Zouping, located in luzhong dadi, south pillow "Taishan vice yue" Changbai Mountain, north of the "cradle of the Chinese nation" Yellow River, Zhong LingYuxiu, humanities gathered. Zou Ping has a history of 7,000 years of human activities, 4,500 years of civilization, and 2,000 years of institutional history. Zouping not only has a unique natural environment with beautiful mountains and rivers, but also a profound and long-standing humanistic environment, as well as historical celebrities who are in the annals of history and handsome stars, as well as simple and thick and unique folk customs.
Only by not forgetting the original can we open up the future, and only by being good at inheritance can we innovate better. Tell and liven up the "Zouping Story", excavate history, find roots, retain memory, stimulate self-confidence, let history be close to the times, enhance zouping image, highlight zouping charm, provide more positive energy for promoting the connotation and development of "national civilized city", stimulate our enthusiasm for loving our hometown and building our hometown, and work together to play Zouping's positive and energetic development movement in the new era!
Return to Xi - Chen Zhongzi
Chen Zhongzi was the earliest recorded cultural celebrity in Zouping's history, a famous thinker and honest scholar in the Warring States period, and the founder of the "Yuling School", and Xunzi listed him as one of the six representative figures of the Warring States period. At the same time, he was also a controversial figure, whom Mencius called "the giant of Qi", and Han Feizi compared him to a "solid gourd" useless.
1. Biography
Chen Zhong, also known as Chen Zhongzi, Tian Zhong, Yu Ling Zhongzi, etc., was a famous sage during the Warring States period. He was a descendant of the Noble Tian clan of the State of Qi during the Warring States period, and his brother was the Qing Dafu of the State of Qi, with a fief in Gaiyi and an annual income of 10,000 bells. The core of Yang Zhu's thought, "Gui Ji" and "Zun Sheng", proceeded from Zhan He, Zi Hua, Ta Hu, Wei Mu, Chen Zhong, Shi Squid, Tian Biao, and Shen Zhi all belonged to the Yang Zhu School. Mr. Meng believes that Yang Zhuzhi's learning has its own importance in the spread of Yanyang. For example, Because of his partiality to "indulgence and tranquility," he became the last stream of Yang Zhuzhi's learning and belonged to the "indulgent faction"; while Chen Zhong and Shi Yu inherited Yang Zhu's will of "self-respect" and "light lords and lowly people", retired from the mountains and forests, and belonged to the "forbearance faction"; Qi Ren Tian Biao and Prudent To Gui "quiet cause righteousness", "according to nature", "change response", based on "following the rules", is the exquisite development of Yang Zhu's learning.
Second, the main deeds
Chen Zhongzi received a good education since childhood under superior family conditions, and at the age of 13, he was sent to the Minoru Gakuen Palace to study- now he has entered the "aristocratic school". He had the opportunity to come into contact with the various doctrines and ideas of the Hundred Sons and Hundred Schools. At the age of 19, because of his excellent grades, he stayed in Minoru Gakuen to lecture and began to create his own doctrine, which had a great influence.
At that time, King Qi Wei admired Chen Zhongzi and wanted to invite him to the position of doctor of the imperial court. However, Chen Zhongzi saw clearly that king Qi did not really want to implement his ideas, but only wanted to use him to decorate the regime and show that he valued talents, so he insisted on not accepting it and fled home overnight. As soon as he arrived home, he was taught a lesson by his brother Chen Dai, who was ranked as the Doctor of Qi Guo. The brothers were not all the way, and when things got to this point, Chen Zhongzi felt that this family really couldn't stay any longer. At the age of 22 that year, he bid farewell to his mother, took his wife and children, and went west for 200 miles, all the way to the foot of Baiyun Mountain (around the ancient city village of linchi town), known as "Yu Ling" in ancient times. After coming to Yuling, Chen Zhongzi had no skills, so he watered the vegetable garden for people, and his wife sold straw shoes to make a living.
