the theoretical origin of the disciplines of politics, education, literature, history, and philosophy in later generations. This is the important contribution of the analects to the enhancement of Confucius's image and the status of Confucius.
Keywords: Editing of the Analects; Warring States Sons; Book of Rites; Book of Rites; Book of Great Dai Rites; Secular Politics
According to the "Zuo Zhuan", the Warring States Sons, the "Book of Rites", "The Book of Dai Li" fragments and other surviving documents, Confucius has a large number of quotations. [1] A very simple comparison of these quotations with the Analects shows that these quotations have four major characteristics:
First, except in a very few cases, none of them have been compiled into the Analects, indicating that the Analects is only a selection of confucius's master and apprentice quotations, and that the purpose, criteria, and basis for its compilation have not been seriously paid attention to by scholars in the Warring States.
Second, the main contents are funeral sacrifices, political research, and historical research. [2] The religious quotations of Confucius's disciples, both in terms of the total number of chapters and texts, are at least three times the analects of confucius, indicating that Confucius was first an expert in religious etiquette and then a secular thinker, statesman, philosopher, educator, and historian. That is to say, Confucius was originally an ancient Confucian with a mixture of politics and religion, which is very different from the image of Confucius shown in the Analects for thousands of years.
Third, its length includes many sporadic remarks of a few words, a dozen words, and a few crosses, and if it is not edited into a volume, it will be inconvenient to pass it on to the world; there are also long treatises that can be independently written into volumes, independently written, and independently passed down from generation to generation at every turn with thousands of words or even thousands of words, without editing at all. The impression left by the Analects is that Confucius always speaks in three words and two words, so that many scholars even take the Analects as an example to argue that the thinking characteristics of Chinese are longer than comprehension and shorter than speculation, which is very different from that of the West.
Fourth, there are very random on-site answers to questions in the way of speech, as well as quotations with rigorous conception, rigorous argumentation, complete theoretical system, and speculative color. [3] The Analects gives the impression that Confucius's thought lacks theoretical depth, like the white-bearded grandfathers who can be seen everywhere in rural China, so that the German philosopher Hegel is not without irony that Confucius was only a "secular philosopher", and his judgment has been recognized by many philosophers in modern China.
Although the Warring States Sons often quoted Confucius quotations, they always quoted only scattered secular political quotations, never quoted Confucius's religious quotations and long treatises on major theoretical issues [4], indicating that even the image of Confucius and the impression of Confucius in the hearts of the Warring States Sons were largely shaped by the Analects, which was far from the real Confucius and the original Confucius. Fortunately, in order to save the Zhou Dynasty literature, han beginners have collected a large number of Confucius master-disciple quotations that have not been collected in the Analects, and we have the privilege of seeing a more authentic Confucius and experiencing a more authentic Confucius.
The time when the quotations of Confucius's teachers and apprentices were recorded was about eighty years ago. [5] The compilation and compilation of these quotations should go through two nodes and three stages.
The two nodes are the death of Confucius and the death of Zengzi: Confucius died, the disciples concentrated on keeping filial piety for three years, during which they should summarize and edit the single quotations such as the "Xueer Chapter", if the sporadic quotations of Confucius are not summarized and edited into a chapter at this time, when the mourning period expires, the disciples disperse, these sporadic quotations may die; when Zengzi dies, the disciples of Zengzi collect and compile single quotations such as the Zizhang Chapter [6] and make them passed on, and after a few years, select some of the single quotations passed down to assemble the Analects.
The three stages are: Confucius's late years, the stage of independent transmission of long treatises that do not need to be edited; the stage of Confucius's death until the death of Zengzi, the sporadic quotations are edited into volumes, each independently passed down; and the stage of the analects being written and passed down from generation to generation.
The editors of the Analects simply selected a part of the individual quotations that had been handed down and assembled them into books to make it easier to disseminate Confucius, and there seemed to be no need for discussion. However, a simple comparison between the Analects and the above literature shows that the selection of the Analects has two very obvious characteristics:
First, the Analects only contains some of the secular political quotations of Confucius's teachers and disciples, almost completely eliminating their religious quotations, and even if they are occasionally included, they only express the filial piety of future generations to the ancestors of ghosts and gods, which are completely different from the primitive religious beliefs and religious feelings of the soul not dying and the cycle of life; second, the Analects completely do not include Confucius's long quotations with strong theoretical and speculative colors, and only include some sporadic political quotations.
Why did the editors of the Analects choose materials in this way, what purpose they wanted to achieve, whether they achieved the goal, and what impact this move had on the shaping of Confucius's image and the establishment of the academic status of Confucius, this is the question to be discussed in this article.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="41" >, the purpose and meaning of religious quotations are excluded</h1>
The religious quotations of Confucius's disciples are scattered quotations, the largest number of which are among all the subjects, and you will see it when you open the Book of Rites. The most familiar example for scholars in the Warring States so far is a few chapter quotations from Confucius asking Lao Tzu for the details of funeral rituals [7], but scholars lack interest in other religious quotations, which is obviously closely related to the general trend of secularization in China so far in the Warring States. The Analects almost completely eliminated these religious quotations, and their profound reasons and special significance have not been noticed by ancient scholars.
The ideology and culture of the early days of human civilization were all mixed with people and gods, so all the clan and tribal countries did not have the same way of governance as a combination of administration and religion, and the early chiefs and princes of various ethnic groups and countries were both political leaders and religious leaders, thinkers and politicians as well as religious experts, and all kinds of historical documents also had the characteristics of a mixture of politics and religion.
The six generations of sages of the Chinese Yao ShunXia Shang Zhou, The Six Dynasties of Spring and Autumn, and the six generations of poetry, books, rituals, and Yi Spring and Autumn all have the characteristics of a mixture of politics and religion. For example, the six generations of Heavenly Kings and Princes Qing Dafu were also political leaders and grand wizards of the tianxia national family Caiyi in politics and religion. The Zuo Zhuan often says that Lu Hou "Lord Lu Qi" and Jin Hou "Lord Jin Qi" and so on, "Lord Qi" means not only presiding over religious activities, but also presiding over political activities.
