The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Confucius, whose given name was Qiu and courtesy name was Zhongni, was a native of Zouyi, Lu during the Spring and Autumn Period. His ancestral home was Liyi, Song. He was an ancient Chinese thinker, politician, and educator.

Confucius lost his father at the age of three, and his family fell into decline. In his early years, he worked as a minor official in charge of granaries and grazing.

He was "fond of etiquette" and was familiar with traditional etiquette since childhood. When he was young, he was famous in Lu for his extensive knowledge of etiquette and music. He engaged in the business of Confucian scholars and made a living by handling funeral and sacrificial ceremonies.

In his middle age, he gathered disciples to give lectures and engage in educational activities.

At the age of fifty, he once served as Sikou of Lu and acted as prime minister. He actively promoted his political ideas. Soon, he resigned from his post and left Lu because of his disagreement with the political views of the rulers. He traveled around the countries with his disciples to promote his political ideas and ideological theories, but they were never used.

In his later years, he returned to Lu and devoted himself to the cause of education. He sorted out "The Book of Songs" and "The Book of History", edited and revised "The Spring and Autumn Annals", and made the transmission of the Six Arts his lifelong career.

Confucius once led some of his disciples to travel around the countries for fourteen years and revised the Six Classics.

After his death, his disciples and disciples recorded the words, deeds, and thoughts of Confucius and his disciples, and compiled them into the Analects, which is regarded as a Confucian classic and has a profound and lasting influence on later generations.

In Chinese history, Confucius is revered as the founder and saint of the Confucian school, and is revered as the "Sage Teacher" by later generations.

Confucius' thoughts mainly include benevolence, courtesy, righteousness, wisdom, and faith.

He believed that people should focus on benevolence, respect etiquette, abide by morality, and pay attention to education and self-cultivation to achieve personal perfection and social harmony.

He emphasized the moral character and behavioral norms that "gentlemen" should have, such as loyalty, integrity, humility, diligence, etc., and also advocated the idea of ​​"governing the country with virtue".

His educational theories include "learning for practical use" and "three cardinal guides and five constants", emphasizing that education should aim to cultivate people's morality, wisdom, physique, and beauty.

However, there have been some disputes and differences in the evaluation of Confucius in history.

Some people criticize Confucius's thoughts and educational theories for being too focused on etiquette and hierarchy, and not respecting and treating women and the lower classes with enough equality.

Some people think that Confucius's thoughts are too conservative and lack enthusiasm for reform and progress.

Others think that Confucius' political propositions are too idealistic and cannot solve practical social problems.

As for Confucius's behavior of traveling around the countries, many people also believe that he was seeking an official position. Although those who respect Confucius believe that he is acting for his ideals, he sells his ideas to the rulers of various countries by traveling around the countries.

And the ideas he sells, in the eyes of others, are the etiquette and hierarchy of Confucianism.

In short, in a word, Confucius traveled around the countries to become an official, and preaching was just a side job. From this, it can be concluded that Confucius was actually an official fan.

After all, he had just been deprived of his official position in Lu, so he ran out of Lu to seek an official position in other countries.

What kind of behavior is this?

Although the Spring and Autumn Period, historically speaking, still belongs to the Zhou Dynasty, although it was divided into many vassal states, the unified Zhou Dynasty was still there, and it is hard to say whether his behavior is considered treason.

Wei Guangde also thought so. It was hard to judge whether Confucius' behavior was for the purpose of becoming an official or for the purpose of promoting his policies and establishing his ideal country after becoming an official.

However, judging from the behavior of Confucius' descendants, it was hard to say anything.

At this time in the Ming Dynasty, the book of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was selling well. Everyone knew the contents of the book well, and the evaluation of Lu Bu, "a slave of three surnames", was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Well, because of the influence of Confucianism, the people were very ashamed of Lu Bu's capricious behavior, and the court also encouraged the people to be loyal to the emperor and patriotic.

However, Wei Guangde was influenced by later generations and had some complaints about the descendants of the most holy teacher.

But after all, they were all things of later generations, and of course they could not be said at this time.

Therefore, he was not very supportive of Zhang Juzheng's mention that the young emperor Zhu Yijun wanted to summon Yanshenggong to the capital to support the worship of Confucius Temple.

After racking his brains, he finally remembered the news reported by Shandong before, and it was just right to stop this matter at this time.

When Zhang Juzheng heard Wei Guangde say that the contemporary Duke of Yansheng, Kong Shangxian, was in mourning for his grandmother's death, he knew that it was inappropriate to summon him to Beijing at this time.

Filial piety is also an important part of Confucianism, and Duke of Yansheng must set an example.

"I didn't know about this at first. If it was really during the mourning period, I really couldn't issue an order to summon him to Beijing."

Zhang Juzheng said slowly.