Chen Zhongzi's fame was too great, even if he hid here, he could not be quiet. Within three years, King Huai of Chu sent emissaries twice to hire him with heavy gold, but he also refused to resign. In order to avoid the disturbance of his career, Chen Zhongzi packed up his belongings and continued to flee westward, all the way to the Changbai Mountains, "not to enter the dynasty of the filthy king, not to eat the food of the chaotic world", thirsty for mountain springs, hungry for fruits and vegetables, and living a simple life. In his spare time, he wrote books and lectures, preached and taught disciples, and wrote the book "Yu Lingzi", which expounded his ideas. Many people came to him to study, forming the famous Yuling School.
Chen Zhongzi's deeds and ideological insights are mainly preserved in the book "Yu Lingzi". The book has long been lost, and what is now circulating in the world are the works recorded by later generations according to their words and deeds, a total of twelve: one is afraid of people, the other is poor, the third is Cilu, the fourth is the relic, the fifth is asked, the sixth is the ancestors, the seventh is the poor, the eighth is the great thief, the ninth is the dream flower, the tenth is the man of the alley, the eleven is not believed, and the twelfth is the irrigation garden.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, power was supreme and materialism was rampant, "the world is bustling, all are profitable, and the world is bustling, all are profitable." "Chen Zhongzi's life in that era can be described as unique. Not only did he personally resent the social phenomena of the time, but he also reminded others not to be confused by the world. He practiced what he preached, vigorously advocated honesty and self-discipline, in order to rectify the world style and purify the society, leaving behind many good stories of honesty. His propositions had a great impact at that time and can be summed up as six "noes": no bribery, no officialdom, no preemption, no desire for evil, no participation in politics, and no theft of fame.
3. Strange stories
Chen Zhongzi was very disgusted with bribery, regarded bribes as unclean, and resigned from the government several times, and was willing to be bitter. He also believes that in order to always maintain a clean body, it is necessary to strictly discipline oneself, let others do good things, and rush forward when they cannot see the interests.
One year, there was a drought in Shandong, and it became difficult to draft water. Chen Zhongzi has always had the habit of getting up early, and as soon as the sky is bright, he carries a clay pot to a mountain spring ten miles away to get water. The spring is very small, and it is only a can that for one night. He scooped up a jar and the water was gone. At this time, some people came one after another to fetch water. Everyone saw that Quanzi was dry, and did not blame Chen Zhongzi, but only complained that he had come too late. When Chen Zhongzi saw this situation, he was ashamed and hurried to give his own moisture to others, leaving no drops. After dividing the water, he simply broke the crock pot, and then, for three days, he did not drink a sip of water, in order to punish himself for grabbing water in front of everyone. From his "masochistic" approach, we can see how harsh he is on himself.
One day, when he was sleeping, he dreamed that he had traveled a long way, tired and hungry, and could not support himself. At this time, there was a pasta stall on the side of the road, and many fragrant noodles were placed on the case, but there was no one around.
Chen Zhongzi greeted him for a long time, and no one came to pay attention to him. He was so hungry that he couldn't hold on, so he reached for a dough cake and ate it, only to regain his strength. However, I did not take a penny with me. He was ashamed and embarrassed, so he quietly left.
When he woke up, the more he thought about it, the more ashamed he felt, although it was a dream, it also showed that he was selfish in his heart. So he went out and bought a loaf of bread, went to the bread stall of his dreams, and claimed to return it to the family.
The cake seller was inexplicably wonderful, and he saw that it was the famous Mr. Chen Zhongzi, who thought he was joking and resolutely refused to accept his cake. Two people argue with no result, and it does not work if others come to mediate. In the end, Chen Zhongzi threw the cake to the seller of the cake and went away on his own. The bread seller had no choice but to hang the cake in front of the shed and write the cake of "Chen Zhongzi".
Chen Zhongzi has established a high reputation for himself with his words and deeds, and can be regarded as a well-known reputation in the local area. But he still thinks that he is cheating the world and stealing his name, which is not much better than a thief who steals things.