The sacrificial songs in the Book of Poetry, what the Son of Heaven uses, and what the princes use have very strict regulations, otherwise it is a transgression of the ritual system, and there will be a risk of killing the head. Every spring, only the heavenly king can worship the heavenly emperor, and the ancestors deserve it, and the princes have no religious power or political power. The place of worship of the Heavenly King's Spirit Lord is called "temple", the princes are called "palace", and Lu Hou actually calls the "palace" of Zhou Gongzhi "Taimiao", and the suburbs worship the Heavenly Emperor, so the "Eight Chapters" often criticize Lu Hou and his powerful minister JiSun for transgressing the etiquette system.
The Shang Shu and the Analects all record that Yao Shun Da Yu Zen Rang, Zen Ren, all solemnly admonished the Zen recipients, "The four seas are poor, and the heavens will never end." When "the world is just", "Lu" originally refers to the religious and political rights of the chieftain Tianwang, and after "the world is home", it also refers to political and economic interests, so there is the saying of "Jue Lu" and "Lu Position", then "the poverty of the four seas" is political economy, and "Tianlu Eternal End" is religious and political economy. Examples of such apostocratic mishmash abound in the Six Dynasties literature.
Six generations later, Chinese history entered the Warring States period. Judging from the documents passed down from generation to generation, about the middle and late Warring States period, when the West had just begun to enter the era of religiousization, China had already surpassed the stage of religiousization and basically completed the historical process of secularization, and the religious beliefs and religious feelings of the Chinese at that time were no different from those of today's people.
For example, Mencius once took pains to repeatedly argue that Emperor Shun's filial piety, saying that when his parents and brothers killed him, he quickly fled, and if he did not kill him, he immediately returned to filial piety to his parents and fraternity to his brothers, as if murder had never happened, so Emperor Shun became the earliest filial piety and benevolent brother of the Chinese nation. When such stories were passed on by word of mouth in the early days, they must be closely related to the belief in the life cycle, otherwise Emperor Shun would not have been able to do so. However, because Mencius's time had no religious beliefs or feelings to speak of, he had to argue from the secular ethics and morality, so even if he worked hard, he could not convince any reader of the Warring States to date. 【8】
Another example is that in the Spring and Autumn Period, Wu Zhu still had a bit of faith in ghosts and gods, while Wu Zhu in the Warring States Period only took advantage of the religious beliefs and religious feelings that remained in the world to fool the living with ghosts and gods, that is, to deceive, as long as the "Zuo Zhuan" and the "Warring States Policy" were read together, anyone would come to exactly the same conclusion. During the Warring States period, such cases of almost complete secularization also abounded.
Confucius lived at the end of the Six Dynasties, the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, and as soon as Confucius died, the Six Dynasties ended, and the almost completely secular Warring States Era arrived. That is to say, Confucius lived at the end of the era of the mixture of man and god and the integration of politics and religion, and the era of the dichotomy between man and god and secular politics governing the world is about to reach a key historical node, so he has both traces of the mixture of ancient Confucian politics and religion in the old era, as well as the distinctive characteristics of the secularization of thinkers, politicians, philosophers, and educators in the new era. This is the background of the times that we must pay special attention to when studying the phenomenon of the Analects eliminating the religious quotations of Confucius's teachers and disciples.
Of the six generations of Chinese readers, the ancient history is generally called "Confucianism" [9]; the six generations of ancient books, the ancient history is generally called "Confucian Book" [10]. This article refers to the Confucianism before Confucius as the ancient Confucianism of political and religious mixtures; and the Confucianism after Confucius as the neo-Confucianism of secular politics. [11] The composition of ancient Confucianism is very complex, but most of them have the characteristics of a mixture of politics and religion, and their main duty is to assist the princes of the Heavenly King, Qing Dafu, to govern one side by both political and religious means, and is the oldest squire and priest in China. 【12】
Ancient Confucianism is likely to be more concentrated in The Ancient Land of Dongyi such as Lu Weiqi song [13], which should be related to the highest cultural level of Dongyi represented by the Yin people[14]; ancient Confucianism began to fade its religious color, possibly starting in the Western Zhou Dynasty, which should be related to the tragic historical lessons of the late Shang rulers' excessive reliance on ghosts and gods and excessive contempt for Cangsheng, which led to the demise of the small state of Shu'er; the acceleration of the secularization process in the Spring and Autumn Period may be related to the widespread use of iron tools, the rapid economic development, the people of the world more confident, and the awakening of people's consciousness. There is no need to continue to rely too much on the objective situation of the ghosts and gods.
Confucius lived at such a critical historical juncture in the transformation of ancient Confucianism into secular political neo-Confucianism, so Confucius was not only the last ancient Confucian of the six generations of political and religious mixtures, but also the earliest political neo-Confucianism in the new era from the late Spring and Autumn Period to the present, which was almost completely secularized, and his political activities and religious activities were very frequent, and there were many quotations in both aspects.
But Confucius could not fail to understand that the world is accelerating secularization, which is the general trend of history and the correct direction, that the unity of the church and state cannot govern the world, and that only correct secular politics can solve the problem of chaos and disorder in the world, so that the world can be restored to tranquility and recuperation. Therefore, Confucius often participated in the religious activities of funeral sacrifices, and at the same time began to do the work of transforming the ancient Confucianism under the door, and eventually transformed himself and his disciples into secular political neo-Confucianism of "Zushu Yao Shun, Charter Wenwu". 【15】
Confucius's disciples and disciples faithfully recorded both the secular political quotations of Confucius's disciples and their religious quotations, which is a straight book and an extremely ancient Chinese historian tradition. However, the editors of the Analects naturally also understand that it is impossible for religious ghosts and gods to govern the world and help the living beings, and only secular politics can govern the world, which is the fundamental reason why the Analects finally eliminated a large number of religious quotations from Confucius's disciples.
