In 1057 AD, in the spring of the second year of The Song Renzong Jiayou, it was the day when the Imperial Examination was put on the list.
Su Shi, Su Rui, Zeng Gong, Zeng Bu, Zhang Wei, Zhang Zai, Cheng Hao, Wang Shao... No one expected that these ordinary names in the list of jinshi would go down in history. No one expected that many of them would even influence the ideological, political, and economic trends of the Chinese nation.
Among them, the 38-year-old Zhang Zai does not seem to stand out.
Before entering the examination hall of the imperial examination, this Confucian student who had aspired to serve as a soldier had been reading and thinking for more than twenty years under the Taibai Mountain in Qinling, talking with the souls of heaven and earth, exploring how to "establish a heart for heaven and earth, establish a destiny for the people, continue to study for the saints, and open up peace for all the worlds."
A thousand years. Zhang Zai and the spiritual and cultural heritage he left behind shine through the splendid long river of Chinese civilization.
A lifetime of bowing
Zhang Zai (1020-1077), also known as Zihou, was a famous thinker, philosopher, and educator of the Northern Song Dynasty, a master of Guan Xue, and one of the founders of Song Ming's science. Because he set up a museum in his hometown to give lectures in his later years, he was called "Mr. Hengqu".
Zhang Zai's ancestral home was Daliang (present-day Kaifeng), Henan. In the second year of the Northern Song Dynasty (1035), Zhang Zai's father Zhang Di died of illness. As a young man, Zhang Zai, his younger brother Zhang Jian (張戬) and his mother Lu Shi (陸氏), escorted his father's coffin from Fuzhou,Sichuan (present-day Fuling, Chongqing) and returned to Daliang. However, the road is long and the cost is large, and the family has exhausted the coils on their bodies when they walk out of the valley. At this time, when they heard of the war ahead, Zhang Zai's family decided to bury Zhang Zai's father on the Dazhen Valley Mihu Ridge, 8 kilometers south of Hengqu Town. Since then, Zhang Zai has made a home in Mei County and entered the Chongshou Academy in Hengqu Town to study.
Zhang Zai lived in an era when the Western Xia was at its peak, and the western border of the Northern Song Dynasty was often invaded by it. The young Zhang Zai liked the art of war and was determined to join the army, hoping to resist the enemy and serve the country and make meritorious achievements. At the age of 21, Zhang Zai wrote the "Nine Articles of Border Discussion" and wrote a letter to Fan Zhongyan, who was then the deputy envoy of Shaanxi Jingluo and presided over the defense of the northwest, stating his views and opinions.
Inside the Yan'an military palace, Fan Zhongyan summoned this Confucian. Seeing Zhang Zai, Fan Zhongyan "knew his far away instrument at first sight" and thought that if Zhang Zai did his studies seriously, he would definitely become a great instrument, so he advised him: "Confucians have their own name to teach Coke, what is the matter with the soldiers!" "It means that you are a Confucian student, and reading well is the profession, so why should you be a soldier?" Fan Zhongyan also suggested that he study the Confucian classic Zhongyong.
Beginning with the study of "The Mean", Zhang Zai embarked on the road of academic creation.
In the second year of the Northern Song Dynasty (1057), Zhang Zai went to Da liang to take the exam, when Ouyang Xiu took the main exam, Zhang Zaijinshi and the first. While waiting for the edict, Zhang Zai was invited by the prime minister Wen Yanbo to set up a tiger skin chair at the Xiangguo Temple in Kaifeng to talk about yi. In the exchanges between the Brothers of the Cheng family, he found that Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi's views on the I Ching were far more refined than his own.
Zhang Zai was Ercheng's cousin, but he was humble to others, and when he felt that Ercheng's study of the I Ching had surpassed his own, he resolutely removed the tiger skin seat, and then said to the people who listened to the lecture: "The way that is easy to learn, I am better than Ercheng." Ask them for advice. ”
After that, he successively served as the judicial officer of Qi prefecture, the order of Yunyan County, and the military judge of Weizhou. No matter where he took up his post, he worked conscientiously, made strict decrees, promoted moral governance, and advocated the social trend of respecting the elderly and loving the young.
