warring states careerist

Chapter 517

It is not easy to be a gentleman, but a gentleman who can truly master the six arts must be a great talent in the world.

On this point, Mozi has always been worried about his chariot and archery skills.Because looking at the world back then, the hero who could be included in Mozi's eyes was Confucius, but there was an age difference between the two, and it was difficult to compare. Mozi has always been bitter about this.

The same is true for the study of Liushu. If you want to be proficient in Liushu instead of literacy, it may be impossible to learn without spending decades.

It is absolutely wrong for Ximen Zhu to contradict Ximen Leopard, because Liushu in the Six Arts is not just about literacy, but to let people know the origin of characters. People who are proficient in Liushu can create characters when necessary.

Ximen Leopard is not proficient in Liushu, but he understands the meaning of Liushu, so he also refuted Ximen Zhi's words back then.

Ximen Shu said: "The poor script of the Mohist school, the old woman can read the rough newspapers of the Mohist school after studying for a year at night. Even if a gentleman knows how to create characters and know the origin of the characters, the benefits to the world are really as good as they are. Those from the Mo family?"

"My elder brother started learning Liushu when he was eight years old, and now I can understand all the articles he can recite. If he can't, I can still understand."

"Maybe when it comes to why a certain character is written like this, I am not as good as my brother in several ways of writing, but when it comes to talent and learning, he is not as good as me. Does he know that the ground under his feet is round? Does he know what the clouds in the sky are? He knows Why are there four seasons?"

"The books he read didn't have these things. But the books I read, the ones I could understand in Mohist cursive script, had all these things."

"I heard that among the people in Sishang, under the age of 20, there is no one who does not know [-] characters. Ye, which my father ruled, is the most affluent place in Wei State. How many people can recognize [-] characters?"

Counting from the Six Books, the remaining five rituals and six musics have already involved differences in values ​​and worldviews.

The Mohists are indecent and inappropriate, and the world knows it.The Mohist mourned for three days and persuaded the mourning for three years to affect production, and the world will inevitably be in chaos. The values ​​​​involved in this are the differences between "virtue" and "benefit".

Just like in the debate about "how to use virtue" in Fei Guo not long ago, the scholar couldn't say "morality is for the betterment of the world", because once he said that, virtue would lose its sanctity, and it would be for the sake of the world. To become better, isn't that for the benefit of the world?

Therefore, virtue must be eternal, unchanging, and needs no reason. Only virtue is virtue, so that it can stand firm.Once it is said that virtue itself is for the betterment of the world, it is turning into the Mohist morality that righteousness is benefit, and only virtue and benefit can be separated.

And morality and benefit are separated, why should we abide by morality?It can only endow virtue with a sanctity, an eternal truth that does not need a reason, because virtue is right, so it must be followed; The difference is huge.

The difference is that there is a process of demonstrating why virtue is right.

The Mohists say that the most perfect "paradise" should be known with rational deduction, with the will of heaven as the rule, and with the essence of human nature as the basis.

This is the first time that Tianxia tries to use reason to build a perfect Tianxia, ​​and this process must also include rational morality, rational law, rational compliance and non-compliance, rational choice, rational everything...

Therefore, Ximen Shu learned the Six Arts, and from the beginning of Liushu, the dispute with his father Ximen Bao could no longer be bridged.

Such things as warding, shooting, and counting are just arts, not Dao, and the differences in them are not that big.

From Liushu to Wuli and Liuyue, the differences have become difficult to bridge, and they cannot compromise.

Ximenyu argues that Mohism's "cheap script" can benefit the world and make more people in the world literate. Therefore, it is only necessary to give up some of the content that is sloppy, so that most people in the world can learn to read and write.As for the meaning of the Six Books, it should be for those who still have enough energy after they have completed their studies to study selectively, not as a criterion for evaluating whether a person is a gentleman or a commoner.

Ximen Shu was talking about Liushu, but he was talking about more than Liushu.

Ximen Leopard knew that his son would definitely come today, and also knew that his son must be wearing a blue-brown blouse under his loose noble robes, and even knew that his son would accuse him of being a father with anger today.