That is to say, the literature that has been handed down from generation to generation objectively shows that Confucius's teachers and disciples are not only secular thinkers, politicians, philosophers, educators, and priests, but also seem to be no different from the six generations of ancient Confucianism with mixed politics and religion. However, such original records obscure the essential characteristics of Confucius's disciples as the earliest secular political neo-Confucianism, so the editors of the Analects eventually eliminated the religious quotations of Confucius's masters and apprentices, and only included their secular political quotations, which highlighted the essential characteristics of Confucius's new politicians and new thinkers in the new era. The Analects is a must-read book for all readers of the Warring States so far, and it completely eliminates the religious quotations of Confucius's teachers and apprentices, thus reshaping the new image of Confucius's politicians and thinkers, so that for more than two thousand years, the descendants only know that Confucius is a secular politician, thinker, philosopher, educator, and few people know that Confucius was first and foremost a well-known priest. This is the purpose of the editors of the Analects to eliminate Confucius's religious quotations, and it is also the unique and valuable historical contribution made by the editors to shape the image of Confucius and establish the status of Confucius.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="162" > second, the academic division of long quotations and short chapters of the Analects</h1>
In terms of length, all the religious quotations and the vast majority of political quotations of Confucius's disciples are scattered short quotations, which need to be summarized at one time or several times [16] and compiled into several volumes and several articles before they can be circulated in the form of single-volume single quotations, and finally decide which single-volume single quotations should be included in the Analects and made into books to make it more convenient for the dissemination of Confucius.
However, the "Book of Rites" and the "Book of Great Dai Li" also contain many long quotations from Confucius on major realpolitik issues and ancient historical issues, all of which were recorded when Confucius was mature in his later years [17], with major topics, rigorous systems, rigorous arguments, profound thoughts, and extremely high historical and cultural value and ideological theoretical value.
My learning experience is likely related to the classification and division of labor of Confucius quotations by the editors of the Analects: the Analects consciously only contains some short, easy-to-remember, easy-to-understand sporadic secular political quotations, making them the "popularization book" of Confucius, and its set readers are ordinary readers, and its main responsibility is to popularize Confucius and popularize Confucius, thus influencing ordinary aristocrats and ordinary readers in the world;
And those long political research quotations and historical research quotations that are particularly theoretical, have extremely high ideological and theoretical values, have very strict arguments, are very long, ordinary readers cannot read or understand, and even if they understand, they cannot remember, may be the "academic book" of Confucius, and the readers they set should be the top masters in the world, and their main duty is to jointly embody the whole picture of secular Confucius and jointly establish Confucius as a creative summary of the study of the six generations and the six arts. The lofty historical status of the theories of the disciplines such as politics, religion, literature, history, and philosophy in the next hundred generations.
Only by reading the "Popularization Book" and the "Academic Book" together can readers see the whole picture of secular Confucianism, truly understand Confucius, and understand Confucius. Unfortunately, so far in the Warring States period, scholars have rarely understood the painstaking efforts of the editors of the Analects, and have rarely paid real attention to the "academic version" of Confucius Studies, which originally explained the theoretical system of Confucius Science clearly, but the Scholars of the Warring States have never understood it so far. 【18】
With regard to the above speculation that confucius does not choose Confucius's long treatise on the Analects, I would like to talk about my ideas in detail from five aspects.
First, the Analects contain no evidence of Confucius's long quotations. After the ancestors of the Analects were handed down, three versions of "Ancient Theory", "Qi Theory" and "Lu Theory" were formed. Twenty-one "Treatises on the Ancients", found in the walls of Confucius's old residence during the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, are basically the same as the current Analects. [19] Twenty "Lu Theories" are basically the same as the "Ancient Treatises." Only the "Qi Theory", according to the "Book of Han And Yiwen Zhi" Ban Gu self-annotated, has two more "Asking the King" and "Knowing Theory" than the "Lu Theory". This edition of the Analects is based on the "Ancient Treatise" and does not contain the "Question of the King" or the "Knowing Chapter". That is to say, none of the three versions of the Analects have been passed down from confucius. From the perspective of probability theory, it should be inferred that the ancestors of the Analects should not have included Confucius's long quotations.
Second, Confucius's long quotations have extremely high ideological and theoretical value, historical and cultural value. Considering that only fragments of the Book of Dai Li remain, in order to save words and explain the problem, the following is only to take the long quotations of Confucius included in the Book of Rites as an example to talk about the special theoretical and cultural value of Confucius's long quotations.
The Confucian Passage records that Lu Aigong asked Confucius "Confucianism", and the question he asked was naturally a political neo-Confucianism that had been transformed by Confucius. The State of Lu is located in the homeland of Dongyi, its people are basically Yin people, those ancient Confucians who are mixed with politics and religion, their occupation, clothing, walking, speaking and other characteristics, Lu Aigong should be very familiar with [20], naturally there is no need to ask Confucius.
In order to conform to the historical trend of secularization under the heavens, and in order to cultivate secular political talents who govern the country and the world, and restore the political and social order under the world, Confucius transformed his own ancient Confucianism into a group of secular political neo-Confucians whose ideological concepts, spiritual outlook, behavior, and life ideals were very different from those of the ancient Confucians, but some of the characteristics of the ancient Confucians of politics and religions paying special attention to etiquette and often engaging in funeral and sacrifice activities remained. At that time, the world had many derogatory terms for Confucius Neo-Confucianism [21], so what was the matter with Confucius's political neo-Confucianism, how it was different from ancient Confucianism, and why it was different, Lu Aigong may have been a little confused, so he needed to ask Confucius personally [22].
Confucius specifically and systematically expounded the "Confucian behavior" of political neo-Confucianism from sixteen aspects. Lu Aigong listened and said sincerely: "In the end, I will not have a life, and I dare not take Confucianism as a play." It shows that the Duke of Ai began to understand the two main characteristics of Confucius's master and apprentice, the benevolence and morality of political neo-Confucianism, and the adherence to Zhou rites, and he was solemnly respected. The "Confucian Passage" only records a conversation between Confucius and Lu Aigong, a whole chapter, more than 1200 words, without additional editing, it can be independently written into volumes, independently written into articles, and independently passed down to the world. The Content of the Confucian Passage is important, the argument is rigorous, and it has extremely high historical and cultural value and ideological and theoretical value, but the Analects were not finally received.
