The two and a half centuries from the end of the eighth century BC to the beginning of the fifth century BC were not optimistic years for the Yellow River in the hinterland of Asia, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the region from Shaanxi and Gansu in the west to the west coast of the Pacific Ocean. Recording this period of time with the most concise brushstrokes has become a work called "Spring and Autumn". Since then, people have named these two and a half centuries after this work, calling it "Spring and Autumn".
"Spring and Autumn" is the provincial writing of "Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter", which is a unit of measurement of "time", so "Spring and Autumn" is a "book of time" that records what happens in the years that come and go. There are natural phenomena, insect pests (locusts, beetles, worms that can transform moths, of varying species), frosts, warm winters, landslides, meteor showers, and more than thirty eclipses, the vast majority of which can be confirmed by modern scientific and technological calculations, as well as the earliest records of Halley's Comet; social phenomena and political events, the construction of castles, the holding of sacrifices, international conferences, high-level visits, the ascension of leaders to the throne, intermarriage among nations (and the breakdown of marriages), defections and murders, and hundreds of wars (declarations of war, sneak attacks, riots, civil wars, Invasion of cities and annihilation of nations, of varying kinds). Taken together, these are used in more than sixteen thousand words. (The ancient version of "Spring and Autumn" is more than a thousand words more than this, and it no longer exists.) ）
"Spring and Autumn Classics Collection and Interpretation" book shadow, Song Jiading nine years of the Xingguo Military Journal
Wang Anshi said that it was a "broken dynasty newspaper" because each record did not have a few words, like a newspaper headline, and each article was independent, and at first glance, it seemed as if the preface did not match the afterword. Judging from the density of the information recorded in "Spring and Autumn", it is impossible not to write it so briefly.
Despite its extreme simplicity, Spring and Autumn still has a position, and it is more than just a pile of facts. At that time, this land could be roughly divided into three layers from the inside out: the Zhou royal family - the princely states - Siyi (Dongyi, Nanman, Xirong, and Beidi). "Spring and Autumn" was not written by the Zhou royal family or Siyi, but by the State of Lu in the princely states, and it was the history of the country recorded by the historians of the State of Lu. Therefore, the "Spring and Autumn" records that all take the State of Lu as the center, involving countries that are friendly or hostile to the State of Lu, involving the environment and world in which the State of Lu lives, and involving the princes and overlords at that time and the Zhou royal family. The perspective and tone of the "Spring and Autumn" chronicle are also luguo, with the feelings, likes and dislikes and right and wrong judgments of luguo people.
For example, in the sixth year of the Duke of Lu Huan, Beirong attacked the State of Qi. The State of Qi asked for help from various countries, and doctors from all over the world led their armies to come. Among the armies of the nations, Zheng Guo's son Kuo made the greatest contribution, he defeated the Rong army, captured two main generals of the Rong people, and beheaded the heads of three hundred soldiers of the Rong army, all of which were dedicated to the State of Qi. In order to thank the reinforcements of various countries, the Qi people sent food and asked the Lu people to help sort and distribute. The State of Lu was a descendant of Zhou Gongdan, with a long history, and was particularly familiar with the Zhou rites, and was particularly exquisite, so it was natural to order the princes according to the order of the princes and titles. This offended the Zheng people, because Zheng Guo was founded only during the western weekend when King Xuan of Zhou was king, and naturally ranked last, but their merits were great, and their hearts were very unbalanced. Four years later, Zheng Guo tangled with Qi and Wei to fight Lu Guo and wanted to take this breath. Therefore, lu guoren wrote in "Spring and Autumn": "Qi, Wei, and Zheng lai fought against Lang. In this sentence, right and wrong and attitude have been clearly stated. Instead of using the words "invasion" and "logging", but to say that the three kingdoms "came to war" is to point out that there is nothing wrong with the State of Lu itself, and that it was the three countries that took the initiative to call on the door, and they were wrong. Originally, the "Spring and Autumn" recorded military operations, generally with the main one at the top, this time it was Zheng Guo who gathered Qi and Wei, but Lu Guo deliberately recorded it after Qi and Wei, which is still ranked according to the zhou dynasty's shifts, which is intended to reaffirm the ranking principle of Lu Guo and negate Zheng Guo's arrogant and arrogant approach.
