吕氏春秋(精)/中华传统文化典藏

by [ ZHAN GUO ] LV BU WEI ZHU

Literature and Art Publishing House (Tianjin) Co..

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1905

Reviews

[Barack Liu · Rating 5 out of 5]

472-Lvshi Chunqiu-Lu Buwei- Philosophy-239BC

Barack
2023/06/11

"Lvshi Chunqiu", also known as "Lu Lan", was written in about 239 BC. It is a masterpiece of miscellaneous schools compiled by a gathering of disciples under the auspices of Lu Buwei, the prime minister of the state of Qin. It was written on the eve of Qin Shihuang's unification of China. This book takes "Taoism" as the main body, and uses famous scholars, legalists, Confucianists, Mohists, peasants, military strategists, and Yin-Yang schools as materials, and integrates theories of various schools of thought into one furnace. Lu Buwei wanted to use this as the ideology after the unification of the Qin Dynasty. However, Qin Shihuang, who was in power later, chose Legalism, which frustrated all schools of thought, including Confucianism. "Lvshi Chunqiu" is a collection of pre-Qin philosophers and a hundred schools of thought, and is a representative work of miscellaneous schools in the late Warring States period. The book is divided into 26 volumes, 160 chapters, and more than 200,000 characters.

Lu Buwei, whose time of birth is unknown, died in 235 BC. Surnamed Jiang, surnamed Lu, surnamed Buwei, a native of Puyang (now Huaxian County, Anyang City, Henan Province) in the State of Wei. At the end of the Warring States Period, a businessman, politician, and thinker in the Wei State, and later the Prime Minister of Qin State, the 23rd grandson of Jiang Ziya. In his early years, he did business in Yangzhai, brought the hostage, the son of the Qin State, back to the Qin State, and supported him to become Queen Zhuangxiang of Qin. He led troops to capture the lands of Zhou, Zhao, and Wei, and established Sanchuan County, Taiyuan County, and Dong County respectively, making great contributions to King Qin Yingzheng's annexation of the six countries. After the death of King Zhuangxiang, the crown prince Yingzheng was welcomed to the throne, worshiped as the prime minister, honored as "Father Zhong", and the power poured over the world. Involved in the rebellion of the Lai Ai Group, he was dismissed and returned to the country. The whole family was exiled to Shu County and committed suicide by drinking poison on the way.

Table of Contents
Meng Chunji is the first
February 2nd
Ji Chunji the third
Meng Xiaji Fourth
Midsummer Fifth
Ji Xiaji sixth
Meng Qiuji Seventh
Mid-Autumn Period Eighth
Season 9

Chinese culture is very particular about adapting to nature, so the beginning of "Lu Shi Chunqiu" talks about the beginning of a year-Meng Chun. Even if you are the son of heaven, his code of conduct must follow the characteristics of this season. Of course, the behavior stipulated in it is an ideal model, and it is difficult to say how much it can actually achieve; but the basic core ideas expressed are consistent, and human behavior must conform to natural changes. At the beginning of spring, all things gradually sprout from the severe cold. At this time, the country should focus on recuperation. Don't build cities, don't start wars, and don't kill mother animals and young animals. The Chinese people's idea of respecting nature can probably be traced back to the legendary era of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors. "Book of Changes" is a prominent representative; and down, it continues to this day and has not been cut off. Great changes have taken place in our social life today, but if we speak out the concept of knowing one’s fate, I think most Chinese people can understand it, and some even quite agree with it, which shows that this kind of thinking is actually in the Our current culture, China, still exists. Thoughts that can last for thousands of years must have a reason, which needs to be carefully understood.

the opening chapter has obvious Taoist thoughts. On a larger scale, if you want to govern the country for long-term stability, you must adapt to the weather; and on a small scale, if you want to achieve health and longevity, you also need to adapt to your nature. The enemy of nature is desire. Is this not the case with food, clothing, housing, and transportation? As far as nature is concerned, it is enough to dress cleanly and keep warm, but desire makes us pursue all kinds of tricks. The food is fresh, nutritious, and healthy, but desire prompts us to seek delicacies and eat too much. The residence is clean, tidy, and bright. Desire makes us pursue a high-end mansion. To travel, you can choose to walk or use the usual means of transportation according to the distance, but desire makes us must have a car or a BMW. Therefore, Taoism pays attention to understanding one's mind and seeing one's nature, knowing what one's nature is, and then acting according to nature, not according to desire, so that one can seek health and longevity.

