This semester, I chose a general education course "Introduction to the Book of Rites", because I handed in my homework and made an article, so I recorded it here.

The original texts are entitled "The Difference between Four Books and Universities" and "The Book of Rites and Universities". This paper makes some changes to the original texts.

At present, there are mainly two versions of the university, one is the Book of Rites, and the other is the Four Books, University.

The Book of Rites is the original text of Book of Rites No.42, and Four Books are Zhu's Notes on Four Books and Sentences and Notes on University Chapters in the Southern Song Dynasty. There are many differences between them. For example, in the content order, the Four Books and The Book of Rites have been supplemented by Zhu, and their systems are more rigorous.

The Book of Rites is divided into Taoism, honesty, righteousness, self-cultivation and governing the country. Four Books University is a structure of one chapter and ten chapters, which complements Zhu's "supplementary biography of teachers and things". The sincerity chapter is arranged at the back, forming a "classic" chapter.

Zhu's biography is actually a new study of borrowing ancient Chinese. After Zhu's careful modification, the word "university" in the original text has changed not only in form, but also in meaning.

Zhu wrote in the Preface to Universities:

It can be seen that Zhu admired the university and thought it was the knowledge of educating customs. Therefore, this article was put forward from the Book of Rites as one of the four books, and it was designated as the "Program for Learning".

The Book of Rites University was originally an article in the Book of Rites Xiao Dai, which expounded a kind of "imperial learning" of "erudition can govern the country" and talked about how to govern the country by courtesy, while Zhu had a new understanding of the university. In his view, "The University" is about "The Study of Xiu De" and is the "Gate of Education" in the four books. Zhu put forward many opinions when he made a collection of notes. In the eyes of some people, these chapters and sentences distort the original text and are pseudo-science. However, Zhu's innovation made the Four Books and The Book of Rites become the "orthodox learning" after the Southern Song Dynasty, which constituted an important part of the development of Neo-Confucianism.

In Zhu's sentences, there are many new interpretations of the old text. For example, the word "pro" in "being close to the people" in "University" is interpreted as new. To some extent, this interpretation is to take care of the following "for the new, for the new, for the new", and this brand-new interpretation makes "university"

Zhu's "Biography and Supplement" includes rearranging the content of the article and forming a new system structure, as well as supplementing the biography and explaining the harmony.

After Zhu's transfer, the first three biographies respectively expounded three principles, namely, to be virtuous, to be close to the people, and to stop at perfection; The fourth chapter explains the origin and end; The sixth to eighth chapters explain sincerity, self-cultivation, keeping the family, governing the country and leveling the world, but not. Zhu thought the fifth chapter was the biography of the governor, but it was lost, so he made it up.

Does Zhu Buchuan's practice conform to the original intention of the university?

Zhu's so-called "knowing things" and "knowing things" mean that people have the ability to "know things in the world and grasp the reason of things", and people can grasp the reason of things by knowing things. Later, Wang Yangming proposed "honesty" and "conscience" as the foundation of the university, and advocated restoring the ancient version of the university. Wang Yangming's theory emphasizes "sincerity", explains "knowledge" with Mencius' "conscience" and emphasizes "mind is reason".

Wang Yangming believes that the original intentions of "respecting things", "knowing and doing", "being honest" and "being honest" are all the same, all for self-cultivation and self-cultivation.

"Those who are heavy, those who are in the center of gravity, those who know again: those who are upright, those who are sincere, those who are sincere: those who know things, also know things. Is there a difference between inside and outside? -Wang Shouren's Biography

According to this view, the Book of Rites does not need to separate the four. From this point of view, understanding "knowing from things" from Wang Yangming's theory is not necessarily more in line with the original intention of the Book of Rites than Zhu's theory.

Mr. Qian Mu pointed out in A New Interpretation of Wu Ge in the University that there is no explanation for Wu Ge in the University, but the University is an excerpt from The Book of Rites of Little Wear, so the understanding of Wu Ge should be found in another chapter of The Book of Rites of Little Wear, and pointed out that Ji Le "knows the best things".

It shows that people's "knowledge" appears after experiencing "things", which is consistent with Zhu's explanation, so it is reasonable to infer Zhu's explanation.

However, Zhu's "learning" should be different from the "learning" mentioned in The Book of Rites University. Our Book of Rites University talks about the way of governing the country, and "learning things" should not be based on the theory that "poor things push me to know". Zheng Xuan and Confucius annotated Justice in the Book of Rites.

In the understanding of Zheng Kong and his wife, "Wu Ge" is the result and "Zhi Zhi" is the cause. He knows from a person's Wu Ge, infers the reason from the fruit, infers the good and evil he knows from the things he treats, because only those who know the good can do good. According to this view, through "doing good deeds", others can understand it well, so they will be sincere and honest. From Tian Zi to Shu Ren, one is based on self-cultivation. In this way, the family will rule the country and the world will be flat.

Therefore, Zhu's understanding is different from Zheng Kong's.

The Supplementary Biography of Zhuzi is intended to reinterpret the original meaning of "learning from time to time", thus summarizing the study of a university from "politics" to "entering a university".

Zhu moved the text to supplement the biography because the old version was wrong and the biography was lost, and his practice was criticized in the future. For example, Mr. nan huaijin, a master of Chinese studies, criticized in The Former University:

However, Zhu Xi's translation and supplementary biography are not unreasonable. It is based on the rigidity of Confucian classics and the weakness of Confucian theory of mind and nature in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, and it is a clean-up and reorganization of Confucianism deeply influenced by Buddhism at that time. Some scholars believe that "explaining the' righteousness' in Confucian classics conforms to the requirements put forward by the social reality at that time and is also the inevitable result of the development of Confucian hermeneutics according to its own logic".

The Book of Rites University has a clear organization and can form its own system. Zhu made the well-organized "University" more rigorous and formed a relatively complete theoretical system. China's ancient theories are generally a "hidden" system, such as The Analects of Confucius, Zhuangzi and Zhu Zixiu's Supplementary Biography of the University, which are the pioneering works of the development of Neo-Confucianism and laid the theoretical foundation of psychology.

Zhuzi's translation and supplementary biography give The University a new meaning of "Xiu De", which is an ideological re-creation. Or the Four Books and the University is the transformation and development of The Book of Rites and the University in the new historical background.

Zhuhai 2017.05.11