Zhou Gong
For another example, "Spring and Autumn" has an "internal" brushwork, and for things that are ugly in the country, they are either expressed with a curved pen or simply not said. For example, in the thirtieth year of Xianggong, a fire broke out in the Song Kingdom, and the losses were so heavy that even Lady Guo (that is, The Boji who Lu Guo married in the past, because of this incident became the representative of the model women of later generations) was burned to death. At that time, the princes had the obligation to "sympathize with their neighbors and provide disaster relief", so in the winter of that year, the secretaries of state of the nations gathered to discuss aiding the Song kingdom. At the beginning, everyone originally announced that they would donate money to the Song Kingdom, but in the end, they did not cash in. Therefore, the Spring and Autumn Period reads: "The Jin people, the Qi people, the Song people, the Wei people, the Zheng people, the Cao people, the Ju people, the Qiu people, the Teng people, the Xue people, the Qi people, and the Xiao People will be in The Yuan, and the Song people will die." These "Jin people" and "Qi people" and so on, in the "Zuo Zhuan", are all big people with heads and faces in various countries, and the reason why "Spring and Autumn" only calls them "people" as if they are insignificant is to ridicule them and to demean the significance of this rally, because everyone talks beautifully and does not talk about credit. After adding the phrase "Song disaster", he calmly explained the reason for criticizing them: they gathered in the name of disaster relief, and the result was only a rally, in fact, nothing was done for the Song Kingdom. However, according to the "Zuo Biography", Lu Qing's uncle Sun Bao also participated in this conference, but "Spring and Autumn" spared him and did not write "Lu Ren", which was a secret for his country, as if the Lu people had not participated in this verbal rescue conference.
From this, we can also infer that if "Spring and Autumn" were written by people from other countries, it would certainly record many things that were not in Lu Guo's "Spring and Autumn"; even if the same thing was recorded, due to different positions and attitudes, the appearance would certainly not be the same as Lu Guo's "Spring and Autumn".
Coincidentally, at that time, there were really many countries doing "Spring and Autumn". Mencius once said that "Jin's "Multiplication", Chu's "Han Zhuo", Lu's "Spring and Autumn", Yiye" (Mencius Li Louxia), which means that the Jin and Chu states have similar works passed down and were seen by Mencius more than a hundred years later. Their properties are all the same, except that they are either called "multiplication" or "梼杌", not "Spring and Autumn".
Mencius
Similar words, Mozi has also said. He once quoted stories from the "Spring and Autumn" of zhou, Yan, Song, Qi and other countries to prove that ghosts and gods are real and true beings (see "Mozi Ming Ghosts"). However, judging from the stories he cited, it seems that Zhou, Yan, Qi, and Song's "Spring and Autumn" should be more detailed, but Lu's "Spring and Autumn" is the most concise.
Therefore, we understand that most of the history books of various countries at that time were called "Spring and Autumn", which was the common name of the history books. As for the name of the Jin State "Multiplication" and the chu State called "梼杌", this is their specific name in some countries.
This is wonderful: the Jin State was a superpower at that time, like the United States today, and its activities affected the quality of life and future destiny of many countries; the State of Chu was a newly emerging Southern Barbarian State, which liked to think of itself as a barbarian, had a very specific culture and customs, and had interests and positions that were completely opposed to the Jin State, and competed with it for a long time. If you compare the "Ride" of the superpower and the "HanZhu" of the southern barbarian power with the "Spring and Autumn" of the Lu Kingdom, and refer to the "Spring and Autumn" of the various princely states mentioned by Mozi, as well as the "Spring and Autumn of the Zhou Dynasty" of the royal family, I don't know how rich it will be!
However, it is a pity that the "Multiplication" of Jin, the "Hanzhuo" of Chu, and the various "Spring and Autumn" of the nations have not been completely preserved to this day. These things, in the works of the Warring States, occasionally there are still a few words, and it cannot be said that they have completely disappeared. As a complete work, only Lu's "Spring and Autumn" was circulated.
