This article was published in the 6th issue of "Bashu Historical Chronicles" in 2023
Liu Yuan's "Four Kinds of Leftovers" is outlined
Ren Yunqi
Liu Yuan (1767-1855), the name of the Tang Dynasty, also known as the word Neru, the name Qingyangzi, a native of Shuangliu, Chengdu, a famous scholar in Sichuan in the Qing Dynasty, known as "the master of western Sichuan". Liu Yuan was promoted in the 54th year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1789), and was promoted in the 57th year of Qianlong (1792) in the Qing Dynasty, but from the 59th year of Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1794) to the first year of Jiaqing of the Qing Dynasty (1796), he failed to take the examination in Beijing three times, and when his family suddenly changed, he had to return to his hometown to support his mother and preside over family affairs. Later, Liu Yuan gave up his career and opened a private school in the township to teach apprentices, and studied intensively.
Liu Yuan's academic achievements are manifested in many aspects, he supports Confucianism, knows the three teachings, and has a harmonious and exquisite academic system. But fundamentally, Liu Yuan considered himself a Confucian scholar. In his later years, Liu Yuan sorted out his life's writings and wrote "Records of the Book Collection", saying: "Ji "Yi", "Book", "Poem", "Spring and Autumn", "Three Rites" and "Four Sons" are all called 'Hengjie', with a total of 110 volumes. "The Book of Filial Piety" says "direct interpretation". There are also 17 kinds of books, including "Correct Falsehood", "Zi Wen", "Another Question", "University Ancient Essence Sayings", "Common Sayings", "Covenant Words", "Heng Yan", "Miscellaneous Words", "Family Sayings", "Miscellaneous Questions", "Miscellaneous Works", "Mengxun", "Lower School Ladder Navigation", "Jie Chi Collection", "Ming Liang Zhiluo", "Historical Records", etc., a total of 66 volumes. Next to the other poetry anthologies, the two commentaries, and the books of persuasion are no longer included. (1) Liu Yuan's writings are rich and varied, and only Confucian-related works are included here, and the commentaries and exhortations related to Buddhism and Taoism are not included, which proves that Liu Yuan positioned himself as a Confucian scholar.
Liu Yuan has two residences in Chengdu, first in Shuangliu Yunqi and then in Nanguan Purification Street. Both residences have ancient Huai, so Liu Yuan calls himself "Huaixuan", and the world and descendants are called "Mr. Huaixuan". Liu Yuan had already called his works "Huaixuan Miscellaneous Works" and "Huaixuan Essentials" before his death, and later generations compiled his works as "Huaixuan Quanshu". Liu Yuan's scholarship is also known as the "Huaixuan School", and Liu Yuan and his disciples are called the "Huaixuan School". At present, the "Huaixuan Quanshu" is the most complete photocopy of Chengdu Bashu Book Society in 2006. It includes 8 volumes of the Four Kinds of Remainders, a total of 27 titles and 179 volumes. In addition, in 2016, Mr. Tan Jihe edited the "Thirteen Classics Constant Interpretation: Notes and Explanations", of which the tenth volume also includes "Four Kinds of Remaining". Some scholars have explored the version of "Four Kinds of Remains", and now there are the 25th year of Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty, the Ningshantang of the first year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty, the 27th year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty of Chengdu Shoujingtang of the Qing Dynasty, the 19th year of the Republic of China Zhifulou carving, and the 23rd year of the Republic of China Special Garden carving. In addition, there are single editions of the Beijing Moral Society of the Republic of China "Hengyan" and "Family Words". At present, the achievements of Liu Yuan's research on the mainland academics, Taiwan and international scholars are generally rich, and progress has been made in all aspects. This article focuses on Liu Yuan's Four Kinds of Leftovers, and briefly describes the characteristics of the content of his works.
"The Four Kinds of Remaining" includes four types: "Hengyan", "Family Saying", "Sayings" and "Miscellaneous Questions". Liu Yuan wrote the narrative of "Four Kinds of Remnants" in the first month of the spring of the 25th year of Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty (1845) at the age of 78. "Self-Description" said: "The ancestors are Confucian, the avenue is not too much, and Gu Li is as good as an ear." The way of practice, the four sons and the five classics have been detailed, so the foolish "Constant Solution", the first is a detailed interpretation of the white text. If you are sincere, then the things of the saints are all possible for everyone. Confucius Ziyun: Say but don't do. It is up to the author to be honest or not...... Foolishness is fresh, and there is a lot of contempt, because the children are young, the door or the door is difficult to ask, and they respond to it at will, and they don't feel it for a long time...... However, the private words of the family school are easy to read and remember, and they can still be saved. Yan said "Picking up the Remainder", covering the spittle of the predecessors, and knowing that it is the aftermath of the sage, and thinking about it is also a great gentleman. Liu Yuan's "Constant Interpretation" of "Four Books" and "Five Classics" has delicately demonstrated his academic path and practical way. "The Four Kinds of Remaining" can be regarded as a supplement to the difficulties of the books of "Constant Solution", and there are also answers to the later generations.
