Learning to be an official: Li Guangdi's family rules, family training and contemporary enlightenment

Author: Feng Jingwu (Ph.D., Pudong Cadre College, China, Distinguished Researcher of Fujian Li Guangdi Research Institute)

Li Guangdi (1642-1718), also known as Jinqing, Hou'an, Rongcun, an anxi Lake head of Quanzhou, Fujian, was a famous theologian and Yi scholar in the early Qing Dynasty. He successively served as a Hanlin editor, a cabinet scholar, a directly subordinate inspector, a bureaucrat Shangshu, and a scholar of Wenyuange University, and was an official for nearly fifty years, almost experiencing the entire Kangxi Dynasty. Li Guangdi studied science all his life, wrote a lot of works, and he also studied the general calendar, the art of war, water conservancy, law, and phonology. Kangxi commented that he was "cautious and diligent, always a section, and knowledgeable.". After Li Guangdi's death, Kangxi issued an exclamation that "the contract of the monarch and the subject is uniquely deep" and "Gai Wei Zhi'er knows the most, and only Er knows the deepest". Yongzheng's "Imperial Sacrifice Text" also praises him for his "excellent learning, good posture" and "outstanding generation of perfect people".

Li Guangdi was honest and honest, and he was well versed in the way of "cultivating Qi and ruling the peace". Based on his personal experience and experience in the career of officials and eunuchs and in dealing with the world, combined with the moral teachings and behavior demonstrations of ancient sages, he personally wrote the "Afterword to the Family" and admonished his descendants; formulated the family rules and regulations, "The Convention of the Own Clan", and regulated the people; and the conclusion of the village rules and regulations, the "Tongli Convention", and the "Ding You's Convention on the Practice of the Dynasty", etc., to purify the folk customs. In addition, he also wrote a series of "proverbs" that were highly similar in nature and content to the "family training", such as "Persuasion Proverbs", "Xi Yin Proverbs" and "Commandments and Later Proverbs".

In order to learn, he first emphasized the importance of reading, "if people live idly, they will regret it afterwards, but if they use their labor to read, they will have no uneasiness", and he also believes that reading makes people happy, the so-called "only reading to enjoy themselves". He quoted han Yu's "Commentary on Teachings" in the "Family Training, Commentary", "The mouth is constantly chanting in the text of the six arts, and the hand is constantly draped in the chapters of the hundred families; the chronicler must mention its essentials, and the narrator must hook his xuan", proposing that reading should not be limited to reading, and that only by writing with one's hands can it be remembered in the heart, and the so-called "eyes are passed, it is better to pass by hand." Li Guangdi pointed out that reading books should "mention their points" and "hook their mysteries", so scholars must "read things in detail" and "think rationally and be refined". Secondly, Li Guangdi was "diligent and studious, knowledgeable and knowledgeable", emphasizing the need to read carefully, the so-called "reading words are picky, confucius upright", "Confucius reads books, straight words do not let go." He once criticized Wang Yangming for not reading carefully, pointing out that "the Ming Dynasty people did not read carefully, and it was a great harm" and that "the Ming Dynasty people did not understand their learning and deeds thoroughly, and they thought that it was the fault of not reading specifically." Li Guangdi also pointed out that reading books should be good at independent thinking, and to have a skeptical and critical spirit, and he said in the "University" section of the "Rongcun Quotations" that "reading is the most feared and undoubted." In addition, Li Guangdi also advocated that reading should be integrated and thorough, and that learning and thinking should be carried out at the same time, "Reading must be harmonious, otherwise it will be harmful if you support your intestines and stomach." If you study and do not think, "you are nothing but a foolish student" and "its disadvantages are unspeakable"; if you think without learning, "you will have a high level of wisdom and wisdom that will not return, and you will give birth to many opinions all the way in the middle of nowhere, and you will be able to make your own promises, and teach and say things, and its drawbacks are endless."

