Those who make friends with the situation will be desperate; those who make friends with the benefits will scatter the poor. ——Wang Tong, "Middle Talk"
At the time of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, celebrities came out of nowhere, Wen had room plots and judgments, and Wu had Li Jing and Li Ji, they were all figures standing at the tip of the pyramid, even if they were placed in the vast river of history, they were also huge waves that had to be mentioned, and they all made immortal merits for the Tang Dynasty, in addition to which they also had an intersection - they were all under the door of Wang Tong, the son of Wen Zhongzi.
01
Who is Wang Tong? His reputation is not prominent, and there is no special biography in the history books, is it an exaggeration to be called a cattle man? Chinese history pays attention to the three immortals, namely Lide, Meritorious Service, and Li Yan, wang Tong's main merit is in Li Yan, through the promotion of doctrine, it has influenced a large number of people, and it was the top traffic at that time.
Wang Tong, the word Zhongyun, Shanxi Hejin people, family learning deep roots, from a young age to learn to read the Five Classics, in order to read even clothes are too lazy to change, spend all the time on learning, day after day, year after year, learning to improve, at the age of 15 began to be a teacher to teach and educate people, is a typical bully.
At the age of 18, he passed the Xiucai examination, traveled in all directions, and went to Chang'an, presented the "Twelve Strategies of Taiping" to Emperor Wen of Sui, proposing to "honor the king's way, push the hegemony, examine the ancient and the present, and transport the world in the palm of his hand", and wanted to be an imperial master. After Emperor Wen of Sui read it, he asked his ministers to circulate it to discuss whether Wang Tong's governing strategy was valuable, and as a result, the ministers felt that Wang Tong was too young and degraded, and Emperor Wen of Sui sent him back to his hometown. Wang Tong did not hold back in his heart when he saw that he was not valued, and wrote a "Song of the Eastern Crusade" with a pen to express the mood of Not meeting Huai Cai.
I think of the country and travel to Gyeonggi.
Suddenly, when the emperor is shy, he lowers the cloth clothes.
With the heart of the ancients, the foundation of taiping will be revived.
When things change, the will is reversed.
Woohoo! The way is not good, and the wings are hanging in the east.
The emperor is constantly working and flying west.
Will Wang Tong, who experienced setbacks as a teenager, "leisurely go down the mountain"?
02
Wang Tong, who had run into a wall, did not become depressed, but took Confucius as an example and wrote lectures to spread ideas.
He chose to teach in Bainiu Creek between the Yellow River and Fenshui, and many students from remote places came to visit. Later, the government repeatedly recruited him to become an official, but Wang Tong, who was disappointed in the government, did not accept it.
Yang Su, a major sui courtier, also had great respect for Wang Tong and advised him to enter the career path.
Wang Tong said: "My ancestors were fortunate enough to leave dilapidated houses, which were enough to shelter me from the wind and rain; the meager fields were enough for me to have a thin porridge to eat." Reading books and talking about reasoning is enough to make yourself physically and mentally happy. I hope that you will sincerely govern the world, as long as the wind and rain are smooth, the country is safe, and the kindness I have received is enough, and I do not want to come out and become an official. ”
Someone stirred up dissension and told Yang Su: "In fact, he insulted you, why do you still respect him!" ”
Yang Su asked Wang Tong if this was the case, and Wang Tong said, "If you can insult you, wouldn't it be right for me to insult you; if you can't insult you, it would be my fault for me to insult you." Whether you gain or lose, it's all on me, so why should you care! ”
After Yang Su listened, he nodded and felt that it was very reasonable.
The Zizhi Tongjian records a short story about Wang Tong's teaching:
Student Jia Qiong asked, "How can slander disappear?" ”
Wang Tong said, "Don't argue. ”
Jia Qiong asked again, "How can I calm the resentment?" ”
Wang Tong said, "Don't argue. ”
When we are misunderstood by others, or when there are many gossip that slanders us, if we try to justify it, it will become darker and darker, and the more we argue, the more we appear to be weak-minded, and we cannot dispel the misunderstanding.
Those who hear others slandering are angry, and they are most likely to be provoked; those who hear praise from others are happy, and they are most likely to get carried away. Don't be angry, don't rejoice, neither be provoked nor overwhelmed.
Fang Xuanling asked Wang Tong for advice on the way of the king, and Wang Tong said, "Selflessness. ”
Asked again about the way of making people, Wang Tong said, "There is no bias." ”
Asked again about the way of human beings, Wang Tong said, "Justify his heart." ”
If a person can be selfless and unbiased, and have a correct mind, then no matter what he does, he can be at ease.
Wang Tong also has a unique view on interpersonal relations and human relations, he said: "Those who make friends with the situation will fall to the end; those who make friends with the benefits will scatter if they benefit the poor." This means that whoever makes friends with power loses power and the friendship is broken; and those who make friends with interests are exhausted, and the friendship ends.
Wang Tong's story has been told a lot, or I can't see what is so great about this person, so what is Wang Tong's merit?
03
Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Confucianism has gradually taken the relationship between heaven and man as the focus, the induction of heaven and man and the superstition of Wei wei prevailed, Confucianism was mythologized, Wang Tong pulled Confucianism back to the road of exploring ethics, and put forward the proposition of "saving morality and going to selfish interests", which had an important impact on the development of Song Ming Theory.