《Hengden》
The content of "Hengyan" has been classified by Liu Yuan when compiling, and there are the following ends. First, "Humanitarianism". Man is the master of the three talents of heaven, earth and man, and the saint can match the heavens with humanity in all his ways, so humanity is the head. Second, "Mental Nature". Liu Yuan believes that everything in the world comes from the heart. If we can't understand the reason of the mind, there will be no reason for human ethics to be correct. Third, "Heaven and Earth". Heaven and earth are the origin of the Tao, and only by knowing heaven and earth can we know the nature of the heart. Fourth, "Ghosts and Gods". Ghosts and gods are also the essence of heaven and earth, and the essence is in harmony with ghosts and gods, and the things of ghosts and gods are also contained in the mind. Fifth, "Governing the Dao". In ancient China, the monarchy, divine power, and religious power were integrated with each other, and the spirit of morality, heaven and earth, ghosts and gods were established by the emperor to dominate them. Sixth, "Academic". Academic integrity can be used to prosper the world, and the lives of heaven and man are all connected through academic thought. Seventh, "Literature". In ancient times, there was a saying that the Tao was carried out, and the Tao was expressed through the text. Eighth, "Technology". Liu Yuan believes that the technology of 100 crafts is also of great significance, so it needs to be represented. Ninth, "Appropriate Class". The principle of the world is one, but the ancient and modern events are endless, and the use of one reason to judge everything needs to be in response to the time and power, and each has it. Tenth, "Distinguishing Counterfeits". Reason is what everyone has, and if you can act according to reason and appropriately, then everyone will have their place. The reason why this cannot be the case in the world is the result of the influence of heretical theories. The above are the ten categories of content of "Hengyan" and Liu Yuan's understanding.
Liu Yuan's academic system is a critical inheritance of Song Ming Theory, which is centered on the exploration of the categories of Heavenly Dao and Rational Qi, which runs through his overall academic works and is also reflected in Hengyan. However, Liu Yuan's talk about abstract concepts such as mental nature is not empty, but should be combined with people. Liu Yuan believes that "people are the heart of heaven and earth", and people in the world are precious because people have the heart of heaven and earth. Man is the spirit of all things, the spirit in the human heart, and in fact the spirit in its nature. Sex is the principle of heaven, and there is nothing wrong with human nature. The reason why there are unkind people is because people's hearts are affected by emotions and mixed with unkindness. Therefore, Liu Yuan formed the theory of the division between the innate heart and the acquired heart, "the innate heart is sex, and the acquired heart is miscellaneous". The innate heart is pure, and the acquired heart is impure because of affection. However, love does not all bring negative effects, "lovers, the use of the heart, get its regularity, otherwise the thief, so the gentleman is right." Affection is the use of the heart, if the emotion can be correctly expressed, it is close to the nature and innate heart, and the cultivation of a gentleman lies in the right heart.
The Song and Ming Dynasty took the sage as the benchmark, believing that the self-cultivation emphasized by Confucianism was ultimately to achieve the realm of the sage. In Liu Yuan's ideological realm, the saint is also the highest goal. The difference between a saint and a normal person is that the saint "only has the principle of the whole heaven, so he can set up a human pole, be silent and immovable, and feel it through, the sky is like this, and the saint is also like it." The saint can gain the nature of heaven and become the pole of human beings, so he can correct people's hearts, "and there is a law of etiquette and music, bound to the rules, changing its temperament, and giving it the power of neutralization, so that the world is peaceful and vulgar." In later generations, the rites and pleasures were slight, and fortunately, the people of heaven and the people could not be obtained. The virtuous father and teacher, correct his body, and transform it with goodness. "The saint exerts his innate nature, first corrects his own heart, and then corrects the heart of others, and from then on there are various rules such as etiquette and music in the world. The saint can also change the temperament of the people and achieve a neutral state, so that the social environment and folk customs are simple. When the rites and music of later generations declined, the beautiful virtues passed down by the previous generations were not extinguished, and there were still virtuous monarchs who transformed the people with kindness. In "Heaven and Earth", the sage can observe the heavens and the earth to benefit the people, and pay homage to the people. In "Ghosts and Gods", the saint did not dare to claim that he had cultivated virtue and had no flaws in the face of the ancient Wu Zhu Bu Shi. In "Governing the Dao", Liu Yuan emphasized, "It is not very difficult for a saint to do, but if he is sincere, he will cultivate himself and govern others, and it is inappropriate to push himself to the world." A saint first cultivates his own body, and then he can heal others. At the beginning of "Academic Class", it is said that "scholars are just learning from saints", and saints are different from ordinary people because they can do their humanity. It is said that the saint is all right, and here it is said that humanity is exhausted, and the lives of heaven and man are connected. As mentioned above, saints have such merits that ordinary people seem to be unattainable. Liu Yuan said in the chapter "Distinguishing Counterfeits": "If everyone is born from heavenly principles, everyone can be a sage." "How to become a sage?" Liu Yuan thought that Mencius's "heart with benevolence and heart with courtesy" could be just like Shun.