All of this stems from the controversy a year ago, which is still fresh in the memory of Ximen Leopard to this day.

Ximen Bao remembered that a year ago, Ximen Shu talked with him about Mohist writing, and said that Mohist elementary schools did not teach six books, but only teaching writing, and said that doing so would benefit the world.

Benefiting the world, benefiting the world, Ximen Leopard felt a little pain in his head when he heard these words, and he was also angry at the time, so he shouted: "This is the difference between a gentleman and a common man. Even if common people can read, they don't know where the characters come from. , let alone the truth contained in these words.”

"For example, the simplest human character, why is a person a person? Why do you write it like this? Because people know how to salute with humility and etiquette, so people are written on bamboo slips, standing bowed, with their backs straight and their bodies leaning forward. Learn to write If you are a human, you will know how to salute, and if you go deeper, you can know how to be a human and know the etiquette in it from the characters learned in the Six Books."

"How do you write the characters of the Mohist school? Everyone stood up! It's so simple. People don't have etiquette, so they are still human? Besides, those common people who learned the characters according to the teaching method of the Mohist school, even though they recognize the characters as renzi, don't know how to write them." It is impossible to know the morality contained in the word human!"

The herringbone originally looked like a human being, but the waist and hips were obvious, and it was a style of saluting with a straight back.What Ximen Leopard cares about is not how people write, but the hidden meaning behind these words.

Ximen Leopard remembers that Ximen Shu replied directly at that time: "People should stand upright! Everything is born with people as the first, and people live in the world, they should stand up!"

Ximen Leopard's temper also came up at that time, and he angrily said: "The Son of Heaven worships the heavens, and even salutes, how can there be people who stand up and don't salute? The reason is that the common people can't understand the true meaning of the ceremony, and the Mohists don't go." It’s nothing more than enlightenment, but even the principles contained in the words themselves have been changed.”

"This low-handed character was created by the Mohists and the Mohist. Well, he is suitable for the hermits and high-ranking people, and may not be able to understand the six books. But Mo Di, Qin Huali, Meng Sheng, Gong Zaoye and others, how can they? Who doesn't have the art of a gentleman? Who doesn't know why people write like this?"

"What are they going to do? Do you think the world is not chaotic enough? Everyone seeks profit, and everyone wants to be a monarch. Is there any order in this world?"

Ximen Leopard remembered that after he finished speaking, Ximen Shu talked a lot of truths such as "self-interest", "combination", "common righteousness", "the monarch is the sovereignty of the country, not a real person", and so on. , Ximen Leopard remembered Ximen Shu asking: "Father, have you read a story passed down by the Mohists?"

"In the Song Dynasty, there was a real gentleman named Gongsun Ze, and his wife was also a virtuous woman who knew etiquette and had a heart of benevolence and compassion."

"One day, the youngest son of a farmer's family in his fief died. The farmer was regarded as the son of Gongsun Ze. Gongsun Ze's wife thought, how sad should the farmer's family be? So she went to visit."

"But as soon as I walked in, I saw a family eating and drinking soup."

"She asked, why are you still drinking soup?"

"The family replied: because there is salt in the soup."

"Actually, what Gongsun Ze's wife wants to ask is, why are you still in the mood to drink soup and eat after your son died? Why don't you feel sad?"

"But what the farmer heard was the most simple question, and he thought it was just asking why they wanted soup, so he answered with the simplest reason, saying that there is salt in the soup, because salt is very expensive, and because the soup is already made, if it is not It might go rancid the next day after drinking it, and it has to be thrown away, which is a waste, so drink it.”

"After Gongsun Ze heard this story, he sighed: Bu Zixia lost his son in the past, and he cried and went blind in grief. But for those who really know etiquette, if an elder in the family dies, they can't even eat and must keep their filial piety. Three years, the first three months can only drink porridge. It is really a courtesy that cannot be inferior to common people."

