Since ancient times, Chinese have called the act of buying goods and shopping "buying things". After a long time, in fact, many people don't know why they say this.
In fact, these conventional sayings all have a reason at the beginning, but as time goes by, everyone only remembers the final result.
In the Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi once raised this question, why is it called "buying things", not "buying north and south", but this question was answered by a ten-year-old child.
Zhu Zi everyone - Zhu Xi
In the academic field of the entire Song Dynasty, it can be said that there were many literati, but there was only one Zhu Xi with the deepest attainments and the greatest influence.
As the only person who has not been a disciple of Confucius since ancient times, but can enjoy the Confucian Temple, Zhu Xi's academic attainments cannot be denied.
His academic theories absorbed Zhou Dunyi's Tai Chi theory and Zhang Zai's Qi Theory of Essence, and at the same time integrated the ideas of Buddhism and Taoism, and the doctrine of "Ercheng", which was called "Cheng Zhu Lixue" by history.
Since the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi's academic thought has had a profound impact, and countless students in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties have followed his theories.
Zhu Xi's thought became the official philosophical thought of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and Zhu Xi's "Annotations on the Four Books, Chapters and Sentences" was still a textbook approved by the imperial court of three dynasties, and it was also the standard for students to participate in the imperial examination.
Zhu Xi has read poetry and books since he was a child, but the people at that time were very superstitious, hoping to ask for immortals and immortals, and many people were divorced from real life and fantasized about being able to seek immortality.
It was under such circumstances that Zhu Xi founded the White Deer Cave Academy, hoping to start from the education of children, so that the world could understand that Taoism or Buddhism is only the power of thought, and it cannot transcend reality to form the so-called immortal Tao.
After the establishment of Bailudong Academy, countless students have come to visit, and they will definitely benefit immensely if they can get Zhu Xi's teachings.
After a period of teaching, Zhu Xi found that many students who were already talented or had learned from other academies Xi had formed a fixed Xi thinking.
It is actually very difficult to change their existing learning and Xi fixed thinking, and children are like blank paper, and it is very easy to educate.
So Zhu Xi began to recruit young children, and began to teach hand-in-hand from the child's enlightenment education, and Zhu Xi hoped to be able to impart new theories and ideas to these children.
However, there were still many students who came to audit Zhu Xi's class, which led to a small classroom full of children, and adults who came to audit it.
As the saying goes, there is no class in teaching, and Zhu Xi does not refuse everyone to listen to his lectures, but the problem is that when there are many people, it is very noisy, and there will be all kinds of voices in the whole school, and students are easy to lose concentration.
On this day, there was a very beautiful woman, carrying a bamboo basket, slowly passing through the window of the academy and walking to the west. As the saying goes, fair ladies and gentlemen are good, and all the people who come to listen to the class are men, and it is very common for them to be distracted.
In such a situation, adults and children can't help but be attracted by the beauty outside the door, and their eyes slowly move with this woman.
Zhu Xi, who was lecturing, naturally noticed that the students were distracted, and he followed everyone's gaze and found that everyone was looking at a woman passing by.
But Zhu Xi was not angry at the student's distraction, he observed the woman, and then touched his beard, intending to take advantage of this to test the students.
"Stuff"
Zhu Xi realized that all the students in the audience were attracted by the woman outside the window, so he said: "I have never seen a virtuous person like a lustful person. ”
This sentence comes from the "Analects", Zhu Xi asked, since everyone is looking at this woman, what does this sentence just now mean.
Someone replied, "Master, this is what Confucius said, which means that people do not always like beautiful things and beautiful women, but they like beautiful virtues and cultivation. ”
When Zhu Xi heard this answer, he was quite satisfied, so he nodded. But then he asked, "What is this woman going to do?"
The student just now continued to reply: "Look at this woman carrying a bamboo basket and walking west, presumably to buy something in the market. This is exactly the answer Zhu Xi wanted, he smiled and asked, "Why buy things instead of buying north and south?"
As soon as this question was raised, everyone in the school was silent, everyone looked at each other, no one wanted to answer, and everyone was confused by Zhu Xi's question.
Many people have not thought about why it is east and west, not north and south, which is obviously the most common oral saying in life, but when asked about its origin, many people do not know.
