Chapter 156: The River is Clear and the Society is Sounding, and the Dragons Appear

The history of the guild hall is long.

The Han Dynasty established a palace in Chang'an, the Tang Dynasty established the Jinzouyuan, the Song Dynasty had the Chaojiyuan, but the Ming Dynasty did not have it. Only private guild halls were established, but they were only used by gentry. Those who moved away to attend court were all uninhabitable.

The guild hall follows the development context and also has corresponding characteristics of the times.

Since it is a private institution, there are relatives and strangers, so generally only people from the same hometown are accepted, and the name is also named after the place, such as Quanjin Guild Hall, Quanchu Guild Hall, Huizhou Guild Hall, etc.

The regional attributes are too strong, and it is obviously not suitable to invite many colleagues to hold a literary gathering.

Fortunately, there is another type of guild hall that does not have such a strong regional attribute. That is the guild hall that is nominally affiliated with Buddhism and Taoism and funded by "believers". They are generally called this temple or that palace. Once they pay their respects to the Taoist and Buddha ancestors, everyone will be welcomed.

The place where Gu Xiancheng will hold the literary meeting tonight is Sanyang Palace.

The Sanyang Palace is three rooms wide and three courtyards deep, with a lotus pond connecting each of the three courtyards.

The first entrance must have a mountain gate. The archway is a bluestone imitation wood structure with six pillars, five rooms and seven floors. There is an arch door on each of the north and south sides. The Zhenjun Hall is in the middle of the front yard. In addition, there is a lecture hall to the north of the hall and the Jingyang Temple to the south, which makes the facade very impressive.

In the second courtyard, there is a courtyard in the middle, a theater with a hip-and-gable tiled roof, and the Yulong Hall on the other side, located on the left and right sides of the courtyard.

……

A sparrow got separated from the main group and happened to fly over the second courtyard of Sanyang Palace.

The sparrow looked down from high above, its pupils reflecting the lights and decorations in the courtyard, full of the festive atmosphere of the New Year; it flew over the Jiubu Chengxian Bridge, and heard the voices of students chatting in groups of three or two; finally it landed under the eaves of a two-story building.

It looked inside curiously.

I saw a person standing on the stage, chattering incessantly and passionately.

"Scholars are called ambitious people, and there is no one who is not eager to save the world."

"Officials are not above their rulers and fathers; officials are not above the people; in twos and threes, they seek their lives and their minds are not above the world. Even if they have other virtues, gentlemen despise them."

Gu Xiancheng naturally attracted everyone's attention just by standing there.

Especially today he specially dressed up, changing into a white brocade robe with a padded jacket which was not very cold in this weather. With wide fluttering sleeves, he looked truly immortal and heroic, like a god.

Add to that the arrogance and ambition in his words - even though he is not in a high position, he is willing to save the world. On the contrary, he looks down on those who are in high positions but have no intention of saving the world.

This demeanor, this temperament, he is born to be a leader.

Someone immediately asked, "Being in a high position does not necessarily mean you have ambition. Since Mr. Gu said so, you must be ambitious. So, how do you think we can save the world?"

Gu Xiancheng returned the greeting to the person who asked the question and praised him, "Good question."

He looked around and said aloud: "The world is not worried about lack of political affairs, but lack of academics. Which one is it?"

“Political affairs depend on the people, and people depend on their hearts.”

"If one's learning is correct, then one's mind is correct. If one's mind is correct, then it will come from one's heart and be expressed in politics. How can it be wrong?"

“Therefore, learning is the morality of all people and the foundation of the world.”

"In the last days, not only do people not understand the importance of learning to promote morality, but they also want to ban learning. How can the world be peaceful?"

"..."

Why is the world in such a mess?

It’s because of academic misconduct!
Morality and politics are all derivatives of academics. If the foundation is corrupted, morality and politics will be corrupted along with it.

Then, it is very clear how to save the world. Let’s correct our academic studies first!

If academic research is done well, people's minds will naturally improve. Everyone will understand benevolence, righteousness, and morality, and high-ranking officials will perform their duties. Then the world will naturally prosper.

At the same time, he also appropriately expressed his opinion on the emperor's ban on officials giving lectures.

The people in the audience were either cheering, thinking, or discussing with each other.

At this time, someone came from nowhere: "Mr. Gu means that after becoming an official, political affairs are only the last thing on your list, and your main job is to give lectures?"

Gu Xiancheng invited many like-minded people to join him, so he was naturally not afraid of being questioned.

