The Book of Songs is the first collection of poetry in mainland China, and it has a very powerful educational function. Confucius was very fond of quoting the content of the Book of Songs to educate people, and in the Confucian classics, the content of the Book of Songs can be found everywhere. However, due to its age, it is not easy to truly understand the content of the Book of Songs thoroughly. Only by exploring the profound connotation of the Book of Songs can we better understand the Confucian classics.
In the Confucian classic "University", the "poem" clouds: "The barbarian yellow bird stops at the corner of the hill." Zi said: "Yu stops, know what it stops, can people but not as good as birds?" "The barbarian yellow bird, stop at the corner of the hill", from "Poetry, Xiaoya, Man", which means that "the yellow bird that is calling at the 'barbarian' inhabits the corner of the hill." What is the meaning of Confucius's quotation of these two poems? Confucius said: "Even the yellow bird knows where it should perch, is it not as good as a bird?" Confucius thought of life from observing the living habits of birds, which is also the knowledge of things. Yellow birds know how to stay where they should be—in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of nowhere, and if they inhabit the city, it is very dangerous. It turned out that Confucius was telling us to learn from the yellow bird to know how to "know and stop". Knowing is a kind of great wisdom. "Stopping Learning" says: "Great wisdom knows how to stop, and small knowledge is only strategic." Yellow birds can "know the stop", but people often "don't know the stop". I don't go where I should go, I squeeze into the places I shouldn't go, so I can't find a place to live in real life. Fame and fortune are tiring, but people always chase after Vanity Fair; wine is harmful, but people are always indulged in flowers. That's why Buddhism says, "All beings are upside down." Therefore, Confucius said: "If the yellow bird can still know the place of inhabitation, is it not as good as the yellow bird?"
The I Ching Gen hexagram "Elephant Words" says: "mountain, Gen." The gentleman can't think of his position. "The overlapping of two mountains, one below and one above, constitutes the Gen hexagram. Up to the end, the gentleman should follow this hexagram and think about the questions beyond his own position. The Analects says: "Seek government in its position, and seek its government if it is not in its position." "The Mean" said: "The gentleman walks in his position, and does not want to care about it." Su is rich, he is rich, he is poor, he is poor, he is poor, he is poor, he is rich, he is rich, The gentleman is not satisfied without entering. All of the above means "I can't think of it". "Thinking out of its place" is also "knowing". The yellow bird knows its "weight", and its strength is weak, and the "hill" is its own habitat. It stops at the "corner" of the hill, not "thinking" about the city, so that you can live a safe and happy life!
Zi said: "The beginning can be with the words and poems, tell the past and know the future." Confucius said that only if you can draw inferences from one case can you talk about the Book of Songs with him. If we can draw inferences from one another, we can better borrow the content of the Book of Songs to understand the Confucian classics.