There is a chapter in Mencius--Teng Wen Gongxia about Chen Zhongzi's "honesty":
Kuang Zhangyue: "Isn't Chen Zhongzi sincere and honest?" He lived in the mausoleum, did not eat for three days, heard nothing, and saw nothing. There is a plum in the well, and more than half of the people who eat the real thing are creeping forward, and they will eat it, swallow it three times, and then hear it and see it. Mencius said, "As a soldier of the State of Qi, I will take Zhongzi as a giant." Although, Nakako evil can be honest? If you are filled with the exercises of Zhongzi, then the worms will be able to do the same. Fu worms, eat the soil on the top, drink the yellow spring under. The room where Zhongzi lived, the house built by Bo Yi? Or is it also built with the place of thieves? The millet that is eaten, the tree that is eaten by Bo Yi, and the tree that is eaten by Bo Yi? Or is it also the tree of the thief's foot? Is unknowable also. "What hurts?" He weaves a tuna, and his wife breaks the knot, so that it is easy. "Zhongzi, Qi Zhi shijiaye, brother Dai, Gai Lu Wanzhong." Take the brother's lu as the unrighteous lu and not eat it, take the brother's room as the unrighteous room and not dwell in it, and leave the brother away from the mother, and be in the tomb. When he returns, he has given birth to his brother a goose, and he has frequently said: 'Is the evil use of the harrier a harrier?' On his day, his mother killed the goose and ate with it. His brother came from the outside and said, 'It is the flesh of the harrier.' 'Wow. If the mother does not eat, if he eats with his wife, if he dwells in the brother's room, he who dwells in the mausoleum, is it still possible to be able to do so? If the middle of the child, the worm and then the also. ”
Translations
Kuang Zhang said, "Isn't Chen Zhongzi a truly incorruptible person?" Living in this place in Yuling, I did not eat for three days, my ears had no hearing, and my eyes had no vision. There was a plum in the well, and the larvae of the scarab beetle had already eaten a large part, and he climbed over, took it and ate it, swallowed it three times, and the ears regained their hearing and the eyes regained their vision. ”
Mencius said, "Among the Qi people, I must see Zhongzi as a thumb. But how can he be called incorruptible? To promote the ethics of Nakako, it can only be done after turning people into earthworms. Earthworms, eat dry soil on the ground and drink spring water under the ground. But the house where Zhongzi lived was built by a man as incorruptible as Boyi? Or was it built by robbers like the thief? What about the grain he ate grown by a man as incorruptible as Bo Yi? Or is it grown by robbers like the Road Thieves? I still don't know. ”
Kuang Zhang said, "Then what does it matter?" He personally weaves straw shoes, and his wife practices hemp, exchanging these for other daily necessities. ”
Mencius said: "Zhongzi is a clan family of the State of Qi, and his brother Chen Dai has tens of thousands of stones in Gaiyi. However, he thought that his brother's house was ill-gotten wealth and did not eat, that his brother's house was an unjust property and did not live, avoided his brother, left his mother, and lived in the place of Yuling. One day he went home and saw someone giving his brother a goose, and he frowned and said, 'What do you want this uh-huh thing to do?' A few days later, his mother killed the goose for him to eat, and his brother happened to come back from outside, and when he saw it, he said, 'You are eating the flesh of that uh-huh-uh He hurried out the door and vomited with a 'wow' sound. Can the mother's food not be eaten, but his wife's, and his brother's house not dwelling, but he lives in Yuling, can this be regarded as promoting his integrity? Doing so can only be done after turning a person into an earthworm. ”
4. Commemoration by future generations
1. Future generations have mixed reviews
For Chen Zhongzi's six "noes", the world has always had mixed praise and criticism. The famous Qi general Kuang Zhang, the great poet Tao Yuanming of the Jin Dynasty, and the great thinker Wang Chong of the Eastern Han Dynasty all highly praised him. Of course, there are not a few people who attack him.