He did not even look at who was asking the question. He smiled and shook his head: "It is said that politics begins with learning, politics is learning, learning is in politics, politics and learning are one, and the heart is at peace and the politics is at peace."

"This is a mutually reinforcing relationship. If you don't learn, you can't be a politician. If you want to be a politician, you must study hard."

"If you take politics as your learning, you should be neither resistant nor flattering. If everyone believes that you are a virtuous official, you can be said to have lived up to your learning."

The so-called literary gatherings, of course, have different names, such as chanting poems, composing music, or preaching.

As a candidate for the imperial examination and a prospective Jinshi, he naturally would not participate in every literary gathering.

The reason why so many people gathered today is naturally because the theme of this literary gathering is closely related to the imperial examination and becoming an official.
One of them is to predict the topic.

As the saying goes, one person's shortcomings are often the result of everyone's efforts. At this stage of the imperial examination, working in isolation and memorizing by rote is no longer effective. Instead, it is by predicting the test questions before the exam and testing and honing each other's skills that one will occasionally have a flash of inspiration and make further progress.

Therefore, before each imperial examination, the literary gatherings held by these star candidates were similar to study groups.

Of course, this phase is over.

We have entered the next stage, and everyone will definitely be able to pass the imperial examination. So, how can we become a good official, a wise minister, and a person who is useful to the country at that time?

Although it is too early to discuss such things before the exam, it seems too early to outsiders.

Little do we know that this is the difference between high-end literary gatherings and low-end study groups - it is precisely because we are 90% sure that we have to consider these issues in advance.

After Gu Xiancheng finished answering a sentence, he continued speaking.

But the voice that had been asking the question just now was heard again: "Your Majesty previously reprimanded Mr. Zhao, the Imperial Academy Editor, for neglecting his duties and giving lectures."

"So, in Gu Jun's opinion, it is Your Majesty who has hindered Hanlin Zhao Jun's desire to save the world?"

Gu Xiancheng's expression remained unchanged when he heard this, but he smiled coldly in his heart.

The biggest fear in this kind of public teaching is that someone might set a trap and trick him into saying something inappropriate.

In serious cases, even academies and guild halls would be closed.

But these villains have no idea who are the people who are backing them up when they open the forum today. Such shady actions only make them look as ridiculous as clowns.

Gu Xiancheng not only did not shy away from this sensitive question, but instead clapped his hands and smiled, his face radiant: "That's right."

"To rectify the morals of the people is better than any tricks, tricks, or militarism."

"If we do not lift the ban on learning and uphold morality, I am afraid that the government of the court will become weaker and the rule of the world will become more dangerous."

He said it clearly today, let's see if the yamen runners from Shuntian Prefecture and the soldiers from the Wucheng Bingmasi dare to come and cause trouble tonight.

The voice sounded again, and the tone was exaggerated: "Does this mean that if the court does not listen to Lord Zhao, the Ming Dynasty will soon be destroyed?"

These words had ulterior motives, and Gu Xiancheng's face suddenly turned cold.

Finally, he stopped worrying about his face and started looking around to see who was so insidious.

The students in the audience also frowned.

The guy who asked the question is really ignorant. He will cause everyone to be unable to participate in the literary gathering.

Li Sancai gestured to Gu Xiancheng, indicating that if the latter continued to pester him for a few more words, he would figure out who was causing trouble.

It was unknown whether Gu Xiancheng saw Li Sancai's gesture or was simply angry, so he replied bluntly: "...It's hard to say."

After Gu Xiancheng spoke, Li Sancai looked around in the audience.

Unfortunately, the ungrateful voice just now did not continue to be heard.

After waiting for a long while, Gu Xiancheng did not wait for anyone to interrupt him again, and continued his discussion with disdain in his heart.

"Whatever the student's intentions were, the question was a good one."

"I despise those who talk about the essence of things all day long without doing anything practical."

"To use empty words about enlightening the mind and seeing the nature of things instead of the practical learning of self-cultivation and governing others, if Yangming were alive again, he would also frown at this kind of trend."

"The purpose of academics is to govern the world. Those who talk nonsense are all academic thieves who usurp the teachings of the school!"

"Zhu Zi is flat, Yang Ming is high; Zhu Zi is refined, Yang Ming is open; Zhu Zi practices and realizes at the same time, Yang Ming realizes and practices at the same time."

"In this sense, the two masters have different reasons for studying things, examining the subtleties of thoughts, searching for them in writings, and exploring them in lectures and discussions. However, when it comes to the truth, they are the same, which does not affect their commonality."