In "Zuo Chuan and Twenty-one Years of The Duke of Lai", the Qi people ridiculed the Lu people, and there is a saying of "Confucian Books". The historical materials used by Zuo Shi should be the old history of Qilu Spring and Autumn, not a fiction of Xiangbi. [23] The "Confucian books" mentioned by the Qi people should include the old "Confucian books" [24] of the Six Arts, as well as independent single quotations such as the recently handed down Confucian Chapters and selected single quotations such as the Xueer Chapters [25] These new "Confucian books" - because Confucius had been dead for several years at this time, and the independent single quotations confucius had already been circulated to the world when he was alive, the selection of single quotations was passed down into one, and it was also shortly after Confucius's death [26]. The great ceremony of the father and son of the monarch involves the state system of government, and not only the ancient "Confucian Book" emphasizes the six arts, but also Confucius's new "Confucian Book". 【27】
The above three sayings of "Confucianism," "Confucianism," and "Confucianism" should be examined together and should not be lightly let go. These historical materials should show that although Confucius's masters and disciples have not completely faded the mysterious color of ancient Confucianism, they have paid more attention to the great ceremonies of the fathers and sons of the monarchs, the political system of the state system, and more attention to real politics, and they have been significantly different from those ancient Confucians who attach importance to politics, worship ghosts and gods, and are particularly obsessed with the details of funeral sacrifices, and Confucius's new "Confucian books" are also obviously different from the ancient "Confucian books" of the Six Arts. These phenomena have attracted the attention of the State of Lu and even other countries as early as before and after the death of Confucius.
The "Lamentations" is about 1400 words, and the Two Questions of Lamentations, one asks why Zhou Li is supreme, and the other asks why the way of "gentlemen" [28] is so great, Confucius explains them one by one and discusses them in detail. This article systematically discusses the two major theoretical systems of Confucianism, Lixue and Renxue, which are actually the two major theoretical systems of the six generations of learning and the study of the six arts [29], which is a great summary of the study of the six generations and the study of the six arts, which is extremely theoretical, very long, and does not need to be edited separately, and can be independently written into volumes, independently written into articles, and passed on independently. Therefore, I speculate that this passage was probably already circulated as early as the lifetime of Confucius, and the Analects were not included in the end.
The above two articles are Confucius's answer to Lu Ai's public questions. [30] The Book of Ritual Fortune records that Confucius answered his disciples' questions and discussed why and when "rituals" arose; how "rituals" in the broad sense are ideological and cultural, and how "rituals" in the narrow sense, that is, rituals, etiquette, and so on, are extremely important theoretical documents for the study of the six generations of etiquette. The whole chapter, about 3500 words, is very long, does not need to be edited separately, does not need to be combined with other sporadic quotations, and can be independently written into volumes, independently written, and passed down independently, and the Analects are not included in the end.
The "Zhongni Yanju Chapter" begins: "Zhongni Yanju, Zi Zhang, Zi Gong, Zi You Shi, indulgence as for the ceremony." Zi Yue: "Ju, the three women, the female ceremony, the female ceremony, the female ceremony flowing around, all over the place." In the middle, the disciple asked the teacher some basic theoretical questions about etiquette, and the teacher answered them one by one. The end said: "The three sons, who have heard this and the master, are clearly blinded." "This quotation is very theoretical, the content is complete, the structure is rigorous, the length is long, nearly 1400 words, no need to edit, it can be independently written into volumes, independently written, and passed on independently. The Analects were not eventually included.
The "Confucius Idle Residence" records the poems of Confucius and Zixia, where a chapter, nearly a thousand words, is an extremely important document for the study of the "Book of Poetry" [31], the theory is very strong, the content is complete, the length is long, no need to edit, it can be independently written into volumes, independently written, and passed on independently, and the Analects are not included.
Although the above analysis and introduction text is very brief, it can already be explained that Confucius's long quotations are the theoretical essence of Confucius, all of which have extremely great historical and cultural value and ideological theoretical significance, and are very important political academic and historical documents in Chinese history. However, in the end, the Analects were not received.
The surviving documents in the fragments of the "Great Dai Li Ji" include the "Xia Xiaozheng Chapter" [32] recorded at the time of the Shang Zhou Dynasty, the "Persuasion Chapter" at the end of the Warring States Period, and the "Ritual Inspection Chapter" and "Bao Fu Chapter" of the early Han Dynasty, but the most noteworthy is confucius's long quotations on major realpolitik issues and major historical issues, such as the "Main Sayings", "Lamentations asked about the Five Righteousness", "Lamentations asked by Confucius", "Five Emperors", "33", etc., which are not included in the Analects. In order to save space, the important ideological and theoretical significance and historical and cultural value of Confucius's long quotations in the fragments of the Book of Dai Li will no longer be analyzed by example.
Third, the editors of the Analects should understand the great theoretical significance and cultural value of Confucius's long quotations. Liu Zongyuan of the Tang Dynasty first speculated that the Analects were compiled by Zeng Zi, although the Analects may not have come from Zeng Zi's hand, but it should be said that the Analects were jointly edited by Zeng Zi's master and apprentice or edited by Zeng Zi's disciples, in short, by Zeng Men's hand, there should be no problem.
Zeng Zi was one of Confucius's "disciples"[34], and Zeng Zi's disciples, Confucius's grandsons, and Mencius's grandfather Zi Si were also great scholars, and their understanding of Confucius's theoretical system of thought, the lofty historical status and the great theoretical significance of Confucius Studies, not only far exceeded Confucius's "Shengtang" disciples, but also far exceeded almost all the sons of the Warring States. For example, Zeng Zi taught his disciples that "the way of the Master is enough to be loyal and forgiving", and Zi Si summed up Confucius's political theory as "Zu Shu Yao Shun, Charter Wen Wu", these are extremely remarkable insights. That is to say, it is impossible for the Zengzi faction, who finally selected a number of single quotations and assembled the Analects, not to understand the great ideological theoretical significance and historical and cultural value of Confucius's long quotations, and when they assembled the Analects, they had no reason to abandon the long quotations introduced and mentioned above.
Fourth, the Zhou people's reading habits and the difficulty of learning Confucius's long quotations. I studied "Spring and Autumn", "Analects", and "Zuo Zhuan" for many years, and found that Zhou Ren quoted poems and books to lile, all of which came casually without thinking, although not every word may conform to the original JianMu, but the general meaning is not wrong. When I studied the Warring States Sons, I often found similar situations. The Analects of Yao Yue mistakenly accepted fragments of the Book of Shang excerpted by Confucius, which should have been a jian mu they excerpted in order to memorize the Book of Shang, which was mistakenly accepted because it was placed together with the jian mu that recorded Confucius's quotations. [35] These historical sources all show that the Zhou people read books by memorizing, which is very different from the habit of today's people who rely on online searches to retrieve books and then review the texts.
Since zhou people read books by memorizing, most of the books they read should be short chapters that are easy to understand and easy to remember, and long passages are difficult to understand, and even more difficult to memorize. For example, the six arts of the Zhou people's must-read books, the longest is the "Book of Shang", and its chapters are also short chapters, which are more suitable for general readers to read and understand and memorize. None of the ancient epics preserved in the Book of Poetry are long poems, which are also convenient for readers to read and memorize.