In this way, Lu's "Spring and Autumn" is particularly valuable, and it has become the only complete, coherent, and faithful real-time record that reflects the history of these two and a half centuries. This is why "Spring and Autumn" later became the proper name of Lu Guo's "Spring and Autumn", and later generations of people used the name of this book to identify these two and a half centuries.
Lu's "Spring and Autumn" did not disappear like Jin's "Ride" and Chu's "Han Zhuo", which is really a blessing for Confucius, which is one of Confucius's major cultural contributions.
Confucius was a great educator, and there were more than 3,000 officially registered disciples. He gave lessons to his students, and poetry, books, ceremonies, and music were all the main courses, which was the education that the children of the nobility generally had to receive at that time. Before Confucius, the main subjects of official schools were also these, cultivating gentlemen with good character, modesty, respect for tradition, and rich knowledge of governing the country. When he came to Confucius, he continued to use these courses, but the scope of education was extended beyond the nobility, and anyone who had paid tuition fees ("above the shackles", ten or more pieces of dried meat), regardless of their origin, could come to study.
The Book of Retreat Poems from the Sacred Relics
"Spring and Autumn" is also one of the subjects taught by Confucius, but it is a newly developed course developed by Confucius in his later years, which is not the same as "poetry", "book", "ritual" and "music".
The "Poems" and "Books", the former of which were the "Red Songs" and "Nostalgic Golden Songs" of the time, were mainly about the "virtue of King Wen", the glorious course of the Zhou Dynasty from scratch and from weak to strong, a bit like the "History of the Chinese Revolution" that we learn today; the latter is a compilation of important speeches by The great teachers of Yao, Shun, Yu, Shang Tang, Zhou Wu, Zhou Gong, etc., talking about political ideology and governing principles, and a little like our "Ma Zhe", "Mao Zhi", and "Deng Theory" today, which is a series of theories of revolution and construction. After learning this, we have an understanding of virtue and good governance. Coupled with the norms of action (etiquette) and the cultivation of music (music), man grows into a reliable reserve force for future political life, a gentleman.
However, in the era of Confucius, there are many changes in social life, look at the "Spring and Autumn" of more than 16,000 words - "Thirty-six kings, fifty-two countries", natural disasters and man-made disasters, invincible. The positive experience of the past seems to be insufficient, and the "gentlemen" in this deceitful society cannot cope with it: Lu Yingong intends to give way to his younger brother, but the younger brother listens to rumors and poisons his brother; Song Xianggong, who is keen on "benevolence and righteousness", cannot defeat the southern barbarians of Chu, who do not have a strong sense of morality; the advanced Zhou culture, which cannot withstand the barbaric and backward violence of the Rong and Di people; the morally upright Gongzi Qian and Gongzi Shou, and eventually die at the hands of the sinister brother and adulterous father; and a scholar and great educator like Confucius , the days are also gray-headed, running east and west, not embarrassed... In this world, if you cling to the teachings of "Poetry" and "Books", you will suffer losses, become victims of a completely collapsed society, and even take your life; and if you blindly follow the tide, you will fall, and you will also lose your life, and end up with a tragic and shameful end. The harsh reality is so frightening and compelling to make a choice. Opening a course to explain the life of the times is really a top priority.
Therefore, Confucius extracted the records of the last two hundred years from the "Spring and Autumn" written by the historian of the State of Lu, and used this as an outline to teach "the modern and contemporary political life of the country of Lu and the world." Starting from Lu Yingong two hundred and forty years ago, he has been talking about the latest current affairs and politics. The specific course of those historical events, the reasons for the rise and fall of various countries, the merits and personalities of historical figures and political figures of various countries, and the gains and losses of decision-making at critical junctures... Confucius told the students one by one. Students understand the times, understand justice, understand the fate of man in the times, understand what is right and what is wrong, and think about how to be a gentleman in such an era. This is how Lu's "Spring and Autumn" was handed down.