“So, this is a dispute between academic orthodoxy and academic thieves, not a consideration of whether to ban teaching.”

"Your Majesty is now banning lectures and stopping learning, which is confusing the difference between the two. In my opinion, the new report written by the many villains in the Tongzheng Department must have been misled by the scholar thief Li Zhi!"

"..."

It’s not that the academic work is bad, or that the teaching is bad, it’s because the teaching outside is not authentic!
The current schools of thought have all tampered with the origins of Confucian classics, which is why they talk big but ignore facts. Even if Wang Yangming and Zhu Xi were alive again, they would shake their heads after seeing this.

Gu Xiancheng was well versed in both the studies of mind and principle, and had the most say on the orthodox Confucianism. When Master Wang met Master Zhu, they had discussed how they had reached a deep level of knowledge: one "went from cultivation to enlightenment", the other "went from enlightenment to cultivation"; one "cultivated and attained enlightenment at the same time", the other "enlightened and cultivated at the same time". However, on the point of "the ultimate truth", they reached the same destination through different paths, and both became the nourishment for Gu Xiancheng!
Therefore, Gu Xiancheng's proposition was different. He believed that to be an official one must be able to learn and govern, and have high moral standards.

If such a gentleman becomes an official, wouldn't it be a good opportunity for him to teach and rectify social customs and spread morality? How can it be prohibited?
Therefore, what the emperor should have done was not to prohibit lectures, but to let Gu Xiancheng set the record straight as soon as possible.

Gu Xiancheng has a clear voice and his white clothes are whiter than snow.

With every move of her hands and feet, her wide sleeves fluttered in the wind, as if she was floating away.

Countless people in the audience were fascinated by the performance.

Even Zhu Yijun, who was standing in a room on the second floor and looking down at this scene, couldn't help but secretly praise the good appearance, which was almost as good as Wang Shizhen's.

Zhu Yijun glanced at Li Zhi beside him and said with a smile: "Li Qing, people say that you are a scholar thief. On the one hand, you use He Yongqing's channel to deceive me, and on the other hand, you control the Xin Bao to spread evil rumors. What else do you have to say?"

He Yongqing was impeached many times because of the Xinbao incident.

After this period of time, he finally couldn't bear it anymore and ran away during the Zhengdan period, which was also regarded as a great achievement by some people.

As the main person in charge of Xinbao, Li Zhi naturally could not escape.

Zhu Yijun came here on a whim and had not intended to invite anyone else. After all, it was the first month of the lunar year and he still needed someone to spend time with his family.

After asking around, he found out that Li Zhi was still alone in Beijing, so he sent someone to call him over. Li Zhi was one body away from the emperor, looking down.

After hearing the emperor's words, he remained calm and said, "Your Majesty, he is right. I am indeed a thief. But he is also wrong. I have no intention of deceiving outsiders."

"In general, my books are all written for my own pleasure, not for others. I write with a selfish heart, and I study for my own selfishness, just to make myself happy, regardless of the criticism of others."

"This is what Your Majesty promised me."

Since you say I am a student thief, then just treat me as a student thief.

I am doing my own research, so why would I care about your authenticity?

What I think in my heart is my own authenticity.

As for spreading rumors? The emperor asked the Ministry of Public Administration to publish it for people to see. Why didn't anyone stab the emperor in the face?
After his hair grew longer, he looked much kinder than when he was bald, but the wildness in his words and deeds was still the same.

There is a reason why Li Zhi is being scolded by Gu Xiancheng now.

During this year, Li Zhi wrote many absurd articles.

The first article I wrote after taking over the Xin Bao was about morality and interests.

They say that only by considering interests can one uphold morality. Otherwise, morality is just snot hanging from the lips, which you blow every day and will eventually be thrown to the ground.

Of course, this is the vernacular version, and the article published separately is still relatively elegant - "If you want justice, you must seek profit. If you do not seek profit, then you can be unjust. If my way is clear, then my work is complete. If I do not consider the work, how can the way be clear?"

As the saying goes, a gentleman is concerned with righteousness, while a villain is concerned with profit. Li Zhi put profit before righteousness without any concealment, which naturally attracted a lot of criticism.

Someone immediately reported Li Zhi's article, but unfortunately He Yongqing had made arrangements with various government offices at the grassroots level and they managed to cover it up.

This is also the reason why Gu Xiancheng brought up Li Zhi when discussing the importance of morality - the collapse of morality was caused by people like Li Zhi.