Confucius's long quotations on major political and historical issues range from as few as a few thousand words to as many as a few thousand, which is very inconvenient for readers to read, understand, and memorize. So I speculate that Confucius's long treatises may have been rarely read and memorized by the gentlemen of the Zhou Dynasty. This is naturally something that the editors of the Analects should take into account. When compiling a book for the reader to see, the editor must of course consider the needs of the reader.
The six arts theory often points to the end, there is no rigorous conception, clear structural layout, and no need for rigorous argumentation, readers to understand the truth, need to slowly understand it themselves. However, by the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, when gentlemen discussed complex issues, a new trend of rigorous argumentation, clear hierarchy, complex structure, and thousands of words had emerged, and zuo zhuan collected many such cases. However, such a long speech was not in line with the reading habits of ordinary readers at that time, and it was difficult to arouse their reading interest, and even if the general reader read it, they often could not understand and remember. Confucius's tirades naturally encountered the same problems.
Although the disciples of Confucius were all handsome and brilliant people in the world at that time [36], there were very few "entering the room" disciples who could really understand Confucius Studies, and the vast majority of disciples were just ordinary "ascending" disciples. In his lifetime, Confucius only discussed these major theoretical issues with seven "entering" disciples, and ordinary "Shengtang" disciples such as Fan Chi and Zilu never discussed such profound and complex theoretical issues with them.
This phenomenon shows that even if Confucius's disciples were fortunate enough to receive Confucius's personal teachings, it was not easy to truly understand the theoretical system of Confucius. Most of Confucius's long quotations, even those of his own disciples, are difficult to understand thoroughly, and it is almost impossible for the average reader to understand them. Understanding this feature of Confucius's long quotations is of great significance to our analysis and study of why Zengmen's long quotations were not included at all when he finally assembled the Analects, and who was the target reader group designed by the analects of the Analects.
Whether they were in favor of Confucianism or not, most of the Warring States often quoted quotations from Confucius, but the quotations were sporadic short chapters, and no examples of quotations of long quotations had been found. [37] The short quotations of Confucius's masters and disciples are easy to understand, easy to memorize, and easy to disseminate, so the Warring States sons read and use more; Confucius's long treatises with important topics, strong theory, and rigorous arguments are likely to be read less and used less. The Sons of the Warring States were all great scholars, and from the quotations of Confucius they quoted, it can be inferred that they should rarely read Confucius's tirades. [38] Confucius's personal disciples and warring states sons are still like this, and it is not difficult for ordinary readers to read, understand, and memorize Confucius's long quotations, and it is not difficult to imagine.
Fifth, the editor's selection of confucius's secular political quotations and short chapters, the Analects, is a different division of labor from Confucius's long quotations. Since the content of Confucius's long quotations is extremely important, and the theoretical and cultural value is extremely high, the editors of the Analects naturally have no reason to abandon them. Therefore, I speculate that the editors probably have a division of labor for the selection and compilation of confucius's secular political quotations and short chapters, and Confucius's long political quotations and historical quotations: scattered short chapter quotations, selecting some of them to be included in the "Analects" for ordinary readers to read and study, in order to popularize Confucianism and popularize Confucianism; Confucius's long treatises of a thousand words will continue to be passed on alone for the world's top masters to study and study, thus forming the "popular version" and "academic version" of Confucius, and the parallel world. Communication patterns that meet the different needs of different readers.
At the core of Confucius's secular political thought, there are two major theoretical systems, both of which are creative summaries and developments of the study of the six generations and the six arts: one is the study of benevolence, and the other is the study of etiquette. The five "independent single pieces" of the above example preliminary analysis, or the general discussion of Renxue and Lixue, or the division of Renxue and Lixue, even the monographs of the Book of Poetry are very theoretical, and they all have high ideological and theoretical value, as are many of Confucius's long quotations preserved in the fragments of the Book of Dai Li.
I speculate that Confucius's long quotations on major realpolitiks and major historical issues should have been passed down independently as early as Confucius's lifetime. This is based on two considerations.
First, the secular political Confucianism created by Confucius is, after all, inextricably linked to the ancient Confucianism of politics and religion, and indeed it does retain some of the characteristics of the long-buried, complicated etiquette, and often useless nature of the political and religious confucianism, which is easily criticized by the secular politicians at that time; Confucius's secular political Confucianism advocated restoring order in the world according to the Zhou rites, requiring all gentlemen to learn from the "six gentlemen" of the three generations of Yu Tang Wen Wucheng Wang Zhou Gong, and to take advantage of the interests of the world. This will inevitably cause serious dissatisfaction among the princes and secretaries who are constantly dividing up the interests of the world, which will lead to their constant suppression. Therefore, before and after The death of Confucius, Confucius's masters and disciples and their secular political Confucianism have been constantly attacked by the princes and princes of all countries under the world. [39] Under such circumstances, Confucius urgently needs to clarify himself, and it is urgent for the princes and secretaries of the world to understand what is really going on in Confucius, just as Confucius wants to tell Lu'ai what is going on, and Confucius has a very urgent objective need for self-propaganda and self-clarification.
Both, because there is no need to wait for the collection and editing of sporadic quotations, they can be independently written into volumes, which is very convenient to pass on and has the possibility of immediate dissemination. There is both the need for urgent dissemination and the possibility of immediate dissemination, so I speculate that Confucius's long quotations on major political theoretical issues and historical issues were circulated in the form of single-volume quotations as early as Confucius's lifetime. However, these quotations are too theoretical and too long, and the average reader will not read them, nor will they understand them, and even if they barely read them, they will not be able to remember them, which is of very limited significance to enhancing Confucius's secular political status and the cultural value of Confucius's thought and culture.
Most scholars of later generations believe that the essence of Confucius studies is in the Analects, and I think this is probably not in line with the original intention of the editors of the Analects and the actual situation of the documents passed down from generation to generation. We must accurately understand the theoretical system of Confucius, and we should study and study the "popularization book" and the "academic book" of Confucius science together. I myself have a little bit of learning experience in this regard. I have been studying the Analects for many years, and I have always wanted to thoroughly understand the theoretical system of Confucius Studies, but it is very difficult and the work is not smooth.
