Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1164 Controversy over Confucianism (Part [-])
The larger the faction and the higher the status, it is not so easy to respond quickly to some things.Just like Pan Sheng suddenly chose to stand in line with the School of Heart this time, the reaction of the Real School was not too fast. It was not until the Double Ninth Festival half a month later that Xu Guo chose to hold another meeting as a last resort.

China has a tradition of respecting the elderly since ancient times, but the Double Ninth Day at this time is not only about respecting the elderly, but also an activity that has been passed down for thousands of years, that is, climbing high.

The masters of practical studies in Beijing received invitations from Jianxinzhai a few days ago. The invitations are all in a uniform format. They wrote: "September [-]th, climb the high cornus. Xiangshan Baiyu, waiting for your visit."

"Xiangshan White Jade" is a scenery that has been called "the most new scenery in Shenjing" by good people in recent years.This place is quite mysterious to outsiders, but it is commonplace to Gao Yushi, because it is talking about his Jianxinzhai Baiyulou courtyard at the foot of Xiangshan Mountain.

Xu Guo and Xu Cifu convened a "private" meeting with officials of the Real School in Beijing, but in the end they chose the Baiyu Tower. What is explained here is very intriguing.

Some people think that this is a manifestation of Xu Cifu's inability to control such a large faction, so he finally had to resort to the high pragmatism of mastering the "legacy" left by the three leaders of the Real School.

Some people think that by doing this, Xu Cifu, like Guo Pu and Zhang Siwei, had to rely on the "high party lineage" in the hands of Gao Yushi.

There are also some people who believe that the support of Gao Yushi is only a superficial phenomenon. In fact, the "Chongyang Conference" was selected in Baiyulou, which shows that Gao Yushi has completed the "usurpation" within the Pragmatism School-the current Xu Cifu can no longer control the huge The real school, the power of the practical school has been transferred to the hands of Gao Yushi, Xu Cifu is just a name.

There are even conspiracy theorists who swear that the "Chongyang Conference" in Baiyulou was decided by Gao Wushi, but Xu Cifu was forced to agree. Maybe this is a conference where power struggles broke out within the Real School. Gao Wushi will definitely think about it. Way to gain the actual control of the real school in this conference, and use the body of the minister to overwhelm the second assistant.

Gao Wushi himself also heard Gao Mo relay all kinds of rumors in Shenjing's official circles, but he didn't care about them at all.

Overwhelming Second Assistant?

Why should I press him?Is Xu Cifu my enemy?

Obviously not.

He is my senior brother Gao, who is now the face of Realism School, why should I force him to do so?Enough support?
Yes, Senior Brother Xu, in terms of personal style, is indeed not as distinct as the first three Chief Assistants of the Real School.

He is not as aggressive as Gao Gong, as long as he believes in everything, he will always dare to be the first in the world; he is not as kind as Guo Pu, who is loyal to the emperor, sincere to his colleagues, and caring for his subordinates; he is not like Zhang Siwei. Gang, it seems easy to talk, but in fact, try disobeying him?I'll look good to you when I turn around.

Xu Guo is a typical Confucian official.He has ideals, but he does not pursue self-importance. For some simple and easy things, he is very enthusiastic.For some major issues that are more troublesome and difficult to determine the impact of, he is a little hesitant, and he is more inclined to make temporary compromises for the sake of aftereffects and avoid intensifying conflicts when he is in power.

Specific to this Pan Sheng incident, after listening to the highly pragmatic analysis, Xu Guo tended to be conservative—that is, to wait and see what happened and not deal with it for the time being.

His reason was that although Pan Sheng was relatively inclined to the Practical School in the past, there was a premise, and the premise was that the chief assistant was a member of the Practical School.Moreover, Pan Sheng was only slightly inclined. He was not a person of the practical school from the beginning to the end, but a neutral school.

Now, even though Pan Sheng is leaning toward the mind school, as long as he calms down and thinks about it, he will find out: so what?The power of the Practical School itself was not compromised.

Xu Guo believes that after the era when the three heads and assistants of the Real School have passed, whether everyone likes it or not, they have actually entered a new era in which the School of Mind is the head and assistant.Under this new overall situation, the first thing the Practical School should do is to ensure the unity within the faction, to ensure that the entire Practical School officials still have firm beliefs, and continue to promote reforms as their goal, instead of falling into party struggles and forgetting the past Gao Wenzhenggong The repeated emphasis on "all for doing things".

However, it is a pity that Gao Wushi only admits that his ideas are lofty enough, but he is not optimistic about the future of doing so.

Gao Yushi has always believed that the essence of factional struggle is war, and it is a war that has to be fought.

Factional struggles are completely different from his manipulation of the peaceful "evolution" of Tumed, and his efforts to win honorable nobles to give up "land wealth" and turn to "ocean wealth" and so on.

The latter can be solved by technical means, because they do not involve any political ideals, but only interests, or the importance of interests is far greater than the so-called political ideals.

