"University" mainly summarizes the pre-Qin Confucian moral cultivation theory, as well as the basic principles and methods of moral cultivation, and also systematically discusses the Confucian political philosophy, which has profound enlightenment for being a man, doing things and governing the country.
The main content of The Doctrine of the Mean affirms that the Doctrine of the Mean is the highest standard of moral behavior, regards honesty as the noumenon of the world, thinks that "sincerity" reaches the highest realm of life, and puts forward the learning process and cognitive methods of "erudition, interrogation, deliberation, discernment and perseverance".
Extended Information The Writing Background of The Mean;
The doctrine of the mean comes from the Book of Rites, which was originally Article 3 1 in Article 49 of the Book of Rites. The Book of Rites was originally named The Book of Rites of Little Dai, also known as The Book of Little Dai. It was compiled by Dai Sheng in Xuan Di era according to a batch of anonymous Confucian works left over from history.
Before the Song Dynasty, scholars called The Doctrine of the Mean written by Zi Si during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Sima Qian's Historical Records Confucius Family: "Zi Si writes the doctrine of the mean." Li Ao's "Li Wengong's Collection and Renaming Book": "Zi Si wrote forty-seven articles of the Doctrine of the Mean and spread them to Monk."
Since the Song Dynasty, some scholars believe that The Doctrine of the Mean is the miscellaneous notes of Zi Si and Confucian scholars in the Qin and Han Dynasties. In the Qing Dynasty, many people thought that the Doctrine of the Mean was not written by Zi Si. In particular, Cui Shu put forward three arguments in the third volume of Zhu Si Bian to prove his point of view. Nowadays, Feng Youlan, Qian Mu, Lao Siguang and others also prove that The Doctrine of the Mean was not written by Zi Si from the aspects of literature and thought.
The writing background of The University;
University comes from the Book of Rites, which was originally the 42nd of 49 articles. The Book of Rites was originally named The Book of Rites of Little Dai, also known as The Book of Little Dai. It was compiled by Dai Sheng in Xuan Di era according to a batch of anonymous Confucian works left over from history.
Ban Gu, a dynastic historian, notes that "The Book of Rites was written by the people after 1970s" in 131 Historical Records, and thinks that the book was written mainly from the early Warring States Period to the early Western Han Dynasty.
Cui Shu, a native of Qing Dynasty, said, "The style of every article is exhausted by time ..." There are too many words in Daxue, so it should be in the Warring States period. "On the whole," Da Xue "was written after Confucius and before Mencius and Xunzi in the early Warring States period, that is, around the 5th century BC, and it was a pure Confucian work of Zeng School.
That is to say, "Da Xue" should be a work in the early Warring States period, and its author should be "Zeng's Confucianism", which is now recognized by academic circles as the work of Zeng Shen in the early Warring States period.
The writing background of The Analects of Confucius;
Cui Shu, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, put forward different views on the completeness of The Analects. He noticed that the ten articles before and after this edition of The Analects were different in style and appellation. The first ten articles recorded Confucius' answers to the questions of opposing the public and mourning the public, all of which were called "Confucius to Japan" to show respect for the monarch. Answering the doctor's question is called "Confucius", which means it is different from jun, and "it depends on public opinion."
The last ten articles, such as Advanced, Yan Yuan, etc., all answer the doctor's question as "Confucius is opposite to Yue", so there are "the first ten articles are all recorded by disciples, not far from the sage, and the etiquette is clear; The last ten are remembered by later generations. At that time, the status of the Qing Dynasty was respected, and the rights and interests of the Qing Dynasty were heavy. It was used to being called by the contemporary world. It is unknown to test its style, so it cannot be the same. "
For another example, in the first ten articles, Confucius generally called "Zi" instead of "Kong", and disciples did not "ask Kong" when they asked for knowledge. In the last ten articles, Ji Shi and Wei Zi called Confucius, while Zhang Wenren in Yang Huo and Zhang Wenzheng in Yao Yue both called "Ask Confucius", which is different from other articles in The Analects of Confucius. "His non-Confucius suicide notes are clearly written by others."
Influenced by Cui Shu, later scholars continue to judge the completeness of The Analects from the differences in terms and titles between the previous ten articles. Some scholars even think that the Analects of Confucius was only a single article at first, and its compilation should be after the Han Dynasty.