In addition, Li Zhi perfected the theory of good and evil for the emperor.

[There is no fixed nature of human goodness or evil; there is no fixed theory of morality in the world either.]

If there is no fixed quality, then this is right and that is wrong, and they can coexist without harming each other; if there is no fixed theory, then this is wrong and that is wrong, and they can coexist without contradicting each other. So today's right and wrong can be said to be the right and wrong of me, Li Zhuowu, and it can be said to be the right and wrong of all the great sages and great men of all ages. It can also be said that you have reversed the right and wrong of all ages, and then you are not right or wrong, and it can also be said that you are not right or wrong. So your right and wrong are trustworthy and acceptable.

What is it? The final conclusion of morality is the consensus of all people in the abstract; the consensus of all people is the convergence of interests; the convergence of interests is the result of the transformation of the world.

Therefore, morality is derived from the world, originates from the heart, and is inherent. 】

To put it in the vernacular of the Xin Bao, morality is a product of the times, based on historical evolution, and an aggregate abstracted from all people's past life experiences, current living standards, and pursuit of common interests.

What if an individual wants to appeal to his conscience?

We can only firmly root ourselves in the development of the times, improve people's living standards, and keep consistent with the interests of all people in the world.

On the contrary, even the words of a saint are only applicable to the time in which the saint lived and cannot be regarded as "words on all things."

This is Li Zhi's self-correction of the school of ready-made conscience, the school of worldly conscience.

Since morality is derived from reality and rooted in the times, this means that the unity of knowledge and action of an individual can only be carried out in society, not in a paradise, not in the Four Books and Five Classics, and certainly not in the heart - to retreat from the world is to break away from the moral aggregate and return to the primitive; to recite scriptures is not beneficial to conscience if one does not make admonitions in the past; to realize the truth is to break away from reality and indulge in fantasies in the mind.

Needless to say, this statement is bound to stir up a hornet's nest.

This is incompatible with the major mainstreams today, whether it is the Cheng-Zhu school, the early school of Wang Yang, or even the later school of Wang Yang, the retro school, and the return to oneness school.

It also offended a large number of scholars who loved to talk about conscience, like to expound on morality, or those who retired to seek enlightenment.

I heard that Li Zhi was almost beaten the next day.

If he didn't know some martial arts skills, the person lying on the ground would have to be replaced.

After this article, things get more and more outrageous.

Some people slander the classics, for example, "The Six Classics, Analects, and Mencius are just excuses for Taoists and a source of hypocrisy" - Confucian classics? They are just a topic of conversation for Taoists and a fig leaf for hypocrites.

Some people disparage saints, such as "Even Confucius is just an ordinary human being" and "The knowledge, insight and tolerance of great saints are generally like this" - saints? Not bad, I'm 50-50.

There are also some unorthodox theories, saying that the low status of women is due to the imbalance of power and that the imbalance of power is also a result of the times and the evolution of reality, just like the division between scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, and just like the various prefectures in Zhili and Shuntian Prefecture, there is no essential difference and so on.

In short, there is a lot of content produced, but nothing mainstream.

Even Zhu Yijun shook his head and wanted to refute many of the articles after reading them, let alone the Confucian moralists.

Zhu Yijun thought of this, looked at Li Zhi and shook his head: "You are happy with yourself and don't care, but others are coming specifically for you."

Li Zhi was a mysophobe and was standing not very close to the emperor. He was listening to Gu Xiancheng's discussion below and was not able to come back to his senses for a while.

After a while, he finally realized what was going on and replied nonchalantly, "This person has little knowledge and is still young. There is no need to worry about him."

Zhu Yijun couldn't help but give Li Zhi a cold look.

This guy really doesn’t know how many people he has offended recently. He still thinks Gu Xiancheng is just Gu Xiancheng?
"If that's the case, then his newspaper, and even the literary gatherings these days, won't be qualified to be run, and there won't be so many people supporting him." Zhu Yijun gave a rare explanation.

Academic disputes have always been fierce.

How could they allow Li Zhi to be a heretic for more than a year without any response?

How was Li Zhi forced to death in history? The crime was that he dared to advocate heresy, mislead the world and slander the people!

Now, under the influence of Zhu Yijun, Li Zhi can be said to have gone even further.

The backlash came naturally as expected.

Why did Gu Xiancheng talk about returning to the past last month, talk about the Doctrine of the Mean at the New Year's Day forum, and talk about morality at today's literary meeting?

I wonder how many elderly people are behind this.

