Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 293 The Harmony of Heaven and Earth

Zhu Youjian didn't expect that he would lead to this incident just by asking to go to Taixue to give lectures.

What is Mingtang Piyong? It was the place where various ceremonies were held in the Zhou Dynasty. The saying "the emperor sits in the bright hall" illustrates its importance.

The biggest feature of the Mingtang is that it has a round upper part and a lower part, integrating the concept of "round sky and square earth" into it, which is completely different from ordinary buildings.

To put it simply, it is a square palace below, and the top is similar to the Temple of Heaven and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. There is also a circle of water around it, called Piyong.

Just from this appearance, you know how difficult it is to build and how much money it will cost.

Zhu Youjian hasn't even fully settled Jiubian's salary arrears, so how can he have spare money to build such a building comparable to the three main halls?
Therefore, it is impossible for him to build a Mingtang at this time.

But the idea of ​​making ritual music in the Mingtang has touched the excitement of many scholars. In addition, the reconstruction of ritual music was something promoted by the emperor, and Ma Zhiqi was summoned by the emperor to build a Mingtang. Many officials thought it was the emperor's idea, and Shangshu catered to this matter.

This made Zhu Youjian dumbfounded and unable to deny it. Therefore, he could only postpone the matter and temporarily postpone the matter on the grounds of lack of money and food.

At the same time, in order to appease the supporting officials and prevent people from feeling that he was not firm in his attitude towards recreating rituals and music, he also ordered the collection of Mingtang Piyong's design drawings and asked the Ministry of Industry to prepare the matter.

This statement made many officials feel that the emperor intended to build the Mingtang. Otherwise, why are we collecting design drawings and starting preparations now?
So another group of officials came out and began to say that it was not good for the emperor to carry out large-scale construction projects, and advised the emperor to be considerate of people's livelihood.

Zhu Youjian could not scold these people, so he could only accept the advice humbly, saying that he accepted their advice and would not consider building the Mingtang.

Then the officials who supported the construction of Mingtang quarreled with them again. Thinking that the Mingtang, like the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Earth, is needed for national ceremonies, how can it be called not caring about people's livelihood?

Officials with two different opinions started to quarrel among themselves. In order to reconcile the contradiction, Zhu Youjian could only say that Mingtang would not be built within three years, and asked Taixue to find a building to transform into Piyong as a temporary teaching place.

This finally ended the debate about Mingtang without causing a bigger disturbance.

However, through this incident, Zhu Youjian still realized that there were many officials in the court who supported him, and most officials also supported the remake of rituals and music. You can relax a little more and push forward with remaking rituals and music.

Therefore, at the Sutra Banquet on February 22, he used Liu Zongzhou as the lecturer to explain Yue Ji to himself.

Just as the Book of Rites is an interpretation of the Book of Rites, the Book of Music is an interpretation of the Book of Music. It's just that the Yue Jing was lost and there is no separate classic. Yue Ji, as the main purpose and theory of the Yue Jing, was included in "Xiao Dai Li Ji".

Zhu Youjian asked Liu Zongzhou to explain the music chapter at the second Sutra banquet, naturally to show his attitude and support the remake of ritual music.

As a master of Confucianism, Liu Zongzhou naturally had a profound understanding of Yue Ji. The music notes he explained made Zhu Youjian very understanding.

"Great happiness must be easy, and great rituals must be simple. When happiness is perfect, there will be no resentment, and when etiquette is perfect, there will be no fighting. Those who rule the world by bowing and yielding are called ritual and music."

"Great happiness is in harmony with heaven and earth, and great rituals are in harmony with heaven and earth. Harmony means that everything is preserved; festival means worshiping heaven and earth."

"Music is the harmony of heaven and earth. Ritual is the order of heaven and earth."

"Harmony, so all things are transformed. Order, so all things are different."

"The king enjoys his success, and rules and rituals are made."

Listening to the words of the sages, Zhu Youjian gradually understood why rituals and music were both called together and formulated together——

In fact, the hierarchy of etiquette is too strict and needs to be tempered by music.

From the explanation of music in Yue Ji, Zhu Youjian has already felt the importance of music in governing the country.

The theory of sages governing the country not only uses ritual norms to determine each level, but also uses music to reconcile the contradictions of each level.

However, the "Book of Music" was lost, and later generations could only pay more attention to etiquette. Without the harmony of music, the feudal hierarchical society became more and more rigid and rigid.

If the "Book of Music" had existed, the Confucian theory of governing the country would probably not be what it is now, and the contradictions among various levels would probably be smaller.

This made Zhu Youjian couldn't help but sigh, but it was a pity that it was lost in the "Book of Music":
"If I had understood this earlier, my previous methods of governing the country would have been softer. 』『The harmonizing effect of music cannot be ignored! 』

Previously, Zhu Youjian had been standardizing various levels, wanting to keep official positions, ranks, etc. in order and provide everyone with an upward path. Only now did he realize that his methods were too rigid. It even overwhelmed the officials and made them a little tired to deal with——

It is good to give them space and steps to rise, but you cannot keep them tense all the time. You must pay attention to the methods used to let them relax.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian is already planning what means to use to adjust the social atmosphere. We must make the Ming Dynasty's society dynamic, rather than becoming more and more rigid.

The atmosphere in the courtroom should also be lively. Let officials take the initiative and solve problems for themselves. They cannot be allowed to keep wondering about their intentions, or even think too much, leading to all kinds of misunderstandings like Mingtang Piyong before.

Reflecting on his own practice, Zhu Youjian felt that he gained a lot from this lecture. After Liu Zongzhou finished explaining the music chapter, he asked:

"Sir, what do you mean by the word "乐"?"

Liu Zongzhou said without thinking:
""Shuowen" says: Yue is the general name of the five tones and eight tones, which is like a drum and a wooden bow."

"So the small seal character shape of "乐" is the drum on the wooden frame."

Zhu Youjian nodded and said:
"So music is collectively called music. Only when there is sound can there be music."

"Then what do the five tones and eight tones refer to?"

Liu Zongzhou said:

"The Rites of Zhou says: The five tones are: Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng, and Yu; the eight tones are: gold, stone, soil, leather, silk, wood, gourd, and bamboo."

"The five tones are the scale, and the eight tones are the musical instruments."

Zhu Youjian continued to ask:

"What about the Twelve Laws?"

"What does it mean?"

Liu Zongzhou said:

"The twelve laws are actually six laws, with six yang tones and six yin tones."

""Zhou Li·Chun Guan·Master" controls the six rhythms and six tones to combine the sounds of yin and yang."

"Yang Sheng: Huang Zhong, Da Shu, Gu Xi, Ruibin, Yi Ze, Wu She."

"Yin sounds: Da Lu, Ying Zhong, Nan Lu, Han Zhong, Xiao Lu, Jia Zhong."

"Yin and Yang are both six, so it is also called the Twelve Laws."

""Zhou Li·Chun Guan·Dian Tong" refers to the sum of six rhythms and six tones, which can be used to distinguish the sounds of yin and yang in the four directions of heaven and earth, and serve as musical instruments."

"For any musical instrument, the number of musical instruments is measured by the rhythm of ten and two, and the measurement of the sound is equal to the tune of ten and two. The same is true for all harmonious music."

Now the five tones, eight tones, and twelve tones were explained clearly, and Zhu Youjian understood it immediately. Thinking of Zhu Zaiyu’s twelve equal laws, I sighed:

"It turns out that the twelve equal laws calculated by Prince Duanqing are in line with the "Rites of Zhou"!"

"He did such a big thing, but we ignored it before!"

(End of this chapter)