"Yes, it would be best if the descendants of Duke of Yansheng could preside over the sacrifice to the Great Sage Teacher. Unfortunately, Duke of Yansheng is in mourning at home, and it may be difficult to go in the past two years."

Wei Guangde said expressionlessly, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid I have to ask my uncle to explain something to you, so as not to upset your Majesty."

"Well, I know how to do this."

Zhang Juzheng nodded.

Having said that, Zhang Juzheng looked at Wei Guangde's expression and was still muttering in his heart. He felt that Wei Guangde's expression was a little wrong when he heard him talk about this.

Scholars, even those who are followers of the School of Mind, should all show admiration when talking about the Great Sage Teacher, but he only saw indifference on Wei Guangde's face.

It was as if he was talking about an ordinary family.

Wei Guangde is not considered a scholar?

This is obviously impossible.

If you don't read the Four Books and Five Classics, you have no hope of passing the imperial examination, because the imperial examination tests this.

As long as you study with your teacher, it is impossible not to worship the Great Sage Teacher. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is the teacher of all ages.

His thoughts have been passed down for thousands of years and have influenced dozens or hundreds of generations, so he has been praised as "the teacher of emperors for thousands of years and the model of human relations for all ages".

Even those who oppose Confucianism cannot deny the lofty status of Confucius in people's minds.

Wei Guangde's indifference to this matter made Zhang Juzheng have other thoughts.

It's funny to say, because there was an undercurrent surging in the court at that time.

And the source of the surging was about the tablets of the Confucius Temple.

Confucius is the "teacher of all ages". All dynasties have attached great importance to the Confucius Temple where Confucius is worshipped.

In addition to the tablets and statues of Confucius himself, the layout of the Confucius Temple also has arrangements for "worshippers".

Confucius Temple worships more than just Confucius. In addition to the second sage Mencius and Confucius' disciples, the "predecessors and great Confucian scholars" recognized by all dynasties in later generations can also get the status of "worshippers" with the approval of the emperor.

After death, their names are written on tablets and placed in the Confucius Temple, where they will enjoy incense and offerings forever.

Being enshrined in the Confucius Temple is the ultimate honor for scholars in their lifetime, which means that their knowledge is recognized by others, and they must be "master-level" figures recognized by the political, academic and folk circles.

And now, there are demands in the court to change the tablets of the Confucius Temple.

Who is qualified to be enshrined in the Confucius Temple often requires a lot of debate, repeated consideration, and multi-party game.

The key is that this person is still a very influential person, he is Wang Yangming, the heart school.

After Wang Yangming's death, many of Wang Yangming's disciples emerged, and there were more people in the world who relied on Wang Yangming for a living. In fact, in later generations, there are still many people who make a living by selling Wang Yangming's stories.

Therefore, the question of whether Wang Yangming can be enshrined in the Confucius Temple is a question about Wang Yangming's status in the Confucian academic community, but secretly it has become a big issue concerning the future and destiny of many people.

Wang Yangming was honored, and his disciples followed suit. Wang Yangming entered the Confucius Temple, and Yangming's philosophy of mind could truly become a "prominent school".

At first, although there were people who were worshipped in the Confucius Temple, it was not a system.

In the Tang Dynasty, under the arrangement of Emperor Taizong of Tang's edict, the system of worshipping Confucius in the Confucius Temple was greatly improved.

Originally, only Yan Hui and other disciples of Confucius were worshipped in the Confucius Temple.

Emperor Taizong of Tang enshrined the tablets of Zuo Qiuming and other 21 people in the Confucius Temple, which suddenly expanded the scope of worshipping, and also meant that being worshipped with Confucius was no longer the exclusive right of his disciples.

Anyone who has contributed to Confucianism has the qualification to become a "sage" and be worshipped by future generations after his death.

Since then, the list of worshippers in the Confucius Temple has been supplemented and changed in successive dynasties.

Among them, Wang Anshi was relatively unlucky. He briefly obtained the qualification of "sharing the throne" and his status in the Confucius Temple was second only to Yan Hui and Mencius, but he was withdrawn immediately.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, several representatives of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, Zhu Xi, the two Cheng brothers, Zhang Zai, and Zhou Dunyi, the "Five Sons", were also included in the list of worship.

Such an arrangement undoubtedly proves the lofty status of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism at that time.

The Neo-Confucianists of the Song Dynasty all entered the Confucius Temple, and the Neo-Confucianists of the Ming Dynasty must follow suit.

During the Longqing period, Xue Xuan, a great Confucian scholar in the early Ming Dynasty, was enshrined in the Confucius Temple. Now, some censors have proposed that the list of worship should be updated again, and the reason for the change is that they hope to add Wang Yangming to the list of worship.

Who is this Xue Xuan?

Xue Xuan, with the courtesy name Dewen and the pseudonym Jingxuan, was from Hejin, Hedong. He was a famous thinker, Neo-Confucianist, and writer in the Ming Dynasty. He was the founder of the Hedong School and was known as "Xue Hedong".