"Family Words"
The compilation of "Family Words" follows "Hengyan", which is Liu Yuan's daily life to his descendants, which has been compiled over time. "Family Words" is divided into 5 articles: "Determination", "Career", "Right and Wrong", and "Health".
The first cloud of the "Determination" chapter: "For learning, don't precede determination." Aiming to be a saint, unremitting for a long time, even clumsy can also be a righteous person. Aiming at vulgarity, he didn't check it for a long time, and he fell into the villain. Be cautious. Liu Yuan's statement here is similar to "those who seek the above will get it". If you aspire to become a saint, have a firm goal, and persevere, you will be able to be an upright person even if you are not talented. If you have short-sighted ambitions at the beginning, you will easily become a villain over time, which is enough to see the importance of aspiration. The goal of aspiring to become a saint is too lofty and will fall into emptiness. Liu Yuan gave confidence to future generations that "Shinong and industrialists can be saints", and the specific method is to apply love and respect to relatives, elders and superiors, and then push it to others and other things, never forget every moment, and be able to forgive others in everything, so as to reach this realm. In the face of temptations such as fame, fortune and wealth, Liu Yuan believes that this is the moment that best reflects the conscience of human nature. If a person wants to divide the wealth when he sees it, and only covets personal gain and temporary comfort, he abandons his conscience. In the face of such temptations, one should remain resilient and die.
In the chapter "Occupation", Liu Yuan commented on some ancient professional skills. First of all, he believes that people are born without careers. Secondly, since ancient times, farming, pottery, fishing and hunting, building houses, medicine, and divination can all be karma, as long as it is not harmful to righteousness and can solve the problem of food and clothing, it is all a positive karma. As a traditional knowledge person, Liu Yuan believes that the "first good thing" is to read books, but it is necessary to read useful books. For example, reading the "Four Books" and "Five Classics", which cover heavenly principles, human feelings, and physics, and explain them one by one, as long as you can "experience the body and mind, there is no unattainable achievement", even if you are blunt, as long as you are familiar with the "Four Books", you can do it word by word, not "as a statement on paper", but also "stand in the forest of sages". Liu Yuan not only emphasized the importance of reading, but also emphasized the need to read the books of sages and sages, and highly respected the Confucian classics. And if one can go one step further, one can become a sage. With the popularization of printing and the social and economic development since the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was easier for ordinary people to obtain books. For the moral nature of the mind taught in the book, it is even more important to be able to practice. As for the professions related to people's livelihood such as medicine, divination, and face-to-face, gentlemen should not dislike them, as long as the starting point is conducive to human ethics and mental skills, they should not be excluded. Moreover, there is no tool and no way.
The chapter "The Beginning" is a discussion of the cultivation of human nature. Liu Yuan emphasized that human nature is good, and that they are the spirits of all things, born from heaven and earth, and their parents are like heaven and earth. Therefore, Liu Yuan emphasized that we should conform to the nature of heaven and earth and be filial to our parents. A considerable part of the content of "The Beginning" is an analysis of the concept of "sincerity" in the "University". He believes that the human heart is based on the spirit of yin and yang, and the spirit is a ghost and god. Heaven is the foundation of heaven, and heaven is the foundation of ghosts and gods, so from the perspective of people's hearts and heavenly principles, they are connected to ghosts and gods, and ghosts and gods need to be feared. Reverence is a prerequisite for sincerity. "In the movement of a thought, good is done, evil is gone", this is the work of prudence and independence, but also sincerity. It is quite influenced by Yang Ming psychology.
In the chapter "Right and Wrong", Liu Yuan believes: "If things are a common thing for daily use, then the grid is so knowledgeable." If things are the things of the world, then things cannot be overcome. "Since there are many and infinite things in the world, and daily use is the most important thing, we can understand the problem fundamentally by grasping the key points. Therefore, in this article, Liu Yuan takes family education as the center, requires the distinction between right and wrong, and achieves filial piety and loyalty, which concentrates on Liu Yuan's humanistic thoughts.
