Speaker: Bao Pengshan.

Lecturer profile: Professor, Chinese Department, Shanghai TV University

Content abstract: After studying hard, Confucius finally became an expert in etiquette, music, archery, imperial art, calligraphy and mathematics. However, "Six Arts" was a compulsory course for scholars at that time, and Confucius could not be regarded as a saint by later generations because he mastered the six arts. So what did Confucius do to improve his ability? Through the story of Bao Pengshan, we know that before Confucius became a saint, he was just an ordinary person, and his childhood was as happy as all children, and a toy of Confucius was clearly recorded in historical records. So what were Confucius' toys when he was a child? With such a toy, what makes Bao Pengshan say that Confucius has a very high IQ?

Full text:

Last class, we talked about that after studying hard, Confucius finally became an expert in the six arts, namely, etiquette, music, shooting, imperial, calligraphy and mathematics. In fact, at that time, if you wanted to go into politics, keep fit and serve the society, you had to learn all six professional skills. According to Sima Qian's records, in fact, Confucius showed a very strong interest in ritual and music culture when he was very young.

When Confucius was a child, he often made a cup of beans when he played games. In fact, it was a sacrificial vessel and a ritual vessel. Put the ritual vessels in that place by yourself, and then pretend to worship there by yourself. This is his game and his hobby. Later, in the Qing Dynasty, there was a man named Zheng Huan who wrote a book called A Study of Confucius' Family.

Of course, the virgin is Yan Zai, Confucius is a saint, and Confucius' mother is called the virgin. So the mother wants to buy some toys for Confucius. What kind of toys does she buy? What she bought was a ritual vessel. Buy back the ritual vessels and let Confucius play, play, play, and he will become an expert in ritual music. As an adult, Confucius developed a strong interest in the culture of rites and music, and his pursuit of human peace and harmony was closely related to his early games. Later, when he was in Weiguo, Wei Linggong once asked him one thing. Wei Linggong said, Mr. Kong, can you tell us what the troops ahead are like and how the troops on the battlefield are arranged? Confucius said, you asked me cowpea, and I learned. If you ask me about war, I'm sorry, I haven't learned it. I don't understand. He cleverly refused to talk to Wei Linggong about how to fight. He believes that a good ruler should first think of maintaining peace and letting the people live and work in peace and contentment, not military struggle. Such a love for music culture and peace has something to do with his mother's early cultivation. Many of us know that Mencius' mother educated Mencius in this way, but we are not sure that Confucius' mother educated Confucius in this way. According to the later establishment and development of Confucius' personality, we can see that this is also a great mother. Moreover, Confucius was interested in the culture of rites and music at such an early age, so we can draw a conclusion: Confucius is early and wise, and his IQ is extremely high. Why do you say that? Because what a person is interested in has a lot to do with his IQ.

There is an expert who specializes in IQ in America. His name is Charles Murray. He once wrote a book called Clock Curve-Intelligence and Class in American Society. Since 2007, he has published three articles in the Wall Street Journal, and he talked about such a problem. He said that the higher the school level, the more abstract and useless students' interests are. I often meet students and ask me, is this useful? Is it useful for us to learn this? Sometimes I am very angry, I can't find the reason, I don't know why they keep asking this question, but later I know, because this is a sign of limited IQ. A person with limited IQ is only interested in tangible things, not abstract things. People with limited IQ can't be interested in Plato or Confucius. From this theory, Confucius became interested in etiquette when he was very young, because it was abstract and he could be interested in abstract things. He must be a man with a high IQ. Therefore, it is also a gift that Confucius can finally achieve such great achievements. Talent is indeed a very important aspect. With his talent and hard study, Confucius mastered the six arts of traditional Confucianism, and in today's words, he passed the civil service exam with excellent results. There were no exams at that time. It doesn't matter. Word of mouth and everyone's usual observation of him can prove that he has no problem in this respect. Lu recognized him and sent fish to Confucius. This is a very important event. With Lu sending fish to Confucius, it is easy for Confucius to enter the official career.

Commentary: Confucius, who has achieved success in learning, is about to embark on his official career, just like the scholar who "learned well and became an official". So what kind of official is Confucius, who just entered the officialdom? How did Confucius do?