Xue Xuan was a Jinshi in the 19th year of Yongle, and served as Tongyi Dafu, Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites and Bachelor of the Hanlin Academy. He died in the 8th year of Tianshun, and was awarded Zishan Dafu and Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites. His posthumous title was Wenqing, so later generations called him "Xue Wenqing".

In the 5th year of Longqing, with the support of Gao Gong, he was worshipped in the Confucius Temple.

After Cao Duan, Xue Xuan founded the "Hedong School" in the north, and his disciples spread throughout Shanxi, Henan, and Guanlong areas, becoming a large sect.

His school was passed down to the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and formed the "Guanzhong School" led by the brothers Lu Dajun, and its momentum "almost shared the feeling with Yangming".

A person whose doctrine competed with Wang Yangming had been enshrined in the Confucius Temple several years earlier, so there was no reason why Wang Yangming, who founded the School of Mind, could not.

Is Wang Yangming's achievement qualified to enter the Confucius Temple?

In "Zuo Zhuan", there is a very famous "three immortals" theory, that is, "establish virtue, establish merit, and establish words".

These three indicators have become the standard for measuring achievements in later generations.

First of all, the "establishing a theory" which is the lowest requirement among the three standards, to put it simply, is to write books and make certain theoretical research. If you want to be enshrined in the Confucius Temple, you must have made outstanding contributions to Confucianism.

Wang Yangming did this.

His theory of mind, inherited from Lu Jiuyuan of the Song Dynasty, is unique outside of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism and is an important content that cannot be avoided in the history of thought in the Ming Dynasty.

He recruited many disciples, and even after his death, his academic thoughts could be continued and developed by his disciples.

Until the late Ming Dynasty, the mind thought still had a considerable influence.

Although some people have always said that Wang Yangming's mind came from Buddhism, in essence, Wang Yangming's mind was based on Confucianism and borrowed some Buddhist and Taoist thoughts, but his thoughts were essentially Confucianism.

Let's talk about "establishing merit". Wang Yangming's merit is naturally beyond doubt, and he quelled the rebellion of Prince Ning.

During the Jiajing period, Wang Yangming was even granted the title of earl, and continued to make use of his remaining energy as governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, quelling local rebellions many times.

The last one is "establishing virtue". If it is measured by the standard of "creating laws and benefiting the people", it seems that the requirements are a bit too high. Only the legendary monarchs like Yao, Shun, Yu and Tang can achieve it.

However, judging from the literal meaning, Wang Yangming did quite well in terms of moral character.

He was very upright, cultivated himself and managed his family, and his private morality was almost impeccable.

He was an honest official and benefited the people, so his public morality could also be rated full marks.

Even the gossip writers of the Ming Dynasty who were best at digging out people's privacy could only find one controversial point, that he was afraid of his wife.

From this point of view, Wang Yangming had outstanding achievements, good moral character, and a unique opinion. With this level, it should be natural for him to be enshrined in the Confucius Temple.

However, there is still a lot of controversy in the court and the public about whether Wang Yangming can be enshrined in the Confucius Temple, mainly focusing on this "establishing words".

Wang Yangming's philosophy of mind caused great controversy as soon as it appeared.

As we all know, the School of Mind and Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism are very different in many aspects. How can we get around Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism when it has held the right to speak and has dominated the ideological world for hundreds of years?

Wang Yangming was very clever. He wrote a book called "Zhu Xi's Final Conclusion in His Late Years". Writing this book was to "correct" Zhu Xi's thoughts to a certain extent.

Of course, given the authority and influence of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, Wang Yangming did not dare to directly accuse Zhu Xi of being wrong, but changed his way. He believed that Zhu Xi's thoughts had changed in his later years, and the trend of this change was to be more inclined to the direction of the School of Mind.

He reinterpreted Zhu Xi's thoughts based on his own understanding, and declared that your understanding of Zhu Xi was wrong, and I was right.

He played this little trick in order not to offend Zhu Xi, not to bear the infamy of "slandering saints", and to continue to promote his own doctrine. It was also a helpless choice.

However, no matter how much they played the edge ball, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism and Yangming's School of Mind would always be very different and could never be combined.

Therefore, it is easy to understand that the followers of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism dislike those who "distort" Neo-Confucianism and oppose Wang Yangming's worship.

However, until now, this dispute has not really entered the court, that is, no ministers have reported it.

But privately, the dispute continues.

At this time, Zhang Juzheng naturally thought that Wei Guangde stood on the side of the School of Mind.

In any case, the base camp of the School of Mind is in Bailu Academy in Lushan, Jiangxi, and Wei Guangde's family is in Jiujiang, so he naturally has a thousand connections with the School of Mind.

Not allowing Kong Shangxian to come to Beijing, is it because he is afraid that people of the School of Mind will contact him?