Why did Zhu Zixue become the mainstream of Confucianism after the Song and Yuan dynasties

Since the Southern Song Dynasty, up to modern times, from temples to rivers and lakes, Confucianism has dominated the world with Zhu Zixue. There are many schools of Confucianism, why is it Zhu Zixue? Examining the historical context of the social transformation of the Song and Yuan dynasties, the following attempts are made to give a simple answer.

Geographically, Zhu Zixue is the backbone of Confucianism in Jiangnan. Inheriting this objective reality, after the Song, Yuan, and Yi Dynasties, Jiangnan, which did not suffer heavy damage from war, Zhu Zixue developed even more and became a collection center of learning that affected the whole country after reunification. In particular, the imperial examination regulations later restored by the Yuan Dynasty took the "Four Books" as the main content and Zhu Xi's collected notes as the only criterion, which made the official status of Taoism even more difficult to change.

In the middle and late Southern Song Dynasty, The Taoist school with Zhu Zixue as the core had established the orthodox status of official learning. In the first year of Chunyou (1241), Zhu Xi was from the Temple of Confucius, and the imperial court officially stipulated that the "Four Books, Chapters and Sentences" was used as a teaching material for official studies and imperial examinations. Dynastic Revolution is only a natural part of historical evolution, and does not reflect the logical relationship of the changes of the times. The continuity of policy reflects the imperial identity that transcends dynasties. Historical outcomes are often made up of synergies. The reason why Jiangnan Confucianism, which is dominated by Zhu Zixue, was able to occupy the orthodox position of official learning in the Yuan Dynasty was also due to the combined efforts of many aspects.

The first is the factor of Zhu Zixue itself. The six classics that have been produced for a long time or are full of ambiguities, and there are still fragments and fragments, and it is difficult to distinguish between true and false. Therefore, on the basis of reinterpreting the Six Classics, Zhu Xi and other Song scholars specially extracted the derivatives of the Six Classics, "Analects", "Mencius", "University", and "Zhongyong", and established the "Four Books". These four classics not only retain the original purpose of the Six Classics, but also have the development of the times, and the most important thing is that the four books are easy to understand and easy to accept for people of all cultural levels. For the relationship between the Six Classics and the Four Books, The Yuanren Hu Bingwen has a very interesting metaphor: "The Six Classics, heaven and earth also." Four books, the sun and the moon of the heavens. And said: "Zi Zhu Zi's life energy is the source of his life, and yao, shun, yu, tang, Wen, Wu, Zhou, Kong, Yan, Zeng, Si, and Meng's heart are also sent." This sentence also emphasizes Zhu Xi's advocacy and elaboration of the Four Books. The establishment and popularization of the four books allowed Confucianism to get out of the narrow ivory tower of primitive classics, and made the classics move towards science, and the combination of the two opened up a new and broad space for the development of Confucianism.

The second is the political inheritance derived from the Song Dynasty. Due to the promotion of the imperial court, a large number of scholars who practiced juju used Zhu Zixue as a stepping stone to their career path to study. Xu Yueqing of the Song Dynasty pointed out such a phenomenon: "Since Jiading, scholars have taken Zhu's learning as a shortcut. The scholars who successfully entered the career from this shortcut became the examples followed by the later scholars. Driven by affordable interests, Zhu Zixue first gained wide acceptance in the elite of scholars who produced scholars. And such acceptance is bound to spread like a wave of water, affecting all corners of society. At the same time, in order to cope with a large number of demands, the folk bookstores that have always made profits from the publication of the imperial examination have also published a large number of Zhu Zixue works, which objectively expanded the influence of Zhu Zixue.