"This is etiquette, this is courtesy not inferior to the common people. Father, don't the common people feel sad when their relatives die? Are the common people born lower than us nobles, because they don't know etiquette better than us? Don't they know the sorrow and pain in the world?" ? You can drink soup, won’t it hurt?”

"Those ceremonies, those music, are these what the people need? The benevolence of the nobles can cure the symptoms and the root cause. If you want benevolence and love others, then the people are eager for land. Why don't you give the land to the people? It's like a person living in the wilderness. He was about to starve to death, but at this time he gave this person a piece of jade and did not give him food, is this benevolence?"

Ximen Bao said angrily at that time: "As you said, the rich people in this world should give everything they have to the people?"

Ximen Zhi straightened his body and said, "It depends on how rich you are. Being rich through labor, capital, body and mind is what the Emperor of Heaven would like to see! Why should a noble's fief belong to a nobleman? Have they worked hard? They are just silverfish, pigs and dogs raised by the people, but they think they are shepherding the people!"

"me too!"

Ximen Leopard remembered that during that quarrel, Ximen Shu took off his long gown, revealing his short brown shirt, and said, "Father, I am ashamed of being a silverfish. Do you know that I am a silverfish?" Anguish in your heart?"

"The bloodline that I was once proud of is now like a thorn in my heart."

"When I was eating, I thought of 'no crops, no crops, three hundred pieces of grass'; when I dressed in fine clothes, I thought of 'neither spinning nor weaving, three hundred pieces of silk and silk'. "

"I went to study abroad, and those who studied with me pointed at me and said, I am a nobleman, what do I know?"

"If I go to learn the five rites and six music, the ritual that comes to my mind is the ridiculous story of Gongsun Ze. The music that comes to my mind is that the princes and nobles let the people cast bells and copper to use for the benefit of the world. Music!"

"Father, I feel that since I was born, I have been guilty of being sorry to the people of the world, because of our fiefs and the obligations of the farmers in those fiefs to us!"

"I just... I just want to make amends!"

"Rites and music are meaningless, they are just toil the people of the world! They should be abolished!"

Ximen Bao still remembers, after his son took off his gown, he became more and more excited, and finally knelt down on the ground and began to cry.

But he also remembered that when he heard his son's evaluation of rites and music, he sighed deeply and asked in a calm and calm tone: "Since you have learned Chinese characters, do you know the basic characters?" What means?"

At that time, Ximen Zhu must have been surprised that his father would talk about this irrelevant matter, and said: "Cui, the essence of rice. The cleanest rice is pure."

Ximen Leopard nodded in approval, and then said: "The essence of Mohism lies in synonymousness and benefiting the world. Benefiting the world comes from benefiting everyone, so what they want to do is 'the people are the Lord'."

"And you... have studied with the Mohists for these years, and what you have learned is 'taking the essence of the people'! What is pure and popular, must be right? Those that are not used by the people must be abolished ?”

"Back when I was building water conservancy, my parents and folks didn't understand or cursed me. I said that the people can be successful, but don't start with worries! If the world depends on the people, the world will be in chaos!"

"If you can't think clearly about the difference between the people being God and taking the essence of the people, you should never go to listen to the lectures of the Mohists in the future. Otherwise, you will suffer here, even if you go to Sishang, you will be punished." Squeeze out like an outsider."

"What do you see now? What you see is that the people are suffering from the enfeoffment, but you think Sishang is a happy land? You know that in the Song Dynasty, the Mohists acquiesced in land annexation, making the people become servants or forced to go to Sishang for workshops Do you work? Do you know the righteousness of the Mohism? Do you think the Mohist is a benevolent person with compassion? Do you think that my dirty Mohism is good? You know that when the city was on fire, the Mohist Liming knew that the man was going to fight the fire, but he violated the order of the Mo family to defend the city, so he shot him immediately? Do you know that in the appropriate year, when he ruled witches in Sishang, he poisoned dozens of people to death with a smile?"

"Sishang is not a paradise, and the Mo family is not a group of 'good people' in your mind!"

"Your pain stems from your childishness! Get out!"

(End of this chapter)