Ji, the minister of Lu, hired Confucius to be a domestic servant in his own home. You know, three years ago, Ji hosted a banquet at home to entertain the gentry's children, but Confucius was kicked out. Now, Ji has hired Confucius to be a servant in his family and a servant in the doctor's family, which is the first step in becoming an official. What does Confucius do in Ji's home? The official is not big, the first official is the Commissioner, that is, the warehouse keeper. After a while, about a year later, I became a farmer and managed a pasture. We say that Confucius did a good job in both positions, and Sima Qian said that when he was a Commissioner, the amount of materials was flat. When you occupy the field, the livestock will rest. As a storekeeper, the accounts are clear. When managing the pasture, the reproductive rate of cattle and sheep is higher than others. Mencius said that when Confucius was a Commissioner, he was an accountant. He used the words of Confucius. Confucius once said that when he worked as a Commissioner in Jishi, he was only enough to be an accountant, and only enough to occupy the fields for cattle and sheep to flourish. As long as the accounts are clear, cattle and sheep will thrive. Being a warehouse keeper or managing a ranch is not a very high position, but Confucius can do well, doing big things well and doing small things well. So I think there is a word in Chinese that is particularly good. What's it called? We all tend to regard this word as a derogatory term, saying that a person is high or low means that he is unattainable and unattainable. Actually, that's not what I meant. It says:

This is the original intention, do your job well, and be loyal to others when you get paid. You are in this position at the moment, so you should do this job well. Don't call yourself a great genius. You don't want to do this position. If you don't want to do it, you can go If you want to do it, you must do it well. When you first make a move, start from the bottom and do it seriously. But don't forget that you have higher goals. Don't indulge in this. I don't know if the world is bigger and there is a higher realm. That won't do either. Therefore, we should set our sights high, because our eyes will not be limited by everything in front of us, and we know that we still have greater pursuits. So I especially like the word "aim high but have a low heart". Let's think it over. Mencius said two words during the two official positions of Confucius.

We can see that these two sentences are actually divided into two levels: accounting, prosperity of cattle and sheep, which means low hands. What do you mean "just"? It means that I won't spend more energy in this place, and I won't use more thoughts. Why? I have higher goals. Confucius never wanted to be a professional technician. He has a famous saying that a gentleman is useless, that is, he does not engage in specific professional work, and a gentleman should have a higher and greater realm. If Confucius just wanted to make a living and seek an official position, he has already done it. He has an official position, and in the most powerful family in Lu, he has been working with his ability, and finally he can be a housekeeper. That's no problem at all. He can completely solve his own life problems. If it is, it is not called "aiming at learning", but "aiming at being an official". So, what do we mean by "learning for the purpose"? This is about the third realm of Confucius' study before he was 30 years old. His "learning" is not a study of making a living, nor a study of seeking an official, but a university. Today we are always talking about universities, Peking University, Tsinghua and Fudan. When Confucius said universities, he did not mean these specialized educational institutions or these specialized educational entities. It refers to a kind of learning. The so-called university means "learning to be bigger" and learning to be bigger. If you don't learn to make yourself bigger, you are a villain, and adults are gentlemen. What is a university? Simply put:

University is not to cultivate your professional skills, not to cultivate your professional technical skills, but to cultivate your value judgment. Confucius said that his "ambition is to learn" actually refers to this kind of learning.

Commentary: Confucius' ambition is to learn, which is Confucius' way of "university", but what does this seemingly simple word mean? What enlightenment will Confucius' way of university give us today?

As we know, four books in ancient China were particularly important. We call them four books. The first book is "University", and the beginning of "University" is:

So what is the way of university? Not employment, not success. But adults do not make a living for themselves, but for the whole world. Not for the comfort of my own life, but for the peace of the world and the well-being of all mankind, so my understanding should at least have these three contents.

These three sentences are the way of university. Speaking of this, I think of a famous neo-Confucian in the Northern Song Dynasty, Mr. Zhang Zai and Mr. Zhang Hengqu. He has four very famous sentences, which are called "four sentences of horizontal canal".

As a scholar, every time I read these four sentences, I am very, very moved and very ashamed. How many of our scholars today have such minds? We are always thinking about how to evaluate professional titles, how to improve our level, how to compete for projects, and then get project funds. We're always thinking about this. However, our ancestors, the ancestors of our scholars, once took benevolence as their own responsibility, and once took it as their highest pursuit to stand for the world, for the people, for the future, and for peace in the world.