In the chapter of "Health Preservation", Liu Yuan believes that we should be great at guarding ourselves, and only with this body can we have a career. Spirit, qi, and essence have the difference between the heavens, and the innate can be combined into Taiji, and the focus of guarding the body is to preserve the mind, and the innate spirit, qi, and essence are all Taiji. If you pay attention to the regularity and moderation of your daily life in your daily life, you can keep yourself honest. The theory of health preservation here is greatly influenced by Taoist thought. Concepts such as spirit, qi, and essence are mostly Taoist concepts. Liu Yuan regarded the "way of self-defense" as "nourishment", and advocated the cultivation method of Taoism with a pure heart and few desires.
《Speech》
"Sayings" is a text that survived after the compilation of books such as "Hengyan", "Huaixuan Essentials" and "Huaixuan Miscellaneous Works". Its content is the least of the "Four Kinds of Remaining", and the content is not divided into chapters, and the ideas in it are also relatively mixed. For example, when talking about the connotation of heaven and earth, it is especially emphasized that parents are equivalent to heaven and earth. He also embodied the theory of qi, believing that Mencius only regarded "scattered qi as qi", and his theory of nourishing qi was unclear. The "Confessions" not only talks about Confucianism, but also combines Confucian ethics with Taoist thought in some texts. For example, when talking about filial piety, Liu Yuan believes that filial piety "does its best to match the heavens", and essence, qi, and god are all essences from parents. The filial son supports his parents, in essence, he returns all the treasures to his parents who have been ordained by heaven. Liu Yuan also believes that the righteousness of the sincere body is to preserve the completely innate essence, qi and spirit. In addition, Liu Yuan also talked more about natural substances such as the sun, moon and stars, which are related to "qi".
"Miscellaneous Questions"
The style and format of "Miscellaneous Questions" are different from the previous three "Hengyan", "Family Words" and "Miscellaneous Words". Liu Yuan said: "Every time a disciple asks about worldly things, he answers them as he wishes. In this way, it can be seen that the book is presented in the form of questions and answers, and the style is that the disciples of the disciples "ask: ......", and Liu Yuan "answers: ......". There are more than 40 questions and answers in the whole article, each of which is of different lengths. Most of the content asked by the disciples is related to the content of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and the content of Buddhism and Taoism in this article accounts for a large proportion. A considerable part of the content involves the comparison between Confucianism, Taoism, and Confucianism and Buddhism. For example, "Ask: Then it (referring to Buddhism) is abolishing, why not?" Another example is "Question: As the son said, isn't the meditation of the monks the same as Confucianism? Why didn't the court use it?" And "Ask: The Buddha's words are empty, Confucianism is sincere, and the son is the same, why not?" "Ask: Taoism speaks of essence, qi, and spirit, but does not speak of the nature, why not?" "Question: The origin of the three religions is the same, and the books of the Buddha and the old are so absurd, and the words of the sages are salty and practical. Why?" And "asked: Confucianism is Buddha, and the old is more than Yang Mo's love, and I believe in it?" The author believes that starting from the problem of Liu Yuanmen, it can be reflected that Liu Yuan's scholarship is indeed a fusion of the three religions, and the three religions of the thought are debugged hard. Liu Yuan's answers to specific questions reflect his own tolerant attitude towards Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Liu Yuan not only revered Confucianism, but also actively invoked Buddhism and Taoism into his academic system in order to better explain ultimate questions such as the life of the Heavenly Dao. For my own use, to educate people, is the purpose of all thoughts.
summary
Due to the lack of space, the author can only divide Liu Yuan's "Four Kinds of Leftovers" into four parts according to four books, and select their key points and characteristics to introduce them. It should be noted that Liu Yuan's academic ideological system is based on the Confucian Yuan Canon, integrating Buddhism and Taoism, and focusing on the "Constant Interpretation" of the Qun Jing. The "Hengyan" in the "Gathering Remaining" is written to supplement the "Heng Jie", the "Family Words" is an exhortation to the younger generations, the "Words" is the remaining branches and leaves of the compilation of "Hengyan" and other books, and the "Miscellaneous Questions" is to ask the disciples to remember. Each book was written for different reasons, and due to fate, it was compiled into the "Huaixuan Quanshu" by Liu Yuan's descendants, and was engraved together and presented in front of today's readers. Liu Yuan is known as the "Master of Sichuanxi", and he himself has made the pursuit of saints his life's work. "The Four Kinds of Remnants" is not a long exposition, nor is it based on the same as the annotated classic texts, but a short and concise form of notes, giving full play to Liu Yuan's personal thoughts, and reading it is evocative. This is somewhat similar to the Analects.
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Source: Sichuan Provincial Office of Local Chronicles
Text/Photo: Ren Yunqi (Master's student, Institute of Ancient Books, Sichuan University)