Wanli Xinming

Chapter 427 Southern Tour (XI)

The main hall of the Poetry and Ceremony Hall of the Confucius Mansion has five rooms, green tiles, red roofs, and painted brackets. It was first built in the Yuan Dynasty and expanded to its current size in the 17th year of the Hongzhi reign. In front of the hall in the courtyard is a Tang Dynasty locust tree, with tangled roots and luxuriant branches and leaves; two ginkgo trees planted in the Song Dynasty provide shade for half an acre.

It was almost dusk, and Zhu Yijun brought the prince to the main hall. After a brief look, they went to the side hall to have a meal. Then they changed into robes, drank tea and took a short rest. When the time came, Duke Yansheng dressed in official uniform and asked the emperor to attend the imperial lecture.

When Zhu Yijun and the crown prince left, he saw that in the courtyard, which had been empty just now, all the ministers accompanying the emperor and the scholars from Confucius's residence were dressed in formal attire, standing in silence with their hands down, and not a single cough could be heard. A whale oil lamp had been hung in the corner of the courtyard, but it was not bright because it was still daylight.

The throne had been set up above the steps in the main hall, and Zhu Yijun walked up to sit. There was a cross-legged chair at the bottom right of the throne, which was the seat for the crown prince. The other ministers and the elderly were given official hat chairs to sit on, and the others stood.

Wang Xijue stepped out and requested the start of the imperial lecture. The emperor said yes. Then Duke Yansheng stood facing east and talked about the Way of the Great Learning. The Great Learning is the true learning of the Confucian orthodoxy. It is said that sincerity is the way to cultivate oneself, manage the family, govern the country and bring peace to the world. Anyone who starts to talk about the Confucian classics usually starts from here.

Because he adhered to the philosophy of mind, Kong Shangxian focused his lectures on "the way to enlightenment" this time. He started with "the essence of no good or evil", and then talked about "the movement of good and evil as the intention". When he talked about "the enlightenment comes from the constant enlightenment", he demonstrated that "conscience is established."

Although Kong Shangxian liked reading, he was not gifted. He only relied on the sayings "Confucius is right, Zhu is wonderful in his interpretation, and Wang is profound" to understand the subtleties and depths of Confucianism. He only thought he had understood it.

When I was talking about "To do good and avoid evil is to study things, to return enlightenment to enlightenment" according to the usual routine, my heart suddenly skipped a beat and sweat broke out on my forehead.

The current emperor has defined "investigating things" since he was young, which is the literal meaning. This definition quickly spread in the Confucian circle after the Nantai Conference and was also quite controversial. Compared with the "do good and eliminate evil" of the School of Mind, materialism and idealism are very different.

What Wang Yangming talked about "doing good and avoiding evil" is actually not a literal meaning. If understood in a broad sense, the "good" he defined refers to the original laws of things, and "evil" refers to the pseudo-learning that affects people's grasp of the essential laws. Only in this way can it be organically connected with the "unity of knowledge and action" - but this meaning is not something that ordinary people can understand, let alone Kong Shangxian.

Kong Shangxian usually felt that he could easily explain the theory of investigation of things when debating with his like-minded friends. However, today the emperor requested a lecture and gave him very little time to prepare. He also had no time to think deeply about how to express the opposing view in front of the emperor.

  If the emperor was happy today, it wouldn't matter how he spoke. But the emperor first refused to offer sacrifices to Confucius' tomb, and then the prince almost lost his life. Kong Shangxian didn't know the emperor's intention, so how could he dare to say anything?

Zhu Yijun sat in silence. Seeing the sudden embarrassment of Duke Yansheng, all the ministers and students looked at each other. Shen Shixing, who was sitting on the official hat chair, saw through everything and stood up and said, "Duke Yansheng, the imperial lecture is for the emperor to meet with the wise scholars and officials. There is a beauty of the spirit of gathering between the emperor and his subjects. As for the differences in academic theories and arguments, it is natural. If you treat it with fear, I am afraid that Your Majesty will lose the wisdom of listening to both sides."

Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "That's exactly what should be done. Long Yuqing, don't worry about it."

Kong Shangxian bowed to show that he was willing to learn, and finished his lecture with a stumbling motion. Compared with his previous eloquent talk, the content of his later lecture was as bland as white water, and by the end he was sweating profusely. In the huge poetry hall, everyone in the Kong family was so embarrassed that they wanted to slam their heads on the ground.