Then I think it would be better to add one more sentence to Zhang Zai's four sentences. Because there is no mention of self in these four sentences, in fact, Confucianism particularly emphasizes self-cultivation. Self-cultivation is the most basic work at the beginning of all Confucian learning goals. Self-cultivation can bring the family together, and then the family can rule the country and level the world. Therefore, I think it would be better to add another sentence to achieve perfection for myself. So at this point, we simply make an evaluation of Confucius' ambition to learn three words. Learning to learn has changed the cultural history of China. Why do you say that? First, a person can do nothing all his life and devote himself to learning knowledge. What does this mean? It shows that academic research and moral discussion can be a person's lifelong career. We used to look for jobs, either working, farming, doing business or being an official. Humans have been like this since the beginning, but when Confucius was preoccupied with learning, he told us that there was another profession, which was neither farming nor working, nor being an official. Why? Is determined to learn, that is, to conduct academic research and moral discussion, which we say has never happened before. Therefore, from then on, academics have independent value and status, and they are no longer vassals of the system. Orthodoxy began to be independent of the political system and higher than the political system. Now we are talking about the greatness of Confucius. He really changed history. This is the first point.

Second, what kind of occupation can a person engage in, specializing in academic research, to prove that knowledge is independent and intellectuals are independent. Thirdly, after learning, intellectuals are no longer experts, no longer professional and technical personnel, and no longer bear the responsibility of the world and morality. This is the mission of intellectuals! So Confucius brought about the change of the connotation of the word Confucianism. We now say that Confucius is the founder of Confucianism. In fact, the word Confucianism existed long before Confucius. It is a profession, so it is called Confucianism and Confucianism. However, after Confucius, the concept of Confucianism changed, and Confucianism changed from a warlock to an expert in six arts, a civil servant and a value bearer.

Commentary: Now we know that Confucius' "university" is much more difficult than our university today. Confucius' university is what he wants to pursue all his life. So what is the difference between "big" and "small" in Confucius' eyes? And Confucius will be honored as a saint in the future. What is the secret of his becoming a saint?

Fan Chi (a student of Confucius) once again asked Confucius a strange question. It is recorded in The Analects of Confucius. Supposedly, Fan Chi is not very stupid. Fan Chi asked Confucius many good questions before, and Confucius praised him. Good question, good question, good! But this question really sucks. It's puzzling. What's the problem? One day, he went to Confucius in a daze and asked, Teacher, how to grow crops? Confucius probably confused him and answered him coldly, I am not as good as the old farmer. Fan Chi also foolishly asked, since you can't grow crops, how can you grow cabbage? Confucius said, I am not as good as the old nursery, and Fan Chi turned and left. As soon as Fan Chi went out, Confucius said, Little Xu Fan! What does this little man mean? Is it a bad person? Of course not. What is this? It's hopeless. There is no boundary. I didn't study in a university, but in a primary school. Primary school is a villain, and university is the only way for adults. Later, some people always criticized this passage of Confucius, saying that Confucius was the first and looked down on the working people. Second, despise manual labor. This is all nonsense. It's not logical at all. Confucius did not run agricultural schools. Confucius set up a political college for young cadres. You go there and ask about planting crops. Aren't you stupid If some of our students go to the Chinese Academy of Sciences today and ask a doctoral tutor how to steam steamed bread, they won't be angry! Just ask kannika nimtragol about steaming steamed bread. After Fan Chi left, Confucius said three words: courtesy, righteousness and faith. What is this? Value. So I say that after Confucius, scholars and literati are no longer professional and technical personnel. Their duty to society is not, at least not just to engage in some professional and technical work. His highest mission is to bear the value, which is the highest mission of intellectuals. It was not until the arrival of Confucius that truly independent intellectuals appeared for the first time in the history of China. This is the greatness of Confucius and his great contribution to the Chinese nation.

Then we say that nine times out of ten, Confucius is determined to learn, make a living under the heavy pressure of life, and at the same time insist on learning, moving towards the depth and height of life and knowledge. A master of thought and a saint appeared. We just said that Confucius had a high IQ, but can only have a high IQ? Confucius has a very, very important characteristic. He is eager to learn. Confucius said all his life that I am not born with knowledge, but eager to learn. He is over 60 years old. In a city on the northern border of Chu, he met a man named Ye Gong. Ye Gong asked Luz, what does your teacher look like? Lutz didn't know how to answer. When Confucius came back, he blamed Luz and said, Go and tell him about me.

The first is to get angry and forget to eat. What do you mean? Study angrily and forget to eat. Confucius said with emotion again;

In this small place of ten families, if you want to find a loyal person like me, you can find them all. But it's hard to find someone who is as eager to learn as I am. Indeed, when we go to a small place, a small village, honest people, simple people and kind people, we should find them. Honest people abound, but it's really hard to say if you want to find a studious person. This is the weakness of human nature. Then Confucius didn't have this weakness, he was studious, and he had this advantage, which is why Confucius distanced himself from us.