Mencius lived in Jixia for 30 years, and it can be said that he was both a teacher of Chen Zhongzi and a colleague of Chen Zhongzi, and he was very familiar with Chen Zhongzi. He once called Chen Zhongzi a "giant of Qi" and recognized his position in the ideological culture of the State of Qi; in turn, he believed that Chen Zhongzi's actions could not be regarded as incorruptible, especially could not be promoted and promoted. Why? Because he's too extreme, too much. Mencius satirized sharply that a person can do that unless he is an earthworm, eating only dirt and drinking groundwater, he can achieve complete "incorruptibility". And Chen Zhongzi himself did not achieve true "honesty". He left his mother and did not eat her food, but still had to eat his wife's food; he avoided his brother, did not live in his brother's house, but came to live in the mausoleum. These acts, in the end, can only be regarded as a kind of reputation fishing, a kind of pedantic, in our popular parlance today, that is, this person is too hypocritical.
Xun Zi, a representative of another school of Confucianism, lectured at the Jixia Xuegong at the age of 15 and was also familiar with Chen Zhongzi's words and deeds. His evaluation of Chen Zhongzi was: his behavior was obedient, deviated from the usual customs, and flaunted that he was different, but he did not conform to the common sense of man at all, nor was he enough to understand the order of the emperor and his subjects.
Han Feizi, a student of Xunzi and a representative figure of the Fa, also compiled a fable "Solid Gourd", which ridiculed Chen Zhongzi. In the view of the Dharma, pretending to be high and refusing to serve the monarch is not beneficial to society, just like a solid gourd, which is not useful in the middle, and it is better to simply abandon it.
Chen Zhongzi is a representative figure in the hundred families of the sons, but the ideas and propositions he holds and the open non-cooperation attitude with the ruling class are bound to be rejected and attacked by the mainstream society and its "defenders". Therefore, there is no special introduction to him in the main history, and only some fragmentary materials in the relevant records have been handed down. Chen Zhongzi struggled to pursue his ideals all his life, and even finally accompanied his own life. In the long river of history of more than two thousand years, his tragic and short life, as if the meteors in the sky are fleeting; and his unique personality charm, the sparks of his thoughts, are still shining to this day.
Regarding the death of Chen Zhongzi, there is also a folk legend: Chen Zhongzi taught apprentices all his life and had a high reputation, but his only son was very angry, singing to his own Lao Tzu on stage, and he killed his mother early. Before chen zhongzi died, he called his son to the bed and said in a serious tone, "Your boy has always worked against me, and this time he will listen to my words: After I die, bury me in Yuling City." In fact, Chen Zhongzi knows his son best, the so-called "knowing son is like a father." He lived in seclusion with the intention of being buried in a remote place. Sure enough, after his death, his son wanted to bury him outside the city, and specially built an iron coffin, tied it with iron chains, found more than a dozen strong young men, took turns to carry out the Gate of Yuling City, all the way north, walked more than 20 miles, and came to a wild grass slope. It was getting dark, and his son said, "Just bury it here!" Old things put a good life, but all my life in hiding, causing me to suffer and suffer, this time I will let you be quiet and quiet. "Everyone with seven hands and eight feet, shallow cultivation of loess soil, and buried Chen Zhongzi hastily."
The next day, when people heard the news, they packed up their things, wagons and cars, moved their families north, and spread the word to each other, "YuLingcheng has moved to a place, moved to Chen Zhongzi's tomb!" "Everyone followed all the way, settled down next to Chen Zhongzi's tomb, and opened up land to build a homeland. Over time, a village was formed here. Later, the county seat was also moved from Yuling and gradually became a prosperous place. This is the later Changshan County, the seat of the government of changshan town in Zouping County today.