Factional fighting is different.Whether it is the School of Reality or the School of Mind, they are all Confucianism in theory, and they even criticize the skin of Neo-Confucianism, but the contradictions between them are irreconcilable.

In Chinese academic circles, the nature of practical learning is a controversial issue.In the history of Chinese thought, practical learning is a widely used concept.

The so-called real learning in China is actually the learning of practicality and practicality that began in the Northern Song Dynasty. It is a multi-level concept with extremely rich content.It includes not only the philosophy of vitality, the study of moral practice, but also the practical study of world management and actual measurement, as well as the practical study of textual research and the practical study of enlightenment. "

What is the main content of practical study?Gao Pragmatism believes that it can be summed up in three points, namely "advocating the real and overthrowing the false", "seeking truth from facts" and "practicing the world". These three points constitute the spiritual core of practical learning.

The source of the practical learning spirit in Confucian culture can be traced back further, as Lu Jiuyuan said: "Everyone knows how to love relatives and respect brothers... This is the practical learning of the Tang and Yu Dynasties." From the ancient classics compiled and revised by Confucianism, we can see To how the spirit of practical learning gradually developed.

For example, the highly pragmatic book "Book of Changes·Thai" said on June [-]th: "Pianpian is not rich, relying on his neighbors, and not abstaining from Fu." "Xiang" said: "Pianpian is not rich, and it is not true. , and the wish of the heart.” The line of Tai Gua Liusi means that the family is not rich, but they want to brag and show off to their neighbors.

There are still many thoughts similar to "advocating reality and over fiction" in the historical documents of the three dynasties. Although there was no such term as practical learning at that time, the basic spirit contained in practical learning in the future is being condensed and formed at this time.

The Spring and Autumn and Warring States period was China's "Axial Age". The disintegration of traditional religions created a huge spiritual void in society, which led to hundreds of schools of thought swarming up and putting forward their own ideas for governing the country.

The Confucianism initiated by Confucius was one of the most influential schools among the pre-Qin philosophers. The spiritual direction of "respecting the real and overthrowing the false" announced by Confucius laid the foundation of Chinese practical culture.

Why do you say that?Because Confucius gave doubtful answers to everything that could not be verified.Faced with the huge heritage left by ancient religions, the most illusory thing is the world beyond the shore, so "Ji Lu asked about ghosts and gods. Confucius said: "'If you can't deal with people, how can you deal with ghosts? "Dare to ask about death?" '"

Although Confucius did not completely deny the existence of the other world, he emphasized that the focus of his scholarship lies in "knowing life" and "serving people".Therefore, regarding the relationship between this shore and the other shore, Confucius advocated "serving the righteousness of the people, respecting ghosts and gods and staying away." That is to say, although a shrewd ruler respects ghosts and gods, he must keep a distance from them and focus his energy on in the real world.

The tendency of Confucian philosophy to join the world is the inevitable result of the spirit of "respecting the real and overthrowing the false".In the process of exploring the law of social and political development in reality, Confucius also advocated a spirit of "seeking truth from facts".

He said: "If you know what you know, if you don't know what you don't know, that's knowledge." You should have an objective attitude when studying, and you can't use your own subjective imagination to replace actual learning.

Confucius said: "I am not born to know, but I am fond of ancient times, and I am keen to seek it." Confucius does not learn knowledge for the sake of knowledge, and regards learning as a wise man's game.

The important difference between the pre-Qin philosophers and the ancient Greek philosophers is that the driving force for their research is not metaphysical interest, but the anxiety of saving the country and the people in troubled times.So Confucius has always emphasized "to apply what you have learned".

For example, he asked students to study the "Book of Songs". He said: "There are three hundred "Poems", which can be summed up in one word: thinking is innocent." "The Book of Songs" is of great significance, even to the point that "it is impossible to say without studying the "Book of Songs".

However, studying the Book of Songs is by no means just for personal enjoyment or entertainment.Confucius pointed out: "Recite the "Poetry" three hundred times, and teach them to govern, but they will not achieve success; if they are sent to the four directions, they cannot be right. Although there are many, do you think it?"

Even if you recite the "Book of Songs" very accurately, but you can't exercise it when you grant power, you send envoys to various countries, and you can't answer questions during negotiations, then what is the use of learning more?That's why Confucius especially emphasized "to apply what you have learned." He said: "A gentleman learns to practice his way."

The spirit of practical learning is a basic tendency in Confucian culture, and it has universal value, which can be proved from the development of Confucianism for thousands of years.

From the Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty, Confucian scholars over-exploited the internal and external transcendent ideological resources of Confucianism, resulting in an academic atmosphere of "ostentation and exaggeration" in society.The "minor words and great meaning" of modern Confucian classics and the increasingly cumbersome "exegetical textual research" of ancient Chinese classics have deviated from the academic purport of Confucianism to pay attention to social reality.

"Lunheng" written by Wang Chong of the Eastern Han Dynasty is a battle against the vanity of society. "Real" and "virtual" can be said to be the most frequently appearing keywords in the book.Wang Chong also analyzed the reason why there are so many superficial words in the society. The root cause is the superstitious belief in the so-called classics left by Confucian sages.