"Spring and Autumn Left Biography" book shadow, Sun Yuefeng commentary, Ming Wanli calendar Zhu Mo overprint
The specific method of the lesson is probably like this: first read a sentence of "Spring and Autumn", and then you have to explain - what is the record of this sentence? Why should "Spring and Autumn" remember this? Why did the historian use such words to remember this matter? Occasionally, I also say that something happened at a certain time in a certain year, but it is not recorded in "Spring and Autumn", for what reason. Without clarifying the above problems, the super concise text of "Spring and Autumn" cannot be read.
Let's take a few short examples:
"Spring and Autumn" records that in the winter of the second year of Lu Yingong, "Ji Zi Shuai and Ju Zi Meng Yu Mi", what is this? "Ji Zi Shuai" is the secretary of the State of Ji, the character Zi Shuai, who is allied with the monarch of the State of Ju in Secret Land. However, why did "Spring and Autumn" record this seemingly unrelated to the Lu people? It turned out that Ji and Ju were close neighbors of the State of Lu, and the State of Ju was hostile to the State of Lu, while the State of Ji was friendly with the State of Lu, and one of the daughters of the State of Lu had just been married. Therefore, Ji Guo's sons were serving the State of Lu and allying with the State of Ju in order to reconcile the relations between the State of Lu and the State of Ju. The Lu people therefore wrote down this matter. Then, when the Lu people recorded, why did they put the ministers of the Ji Kingdom ahead of the monarchs of the Ju Kingdom? You know, this is not in line with the custom at that time: the king is humble and humble, and the writing is also based on the first king and then the subject. This is because Zi Bao is running for the interests of the Lu state, so the Lu people have recorded him as the representative of their own country, of course, like the diplomatic events of the Lu country, the representative of the country is written at the beginning. Moreover, the word "Zi Shuai" in the writing is not called his name, which is also the meaning of respect and recognition for Zi Shuai.
The writing of "Spring and Autumn" is often like this, in one or two words to express the praise and depreciation of characters and events, very concise, but also extremely accurate, will be good and evil are fully expressed, so the predecessors said that it is "a word of praise, spoiled more than the gift of Hua Gun; the depreciation of the film, insulting the city dynasty tart" (Fanning", "Spring and Autumn Valley Liang Biography"). Therefore, it is difficult to understand the deep meaning without the teacher's explanation. Probably because the State of Lu was a descendant of the inventor of Li Le, Zhou Gong, and the historians of the State of Lu had extremely profound cultivation, the history books made would be so strict. But some people also believe that this is the result of Confucius's revision of the main text of "Spring and Autumn", and those words with profound meaning are added by Confucius, and the interpretation is the "small words and great meanings" of "Spring and Autumn". Later generations of scribes who spoke of "Spring and Autumn" even said that "do not cultivate "Spring and Autumn"", that is, the current "Spring and Autumn" was revised by Confucius, and there was still a "Spring and Autumn" base that had not been revised by Confucius before, and it was called "not repairing "Spring and Autumn". Whether Confucius really revised the Spring and Autumn Period, and whether he also revised the Spring and Autumn from the perspective of sustenance and righteousness, is still debated to this day. However, whether it is written by historians or changed by Confucius, the words of "Spring and Autumn" often have a very deep meaning between the lines, which is certain.
"Spring and Autumn" book shadow, Qing Dao light years of the inner house Zhu Silan fine writing
For another example, in the seventh year of the Spring and Autumn Period, Lu Yingong had four words, "Xia Chengqiu", and repaired the city wall in the Middle Hill place in the summer, so why should this kind of thing be written down? A common practice in "Spring and Autumn" is that "common things are not books", and if it is a routine work of governing the country, it will not be recorded endlessly like a running account. Reinforcing the city walls was a regular task, but now there must be something special to write down. Originally, summer is the busy season of farming, and generally there is no large-scale construction, for fear of hindering agricultural work, so the historian wrote down this matter to remember its "from time to time" - the city wall was not repaired at the right time.
