Insight is a Child of Diligence and Genius: Reading Zhang Yinlin's Outline of Chinese History

From a common sense point of view, hard work and sweat are of course the premise of achievement, ancient and modern Chinese and foreign examples of the Ganges Sand Number. But the geniuses that have swept by like a thunderbolt in human history, like the sun in the sky, the brilliant light makes the stars dark, so that hard-working people have to wipe their sweat and admire: admire and admire.

There are many young geniuses I have recently read, one is the Cao Wei classicist and philosopher of the Three Kingdoms period, the representative figure of Wei and Jin metaphysics Wang Bi, note "Lao Tzu" and "Zhou Yi", opening a new generation of academic style, and dying at the age of 23. Second, Zhang Yinlin, the author of the "Outline of Chinese History" that he read in one day, a young talent who traveled to the United States, died of illness in Zunyi in 1942, during the anti-Japanese fire, at the age of 37. The third is "Two Thousand Years" written by Hu Sheng when he was young, his sharp thoughts are full of youthful vitality, and when he is young, he is also very good, and Hu Sheng has become a forerunner in the study of modern history.

Returning to Zhang Yinlin's "Outline of Chinese History", I will list a few places that embody the subtleties of thought, and experience the insight of genius.

First, from the Spring and Autumn Period to the replacement of the Warring States, the way of playing the war has been fundamentally changed, and the face work in the Spring and Autumn Period is no longer exquisite in the Warring States. Zhang Yinlin commented: "The history of the Spring and Autumn Period is generally like the Pingchuan River of anliu, and the boats above are silently moving and moving, and it seems to be static from a distance; the history of the Warring States Period is like a turbulent, boat that goes downstream, and sails away, and in an instant, it has passed the peak and ridge of a thousand weights." On the drama of world changes, every decade of the Warring States can withstand the first century of the Spring and Autumn Period. If war is compared to gambling, then the great powers of the Spring and Autumn Period, with the exception of Wu, are all gamblers with profound meritorious service, and no matter how big they lose, they will never sell their fields; the great powers of the Warring States period are mostly reckless gamblers, and every time they make a desperate bet on all their family business, they enter the game as rich men and appear as poor men, although there is also a gambling stick in the middle of it, starting with gambling, and finally cheating the property of the gambling partner to win the net. ”

Second, the status of Kong Mo, the book writes: "The greatest thinker of the Spring and Autumn Period was Kong Qiu, and the greatest thinker of the Warring States Period was Mo Zhai. Confucius gave the Spring and Autumn Period a glorious end, and Mo Zhai gave a glorious beginning to the Warring States Era. ”

III. The Periodization of the Warring States: "The history of the Warring States can be divided into three periods: from the Three Jin Dynasty (403 BC) to the Qin Dynasty (359 BC) to the forty-four years. It is for the early period, from the beginning of the Qin Dynasty to the Qin Qi Xiang Emperor (288 BC) where seventy-one years are for the middle period; from the Qin Qi Xiang Emperor to the extinction of the Six Kingdoms (221 BC) Where sixty-seven years are for the end, is the end. ”

Fourth: The reasons why Confucianism became orthodox in the Han Dynasty, the author analyzes: "Confucianism becoming orthodox is also inevitable. To consolidate the ruling power of the great empire, it is indispensable to unify the thinking, and Dong Zhongshu has said it very thoroughly. But what is the unified standard? The xianxue of the pre-Qin Dynasty was nothing more than the Confucian Mo Dao Method. The Mo family was too simple and too hardworking, and it was not at all in line with the ruling class at that time, which regarded pampering as its natural right. The Fa jia was originally the foundation of Qin's national policy since filial piety, and Qin Shi Huang even promoted his fangshu to "no regrets". Only in this way, the ephemeral life expectancy of the Qin Dynasty and the bitter resentment of the Qin people made the Fa family forever infamous. In Jia Yi's "Treatise on Passing qin", he regarded "severe punishment and deep punishment of officials" as a major crime of Qin. This fully represents the public opinion of the early Han Dynasty. Since neither Mo nor Fa has the possibility of being lifted, all that remains is Confucianism and Taoism. Although the Taoists were exalted for a while, it was only a reaction after the great riots. It has no basis in the consciousness of the masses (especially the ruling class from the lower classes), but Confucianism does. Most traditional beliefs, such as the religion of respecting heaven and ghosts and the morality of filial piety and loyalty, have not been fundamentally shaken by the changes in the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States, but are still trusted by the conscience of the masses. Taoists despise these beliefs unless they are overthrown; but confucians, if they do not actively support them, they are passive and tolerant, and the ideological system that is compatible with the consciousness of the masses is difficult to rely on for a long time. Moreover, the Taoist policy of laissez-faire was unhelpful and detrimental to the consolidation of the great imperial organization. This kind of policy is the experiment of emperor Wen Dynasty, and the abuses are no longer hidden. In any case, under the situation that the foreign tribes are peeping at the edge, the law is strong and chaotic, and the national strength is full and everything is waiting to be done, the lesson of 'quiet and inaction' naturally loses its appeal. The self-reliant Who Rises on behalf of Taoism is none other than Confucianism. ”

5. Is the author of Lao Tzu Lao Tzu? The author analyzes: "The legend of Lao Nie is a Chu person, surnamed Li Ming'er, who has done the history of guarding the Zhou Chamber. Legend has it that Confucius greeted him in his middle age in Zhoudu, and the surviving 5,000 words of Lao Tzu are his last writings. However, since Lao Nie is such a celebrity, and the book "Lao Tzu" is really his work, then the most explicit propositions in the book, such as "absolutely holy renunciation of knowledge" and "absolute benevolence and abandonment of righteousness", are completely incompatible with the doctrines of Kong and Mo, and should not be quoted or criticized by anyone in the century and a half of the Kong and Mo eras, and the social background leaked in the book, such as "the country of ten thousand multipliers" and "taking the world", is by no means owned by Confucius. Therefore, many historians do not believe that the book of Lao Tzu was written by Confucius's contemporaries. However, in the late Warring States period, the doctrine contained in this book has become a prominent study, and the words in the book have been repeatedly quoted by Zhuangzi, so when some of this doctrine was produced before Zhuang Zhou's book, perhaps some of it was inherited from Confucius's contemporaries. We cannot rise to the ground and are self-sufficient with such uncertain conclusions. ”

Although the above views are not deafening, their insights are refreshing enough, and they all have self-consistent academic logic. Like Wang Bi, who became famous as a teenager, Zhang Yinlin's understanding of history always flashed with the light of genius. These brains, like Einstein's, have brain circuits that are probably different, right?

Written from the Shang Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Outline of Chinese History failed to extend Zhang Yinlin's research results backwards, which was cited as a regret by historians. Fortunately, Li Zhu is in hand, and the Outline of Chinese History is like "Guangling San" high and low, and the afterglow is not dispersed for a long time.

Insight is the child of diligence and genius, and these two children are indispensable, otherwise the child cannot be born.

For genius, disobedience is not enough.