After the four of them confirmed their support for the new learning during lunch, they also had a brief discussion about the academic debate in the afternoon. They expressed some opinions on the new learning to each other and analyzed the aspects in which the other party would refute the new learning.
As long as the other party refutes based on several newly learned thoughts and doctrines, then they all have ways to deal with it. After all, those thoughts and doctrines were not pioneered by Wang Zhi. Even the unheard-of saying of "studying things to gain knowledge" was also used in ancient times. Yes, it comes from what Zengzi, a disciple of Confucius during the Spring and Autumn Period, said: The way to know is to study things. After studying things, you will know what you have learned, and if you know what you have learned, you will be sincere...
This sentence was later attributed to Zhu Xi, a great scholar in the Southern Song Dynasty, in the "Book of Rites and Great Learning". However, the "Four Books" and "Five Classics" that were the standard answers to scientific examinations in the Ming and Qing Dynasties had not yet taken shape at this time, and most students had some partial theories. I have never heard of it.
Wang Zhi certainly didn't know things that most students didn't know. He thought it was Zhu Xi who was not yet born at this time, so he farted complacently. It wasn't until he heard about Chen Yuyi's popular science that he blushed.
A disciple of Saint Kong, he is the ancestor of Confucian scholars like them, so naturally they can't refute it.
There are also precedents in this dynasty for his theory of "abandoning complexity and adopting simplicity". For example, during the Shenzong period, Wang Wengong and Wang Anshi advocated prose and opposed parallel prose, but the effect rebounded even more after his death.
As for educating all peoples, everyone is equal, and the world is unified, these are the words of Confucius and Mencius themselves. How can you argue with this? How to argue? They just don't dare to advocate it. As for criticizing it, they naturally don't dare to do it either.
The only argument of the New Learning Thoughts is that "everyone can become a saint if their actions are equal." It can be argued, but once this point is argued, everyone in the inner house will become the public enemy of everyone in the world except scholars. They As long as I'm not stupid, I won't take the initiative to mention it.
Just when the four of them felt that they had a good grasp of the theory before and after the discussion, Chen Yuyi's face suddenly became serious. He said: If the other party makes an issue of what Aba accused Liu Xuezheng in the Zhaitang last week, how should we deal with it?
After the three of them thought for a moment, they all looked at Wang Zhi.
You are a pretentious criminal. If you don't pretend to be a pen, you will die!
The three of them stepped forward to take action, but were subdued one by one by Wang Erlang.
Then Wang Erlang waved his hand and said: It doesn't matter, I will take action.
The three of them are speechless, will you take action? Can you still beat up your classmates in broad daylight?
Do you know that if you can't even justify what you say, then this so-called 'new learning' is just a joke.
But now that the matter has come to this, I can only pray that the other party does not discover this.
But apparently... it backfired.
"Excuse me, who is classmate Wang Zhi?" Chen Dong's words rang out again.
Wang Zhi bowed his head and said, "I am the one who has met Mr. Chen."
Chen Dong returned the greeting, with a smile as warm as the spring breeze on his face and said, "Classmate Wang, can you help me clear up my doubts?"
He naturally smiled sincerely, because as soon as he asked this question, it meant that he had won, because this question was very simple, but also very difficult.
The simple thing is that there are answers to this question in the books of sages, and there are explanations in the three schools of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.
Buddhists say: The sun rises in the east, the sun sets in the west, the sun moves in the south, and the sun does not move in the north... Mount Sumeru is among the four realms, and the sun circles around Sumeru and shines on the four heavens.
That is to say, Buddhists believe that the world is not divided into east, west and north. That is, the direction when the sun rises is in the east, and when the sun shines, it is day; conversely, the direction when the sun disappears is in the west, and when the sun does not shine, it is night. Day and night The alternating changes are caused by the orbit of the sun and the moon. In fact, the sun, moon and stars do not rise and fall. Instead, they are always in the sky, revolving around our world. Because they are sometimes blocked by Mount Meru during their rotation, their light cannot reach the place where we live, so day and night appear, and we mistakenly think they are sunrise and sunset. The waxing and waning of the moon is caused by occlusion, and what blocks the moon is the sun.
In Buddhism, Mount Sumeru refers to the center of the universe that contains three thousand worlds, and the Saha world we live in is just one of the countless small worlds.
Taoism says: Tao gives birth to one, gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things. All things bear yin and embrace yang, and the energy is in harmony.
That is to say, all things in the universe are Tao, and Tao is divided into Yin and Yang. The sun is the incarnation of Yang Qi, and the moon is the incarnation of Yin Qi. Yin and Yang alternate, and then generate all things. Therefore, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and the moon is cloudy and clear. The round and missing parts are originally the embodiment of the rules of Tao, and the entire world operates under the rules of Tao.
And Confucianism... I'm sorry, Confucianism does not have a unified explanation of the composition of the universe and the rise and fall of the sun and the moon at this time. Various schools of thought have different answers, and no one is convinced.
For example, Zhang Zai's Guan theory says that "qi" is the origin of all things. Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi believed that Li is the origin of all things and exists before Qi. Other schools of thought are even worse. They have not even completed their worldview, or they have directly borrowed Buddhism and Taoism.
