The second training place in the "University"
Now let's formally study the four sentences in the first paragraph of "University":
The way of university is to be moral, to be close to the people and to stop at perfection.
This is how ancient Chinese prose is simplified. From a modern point of view, this kind of ancient prose is a simplified text in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Human ideology and speech have been condensed into words, but the original elements of ideology have been preserved forever and have been flowing for a long time. This is what we call ancient prose.
Since the Southern Song Dynasty, these four books have been studied and annotated by Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty, especially by scholars after Cheng and Zhu, and most of them must abide by Cheng and Zhu's sentences. Therefore, I am used to talking about the main points in the book "University", and there is a saying of "three cardinal guides and eight aims". An outline is an outline; The purpose is an entrance. Outline is the earliest creation used by Zhu. For example, his criticism of China's history in Zi Tong Zhi Jian did not fully agree with Sima Guang's point of view, but found a new way. The history he compiled was called "Ziyang Compendium" by later generations.
Outline is actually a logical method of writing articles and academic classification. The outline is the premise, and it can also be said to be the topic. The purpose is the extension of classification. Interestingly, we are used to the word "business gang" in modern political terms, but we still don't know that the mentor who first used this word came from Confucianism, not his own creation. It's just that people don't read as many books as he does, so they don't know that he is also a healthy person in it.
In the book "University" mentioned in the past, there is a saying of "three classes and eight orders". What are their "three cardinal guides"? Which "eight eyes" is it?
The answer is this: "Mingde", "People-oriented" and "Being the Best" put forward for the first time in the book "University" are three cardinal principles. It is not the three cardinal guides and five permanent members of ancient traditional culture, that is, the monarch is the minister, the father is the son, and the husband is the wife. What about Hachi?
The answers are as follows: discipline, knowledge, sincerity, integrity, self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and leveling the world.
In fact, for the book "University", it is not entirely necessary to have "three cardinal guides"! The facts are there. For example, the outline of the book "University" should be said to have four classes, seven certificates and eight orders.
Four types, seven syndromes and eight orders
So, what are the four cardinal principles? It is the word "Tao", the most important premise, based on the premise of "showing virtue", "being close to the people" and "stopping at perfection", and it can also be said to be the "avenue" of the university road. The detailed reasons will be "identified" slowly. But it can be discussed from the principle of "annotation of classics" As long as we read the first two paragraphs of the University, we can see that the facts are all there. Isn't it clear in this article that "things have their origins, things have their beginnings, and knowing their order is a shortcut"? Therefore, "avenue" or Tao comes first.
Then, why do you want to put forward the "seven certificates" in particular? Because in the article "University", after the four cardinal guides, there are seven learning procedures of Yan Avenue and Mingde, which can also be said to be the learning steps of Yan Avenue. If you are happy, it can be said to be a seven-step learning method. This is knowing, stopping, deciding, being quiet, being safe, worrying and gaining. This is the study outline of the university. The eight goals of "respecting things, knowing and doing, sincerity, integrity, self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and leveling the world" are the practical knowledge and cultivation of "being close to the people".
It can also be said that at the beginning, everyone was self-reliant and self-taught. In other words, Neo-Confucianism in Song Dynasty regarded Zhuangzi's theory as its own advertising theory of "being sage inside and king outside". It can also be said that it is the study of "inner knowledge". Only by clearly expressing virtue as being close to the people can we truly achieve the merits of self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and leveling the world, that is, the "foreign king" is used for self-reliance and altruism. However, whether it is self-reliance or external use, it needs to reach the realm of "perfection" in order to be considered as the completion of the road to human relations.
After understanding these preparatory knowledge, we try to simply translate the first four sentences of "University" in vernacular Chinese.
"The way of a university is to understand the cultivation of Mingde first, then go deep into the people and do the work of being close to the people, so as to achieve the ultimate perfection."
Of course! This literally translates the original text of "University". Anyway, it's overnight fried rice, and it's definitely not original! Besides, the connotation of the four words in these four books is also scratching the surface, and the focus has never been grasped. So we need to study it bit by bit, layer by layer.
Since we know that the connotation of literal translation of ancient Chinese in vernacular Chinese is specious after all, it is not that taste at all, we can only choose it with the learning method taught by Confucius, the so-called "erudition, interrogation, deliberation and discernment", that is, the modern analysis and induction method.
Stand on your own feet and do your best.
First, in China more than 2,000 years ago, that is, in the late Spring and Autumn Period and the early Warring States Period, the traditional culture of China was originally an orthodox era in which Confucianism and Taoism were indistinguishable. Even a hundred schools of thought flaunt the word "Tao" as a fixed point.