For another example, as mentioned earlier in the sixth year of The Duke of Huan, zhengguo, qi, and wei joined forces to fight against Lu, and there was also the matter of Xianggong's thirteen-year general meeting of princes to aid the Song, and the main text of the Spring and Autumn Period is only "Qi, Wei, and Zheng laizhan Yulang", "Jinren, Qiren, Songren, Weiren, Zhengren, Caoren, Juren, Qiuren, Tengren, Xueren, Qiren, and Xiaoyiren will be in Liaoyuan and Song Disaster", and if there is no detailed explanation, it will not be understood in any way.
Fortunately, Confucius's students can listen to the teacher's explanation. At the age of fifteen, Confucius aspired to learn, believed in the ancient, and mastered a lot of historical data. Later, he paid homage to the Zhou Chamber, traveled around the world, observed the customs and worlds of various countries, got to know many scholars, political leaders, and people of all walks of life and trades, read the official documents of various countries, and also inquired about many relics. These, Confucius often talked about in class, can greatly enhance students' understanding of "Spring and Autumn".
Confucius's lecture notes, which he did not write down at the time. However, what he said left a deep impression on the minds of the students. After Confucius' death, students still passed on the knowledge of "Spring and Autumn" from generation to generation. At first, it was passed on by word of mouth, but because different disciples learned and remembered each had their own characteristics and emphases, different schools of "Spring and Autumn" were formed. Later, they were successively written into books, and three works explaining the Spring and Autumn Period were formed: "The Biography of the Left Clan of spring and autumn", "The biography of Liang in the Spring and Autumn Valley", and "The biography of the Ram in the Spring and Autumn Period". We call them the "Three Traditions of Spring and Autumn".
Among the "Three Traditions", the "Biography of the Ram" and the "Biography of Gu Liang" were written later, and were written by Confucian masters in the Han Dynasty in the new script after the unification of Qin, so they were called "Jinwen". The "Biography of zuo shi" was written very early, and it was already fixed in the early Warring States period, and the pre-Qin sons often had traces of quoting it. It has gone through the Qin Fire, never lost, and was rediscovered and sorted out by the Han Dynasty. When it was discovered, it was written in the Six Kingdoms script before the unification of the Qin Dynasty, so it was called "Ancient Text".
"Spring and Autumn Ram Transmission Commentary" book shadow, Ming Wanli edition
In terms of content, the "Biography of the Ram" and the "Biography of Gu Liang" pay more attention to "righteousness", attach importance to the ideas, principles and standards for judging right and wrong contained in "Spring and Autumn", and also pay attention to revealing the different attitudes of praise, depreciation, persuasion and punishment contained in the words "Spring and Autumn", the so-called "Spring and Autumn Brushwork". The "Biography of zuo" emphasizes historical facts, telling the ins and outs of the events recorded in "Spring and Autumn", which is informative and smooth, and the narrative of major events such as war is always meticulous and clear.
In fact, in the history of classics, there has been a long-term controversy over whether the Zuo Shi Zhuan was aimed at interpreting the Spring and Autumn Period, and the han dynasty's modern scholars did not recognize it, and until now there has been no complete consensus. [1]
However, what we cannot but admit now is that no matter what the original intention of the work of "Zuo Shi Chuan" was, today, it is impossible to understand the Spring and Autumn Period and understand the work of "Spring and Autumn". It provides us with basic historical facts, the main clues of history, the lineage of important families, as well as rich historical details, anecdotes of ceremonial systems and political figures, and also preserves a large number of political statements and academic views of the people of the time. Therefore, the "Biography of Zuo Shi" is also the largest in the "Three Biographies", with nearly 200,000 words, which is an indispensable basic material for us to understand the works of "Spring and Autumn", "Lao Tzu", and "Analects".
Another difference between "Zuo Biao" and "Ram" and "Gu Liang" is its unique literary value. Among them, whether it is the origin of major events or short sketches, the wording is beautiful and the narrative is also orderly, which is a classic model of pre-Qin ancient texts.