The third is out of the popular popularization of Zhu Zixue's downward gaze. Jiangnan Confucianism, which is dominated by Zhu Zixue, is a reversal of the difficult and cumbersome tradition of scriptural commentary, and popularizes indoctrination by teaching by example that is easy to understand. At that time, Lu Jiuyuan believed that the practice of Zhu Xi's faction was fragmented, advocating "seeing the nature of the mind, not involving notes and exhortations, but directly surpassing gao ming and guangda", but Zhu Xi "did not do so every time." I think that the study of Jiangxi is almost Zen", in fact, Zhu Lu's similarities and differences are only in the different paths of seeking truth. Zhu Xi's proposition was aimed at ordinary people with mediocre qualifications, while Lu Jiuyuan was aimed at intelligent people with high understanding. Therefore, after Zhu Xi's death, "his disciples are great, and their learning is great." Scholars and masters all say that if they say only one word, if they are in good times, they can take the science and take the scholars, while the study of the elephant mountain is depressed and not prominent." The difference in enrollment path made many scholars turn from Lu Xue to Zhu Xue later. Mr. Qian Mu pointed out that "Zhu Zi attaches great importance to Yu Li in the study of scriptures." In terms of specific operations, such as the township drinking ceremony, Zhu Xi also made simplified reforms. Mr. Qian Mu also said: "Zhu Zizhi liturgy is mainly based on the practical application of social style and education. Of course, although the appearance of Taoism at that time was to turn from Lu to Zhu, it was not a simple abandonment of Lu Xue, but a fusion of the two. According to the words of Liu Chenweng in the late Southern Song Dynasty, it was "implementing Zhu Lu".

Fourth, it is the result of the integration of various doctrines in ZhuZixue. The doctrines of the various schools of thought in the Southern Song Dynasty were not in a state of clear distinction, but were absorbed from each other through exchange of arguments. Among them, the powerful Zhu Zixue integrated some factors of various theories such as Huxiang Sexology, Lu Jiuyuan Xinxue, and Zhejiang Eastern GongzhiXue, and eventually became the mainstream, thus settling on a statue in the Yuan Dynasty.

Looking back at the history of the development of Taoism, the various schools were indeed heavily fortified and difficult to violate. As the "Case of Song Yuanxue" says, "When Qian Dao and Chun Xi were between, the four gentlemen of Zhu, Zhang, Lü, and Lu all talked about their lives and made utilitarian gains, and the scholars each obeyed their teacher's sayings, and they absolutely could not be violated." This situation was first reversed by Chen Liang's loud shouts, and gradually moved towards convergence. The integration and penetration between the various schools of Taoism is not only reflected in the content of learning, but also reflected in the teacher's teaching. For example, Gong Feng, who was listed as a "DongLaimen person" by the "Song Yuanxue Case", is "the one who learns from The Lü clan, but also learns from the Zhu clan". Another scholar, Sun Yingshi,was Lu Jiuyuan, Zhu Xi, and Lü Zuqian. A person connecting several schools is also a typical case of refracting the non-repulsive and compatible taoist schools.

On the basis of Zhu Zixue, Yuan Confucian had a sense of mission to carry forward the past and open up the future, and supplemented and promoted Taoism in a targeted manner. For example, Xiong He, who was with Zhu Xi, realized that Zhu Xi, who had pioneering merits, still had many academic undertakings that had not yet been done: "It is said that Zhu Zi's lifelong energy is only in the two parts of "Yi" and "Four Books", "Poems" are only completed, "Shang Shu" began but did not finish, and although the three "Rites" had "General Interpretation", there were still many deficiencies. The Mian Zhai Huang Clan and the Xin Zhai Yang Clan crudely completed the second part of the "Funeral System", and the teaching of damage and refinement was unable to continue. If "Spring and Autumn" is just a matter of righteousness. "When my life is not finished, I am ashamed of the teacher's training." Due to the sense of mission, Xiong He "is mainly because of the saying that each sutra takes the family as the mainstay, and the people say that it is neglected." Dissect the similarities and differences, and expand more than the previous Confucianism has not yet developed." From this example, we can outline the development and enrichment of Taoism in the Yuan Dynasty.

In the past, along with the political center, the center of Confucianism was also rooted in the Central Plains. However, the Jingkang change of the Northern Song Dynasty allowed the political center to go south, and it was integrated with the economic center of gravity to form a cultural center. The cultural center of Jiangnan, under the pattern of national unification in the Yuan Dynasty, spread to the whole country, and Jiangnan became a new source of culture. Among them, Jiangnan Confucianism, which is dominated by Zhu Zixue, has also finally unified the world by the tide of cultural dispersion. On the basis laid by this reality, the continued construction of the Ming and Qing dynasties has added new content to Jiangnan Confucianism, represented by Zhu Zixue, which carries cultural China and stands on this ancient land.

(Author: Wang Ruilai, Chair Professor, Sichuan University, Research Fellow, Institute of Oriental Culture, Japan Gakuin University)

(Guangming Daily)