Biography of Confucianism
Confucianism refers to the Confucian doctrine founded by Confucius. The official history of the past dynasties will contribute to the development of Confucianism, and the biographies of the characters who will contribute to the development of Confucianism are the "Biography of Confucianism". The New Tang Dynasty Book and the Biography of Confucianism consists of three volumes, recording nearly 70 Confucian scholars, and this book selects Kong Yingda and Ouyang Xun as representatives.
The loyal and upright prosperous Hongru Kong Yingda
Kong Yingda (574-648), known as Zhongda, was a native of Hengshui County, Jizhou (now Hengshui City, Hebei Province), a scholar of the Tang Dynasty, and the thirty-first grandson of Confucius.
Kong Yingda was young and intelligent, diligent and studious, with a high level of understanding, at the age of eight he could recite a thousand words a day, and when he grew up, he was familiar with the scriptures and was good at writing articles. Kong Yingda's fellow countryman Liu Zhuo (zhuō), a famous Confucian at that time, admired Liu Zhuo's reputation and came to visit.
At first, Liu Zhuo looked down on Kong Yingda a little and did not treat him politely, until Kong Yingda asked questions and expressed a series of opinions, Liu Zhuo was respectful and resolutely wanted to keep him, but he politely declined.
After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Kong Yingda entered the shogunate of Tang Taizong, who was still the king of Qin at that time, and became one of the eighteen scholars of the Qin palace. After Tang Taizong ascended the throne, Kong Yingda was highly used because of his many straightforward admonitions. Taizong saw that Kong Yingda was knowledgeable and had a good character, so he asked him to educate the crown prince.
As the crown prince grew older and his behavior became more and more biased, Kong Yingda often criticized it bluntly, and when Taizong learned about it, he gave him a rich reward. The crown prince's nurse reminded: "The crown prince has grown up, and it is really inappropriate for you to count them in front of you from time to time." Kong Yingda said solemnly: "I have received great favor from the country, even if I die, what is there to regret?" "As always, I sincerely advise.
Since the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the situation of division and turmoil continued for 400 years, and by the Tang Dynasty, the Confucian classics were scattered, and there were many internal factions and disputes. In order to meet the needs of political unification and ideological and cultural construction, and to facilitate the selection of scholars and talents through the imperial examination, Tang Taizong ordered Kong Yingda to preside over the compilation of the "Five Classics of Justice".
The Five Classics of Justice takes the five Confucian classics of "Zhou Yi", "Ancient Wenshangshu", "Mao's Poems", "Book of Rites" and "Spring and Autumn Zuochuan" as the basic backbone, collects the annotations of the great Confucians from the Han Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty, takes their essence and removes their dross, and becomes a masterpiece of scripture and learning since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and is stipulated by the Tang Dynasty government as the standard textbook for the imperial examination, thus having a significant impact on culture, thought, philosophy, ethics, education, social customs and other fields.
After the compilation of "Five Classics of Justice" was completed, Tang Taizong spoke highly of it. Soon, some scholars questioned the content of the book, and Taizong ordered Kong Yingda to revise it, but Kong Yingda passed away before he could finish the correction. Tang Gaozong ascended the throne, and after certain revisions, the "Five Classics of Justice" was promulgated throughout the country.
A unique calligrapher Ouyang Xun
Ouyang Xun (c. 557-641), a native of Linxiang County, Tanzhou (now Linxiang City, Hunan Province). A famous calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty, he was known as the "Four Masters of Regular Script" together with Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan, and Zhao Mengfu (fǔ), and had the reputation of "the first regular script in the Tang Dynasty".
Ouyang Xun's father was an official in the Chen Dynasty, but was forced to rebel because he was suspicious of the emperor, and was later defeated and killed, and the whole family was executed. Because Ouyang Xun was young, he was hidden, and he was able to escape and was adopted by his father's old friend.
Ouyang Xun is not good-looking, but he is very intelligent, and he reads ten lines at a glance, so he is well-read, and his biggest hobby is to study calligraphy.
Ouyang Xun met Li Yuan in his early years, and the two talked happily and had a great friendship. After Li Yuan ascended the throne, Ouyang Xun's official position was repeatedly promoted, and he was later ordered to preside over the compilation of the book "Art and Literature Gathering".
"Art and Literature Gathering" is the earliest complete official book existing in mainland China, which preserves the rich literature before the Tang Dynasty. Ouyang Xun innovated the compilation style, which was used by later generations of books, and as soon as this book came out, other books were gradually eliminated; In terms of content selection, Ouyang Xun clearly highlights the orthodox views of Confucianism, making this book one of the most important Confucian textbooks besides Confucian classics, and has had a great impact in the field of culture and education. It is with this contribution that Ouyang Xun was listed in the "Biography of Confucianism".
However, Ouyang Xun's greatest achievement is his calligraphy. At first, Ouyang Xun imitated Wang Xizhi, and slowly, his dangerous strokes were far superior to Wang Xizhi, so he called himself "European Style". Ouyang Xun is very obsessed with calligraphy, once he rode out on horseback, and happened to see the stone tablet written by the calligrapher Suo Jing of the Western Jin Dynasty in the wild, and couldn't help but stop to watch and observe carefully, so that he sat and lay down next to the stone tablet for three days before reluctantly leaving.
At that time, people were competing to collect Ouyang Xun's calligraphy, and even the envoys of Goguryeo (lí) (which straddled the present-day northeastern region and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula) traveled thousands of miles to ask for an authentic picture of him. Tang Gaozu couldn't help but sigh: "I didn't expect Ouyang Xun's reputation to spread abroad, if you just saw his ink, eighty percent would think that he was a burly person!" ”
After Tang Taizong ascended the throne, he once went to Jiucheng Palace to escape the summer, accidentally found Liquan, rejoiced in his heart, and ordered the minister Wei Zheng to write an article, and Ouyang Xun wrote a monument to commemorate it. Ouyang Xun was already over 70 years old at the time, and the realm of calligraphy had already reached the realm of transformation, and he was writing according to the edict, so he was very attentive. The book is written as "Jiucheng Palace Liquan Ming", which is praised as "the first regular script in the world" by later generations.
Ouyang Xun is not only a master of calligraphy, but also a calligraphy theorist. Through his long-term practice of calligraphy, he summed up the unique "Ouyang Inquiry Eight Tips" and wrote a series of calligraphy empirical treatises, which have become valuable documents in the field of calligraphy theory in mainland China.
In 641, Ouyang Xun, who was in his eighties, died of illness. Because his son Ouyang Tong is also good at calligraphy, the father and son are collectively called "Big and Small Europe".
This article is excerpted from "Twenty-four Histories Read Now, Language and History Are Progressing" - the ninth volume of "New Tang Dynasty Book", which is officially authorized to be released, welcome to continue to pay attention.