It was not until the Southern Song Dynasty that Confucianism had a complete worldview theory - Neo-Confucianism - based on Zhu Xi's summary.
Later, during the Ming Dynasty, another complete worldview theory that was different from Neo-Confucianism was born, namely Wang Mingyang's -Xin Xue.
Therefore, the status of these two people in later generations of Confucianism was also elevated to the same level as Confucius and Mencius. They were worthy of enjoying the Confucius Temple and were called saints in the world.
Therefore, this question is not difficult to answer, whether you copy Buddhism and Taoism, or just accept any Confucian theory. But it is Wang Zhi who answered the question, so it is difficult.
He could not transfer the answers from the books of sages because of his new theory: when encountering problems, you should use your own eyes to see, listen to your ears, think with your mind, and practice with your body. A few tunes, the sages only give us to open our minds, and the answers need to be found by ourselves.
So, don’t your new studies advocate studying things to gain knowledge? If you have to ask sages for help when you encounter problems, then what else is there? Just go and study!
And he also said on the spot that Liu Xuezheng didn't know why the sun rose in the east and set in the west, and why the moon waxed and waned. Liu Xuezheng was a great Confucian of the time. Which school of thought had he not read? He said that Liu Xuezheng did not know, which obviously meant that he did not agree with the statements of the sages of various schools.
The sages don’t know, but you know? Are you kidding me?
Everyone in the audience was whispering in twos and threes at this time. Obviously, they all saw Chen Dong's intention. This is really a fatal problem.
Like Chen Yuyi and the other three, they all thought that Wang Zhi was just pretending to be a pen, and it was just that the pen was used to pretend that all the new ideas that had just emerged were lost.
Chen and Yi had sweat on their foreheads and were restless. Even if they wanted to answer this question, they had nothing to say. They all looked at Wang Zhi.
Didn't you say that it doesn't matter, you will take action? Who do you want to attack first?
Just when they were ready to hold Wang Zhi to prevent him from 'taking action', Wang Zhi made a move.
I saw that he did not stand up to take action, nor did he directly answer the other party's question. Instead, he took out a copper coin from his sleeve, held it horizontally in his hand, and then cleared his throat and asked forward. student asked, "Look at this copper coin, is it heads or tails?"
The students opposite answered in no order, but the answers were all the same - positive!
After receiving the answer, Wang Zhi turned his head and asked the students behind him without moving his fingers, "What about you, are you seeing right and wrong?"
Not surprisingly, the answers were all negative.
After receiving the answer, Wang Zhi turned around and still held up the copper coin to look at the four people opposite him and said: "The coin hasn't moved, it's just that we are in different positions. It has pros and cons. The yang is like its coin, and it doesn't move like a mountain. There are no ups and downs. It's just me." Depending on where you are, there are inherent ups and downs.”
The four people on the other side laughed loudly when they heard the words. Chen Dong was the first to speak: "What is the difference between what you said and what Buddhism says? Do you think that we are short-sighted and only recognize Confucian sages and not the Buddhas of Buddhism?"
"If you don't have your own theory in your new study, and all the things you talk about are what are said in the book, what kind of object is this 'studying things to gain knowledge'? Hahaha..."
After saying this, everyone in the house laughed.
However, the supporters of the new study all shook their heads and sighed.
Everyone had different expressions, but they saw that Wang Zhi, whose trick was exposed on the stage, showed no shame on his face. He just shook his head slowly and said: "No, no."
Everyone stopped making noise and looked at him in confusion, only to see him continue: "What I said is fundamentally different from Buddhist theory."
"Buddhism says: The Sumeru does not move, the sun and the moon go around, but this is not the case. My new school believes that the universe has no Sumeru and no center. All the sun, moon and stars, including the earth we are on, are tiny particles of it. Visible dust.”
"And there are countless stars around the earth we are on. The largest one is the star formed by the sky's flames. It is so big that it is immeasurable. We call it..."
Wang Zhi collected the coins with his hand, pointed one finger at the sun above his head and said: "Sun!"
While everyone was still immersed in the words of this vast universe, Wang Zhi continued: "And the smallest star among them, we call it - the moon!"
"You're talking nonsense!!"
A loud shout interrupted the thoughts of all the students. Everyone saw that it was just an ordinary student in the audience. He pointed at Wang Zhi and said loudly: "We can clearly see that the sun and the moon are about the same size. How can you say that the sun How much bigger than the moon?"
When everyone heard this, some agreed, some laughed, and some pondered.
But Wang Zhi shook his head and said with a smile: "You only look at the size, but don't care about the distance. You can see the ravines on the moon, but what can you see on the sun?"
The students in the audience were immediately speechless when they heard this. Children all know that distance affects the size of vision, so how could he not know this.
Fortunately, Wang Zhi did not give up and spoke out again: "The sun is not only much bigger than the moon, but also countless times bigger than the earth we are on. It is an existence that shines on thousands of stars and is incomparable."
"So what I have learned in my new study is that the moon revolves around the earth, and the earth revolves around the sun. The earth rotates around itself to form a day, so there are sunrises and sunsets. , the earth and the moon rotate around the sun for one year, which means there are spring, summer, autumn and winter.”