At the age of 51, because of his views on Wang Anshi's new policy, Zhang Zai resigned and returned to Hengqu Town, living on the thin fields of his family, and lecturing and writing books at Chongshouyuan. During this time, he wrote numerous books summarizing his scholarly ideas. In order to practice his ideas, he bought a lot of land with his students and practiced the restoration of the ancient ceremony and the well field system. Today, there are still relics preserved in Yaxia Village, Fufeng Wujing Town, and Chang'an Meridian Town in Hengqu Town, and the story of "Hengqu Eight Water Inspection Well Field" is circulated.
In the 10th year of the Northern Song Dynasty (1077), the 58-year-old Zhang Zai re-entered the imperial court as an official and served as a tongzhi taichang court. Because he supported the implementation of the retro wedding crown funeral ceremony without success, he resigned from the government and returned home through illness. In the winter of that year, he traveled to The Lintong Inn and passed away.
According to historical records, after Zhang Zai's death, his family had no money to buy a coffin for him. After the cabinets in the home were opened, there were only books, and finally the students raised funds and transported their remains back to Mei County and buried them on the Fox Ridge in Dazhen Valley.
Throughout his life, Zhang Zai worried about the country and the people, bowed down to exhaustion, wrote books and said, and was poor all his life.
A peak of thought
"The materialism created by Mr. Hengqu predates Descartes by more than 500 years, and Zhang Hengqu, the father of the world's materialist philosophy, deserves it." In 1960, when British Field Marshal General Montgomery visited Xi'an, he said this to Premier Zhou Enlai, who accompanied him. The inscription of Zhang Zaici (Hengqu Academy) in Hengqu Town, Meixian County records this sentence.
Hengqu Academy also witnessed the academic ideas pioneered by Zhang Zai.
In the history of Chinese thought and culture, Confucianism founded by Confucius has dominated. After the evolution of pre-Qin Confucianism and Han and Tang Confucianism, by the Song and Ming dynasties, Confucianism developed into science. Rigaku is a neo-Confucianism founded in the context of the "unity of the three religions" in the face of new issues of the times. The Guanxue pioneered by Zhang Zai is an important vein of Song Dynasty science.
In the view of Liu Xuezhi, a well-known expert in guanxue studies and professor of the School of Philosophy and Government Management of Shaanxi Normal University, many thinkers have emerged in the history of Song Ming Science, among which Zhang Zai of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi of the Southern Song Dynasty, and Wang Yangming of the Ming Dynasty represent the three ideological peaks in the history of science, and Zhang Zaiguanxue is the first peak in the history of Song Ming Science.
"Zhang Zai's thought is to talk about the theory of mental nature on the basis of qi theory, and the theoretical theme of 'sex and heavenly path as one' established by it has in fact influenced the entire Song Ming theory." Liu Xuezhi introduced that as the founder and founder of science, some of the basic categories and important propositions of Song Ming's science of science have been put forward or seen in Zhang Zai; the basic framework of science has been seen in Zhang Zai; and Zhang Zai's attitude of criticizing Buddha has also become the basic theoretical position of the theologians at that time.
"Zhang Zai's thought is a theoretical creation based on summarizing the Han and Tang Confucianism's "knowing people but not knowing the heavens, seeking to be a sage rather than a saint", 'going in and out of the Buddha for decades', and reflecting on the accumulated shortcomings of Northern Song society. Therefore, Quan Zuwang said that he had the courage to create the Tao, and Lü Da Lin commented on his doctrine that "since Mencius, there has been no one", and his academic thought pushed the Northern Song Dynasty to the peak. Liu Xuezhi said.