However, one student still stood up and said, "The saying "things and things" may have been handed down from the pre-Tang Dynasty. ”
The student said that commerce during the Tang Dynasty was unprecedentedly prosperous, and the capital city of Chang'an was divided into 48 markets, each with its own function.
The most important ones are the East Market and the West Market, which are the most important commercial concentration areas, and most of the things that people buy daily will gather in these two markets.
While there are other businesses that buy and sell, the main business districts are the East and West markets. Therefore, people may need to go to these two places to buy their daily necessities.
After a long time, there is a saying that "things" represent commodities and objects, and buying things naturally replaces the saying of shopping.
In ancient times, many cases would hate to pay attention to feng shui, the topography of Chang'an is on the north and south sides, and it is not suitable to build a market with a large flow of people, and the location of the imperial palace is also in Chang'an, which pays great attention to the surrounding feng shui.
Coupled with Chang'an in the east and Luoyang in the west, Chang'an and Luoyang are the two largest ancient cities in China's capitals, prosperous cities, and also attract businessmen from all over the country and even overseas.
Commodities gathered in these fixed places, and merchants and ordinary people would buy and sell here, and this gradually came to be said to refer to all items.
What this student said was reasonable, and everyone present thought that he was right, and nodded their heads in praise. But Zhu Xi thinks that this student's thinking is too solid, and it is not a standard answer.
Everyone looked at Zhu Xi's frowning appearance, and they understood in their hearts that this person's answer just now did not seem to be the most correct, so how to explain the term "buying things".
At this time, a ten-year-old boy raised his hand eagerly, but he did not expect his answer to really solve the puzzle.
The child's answer
What standard answer can this little ten-year-old child give to a question that adults can't answer, and everyone is not optimistic about him. But Zhu Xi still treated everyone equally, and nodded the child very encouragingly, encouraging him to give his answer.
Unexpectedly, the child said: "Gold, wood, water, fire, and earth are the initial forms of the five elements of yin and yang, east, west, north, south, and middle, these five directions, for wood, metal, fire, water, and earth, the five elements." ”
Everyone didn't understand what the five elements that the child said had to do with what Zhu Xi asked.
The child then explained that the bamboo basket can hold gold and wood, and gold and wood also represent the items that people need in life, which is not the meaning of things.
I didn't expect a ten-year-old child to have such an understanding and perception, his answer made everyone suddenly realize, and the adults sighed again and again, sure enough, it was better than the blue.
Children's minds are active, but it is easier to see that things are the simplest, most superficial, and most essential problems. The bamboo basket must not be filled with fire and water, and the bamboo basket is empty, which shows that the saying of the north and the south cannot replace the goods.
Hearing the child's answer, Zhu Xi showed a satisfied expression on his face, and the students knew that the child had answered correctly as soon as they saw it.
Zhu Xi explained to everyone with a smile that although there is not necessarily a fixed explanation for the term "buying things", and the answer is not unique, it is a very smart idea to propose to explain the direction with five elements.
Since the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Confucianism has been the dominant official governing philosophy in China's thousand-year-old feudal rule.
With the advancement of time, the changes of history, the collision and integration of cultures, more and more excellent ideas have also been integrated into Confucianism.
Zhu Xi himself is a scholar taught by Confucianism, he has his own profound and unique understanding of Confucianism, and Zhu Xi's Cheng Zhu Lixue is a fusion of Taoist thought.
The five elements of yin and yang are the most important ideological core of Taoism, this child has followed Zhu Xi to learn Xi since he was a child, and what he learned Xi is the education that Zhu Xi admires, so he can grasp the core of the five elements Taoism at once.
As a referent to the direction, it must be inseparable from the theory of yin and yang and the five elements related to nature.
Children can accurately grasp the core of the problem and find the right direction, which also confirms what Zhu Xi thinks, those adults who have been educated are easy to solidify stereotyped thinking.
And children who have learned Zhu Zi's thoughts Xi beginning can easily grasp the core that Zhu Xi wants. Everyone present was shocked by the ten-year-old child's answer, and everyone felt ashamed and lowered their heads.
However, Zhu Xi comforted everyone that ideas cannot be confined to a framework, and they must learn to accept more theories, everyone can have their own different understandings, but they cannot follow the clouds, which is the key to learning.
Being able to find so many points of educating students from a passing woman, and also know how to educate students to stick to their own ideas and accept a wide range of theories, Zhu Xi is indeed a rare teacher.