Commentary: Since even Confucius himself said that he was eager to learn, how did Confucius learn it? What is Confucius' special explanation for the idiom "Don't be ashamed to ask questions", which is famous all over the world because of Confucius?

Zi Gong once again asked Confucius a question. There was a ruling minister named Kong Cong in Weiguo. After Kong Cong's death, the court named him Wen, and we called him Kong Wen Zi. Zi Gong asked Confucius, teacher, why did the court give him this posthumous title and call him "Wen" after his death?

These eight words are difficult to do. Why? Generally speaking, smart people are often difficult to learn. It is even more difficult for a smart person to learn. We just said that learning is not easy, and it is even harder to find a smart and studious person. If you are smart, and then you study hard, you will certainly achieve something. Kong Wenzi is sensitive and eager to learn, and he is not ashamed to ask questions. It's hard to ask what shameless means. People with high status demand people with low status, but Kong Wen did it. Smart and studious, in a high position, but not ashamed to ask people lower than themselves, this is about Kong Wen Zi, but also about Confucius himself. That's what he is. There is such a record in The Analects, which is very interesting. Confucius asked everything as soon as he entered the ancestral temple. Someone once laughed at Confucius, who said that every question is a ceremony, because every link should be cautious when offering sacrifices at the ancestral temple, and it should be confirmed before doing it. This is a ceremony. It is said that Confucius was invited by the government to the ancestral temple as an auxiliary sacrifice, and he had a reputation for knowing the ceremony, but Confucius was not ashamed to ask questions.

Commentary: When Confucius lived, there were not so many books to read and there was no way to surf the Internet. Today, we are all curious. How did Confucius acquire such profound knowledge?

Once, when Confucius was 27 years old, there was a small vassal state of Lu called Tan Guo, and the monarch of Tan Guo was called Tan Zi Guo. This man is very knowledgeable. He came to Lu, where he met the monarch, and Lu hosted a banquet in honor of Tan Zi and the uncle of Lu's minister Sun. During the dinner, Uncle Sun asked Tan a question about why the official names of your ancestors were all named after birds. Zanzi once said that our ancestors worshipped birds, and then the official name was related to birds, before Confucius was there. Later, this story came out. Confucius was very sensitive. This is very important knowledge. He hurried to the state guesthouse to knock on the door and ask for advice face to face. He made it very clear. He never misses a chance to learn from others. Sometimes Confucius went too far. If Confucius is walking in the street and suddenly hears someone singing, he feels very good and will catch up immediately. Can you sing it again? He must force others to sing again and then follow suit. Because of this, the official was able to achieve his studies. Confucius went abroad not only in his own country, but also when others sent him to teach. We know that Confucius once went to Song State to study. It is more than 200 miles from Lu Qufu to Shangqiu, the capital of Song Dynasty. At that time, 65,438+09-year-old Confucius carried his luggage and experienced many thorns, bumps, strongmen and beasts, which was the first time.

The second time I went to Zheng State to learn from Zi Chan, Confucius heard that there were famous people there, and those who were learned would definitely ask for advice. He went to Zheng Xiang to study, because Confucius was 30 years old when he died, so he must have studied in Zheng Xiang before he was 30 years old. According to historical records, Confucius and Zi were as close as brothers when they arrived in the State of Zheng. "Historical Records" says that those who give birth to benevolence love others. He is very kind and can love others. So when Confucius later talked about benevolence, Fan Chi once asked him what benevolence was. Confucius replied that the benevolent loves others. You can see the influence of the birth on him. Confucius once commented on Zi Chan in this way, saying that Zi Chan has four ways of being a gentleman, and there are four kinds of behaviors that conform to the way of being a gentleman. What are the four behaviors?

I do things respectfully, treat my superiors respectfully, show cordial concern to the people and show them the four seasons. I don't just arrange for the people to build the mausoleum today and the Great Wall tomorrow. I heard that Zi Chan had passed away. Zhong Ni heard about it and cried. Love is an ancient heritage. Zi chan is such a kind person cultivated by the great ancient culture. He learns from such people. So it is important to learn from those who are close to Zhu Zhechi, and those who are close to Mexico are black. Is it good to be with such a person? These were all when Confucius was 30 years old. He can finally proudly say that I am 30 years old. So how to stand at the age of 30, and in what ways? Confucius, who is thirty years old, still has some higher realms waiting for him to pursue. Let's talk about it next time!