Guan Xue is an important school in the history of Chinese Confucianism, which has lasted for more than 800 years, and together with the science of Ercheng Zhu Xi and the psychology of Lu Jiuyuan Wang Yangming, it laid the basic ideology from the Northern Song Dynasty to the late period of China's feudal society in the late Qing Dynasty. Zhao Fujie, honorary chairman of the Shaanxi Provincial Federation of Social Sciences and tenured professor of Northwest University of Political Science and Law, introduced in "The Theory of Guanxue Spirit" that since Zhang Zai founded Guanxue in the Northern Song Dynasty, in the past 800 years, the torch has been passed on endlessly. It has experienced the historical trajectory of the prosperity of the Northern Song Dynasty, the decline of the Jin Yuan, the revival of the Ming Dynasty, and the transmutation of the Qing Dynasty. No matter how history changes and how schools argue, guan xue emphasizes its mission, advocates morality, seeks truth and pragmatism, applies it to the world, and advocates the spirit of integrity. As a relatively independent school in the late period of China's feudal society, Guan Xue not only made outstanding contributions to the treasure house of wisdom of the Chinese nation in terms of philosophical wisdom, but also formed its own distinctive characteristics in the humanistic spirit. Its philosophical wisdom and humanistic spirit are still our precious assets and resources today.
In charge of Mission
"Establish a heart for heaven and earth, establish a destiny for the people, continue to learn from the saints, and open up peace for all the worlds." In Zhang Zai's spiritual legacy, these four famous sayings are widely recited and are also the essence of his thoughts, and Feng Youlan calls them the "Four Sentences of Hengqu".
In the autumn of 1076, at the age of 57, Zhang Zai finally completed an important work that embodied the essence and system of his philosophical thought, "Zhengmeng". The "Four Sentences of Horizontal Canal" is the concentrated embodiment of his philosophical theme. Huang Zongxi, a famous thinker in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, believed that this was a major historical mission and responsibility that Zhang Zai had established for himself, and demonstrated the broad mind of Confucianism.
"Establishing a Heart for Heaven and Earth" embodies Zhang Zai's great ideals, ambitions and values. Zhang Zai advocated that all people with social responsibility and a sense of responsibility should conform to the requirements of everything in the universe and consciously shoulder the historical mission of establishing a spiritual direction and value system for society. In Zhang Zai's view, "Heaven has no heart, the heart is in the heart of man" and "The heart of man, the heart of heaven and earth is also", and the heart established by man for heaven and earth is the heart of "establishing heaven and earth" and the heart of benevolence. This is the core of the "Four Sentences of the Horizontal Canal".
"Establishing a life for the people" is the basic standard, spiritual direction and value goal that Zhang Zai wants to provide the people with the basic principles, spiritual direction and value goals of being a human being. "Living people" refers to the people. "Establishing life" means "establishing the way". Zhang Zai takes guiding the people to establish correct living standards and spiritual directions as the goal of his struggle, so as to help others settle down and establish the meaning of life. Here, Zhang Zai wants to find a spiritual home for people through his own efforts, so that they can have a place to live and live. "Establishing a life for the people" embodies Zhang Zai's lofty spiritual pursuit.
"To the saints and to the saints" and "to the saints" refers to the saints in history; "to the saints" refers to the Confucian tradition that has been interrupted by the impact of heretical ideas in history. With a lofty sense of mission and a fearless spirit of responsibility, Zhang Zai carried the historical mission of inheriting and carrying forward the Confucian absolute learning and Taoist system, and established a neo-Confucian system. "Continuing to Learn for the Sacred" not only embodies Zhang Zai's academic mission, but also highlights Zhang Zai's spiritual realm, and also points out the spiritual direction for the development of this post-theory.
"The ultimate goal of Zhang Zai's 'lixin', 'establishing a destiny', and 'continuing to die' is to realize the ultimate social ideal -- to open up peace for all the worlds." Liu Xuezhi introduced that concepts such as "Taiping" and "Datong" are the ideal social state since Zhou Gong and Confucius. Zhang Zai believes that through the implementation of "benevolent government" and "courtesy rule", the social demands of "foot people" and "equal peace" can be realized, and the world will be in peace and stability for a long time.
"Zhang Zai, with a broader and far-reaching vision, pushes this ideal social state to the 'ten thousand worlds', thinking that mankind seeks a social vision of permanent stability, peace and peace, and this kind of open-mindedness and arrogance is closely related to Zhang Zai's profound understanding of the Confucian realm and his deep understanding of Confucian feelings.