With the development of the feudal economy, the feudal society in China during the Sui and Tang dynasties transitioned from the early to the late period. In the field of ideology and culture, due to the development of Buddhism and Taoism, and more importantly, Confucianism has not been richly supplemented and developed according to the needs of the times, and it no longer enjoys a unique status, and the situation of the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism coexisting has emerged. In the situation of the decline of Confucianism, Wang Tong wanted to restore the authentic status of Confucianism, and he absorbed the essence of Buddhist and Taoist thought and clearly put forward the idea of "the unity of the three religions".
Wang Tong spent nine years to write the "Six Sutras of Continuation", including "Continuation Poems", "Continuation Books", "Ritual Treatises", "Music Classics", "Yi Zan", and "Yuan Jing", but unfortunately most of them have been lost, and what can be seen today are the "Yuan Jing" and Wang Tongmen's "Zhongshu" that recorded his thoughts, as well as a small part of the "Zhi Xue".
Some thinkers in later generations criticized Wang Tong because he dared to continue to write the Six Classics, which was clearly an act of treason that regarded himself as a sage, and if not a deception of the teacher and the destruction of the ancestors, at least it was shameless! But Wang Yangming admired him.
Among the Confucian sages, after Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen, Wu, Zhou Gong, Kong, and Meng, Han Yu was a symbolic figure. Han Yu was followed by Ercheng and Zhu Xi, and Zhu Xi was followed by Wang Yangming. After Wang Yangming, there was no figure of this level.
But Wang Yangming said: "Han Yu is the male of the literati; Wang Tong is a virtuous Confucian." Because of the reason of the article, later generations listed Han Yu as the first of the eight masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties, and respected Han Yu, in fact, Han Yu was far worse than Wang Tong. Wang Yangming also said that if Wang Tong had not died early, he would have hoped to become a saint.
Writing books, lecturing, having a lot of influence, these are not good enough? See how Bullfight grew up.
05
After the completion of the "Continuation of the Six Classics", Wang Tong's reputation became even louder, and the place where he taught was ruoshi, with thousands of students and disciples, and many famous scholars came to listen to the lectures, and Li Jing of Zhao County, Xuan Ling of Qinghe Fang, Wei Zheng and other talents of a generation had listened to him teach the way of assisting the king. Later, an idiom "Hefen Menxia" was formed, which was used to describe the famous teachers under the door and the talents.
The Qing Dynasty Yan Guweng had a poetic cloud: "Monroe Xiangfu Wen Zhongzi." It refers to Wang Tong's deeds.
According to wenzhongzi, "The disciples Dou Wei, Jia Qiong, and Yao Yi were subjected to the "Rites"; Wen Yanbo, Du Ruhan, and Chen Shuda were subjected to the "Book"; Du Yan, Fang Qiao, and Wei Zheng were subjected to the "Book"; Li Jing, Xue Fangshi, Pei Xi, and Wang Jue were subjected to the "Poems"; Shu Tian was subjected to the "Yuanjing"; Dong Chang, Qiu Zhang, Xue Shuo, and Cheng Yuanbiwen were heard of the righteousness of the Six Classics. ”
Among them, Wen Yanbo, Du Ruyi, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhan, Wei Zheng, and Li Jing were all famous generals in the early Tang Dynasty, and they were all among the twenty-four heroes of Tang Taizong's Ling Yan Pavilion. In this sense, the "rule of Zhenguan" is the result of the joint efforts of Wang Tongmen.
How eminent are the disciples of the disciples, do you think Wang Tong is a white-bearded old scholar? That would be wrong.
06
In 617, a year before the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Wang Tong died of illness at home at the age of 33, and the students privately gave him a nickname: Wen Zhongzi.
In the feudal era, the title was generally granted by the government, and it was illegal to raise the title without permission, but Wang Tong's disregard for this legal risk also showed the reverence and reluctance of the teacher.
As a great Confucian of a generation, Wang Tong's disciples had a great influence, but his life was not recorded in the history books after his death, which is obviously extremely unreasonable.
It is said that Wang Tong's younger brother Wang Ning had impeached Hou Junji during the Wude years, implicating the eldest son Wujie at a critical moment when Li Shimin was expanding his power and competing with Li Jiancheng for favors.
The right and left arm were impeached, Li Shimin was naturally unhappy in his heart, hated Wu and Wu, and compiled the "Book of Sui" after he came to power, and the people who wrote history were afraid of Tang Taizong's long wei and did not dare to write about Wang Tong's deeds.
It seems that the record of history does not necessarily correspond to the facts, and sometimes it is the person who writes history who has subjective prejudices against a certain person, and it is difficult to be selfless.
Wang Tong died young and his reputation is not obvious, but his grandson's name is known all over the world and is often mentioned today. His grandson was Wang Bo, who wrote the immortal chapter "Preface to the Tengwang Pavilion", and unfortunately, Wang Bo also died young.
When Wang Tong was young, he was determined to be in the world, but it was not feasible to run into walls everywhere, and he saw that the era he was in was not suitable for talent and learning, so he retired to lecture, train the next generation, educate young students, and spread seeds. He firmly believed that ideas were passed down from generation to generation, and there would always be a day when they blossomed. His purpose was achieved, though he did not see the day coming. But his ideas have been passed down and guided future generations forward, and in this sense, wenzhongzi is undoubtedly great and immortal.