In the east of the ancient city village, there is an ancient stele, standing next to the site, with six characters inscribed "Yuling Zhongzi's Former Residence". There is an ancient well next to the monument, which is said to be the place where Chen Zhongzi irrigated the garden to draw water. Chen Lu Village, on the outskirts of Zhoucun, is named after the road that Chen Zhongzi walked. Chen Zhongzi is in the hidden place of Changbai Mountain, just in the stone room at a cliff on the south side of Baiyun Mountain, the old stone bed, stone stove, etc., no longer exist. The tomb of Chen Zhongzi is in the east of the intersection of present-day Changshan Town, round, 4 meters in diameter, made of green bricks, and capped with ash soil. There was originally a tombstone on the south side of the tomb, which read "Tomb of Chen Zhongzi of the Linglian Shi", and there is a Chen Zhongzi Ancestral Hall 200 meters south of the tomb. Unfortunately, the tombs were demolished at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, which is really regrettable.
Chen Zhongzi's deeds are mainly preserved in the book "Yu Lingzi". After his death, he was buried on the northeast side of cross street in present-day Changshan City, and the original tombstone was passed, but it was later destroyed, and the tomb site was sealed. It was bulldozed in 1958 and demolished in 1968.
2. In the Yuling Scenic Area of Fenghuang Mountain in Zhoucun District, Zibo City, Shandong Province today, there is a memorial hall for Chen Zhongzi.
V. Historical Insights:
Chen Zhongzi was a famous "honest man" in the State of Qi, but Mencius believed that his deeds could not be regarded as incorruptible, especially his actions could not be promoted and promoted. Why? Because what he did was too much, it was an act of extremes. Mencius satirized sharply that in order to do so, unless people were first turned into earthworms, only by eating dirt and drinking groundwater, they could achieve complete "incorruptibility". And the real use of this "incorruptible" standard to measure, that is, Chen Zhongzi himself has not been able to do it. For example, the house in which he lived was not known to have been built by an unclean man or even a robber, and it is not known whether the grain he ate was grown by an unclean man or even a robber- like a man. Moreover, he left his mother and did not eat her food, but he still had to eat his wife's food; he avoided his brother and did not live in his brother's house, but he still had to live in the place of Yuling. Can these acts be said to be completely "clean"? No! At the end, it can only be regarded as a kind of reputation fishing, a kind of sour rot, in the words we are popular today, it is a kind of "fake", a kind of hypocrisy. In the words of Zhu Xi's introduction to Fan Shi, it is even more serious: "Zhongzi avoids his brother and leaves his mother, has no relatives, monarchs, and superiors, and is uninhabited, and there is no one who is humane, and can he be honest?" (Notes on mencius)
In today's "anti-corruption and clean government" era, there is indeed a problem of identifying honesty. Honesty is not about changing the color of money, the less the better; nor is it the more frugal the life, the better, the more poor and sour people are. In fact, according to Confucius and Mencius, incorruptibility is to "see the righteousness of thought" (Confucius), that is, "if it is not its way, then a piece of food cannot be accepted by others; if it is the way, then Shun is subject to the world of Yao, and does not think that it is Tai." (Mencius) said, "The truth goes one step further and becomes a fallacy." "Honesty has been overdoed, "when you can't stand it", for example, if you don't receive the salary you should receive, and if you don't take the bonus, it's not incorruptible, but sour, it's "hypocrisy", it's a reputation fishing.
Therefore, the boundary between integrity and sour rot is still a problem that should attract our attention. Especially in today's era when economic problems often cause confusion.
Finally, back to the irony of a few words. In addition to the pungent irony of the earthworm metaphor, Mencius said: "The people of the State of Qi, I will take Zhongzi as a giant arm." "The irony here is even more silent, killing two birds with one stone." On the one hand, chen Zhongzi is satirized with "giant arms", but on the other hand, because the reason why Chen Zhongzi can be called "giant arms" is because of "the people of the State of Qi", that is to say, people like Chen Zhongzi are already the best among the people of the State of Qi, so the other People of the State of Qi really don't know how sour and rotten it is! In addition, even the description of Chen Zhongzi by Kuang Zhang's mouth at the beginning is also very ironic. And the whole description of Chen Zhongzi eating the "meat of the ostrich" can be directly put into the chapter of "Ru Lin Wai Shi". Editor-in-Charge: Chan Zhang