Zhu Yijun was playing with a mutton-fat jade ruyi on the throne. After Kong Shangxian finished speaking, he pointed at the ruyi and said with a smile, "I suddenly arranged for Duke Yansheng to attend the lecture today. My original intention was to listen to "The Analects of Confucius". After all, this is the Confucius Mansion." As soon as these words came out, everyone laughed and the atmosphere became slightly harmonious.

Kong Shangxian apologized, saying, "I am an unworthy minister. I have not been able to study the writings of our ancestors in depth. I have only read them hastily to make up for the lack of knowledge. I feel extremely ashamed."

Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "In that case, let's use the remaining time to talk about the Analects. Let me start by throwing out a suggestion: 'What do I believe in? Chariot driving? Archery? I believe in chariot driving.' Tell us what you think?" Ever since Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty used the eight-legged essay to select scholars, every sentence in the Analects had been answered on various papers. Therefore, most people present thought that the emperor had given a free point question, with the purpose of alleviating the embarrassment of Duke Yansheng.

Hanlin scholar Chen Yubei spoke first, "Driving is the art of driving a car. Although it is not the most sophisticated and subtle subject, it also requires coordination between mind and hand. The sage used this to describe himself, not to belittle his ability, but to show people that there is no high or low in learning, and the truth lies in the subtle and subtle principles." When everyone heard this, they nodded in agreement.

Another Hanlin said: "Confucius wanted to use the imperial carriage to illustrate learning and show people the true meaning of the great way. It is said that if one is well-educated but not boastful of his ability, and is diligent and not stuck in one aspect, then one can get the true meaning of learning."

Zhu Yijun listened for a while and asked the crown prince with a smile, "What is your opinion?" Seeing that the emperor was testing the crown prince, the ministers all stopped talking.

The prince looked confused. He stood up and scratched his head. Then he hesitated and said, "Maybe the Master is joking? After all, my father often said that humorous people always laugh at themselves. I read the Analects and found Confucius quite humorous."

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment after hearing the prince's answer. Zhu Yijun smiled and looked at everyone. The ministers had accompanied the emperor for a long time and knew Zhu Yijun's temper, so they kept silent. However, some people in the Confucius Mansion were indignant and said, "No, this is not the original intention of the saint."

Duke Yansheng was startled, and when he looked up, he saw that it was Kong Yinfeng, a scholar from the side branch of the Confucius family. This boy had been studious since childhood, and had read the annotations of the saints' books thoroughly, and had long regarded them as the truth. At this time, when he heard that the prince had the intention of ridiculing the saint, he could not help but speak out to refute.

Kong Yinfeng bowed and said, facing the murderous gaze of Yanshenggong Kong Shangxian, "The words of the sage are subtle, but the philosophy is profound. Looking through the Analects, there are many trivial matters and daily life. It is a book where sages record the words and deeds of the sages. If it is not a subtle but profound meaning, why would the disciples of the sage remember it?!"

This rebuttal is very logical - the Analects is a collection of the sage's sayings and deeds recorded by Confucius' disciples. If they were meaningless self-deprecating remarks, why would the disciples record them?

The prince was still young, and it was a sudden surprise for him to be asked the emperor's question. When he heard the well-reasoned rebuttal, he was speechless.

This is the education that everyone present has received since childhood. After hearing what Kong Yinfeng said, although no one nodded, they all felt in their hearts that this was the correct interpretation. The scene was silent for a moment.

When the prince was feeling embarrassed, Shen Shixing suddenly stood up and said, "Is it possible that the disciples recorded it this way because they knew the true meaning of the saint, and later generations misinterpreted it?!"

  As soon as these words were spoken, the imperial lecture almost broke out, and many ministers blushed - they couldn't criticize the prince, and they couldn't debate with Shen Shixing?

Before anyone could refute him, Shen Shixing continued, "When I read the Analects, it's like listening to Master's words and seeing Master's actions. The so-called sage is a human being, not a god. This is a self-evident truth."

“The sage was happy at the sound of string music, angry at hearing Ji Shi’s usurpation of rites, sad at Yan Hui’s early death, happy at the three beneficial men, and self-mocking at the fact that his teachings were not used - although his emotions were ordinary, they were beyond ordinary. We, the later generations, are happy when the sage is happy and angry when the sage is angry. This is the path to being a gentleman.”

After saying this, Shen Shixing looked around at everyone and said, "This is the principle set by the saints - where is the meaning of those far-fetched and far-fetched words and profound principles?"

(End of this chapter)