Ceng Zi, the author of Great Learning, was born in this era. Among the 72 sages of Confucius, he is the backbone of inheriting traditional philosophy. At that time, in terms of political system and social customs, at least on the surface, it was centered on the emperor of Zhou Dynasty, especially in terms of cultural customs, which was subject to Zhou rites. The so-called children enter primary school at the age of eight, and when they reach the age of eighteen or nineteen, they will learn from adults, that is, they will be prepared to be a real adult, not a fine (small) person.
So, what is the way of interpersonal relationship that a person is taught by the theory of adults? That is to understand this "mingde" first. So there are two words in this sentence, the first is a verb, and the second is an adjective or noun. This usage was very common in ancient times. For example: father and son, son, parent, etc. They all take the first word as a verb and the second as a noun. That is to say: for a father, it is his duty to be a father; For sons, it is their duty to be sons; For the sake of the person you love, you should do your duty to the person you love.
Understand the above truth, we can also know that the main purpose of our ancient traditional education is to teach you to be a man and fulfill the duty of human nature and human relations. I don't just teach you knowledge and skills, whether you are a good person or not. Because working, making clothes, being a peddler, being an official, being a scholar and being an emperor are all different occupations. Although the positions are different, they all need to be human, which is the duty. Your professional post is really glorious, but everyone can't do it well and can't succeed, let alone anything else.
Second, the way of "university" is fundamental, and it can also be said to be material. "Mingde" is the application of Tao and the psychological and physiological behavior from Tao. "Being close to the people" is the achievement of personal moral sense, and it is to throw it into the world, personally enter the crowd society and serve the people. This is the purpose of building people outside after the establishment of Mingde. The final result. Whether it is a person's own virtue or a person's way of being close to the people, it is necessary to achieve the realm of "perfection".
Third, if you say so, how can you express it more clearly? Then we can only use the method of "cause and reason" (logic) and borrow similar analogies to make metaphors and examples, or we can understand them more clearly. How to borrow examples? Then I have to discuss with my neighbor's Buddhism and explain it temporarily by Buddhism!
Feel him consciously and feel that the line is complete.
Buddha is the abbreviation of "Buddha" in ancient Indian Sanskrit. What is Buddha? In China, the Buddha knew it. Sleep what? Realize the self of the mind. How can I become a Buddha by myself? First of all, we should practice the merits of Mahayana Bodhisattva, that is, self-interest (equal to the independence of Confucianism) and altruism (equal to the establishment of Confucianism), so as to achieve the perfection of wealth and wisdom and become a Buddha. Therefore, if you are conscious, aware of others, and aware of perfection, you are called Buddha. If Buddhism is used to compare Confucianism, Buddha is a sage realm, and Bodhisattva is a sage realm. Bodhisattva is the abbreviation of the Sanskrit "Bodhi (Enlightenment), Sachan (Emotion)", which was also called "Master Driving" in China's early translation.
We use the proportion of Buddhism to illustrate the "way of university" in universities. Well, obviously, morality is conscious, and being close to the people is conscious of him. Stop at the best, it is perfection, it is the holy way! In this way, as the Taoist Liezi said: "There are saints in the East and saints in the West. This is the same heart and the same truth. " Isn't it? Let's reconsider and do some research!
After understanding the ideas mentioned above, we can understand that the so-called seven levels of knowledge and the order of knowledge cultivation, restraint, determination, calmness, security, concern and gain, are completely footnotes connecting the above four sentences. Otherwise, I have been reading "University" for a long time, as if I were reading dogmatic articles, and I can't connect them. Just like I said. From "Zhi Zhi will decide later" to "Think before you get it" in the last sentence, what did it get?
If we follow the above ideas, we can understand that "think before you get it" is the purpose of achieving virtue. Otherwise, I don't even know how this "Ming Ming De" started. Of course, if we can reach the status of Mingde, we can really reach the realm of "the way of university".
In this way, it can be understood that since the Han and Wei Dynasties, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism have all used the idioms of China traditional culture to call all the achievements of their own practice "enlightenment". In fact, the name Tao comes from the concept of "think before you get it" in universities. Judging from this evolution, after the Tang and Song Dynasties, Zen Buddhism became popular, and it was generally advertised that Zen Buddhism reached the Tao with "clear mind and understanding nature". Taoism followed closely, flaunting Tao as "cultivating the mind and refining the nature". Of course, Confucian Neo-Confucianism is unwilling to lag behind, and it boasts that it is a way of "intentional cultivation". You see, the meaning of Ceng Zi's sentence "Think before you do it" is so meaningful and interesting!
At the same time, Zen is called enlightenment. Only when you are truly enlightened can you understand the concept of Buddhism. There is also a saying called "awareness". This kind of awareness or awareness, as well as understanding and enlightenment, is only in the expression of nouns, vaguely trance, just a faint mist, just flickering. Getting rid of the shackles of these "names" is not much different.