Now, I want to translate a passage from Zhu Wen's official document collection Bailudong Academy.
I privately think that the ancient sages taught people to read and study only to make people understand the principle of propriety and justice, cultivate their body and mind, and then push themselves and others, not to recite poems, seek fame and seek wealth. Today, some students study for the opposite purpose. The laws of sage education are recorded in the classics. Ambitious people should be familiar with, ponder, interrogate and distinguish. If you know this is a natural principle, you must use it to restrain yourself. Then, the so-called rule ban, how do you need to wait for others to set it up before you abide by it! Although modern schools have school rules, they don't have enough requirements for scholars, and they don't necessarily conform to the intentions of sages. Therefore, our college does not adopt those learning rules, but only lists the fundamental principles of sages to teach people to learn and stick them on the lintel. Please study together, abide by the implementation and be self-disciplined. If you can do this, then when you think or act at ordinary times, you will be cautious and afraid, because you know that this disclosure has strict requirements on behavior. If someone doesn't do this, or even does something contrary to this disclosure, then this disclosure, as a rule, will definitely have an effect on him, so it can't be ignored. You still have to think seriously!