"In short, Zhang Zai's 'four for' sentence involves the scholars' pursuit of the principles of people's lives, spiritual values, life meanings, inheritance of academic unity, and political ideals, expresses Zhang Zai's broad-mindedness and broad feelings, shows the scholars' yearning for and diligent pursuit of the lofty ideals of mankind, and also shows the cultural spirit of Guan Xue scholars, so it has always been respected by successive generations of scholars, especially Guan Xue scholars." Liu Xuezhi said.
A spiritual monument
Inside the Zhang Zai Ancestral Hall, there are two stone tablets inscribed with "Dong Ming" and "Xi Ming" (also known as "Ding Jie"). The Ximing is taken from the Zhengmeng Qianzhi And is the soul and spiritual identity of Zhang Zai's thoughts.
The famous "Minwu compatriots, things and also", that is, the idea of "people's compatriots and things" summarized by posterity comes from the "Ximing": "Qian is called father, Kun is called mother; Yu Zi is contemptuous, but it is in the middle of the mixture." Therefore, the plug of heaven and earth, my body; the handsomeness of heaven and earth, my nature. People, my fellow citizens; things, me and also. ”
This sentence translates to say: "Heaven is my father, the earth is my mother, and man is born of heaven and earth, and he is born of the qi of heaven and earth, and he is very small in the universe, and he lives between heaven and earth like all things." The people of the world are my brothers, and the people and things between heaven and earth are my companions and friends, so we should treat others like brothers, and we should care for all things like people. ”
"'Compatriots of the people, things and also' contains the spirit of fraternity based on the unity of heaven and man and the unity of all things, and advocates the ethical feelings of benevolence, loyalty and filial piety, which is also the core spirit of the "Ximing"." Liu Xuezhi introduced that this requires that at the level of social ethics, everyone should respect the old and the young, fulfill their moral obligations, give play to the humanitarian spirit, and treat those who are "tired, disabled, lonely, widowed" as their brothers and give sympathy and love.
Historically, "people's compatriots and things" have inspired benevolent people to save the country from danger and save the people from charcoal. Today, it still enlightens us to take the world as our own responsibility, care for society, pay attention to people's livelihood, and consciously shoulder the responsibility for the national society.
Zhang Zai's life is the true embodiment of the spirit of "people's compatriots and things".
In the fifth year of Emperor Renzong of Song (1053), a major drought in Qi Prefecture (present-day Qishan County) caused a serious crop failure. After Zhang Zai heard about it, every time he ate, he could not swallow the food and sympathized with the hungry people. He hoped that officials should care for the people and all the creatures of the world as they loved themselves and their friends.
In addition, in the "Xi Ming", Zhang Zai also instructed us to adhere to a positive and enterprising and optimistic attitude towards life. He said: "Rich and blessed, will be the life of Hou Wu, poor and poor, Yong Yu Ru Yu Chengye." Survive, I'm going well. No, Wu Ning also. This means that if a person is in a situation of wealth and nobility, although he can enjoy happiness and happiness, but do not be arrogant, you must know that this is the love and care of heaven and earth for you; if a person is in a poor situation, although there are hardships and sorrows, do not despair, it should be regarded as the exercise and test of heaven and earth for you, which clearly reflects Zhang Zai's positive and detached attitude towards life. Later generations often used "poor and poor, yuru Yucheng" to summarize this meaning.
In Zhang Zai's life, he was recommended to Beijing twice, but when he found it difficult to achieve his political ideals, he resolutely resigned from the government and returned to the township to teach his disciples.
His spirit profoundly influenced a large number of Guan Xue scholars. Just as Zhang Yizhi, a famous intellectual historian in china, said, the Guanxue scholars represented by Zhang Zai are "poor and good at their own, and if they are good at both, they are good at the world," embodying the great husband's integrity of "rich and noble cannot be adulterous, poor and lowly cannot be moved, and mighty cannot be bent," which is the spirit of Chinese.
（YFL）