He said: "The world believes in false books, thinking that those recorded on bamboo and silk are all passed down by sages and sages. There is no such thing, so I believe it is true, and read it satirically. Seeing that the true biography is contrary to the false book, It is also called a short book and cannot be trusted."

It is particularly worth mentioning that when Gao Yu searched the literature of the classics and history subsets, he found that Wang Chong was the first to use the two concepts of "real" and "learning" together.

He said: "Han Zi is not Confucianism, saying that it is useless and detrimental. He said that vulgar Confucianism has no conduct, and his actions do not respect etiquette. He uses the name of Confucianism to practice vulgarity, and uses practical learning to make false statements. Corrupt officials are honorable, so they are not valuable."

Of course, the concept of "practical learning" used here is different from that used by scholars after the Song and Ming Dynasties. "Xue" here is a verb rather than a noun.But everyone knows that Chinese grammar is not rigorous, and various parts of speech can be converted into each other, and the practical learning of later generations was developed from these words.

Wang Chong’s occasional use of the word practical learning, on the one hand, shows that practical learning was still a spiritual tendency of Confucianism at that time, and had not yet formed a stable academic school; That is to say, we are developing practical knowledge.

The Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties were the peak period for the development of Buddhism and Taoism in China, while the development of Confucianism was relatively stagnant.In order to restore the "orthodoxy" of the sage-kings, Neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasties must reinvigorate the original Confucian practical culture, so once again set off a cultural trend of "respecting the real and overthrowing the false" in the ideological circle.

Hu Yuan, a Confucian scholar in the early Song Dynasty, first raised the banner of "bright style and effective use" to oppose the bad style of study in the society of "advocating rhyme and flashy words", which was later called "scientific learning" by Huang Zongxi.

Later, Zhang Zai advocated that "the emptiness is the reality of the sky. All things are derived from the emptiness, and people also come from the emptiness." "Only the emptiness is unshakable, so it is the most real." The ontology thought of vital qi opposes the emptiness in the religious thoughts of Buddha and Lao.

Ercheng said: "If you are sincere, you are just real. If you really have principles, you really have things; if you really have things, you really have functions; if you really have functions, you really have your minds; if you really have your minds, you really have them." There are things." They regard the laws of all things as the truth between heaven and earth, in order to oppose the supernatural and superhuman religious theories of Buddha and Lao.

Zhu Xi developed Ercheng's "real theory" thinking and pointed out: "All the principles of my Confucianism are true, and all the principles of the Shi family are empty." The term frequently appears in the writings of thinkers of the time.

The "virtual" that thinkers opposed at that time was Buddha and Lao. There is no doubt about it, but what kind of "real" should be advocated, the opinions of various schools are not uniform.

Gao Yushi felt that King Cheng Zhulu paid attention to the development of Confucianism's inner transcendence spirit, ontological research and moral cultivation, so their practical learning can be called "moral practical learning".

And Wang Anshi, Li Gou, Chen Liang, Ye Shi, and Wang Tingxiang (Note: Please pay attention to this one, he had a great influence on Gao Gong’s practical theory and practice, and it is generally believed that Gao Gong is the successor of Wang Tingxiang’s thought of managing the world. and practitioners) and others focus on Confucianism's meritorious thinking, and their practical learning can be called "the practical learning of the world".

Gao Yushi doesn't have much affection for "practical learning of morality". Since time travel, he has always believed that "only practical learning can save Ming Dynasty". Wang Tingxiang's practical learning.

However, why is "the practical learning of the world" and Lu Wang Xinxue seriously opposed, so that Gao Yushi believes that this contradiction is irreconcilable? ——
PS: This chapter talks about practical studies, especially the essence of practical studies in the world. It may be considered that I have too many words, but I thought about it for an hour before writing today, and I still think this chapter must be included.

The core of this book, from the beginning to the end, is not a matter of pretending to be aggressive, and you can see that today's readers should be able to feel it. The "reform of practical learning" is the fundamental core of this book's plot promotion, so I must find a node to explain the spirit of practical learning, and explain it with the root cause of the "controversy between orthodoxy" of Lu Wang Xinxue in the late Ming Dynasty. All the content becomes castles in the air—why do these people in the book fight?
Therefore, not only in this chapter, but also in the next chapter, I will also talk about the related issues of Lu Wang's mind theory, and then compare the two sides to explain the root of the high-level pragmatic approach.However, the length of the entire "Water Words" is only two chapters, today and tomorrow, and I will not focus on it in the follow-up.

For friends who "don't like to read theory", I forgot to explain in advance in today's chapter, I am very sorry, but you can skip to tomorrow's chapter without subscribing, and directly skip to the high-level meeting of the practical school the day after tomorrow, which should not affect the "direct plot" will be too big.
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Thanks to book friends "willwolf", "HAMW05", "Cao Mianzi" and "Frost Vase" for their monthly support, thank you!
(End of this chapter)