As a person, he emphasized the cultivation of virtue and opposed "only profit is vision", Li Guangdi repeatedly told his family members the truth that "future generations have virtue and are easy to be kings, and no virtue is easy to die", pointing out the importance of "morality" to the development of the family and family members. In the "Sayings of Rongcun Village", it is recorded, "That is, if the descendants of others can continue to tell the aspirations of their ancestors, they will make the names of the branches follow, is it not a good thing?" If he is a thief and a thief, but profit is seen, what is the use of making him rich? It is better to make him poor and miserable, neither to harm others, or to be patient with his heart, but to have an opportunity for goodness." In the "Afterword to the Family" and the "Quotations of Rongcun", Li Guangdi told the younger generations to understand that the ancestors "had difficulties in starting a family", requiring them to "restrain and restrain, be obedient and humble", not to "insult the elderly offenders" and "greed for food", and to emphasize the ethics and morality of dealing with the world. Li Guangdi believes that it is precisely because the ancestors of the ancestors had the virtues of filial piety, friendship, and hard work that the family prospered and prospered, and future generations should cherish and learn from it. If the descendants are obedient and rebellious, lazy and indulgent, it will inevitably lead to the decline of the family. Li Guangdi said in the "Afterword to the Family": "In the seventy years since my birth, there have been many people who have read the old homes of the townspeople and the prominent books of the dynasty! Glory withered away, and once did not need to be ashamed. He used what he had seen and heard and the life experience of the eunuchs to warn future generations: glory and wealth, rise and fall are only a matter of a moment. If a family wants to prosper for a long time, it must strictly restrain itself and achieve "filial piety and diligence".

As an official, Li Guangdi advocated the benefit of others and goods, and opposed "self-scheming." He used the Confucian tradition of "learning for others" and "learning for oneself" as the philosophical basis for his "being an official" and "Qi family". Li Guangdi said in the lecture notes of Aofeng in the "Complete Works of Rongcun Village", "Thinking for the sake of officials and benefiting others is also for oneself, and one must be one's own strategy, and one is a person." However, those who seek a farmhouse for the sake of officials and for their children are inherently human. If we discipline our children, so that they will follow the rules, be courteous and righteous, and be able to keep their own family business, although they are for the sake of their children, they will be for themselves." As a Confucian, Li Guangdi advocated the study of "serving oneself", and as far as being an official is concerned, he must "serve himself", that is, to "benefit others and goods", not "for the sake of his family". As far as handling the relationship between "being an official" and the family is concerned, "serving oneself" is to discipline and educate brothers and children in the family, so that they can abide by etiquette and rules, and then abide by their own family business, rather than "those who seek a house for their children." Li Guangdi inherited the idea of "learning for himself" from his ancestors and expounded and practiced it, strictly restraining his family and descendants, which has a strong enlightening significance today. The second is to advocate honesty and honesty and oppose greed and wanton behavior. Li Guangdi opposed mercenary interests, advocated being honest and honest as an official, took the lead in setting an example for himself, practiced in practice, and truly achieved the unity of knowledge and action. He placed a statue in front of the receiving pavilion at the entrance of Xinya East Lane, and the head of the statue was cut off and then glued to it, so as to warn the clan not to be greedy for being a human official, otherwise they would have to worry about their lives, and even be in a different place. This bears witness to his character of "self-encouragement in the ranks of officials with diligence and diligence". The third is to advocate cherishing honor and honor and opposing favoritism and protection. Li Guangdi combined the family training style with the national law and strictly restrained himself and the family members. He stressed that "we must set a little example in our own townships, first of all, we must sort out our own people, first we must be pure-hearted, we must forbid our children and servants, and we must not deceive the township." Li Guangdi also used the principle of withering and glory of grass and trees in nature as an analogy: "Where the wood is solid, its roots will be hurt, and the shade will be arrogant, and the decline will rise to the point of decline", "From now on, there have been foul rules, and I can only report from the public, hear about the officials and abandon it with the public, and cannot protect it for personal gain." When he saw the family members relying on wealth and power and "committing the most heinous crimes in the village," Li Guangdi sharply warned, "Er does not spare my honor, I have to love my life for Er." He used the words of Zhou Gong to warn his descendants, "When his descendants go to the unworthy fields, he will know that he has done evil, and he does not know that if he has a grandfather, he will be my descendants." He further informed his descendants of the serious consequences of transgression, "if the constitution of the country is strict, it will not be lenient", these words still read like Hong Zhong Da Lu, sonorous and powerful, and extremely revealing significance.

Li Guangdi's family rules and family training have distinct characteristics: First, it emphasizes reading books "for oneself" and takes theoretical thinking as the philosophical basis for family rules and family training, which is full of theory; second, it is the right medicine for the symptoms, with the purpose of solving problems, and it is targeted; the third is the unity of knowledge and action, guided by practice, and very effective. Li Guangdi's family training has been practiced by future generations and has become the foundation of the Founding Clan and the Gang of the Wang Clan. In Li Guangdi's hometown, on Li Guangdi's birthday and death day, the descendants of the whole clan recited the "Admonition to the Family and the Later Proverbs" in unison, learning from the past and learning the new, keeping in mind the last instructions of the sages, and abiding by the rules and the law.

Guangming Daily (2019.06.01.11 edition)