The words and lines of the Analects, especially the quotations of Confucius, Zengzi, Yan Hui, and Zigong [40], do discuss the theoretical system of Confucius, but they still need to be guessed and imagined, and very complex arguments need to be made to these speculations in order to complete the theoretical system of Confucius. After studying Confucius's long quotations, I found that Confucius already had a very rigorous and clear exposition of his theoretical system. This case also seems to support the speculation of this article about the classification of readers and literature.
As far as the text of the Analects is concerned, the quotations of Confucius on the study of realpolitik issues and the study of historical issues at length, and the quotations on the scattered religious activities of Confucius's teachers and disciples, are both excluded, so why can we see that the former is the "academic version" of Confucianism, while the latter is not a necessary supplement to Confucianism, so it must be excluded? There are two main considerations:
First, although the six generations are integrated with administration and religion, realpolitik and historical politics have always been themes, and religious ghosts and gods are only sub-themes at best; although the six arts are mixed with politics and religion, their themes are also realpolitik and ancient history, rather than religious ghosts and gods. Moreover, the history developed into the Spring and Autumn Period, with the promotion of iron tools, the rapid development of the economy, the rapid accumulation of social wealth, the world is accelerating the secularization, and the secularization of the world in the middle and late Warring States period has been basically completed. It is impossible for Confucius's disciples and disciples not to understand, and it is impossible and unnecessary to move against the tide of history to raise the status of religious ghosts and gods.
Second, the Analects are only selected and compiled from the scattered quotations of Confucius's teachers and apprentices, while the quotations of funeral sacrifice activities are all sporadic quotations, and the Analects do not select it, which is obviously intended to eliminate the funeral sacrifice quotations and deliberately highlight the status of Confucius's secular politicians, thinkers, and educators. Therefore, it is impossible for the editors of the Analects to make the quotations of the funeral sacrifices of Confucius's disciples a necessary supplement to the Analects.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="163" > third, preliminary conclusions</h1>
Confucius was a secular political neo-Confucian, but born from the six generations of ancient Confucianism, which is a mixture of politics and religion, has survived many characteristics of ancient Confucianism, so the original face of Confucius is first a priest, and then a secular politician, thinker, philosopher, and educator. The editors of the Analects eliminated Confucius's religious quotations, and Confucius was able to present himself as a secular politician and thinker.
Confucianism was originally very complex, both about religious ghosts and gods, and about secular politics; it had both an easy-to-understand side and a subtle and profound side. Confucius made a creative summary of the study of the six generations and the study of the six arts, and created the Confucius science with benevolence and etiquette as the theoretical system, which has become the theoretical source of many disciplines such as politics, education, literature, history and philosophy from the Warring States to the present. Confucius has "popularization books" and "academic books", but unfortunately scholars in the Warring States have rarely paid attention to "academic books", so that their understanding of Confucius theory has been superficial, which is unexpected by the editors of the Analects. In short, in the past two thousand years, Confucius has been further shaped by the editors of the Analects, and Confucius is the Confucius science further improved by the editors of the Analects. This is the preliminary conclusion of this article.
exegesis
1 The Zuo Chuan quotes 37 chapters of Confucius's quotations; the quotations of Confucius's masters and disciples in the Book of Rites are at least twice as large as those of the Analects, and most of them are funeral sacrifice quotations; the quotations of Confucius's masters and disciples in the fragments of the Book of Great Dai Li are at least equivalent to those of the Analects, even if they are excluded from the Rites. Only a very few of these quotations can be found in the Analects. The Warring States Sons often quoted Quotations from Confucius, such as the 26 chapters cited in Mencius, and the 38 chapters are an analects (for details, see one of the appendices of the Commercial Press's to be published "Mencius's Original Intention"), which shows that confucius quotations have died a lot. In the Analects of Yang Goods, 17.19, Zigong said to Confucius, "If the son does not speak, then what will the boy say?" It shows that Confucius's lifelong learning, summarizing, and imparting the learning of the six generations and the learning of the six arts, and the recording, transmission, and editing of Confucius's quotations after his disciples have a fairly high degree of cultural consciousness and cultural self-confidence, and they all have a lofty sense of mission of "inheriting learning for the saints and opening up peace for all the worlds", which is not accidental.
2 From the perspective of the six arts passed down from generation to generation, the main characteristics of the six generations of ideology and culture are that religion, ghosts, realpolitik, and ancient history are mixed together. In addition to the special Shang Dynasty, the six generations of ghost god religious culture has never been the mainstream, which is where Chinese culture has been different from the West from the beginning. The complex original appearance of Confucius's master-disciple quotations conforms to the historical characteristics of the six generations of thought and culture. Confucius's quotations on political research refer specifically to the study of realpolitik; historical research quotations, represented by the Five Emperors, are mainly the study of ancient political conditions since Yanhuang, especially since Yao Shun, and are actually political quotations. The ancient gentlemen were only interested in governing the country and the world, and had no interest in the abstract science of wisdom, the so-called philosophy. China entered the era of philosophy around the middle of the Warring States Period, but the origin of disciplines such as philosophy is still the study of the Six Dynasties and the study of Confucius. For example, philosophers in modern China have always believed that the philosophy of human nature originated from Mencius Xunzi, in fact, from Mengxun to the present, all the theories of Chinese philosophy of sexuality have come directly or indirectly from Confucius. See Wu Tianming, "People: Confucius's Classification Criteria and Classification Results", Jianghan Forum, No. 11, 2020.
3 Confucius set up an account, the disciple was in the hall, and the teacher was in the room. The disciples studied independently and discussed with each other, and if they did not understand, they were consulted by Gaozu, confucius replied briefly, and the disciples withdrew, and the disciples or disciples recorded it. Confucius took his disciples out, just as he was under Confucius's account, so "Zi Yue" Yunyun has the most quotations. Although Confucius only said two words in his answers, the two major theoretical systems of benevolence and etiquette were invisible, but they were not very clear. Confucius's long quotations are often Confucius's active expositions on major theoretical issues, or although answering questions, because of the importance of the stakes, Confucius also took the initiative to systematically discuss them, so its theoretical system is clearly visible.
