Yao Guangxiao was not from an orthodox official school background, and he could not speak highly of the Four Books and Five Classics. His interest in the Tao of Confucius and Mencius and Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism probably ranked behind Sakyamuni.
Yu Xin, Zhang Yan, Xie Jin, Chen Di and others all frowned after hearing Yao Guangxiao's words.
The Four Books and Five Classics do not need to be spoken by sages and listened to day and night?
Isn't this deviant?
Confucius and Mencius are saints, this is the consensus of all scholars.
The reason why everyone is standing here, enjoying power and glory, is because of the words of these saints. If you, Yao Guangxiao, do not recognize them as saints, we disciples of Confucius and Mencius will not agree.
Yu Xin's face was gloomy and he objected: "Your Majesty, the Four Books and Five Classics carry the words of the saints, cultivate one's morality, cultivate morality, enlighten the etiquette, and new people. They have the image of the universe and the wind of the universe. They are the foundation of the country's talents and the seeds of our great Ming Dynasty. The backbone should be listened to day and night, studied day and night, and can only serve as the master, not as a supplement."
Zhang Yan glanced at Yao Guangxiao and said to Zhu Yunwen: "I second the proposal. Guozijian may add other subjects, but the Four Books and Five Classics can only be the main ones, not the supplementary ones. If you put the cart before the horse and don't know the priorities, it will lead to disaster."
The corner of Zhu Yunwen's mouth moved slightly, suppressing the anger in his heart, and asked: "Xie Jin, what do you think?"
Xie Jin was obviously in a dilemma. He was a person who was good at guessing his intentions.
Looking at Zhu Yunwen's face and tone, Xie Jin didn't understand what Zhu Yunwen was thinking. It was clear that he wanted to add other miscellaneous subjects to the Four Books and Five Classics, which would inevitably affect the status of the Four Books and Five Classics.
From the perspective of safeguarding the status of the Four Books and Five Classics, Xie Jin needs to oppose Yao Guangxiao and Zhu Yunwen.
However, after experiencing hardship and relegation during the Zhu Yuanzhang period, Jie Jin has realized that confronting his boss will not end well.
If you want to keep your position in the cabinet, you need to stand behind Zhu Yunwen, otherwise, Yao Guangxiao on the side is likely to replace him!
Thinking of this, Xie Jin made up his mind and said: "Your Majesty, the Imperial College is the highest institution of learning in the Ming Dynasty. The way to educate people should be to highlight their heritage and talents. If you only teach students with the Four Books and Five Classics without involving other subjects, it will inevitably be biased. The bureaucrats who came out are all talented and charming on paper, and they really have no strategy for rejuvenating the country. I believe that the academic affairs of the Imperial College can be reformed."
Yu Xin, Zhang Yan, and Chen Di looked at Xie Jin in surprise.
Chen Di was so angry that he took a step towards Xie Jin and said in a deep voice: "Master Jie Jin, don't forget that you also relied on the Four Books and Five Classics to become a Jinshi in the 21st year of Hongwu!"
Xie Jin's face did not change, and he said bluntly: "We all entered the officialdom by reading the Four Books and Five Classics, but Xie asked me, doesn't Chen Shangshu not know about agricultural taxation, business calculation, military formation, astronomy and stars? Since we have learned a lot Why can't it be included in the Imperial Academy's curriculum? Taizu set up the calendar system in the Imperial Academy, wasn't his purpose to select talents for the country?"
The so-called "chronic events" means that after the Imperial College graduates complete the six courses of training, they need to participate in the historical events for a certain number of years, that is, go out to exercise their talents, and then they can go to the Ministry of Personnel to register as candidates for officials.
Chen Di still wanted to speak, but Zhu Yunwen knocked on the table and said: "You can argue, there is no need to argue. Since this item is controversial, let's put it aside for now. Is there anything wrong with the remaining nine major drawbacks?"
Yu Xin and others shook their heads slightly.