This is the great struggle of the world, and everyone wants to establish his own school and become a saint instantly.

The rise of every thought has its roots.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, thirty-six regnal assassinations occurred, fifty-two kingdoms were destroyed, and countless princes fled in panic, unable to protect their country.

It is this disordered social background that determines the political philosophical characteristics of Confucianism. In other words, the most fundamental starting point for the emergence of Confucianism is the real political world of "the collapse of rituals and the decline of music."

The same is true of Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucianism, which has been criticized for restricting human ethics.

At that time, the people were in a state of depression, the court was filled with the political ethos of following the old ways, and the emperor was in high office, surrounded by different opinions.

It was precisely because of the feeling that "the principles of heaven are unclear, human desires are rampant, and fairness and justice are meaningless" that the soil for the rise of Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucianism was created - as it was said in "Song and Yuan Academic Records", Zhu Xi completed the huge task of ideological creation in "comprehensively covering hundreds of generations".

Of course, the rise of a doctrine is one thing, and how it went wrong is another.

The same is true for Wang Xue.

Wang Yangming was not the only one who was dissatisfied with the prevalence of Neo-Confucianism at that time, which resulted in its strict adherence to Zhu Xi's school of thought, repetition of ideas, and lack of individuality. Before him, there were people like Lu Jiuyuan and Chen Xianzhang who denounced it. It was almost the mainstream consensus at that time that Neo-Confucianism "seeks too much outside and obliterates the true self."

Only afterwards did the School of Mind come into being.

Of course, just as Wang Yangming was able to raise the banner of self-liberation, so too can the literati.

Master Wang said that we should look within. I think what I did is right, so it is right. It is not the turn of outsiders to comment.

When people in power let themselves go, morals naturally go downhill. "Before the Zhengde era, customs were mellow, but recently they have become very corrupt. The strong bully the weak, the majority oppress the minority, the villains bully the gentlemen, the younger generation insults the older generation, and the spirit of courtesy and righteousness is gone."

During the Jiajing period, extravagance and violation of rules became common. "Now, the nobles and the rich compete to be extravagant, and the common people follow suit. It has become a trend, and the clothing, food and utensils used are becoming more and more popular."

During the Longqing period, this trend spread even to ordinary scholars: "The rich and powerful are extravagant and licentious, wearing Confucian hats, and are treacherous and arrogant."

To lead people into lust with a clear conscience means that one has no desire outside of it.

Today, people of insight lament that it is too late to reverse the situation: "Customs have gone from pure to degenerate, just like a river flowing downward and cannot turn back."

This is the chaotic world of Confucian scholars.

In troubled times, saints will emerge, like Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming.

Or... Mr. Donglin in history.

This is called coming into being at the right time.

Involved in this are countless great scholars, old pedants, literati, and literary giants.

They were truly saddened by the decline of morality and worried about the deterioration of morals. They also sincerely wanted to carry out a moral reconstruction to save the Ming Dynasty from disaster.

Naturally, he truly believed in his own knowledge and hated heresy that deviated from the norm. To save himself within the framework of Confucianism, he had to first eliminate those who wanted to ruin the situation.

Gu Xiancheng below was still talking non-stop.

Let’s talk about how one should conduct academic research and how to get back to the basics after becoming an official.

“…Therefore, the correct doctrine should first destroy the heresy and the disorderly doctrine, so as to purify the ruler’s mind, regulate the customs, and purify morality.”

"The fourth is to restore the past."

"Literature without rules, rules without reference to the ancients, is not good enough; learning without a source, sources without reference to classics, chaos is not rectified; virtue without a root, roots without reference to the saints, debauchery is not eradicated."

"During the Zheng and Jia periods, Jingming and Li Mengyang both advocated the study of the past, and the whole country followed suit, and the literary style changed."

"To rectify the origin of today's academic thought, we should return to the ancient teachings of Confucius, Mencius, Cheng Yi, and Zhu Xi..."

He speaks eloquently and his words are elegant.

Everyone was silent; only Gu Xiancheng's voice echoed.

Zhu Yijun listened quietly.

Suddenly he turned to look at Li Zhi and said slowly, "Li Qing, how about you go down and give some advice to the younger generation?"

Li Zhi turned around and went downstairs without saying a word.

　This chapter was not easy to write, and it may seem a bit tiring to read. There are quite a lot of articles involved, and it would be too long to explain them one by one. If you find it difficult to read, you can refer to the paragraph reviews.

　　The next chapter may not be finished today, so I'll start writing it first and you can just treat it as unfinished.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)