4 Confucius's religious quotations and long treatises should be visible to all the sons of the Warring States. Their non-quotation of religious quotations should be related to the fact that the Warring States Period was completely secularized and gentlemen had no interest in funeral rituals; not quoting long treatises should be related to the fact that they were influenced by their reading habits, rarely read long treatises, and the influence of the Analects was too great, and it had been classicized and became a new "Confucian book" after the Six Arts
5 Confucius Lu Zhaogong began to set up accounts in May of the 24th year (limited to the main idea and length, without argument. "History of Confucius's Family" mistakenly wrote that it was the seventh year of the Zhao Gong), and the duke died in the sixteenth year of mourning, and Confucius set up an account for nearly forty years. Forty-four years after the death of Confucius and the death of Zengzi, Zengmen's disciples edited the Zi Zhang, etc., and then selected some of the single quotations that had long been passed down to assemble the Analects. Add the two together for more than eighty years. The Analects only contain quotations from two generations of Confucius's masters and apprentices, so the quotations of Confucius's disciples and grandchildren are not included in this article.
6 During Confucius's lifetime, the quotations of the disciples who set accounts to educate their disciples were selected in the Analects 1-18; after Confucius's death, the quotations of the disciples who set accounts to continue to educate their disciples were selected and compiled in many titles such as the Zi Zhang Chapter and the Zeng Zi Li Shi Chapter, and the Zi Zhang Chapter was selected into the Analects.
7 Later scholars therefore conclude that Lao Tzu was Confucius's teacher, and that Lao Tzu predates the Analects. In fact, "Lao Tzu" was written at the end of the Warring States period, later than the works of Confucius's disciples and disciples, pretending to be the name of Laozi, for details, see Sima Tan's "On the Essentials of the Six Schools" ("History of Taishi Gong Self-Introduction"). From the history of philosophy, "Lao Tzu" is a typical philosophical work, and China only began to enter the era of philosophy from the middle of the Warring States period, so "Lao Tzu" must be written late.
8For details, see Mencius Wanzhang 9.1-9.5.
9 Scholars such as "Confucianism" and Xu Shen have various explanations, but most of them only analyze their "soft" and other characteristics, and their origin has not yet been confirmed. I thought that "Confucianism" originally referred to the earliest Chinese readers, the earliest squires (politics) and clergy (religion) in China. The early readers of mankind all had the characteristics of a mixture of politics and religion, the most recent example is the lamas of the slave era before the peaceful liberation of Tibet in China, and the general serfs had no cultural knowledge at all. Although the ancient princes were also politicians and religious clergy, it was impossible for them to provide religious services for all sentient beings, and it was only possible for "Confucianism" to provide such services. Judging from the history of writing, "Confucianism" should have appeared as early as the Shang Dynasty, which was full of mature writing. The literature before the Shang Dynasty should have mainly relied on oral transmission, and when the writing was mature and the writing conditions permitted, it could be recorded by later generations and become a written history. For example, the ancient history of Yao Shun in the Book of Shang, which is recorded as a written history, is likely to be after the appearance of iron tools and Jian Mu in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, and it is very inconvenient for oracle bones and bronze records to spread literature.
10 The "Confucian Book" is said to be detailed in the Twenty-first Year of Zuo Chuan and the Duke of Lai. The so-called "Confucian Books" of the Qi people include ancient "Confucian Books" such as the Six Arts, and the new "Confucian Books" of Confucius's teachers and apprentices: many long quotations such as the "Five Emperors of Virtue" that were handed down by Confucius during his lifetime, and many single quotations such as the "Xueer Chapter" edited after Confucius's death. It is just that the Zi zhang and other articles have not yet been edited, and the Analects have not yet been assembled into a book.
11 Confucius continued to work as a priest until his death, and he was instructed by the Duke of Lu Ai to teach the funeral of the Lu Guo Doctor and the Mourner, and the funeral of the Soldier was able to write the Funeral of the Soldier, which is very reliable evidence. For details, see "Yang Goods" 17.20, "Etiquette and Miscellaneous Notes".
12 When ancient Confucians were not officials, they were mainly priests, and when they were officials, they were mainly officials. In Western Zhou, except for Hojing, the rest of the places can be called "townships", such as "township studies" (run by the princes) and "township masters" (county chiefs), all of which retain this ancient meaning.
13 For example, most of Confucius's disciples came from the eastern countries, and very few came from the west.
14 The Book of Shang records that Zhou Gong tasted and said, "Only the ancestors of Yin had a book of scriptures." The Chinese characters used in Chinese today are all scripts invented by the Yin people.
15 For a summary of the thoughts of Confucius's grandson and great-grandson, see The Book of Rites and the Middle Way. When Mencius outlined the characteristics of Neo-Confucianism, he added the phrase "Grandmaster Zhongni".
16 Mr. Yang Bojun believes that the editing time of the Analects took more than eighty years, which confuses the time when the disciples recorded the quotations with the time when they edited the quotations, so it cannot be followed. For details, see Yang Bojun: Preface to the Analects of the Analects, Zhonghua Bookstore, 1982.
17 Scholars of the humanities need a long period of time to accumulate, and generally do not grow old until they are old in their later years, which is the law. For example, in the seven or eight years of Confucius's reign in the State of Qi, there were disciples accompanying him, and the quotations recorded by the disciples were very few, and fewer than five chapters could be verified; the quotations of Confucius in his later years were recorded by many disciples. It is impossible for the editors of the Analects to abandon confucius's tirades when his thoughts matured in his later years.
18 Detailed Wu Tianming: "Confucius's Moral Learning Is More Than One Main Line", Quest, No. 4, 2017.
19 It is only a separate chapter of the Yao Yue Chapter 20.2 "Zi Yue: 'Zun Wu Mei'" below.
20 Dongyi Duoli, since ancient times, the history is endless. The ancient Confucians of the Shang Dynasty, who were mixed with politics and religion, were probably mainly concentrated in the Dongyi region, where the economy and culture were more developed, that is, in present-day Shandong and central and eastern Henan. The state of Lu is located in Dongyi, and most of the people are remnants of Yin merchants, so I speculate that Lu Hou himself should be very familiar with ancient Confucianism.
21 Before and after The death of Confucius, there were many derogatory terms at home and abroad about Confucius's teachers and apprentices, Confucius's political Confucianism, and even all benevolent people. This question is very important and complex, and I have already devoted another monograph to "The Characteristics and Destiny of Confucianism", which I will not repeat.