The "Ten Major Weaknesses of the Imperial College" not only points out the problem of the limited scope of teaching courses, but also touches on issues such as over-reverence of Zhu Xi's annotations, difficulty in getting supervisors into official positions, too low barriers to entry, too many old supervisors, and too harsh assessments.
It was Zhu Yuanzhang who respected Zhu Xi and regarded Zhu Xi's annotations as the words of a saint.
The humble Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to join Zhu Xi's lineage and recognize Zhu Xi as his ancestor. Unfortunately, Zhu Xi had only died a hundred years ago, and his descendants were clearly known, so he had to give up.
Since you can't integrate by blood, let's integrate spiritually.
Zhu Yuanzhang took a fancy to Zhu Xi and felt that Zhu Xi's annotations on the Four Books were also conducive to his rule, so he divided them into three. After castration, he printed them as official textbooks and asked everyone to imitate Zhu Xi's ideas in writing articles. .
If you carefully read Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, look at Zhu Xi's views, and learn more about ancient books, you would not criticize Zhu Xi for "preserving heaven's principles and destroying human desires."
It is recorded in "Book of Rites and Music": "Those who turn humans into things are those who destroy the laws of nature and make the poor poor."
Zhu Xi's proposition of "preserving heaven's principles and destroying human desires" only means that "human desires" exceed basic human desires, such as greed, selfish desires, etc., and these excesses need to be eradicated, which is the so-called understanding of reason and nature. .
To put it bluntly, Zhu Xi’s words are: people’s desires must have a certain limit and cannot exceed the limit.
But Chinese people always have the habit of taking quotes out of context and writing Spring and Autumn Period by hand. They excerpt half a sentence and use it as the purpose of the whole text. That is also a common thing.
Later generations looked at it and said, "Hey, this is restricting freedom, it's inhumane, and I'm going to criticize it."
Zhu Yuanzhang took a look and said, "Tsk, that's good. It makes people honest. It can imprison scholars' thoughts of one kind or another and create a group of obedient people. It's no problem."
Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism before the Ming Dynasty was relatively open, advocating that "the teacher does not have to be better than the disciple, and the disciple does not have to be inferior to the teacher" and encouraged innovation and transcendence.
But when it comes to Zhu Yuanzhang, innovation? Beyond?
What the hell is that?
Whatever Zhu Xi said is what it is. Anyone who dares to talk nonsense should not be an official.
To use an analogy, before the Ming Dynasty, when scholars described the "willow tree", they could say "the tree has thousands of branches in the spring breeze, tender as gold and soft as silk", or "the messy branches have not yet turned yellow, leaning against the east wind." mad".
But after Zhu Yuanzhang, scholars could only write:
Oh, that's a willow tree.
There is no way, that's what Zhu Xi commented, that is, the willow tree, yes, you can't have other ideas. If you mistake the willow tree for a woman, it is your fault. If you think of the willow tree as a woman, it is still your fault.
If you are wrong, don’t even think about getting a title on the gold list.
Suggestions made on behalf of saints cannot be freely expressed.
Logically speaking, people like Yu Xin, Zhang Yan, Xie Jin, and Chen Di should defend Zhu Xi, but Zhu Yunwen did not see anyone objecting.
Jie Jin and others spoke for Confucius and Mencius, but they would not speak for Zhu Xi. This was because although Zhu Xi's influence was great, it was not enough to convince these scholars.
Does your annotation by Zhu Xi have to be correct?
We are also people who have read the Four Books and Five Classics, so why can’t we make our own annotations and have our own understanding?
We are all literati. If you have the skills, you can come out from the ground. Let's compete?
Besides, the stipulation of standing on behalf of a saint has only been around for more than ten years (the imperial examination was introduced in the early days of Hongwu, but was abolished for another ten years), and it has not yet formed a strong enough identity and inertia.
"Since you all have no problem, but I have a problem." Zhu Yunwen took a deep breath, stood up, looked at everyone with sharp eyes, and said, "Why are there Japanese students in the Imperial College?"