"Spring and Autumn Valley Liang Chuan Shu Shu", Ming Wanli edition
However, one of the difficulties in reading Zuo Biao is that it is too long to read. Therefore, there have always been many anthologies of "Zuo Biao". When he was far away in the Warring States King of Chu wei, he suffered from the fact that the "Spring and Autumn" was too long, so his tutor Duo Jiao compiled a "Duo's Micro", which was known as a reduced version of "Spring and Autumn", so that the King of Chu could use less strength to look at the ancient truth of success and failure. Later generations guessed: "Spring and Autumn" only has more than 10,000 words, how can it be too long? By the way, I think of this so-called "Spring and Autumn", which refers to the "Zuo Shi Chunqiu", and "Duo's Wei" is probably a work born from "Zuo Shi Chunqiu". Of course, Duo's approach may be different from the selection of the "Left Biography" by later generations, probably an abbreviation or overall adaptation that focuses on reflecting political wisdom and political experience.
Now, we are also trying to peek into the style of "Left Transmission" through a fragment of scales and half claws. More than a dozen lecture notes in this small book explain dozens of paragraphs in the "Spring and Autumn Zuo Shi Biography", and the selected texts and explanations are added together, involving about one-twentieth of the entire "Zuo Zhuan". Due to the limitation of space, the selection of the main line of history did not attempt to cover the entire historical main line of the entire Spring and Autumn Period, but took care of as many areas of social life as possible in the Spring and Autumn Period, and tried to reflect the complex appearance of the "Left Biography". There are complex and major historical events in the selection, such as the Battle of Chengpu ("Jin Wen Gong Gong Is Not Right"), the Sub-production Ruling ("The Way of Talent Introduction"), and there are also short chapters and sketches, such as the relocation of the capital of Yi Wengong ("What is "Knowing Fate"), the retreat of Jie Zhitui ("Inquiry about Life Aspirations"), etc., and in general, there are mostly short chapters and sketches.
The format of each explanation is basically the same. Generally, the original text of the original traditional characters is quoted at the beginning, followed by a sentence-by-sentence explanation. Among them, the battle of Chengpu is too long in the original text, so it is different from the style of other lecture notes: some of the text and syntax issues are ignored when explaining, and the form of serial lectures is adopted in an attempt to show the internal relationship between the development process and events of the overall situation of the war.
Zhang Yi: The Story of Zuo Chuan, China Federation of Literary and Art Publishing House, November 2017
Like any time before and after, people face confusion. Zilu once asked Confucius, "What do you say about Guan Zhong?" He assisted Gongzi Gui and competed with Xiao Bai, the Duke of Qi Huan, for the throne. Gongzi Gui failed and was killed, and the summons that assisted Gongzi Gui suddenly committed suicide, but why didn't Guan Zhong also commit suicide? After some years, there was a riot in Weiguo, and Zilu was working as an official there, so he refused to flee and resolutely stayed behind and was martyred.
Yuan Si had discussed with Confucius what was shameful. After Confucius's death, He devoted himself to scholarship and adhered to morality, and thus became impoverished for life.
From the Analects, we always see the vivid gestures of the disciples of Confucius, the collision of different temperaments and the times, and the different fates performed by them.
After reading "Spring and Autumn" and "Zuo Zhuan", readers may understand what kind of era Spring and Autumn is, and how Confucius teachers and students face this era that they have to face.
"Spring and Autumn" is a "book of time", and time is still running around us.
exegesis
[1] For specific circumstances, see Yang Bojun's "Preface to the Spring and Autumn Left Transmission", which also details the author and date of the "Left Biography". Yang Bojun, Notes on the Spring and Autumn Left Transmission (Revised Edition), Beijing: Zhonghua Bookstore, 1990, "Foreword", pp. 22-41.
About the Author
Zhang Yi, a native of Benxi, Liaoning, doctor of literature, lecturer at the Research Center for Classical Civilization at Chinese Min University. He mainly studies the scholarship of the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties and the literature of the Two Song Dynasties, and is the author of "The Story of Zuo Chuan" and "Research on the Dissemination and Reading of Lu You's Poetry".
This article was published in the Autumn and Winter 2016 Volume of Classical Studies (No. 27 and 28 of the total), and is the preface written by Professor Zhang Yi for his book "The Story of Zuo Chuan".