22 According to the "Zuo Biography", when Ji Huanzi Lu Aigong died three years ago, he regretted that he had deliberately accepted the beautiful women of the Qi people and designed to take Confucius away, resulting in the continuous weakening of the State of Lu by the State of Qi, and asked Ji Kangzi to reuse Confucius. However, if Confucius participated in state affairs, he would inevitably try to strengthen the Luguo gongfu and weaken the private family, so Ji Kangzi violated his father's orders and did not use Confucius. Presumably, Ji Kangzi often deliberately denigrated Confucius and Neo-Confucianism to prevent the Duke of Wai from using Confucius, so the Duke of Wai personally asked about it.
23 Although the "Zuo Zhuan" was written in the early Warring States period, the historical materials used are the old histories of the Spring and Autumn Dynasties. For example, Lu's "Spring and Autumn" has always called Chu Jun "Chu Zi", and "Zuo Chuan" is sometimes called "Chu Zi" and sometimes "King of Chu" because it uses a large number of historical materials of the Spring and Autumn period of the Chu State. There is a lot of such evidence.
24 Ancient governance of the country and the integration of politics and religion, ancient Confucianism is the Confucian of politics and religion, the six arts read by ancient Confucianism, at that time, was regarded by the world as "Confucian books".
25 selected quotations, many sporadic quotations need to be selected and compiled into a volume, in order to be passed on to the world. Long quotations can be passed on without editing.
26 In addition to the "selected single articles" such as the "Zi Zhang Chapter" and the "Zeng Zi Li Shi Chapter" selected by Zeng Zi's disciples after Zeng Zi's death.
27 For example, in the Book of Poetry, the rules for which lege tianzi use and which lege princes use are very strict; Confucius required Qing Dafu to observe the Zhou ritual when making pilgrimages to the princes, to kowtow under the hall first, and then kowtow after going to the church, and not to omit the etiquette of kowtowing under the hall. These are examples of the political rules of the new and old "Confucian Books" that emphasize the unification of kings and subjects.
28 This "gentleman" refers specifically to Confucius, and at that time, the Lu court and Confucius's account often honored Confucius as a "gentleman", for example, "junzi" in the "Township Party Chapter" 10.6 "Gentleman" refers specifically to Confucius, "Gentleman He Sigh" in the "Etiquette Chapter", and "Gentleman" also refers to Confucius specifically.
29 According to the "Zuo Chuan", the Spring and Autumn Gentlemen Yanzi, Zixi, and Zichan are all summing up the study of the six generations, and the theoretical connotations they summarize are only lixue and no renxue; the extension is only poetry and lile, and there is no Yi Chunqiu. See Wu Tianming, "Confucius's Moral Learning Is More Than One Main Line", Quest, No. 4, 2017.
30 The Book of The Great Dai Li contains more quotations from Confucius answering the "Gong" question, and they are all long treatises, and this "Gong" must also be the Duke of Sorrow. The Spring and Autumn Chronicle records the death of the princes, the month of death is called knighthood, and the month of burial is called the lord and knight. In the dialogue between the Duke of Ai and Confucius, it should have been called "Gong" at that time, but when the Duke of Wai died, his nickname was "Wai", and the disciples should be renamed "Gong of Wai", otherwise it would not be in line with the Zhou rites, and posterity would not know which "Gong". Perhaps when Dai compiled the book, Confucius's disciples did not have time to sort it out, that is, they were directly included by Dai.
31 After Confucius's death, Zixia taught the "Four Arts", including the Book of Poetry, in the State of Wei in The Western River, which should have something to do with Confucius's words. According to the literature passed down through the generations, Confucius and Zixia discussed the Book of Poetry the most. See the Chronicle of the Disciples of Johanni.
32 Agricultural historians generally believe that the Xia Xiaozheng should be recorded at the end of the Shang Dynasty and at the latest in the early Western Zhou Dynasty.
33 The Five Emperors of Virtue is not only adopted in its entirety, but has also been repeatedly confirmed by nearly a hundred years of archaeological achievements. Archaeologists are recently continuing archaeological excavations in Henan of the 5,300-year-old yellow emperor's ancient city (the names of ancient chiefs, tribal clans, and ancestral descendants, often without distinction. Therefore, there was the Yellow Emperor in the Yangshao civilization period seven thousand years ago, there was also the Ancient City of the Yellow Emperor in the Central Plains more than 5,000 years ago, and almost every sacred mountain in the Classic of Mountains and Seas has a Yellow Emperor), which shows how remarkable Confucius traced the source of the history of Chinese civilization, starting from the yellow emperor era.
34 Confucius's "Shengtang" disciples were many, but there were only seven "entering" disciples: Yan Hui, Zigong, Zengzi, Zixia, Zizhang, Ziyou, and Zaimei. Almost all of Confucius's major theoretical problems were discussed only with these seven "entering" disciples, because ordinary "ascending" disciples could not understand them.
35 See Wu Tianming: The Original Meaning of the Analects, Yao Yue, The Commercial Press, 2019.
36 According to the "Eighth Year of Zuo Chuan and The Eighth Year of the Duke of Lai", it is very special if you followed Confucius when you studied with Confucius, you were still a student of Lu Guoxiang Studies. Most of Confucius's disciples were graduates of township studies. The literature passed down from generation to generation does not contain any evidence of Confucius's disciple's phonological teachings, indicating that he only taught theory of righteousness, and the study of righteousness was originally a course of the upper grade of Chinese studies. It can be seen that before the disciples entered Confucius's account, they were all a generation of talents, so the Lu people called the students of rural studies "guoshi".
37 Tai Shi Gong quoted a large number of Confucius's long treatises on the Five Emperors to write the Five Emperors Benji, which was a matter of the early Han Dynasty and extremely rare.
When the beginners of the 38 Han Dynasty compiled ancient books, they had the intention of rescuing ancient documents and inheriting ancient culture, so no matter how long or short the articles were, whether they were shallow or not, even the extremely difficult to read "Xia Xiaozheng" was also included.
39 One of the important ways to suppress Confucianism is to confuse Confucius's secular political Confucianism with ancient religious political Confucianism. For example, the "History of Confucius's Family" records that Yanzi opposed Qi Jinggong's reuse of Confucius, the main reason is that Confucius advocated long burials, complicated etiquette, and no help.
40 For details, see The Analects of Liren 4.15, Yongye 6.30, weiling gong 15.3, etc.
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