Examining the writing style of predecessors, although it is reasoning, it must give examples. Some examples are taken directly from mythology or history, that is, allusions are used. Some particles use analogy, that is, use everyday phenomena in life to compare the principles they want to express. And if a metaphor is used, it is particularly important whether the metaphor is delicate or not. This method of reasoning is still popular today. If we look at it from a rigorous point of view, in fact, the role of the examples themselves in proving the point of view is limited; because no matter how many examples we cite, it is difficult to prove the generality of our arguments. And metaphor is a way of reasoning that is difficult to verify and lacks logical persuasion. But because these two methods are in line with human intuition, and because it is easier for people to understand specific things and familiar things, vivid examples, or examples familiar to readers and audiences, can arouse their resonance and recognition. When we express our views, we also need to consciously adopt such skills to enhance the effect of expression. When listening to others express their views, you must be careful and vigilant to avoid being influenced by such rhetorical techniques.

Human beings are naturally curious about the source of things and the reasons for their production. The ancient Chinese sages also tried to find the reasons for all kinds of good and bad external performances of people. A recognized source, they called it, Jingqishen. Energetic, vigorous and properly manifested in the body, there is no disease or disaster. But the energy and spirit are sluggish, which is manifested in the body as disease and incompleteness. And if you want to nourish this abstract spirit, the means is to adapt to the external environment, and you must actively find an environment that suits you. The so-called one side's water and soil support one side's people are actually illustrating the importance of the environment. The people born in the green mountains and green waters are beautiful and strong; the people born in the poor mountains and rivers are prone to diseases and disabilities. The environment has many aspects, and the natural environment is only one of them. If you want to be physically strong in the end, you must find a suitable residence and a suitable environment. Therefore, if you want to solve the problem fundamentally, you must look inward for the source, and solving the problem from the source is the long-term solution. Treating the head for a headache and treating the foot for a foot ache is not in line with Chinese philosophy.

If a person is virtuous, observe the people he respects; if he is honorable, observe the people he recommends; Whatever point of view he adopts; if he lives at home, see what he likes; if he studies, observe what he says; if he is embarrassed, observe what he does not accept. If he is poor, observe what he does not do. Make him happy, to test his integrity; make him happy, to test his evil thoughts; make him angry, to test his bearing; to make him fear, to test his conduct; to make him sad, to test his love; afflict him, and check his will. In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, a hundred schools of thought contended, but even in different schools, most of them emphasized that they demanded themselves, improved themselves, and restrained themselves, rather than asking others. Just like the eight observations and six experiences mentioned here, each item is based on the person's own words and deeds, not what he has outside. It is human nature to be driven by the outside world to evaluate a person. This person is beautiful and rich, which is visible to everyone, and it is easy for us to instinctively judge a person based on this. However, evaluating a person by examining a person's words and deeds is not something that everyone can do.

The future is full of unknowns, so people naturally desire to predict the future and divination. This is the same at all times and all over the world. There are some methods of divination, which I believe have certain effects. But how to treat the results of divination is up to one's heart rather than one's fate. If the result of divination is auspicious, the predicted auspiciousness will also happen, but getting carried away because of knowing the auspicious result may cause unexpected disasters. If the result of divination is unlucky, it may make people uneasy and fearful all day long; what they lose in the end may be more serious than the disaster brought by the bad omen. Therefore, a wise person either does not go to divination, simply gives up predicting good or bad luck, and acts in accordance with the nature of the weather; or sees the omen of disaster, does not blame others but requires himself, attributes the fault to himself, and improves his own behavior. Make up for the impending disaster. If you make up for it, the disaster may gradually disappear during the germination process; on the contrary, if the omen of auspiciousness appears, but you get carried away because of it, the auspiciousness will probably miscarry in the end.

Lu Buwei is the Prime Minister of the Qin State, and the books he edited must have represented the interests and positions of the Qin State. The so-called reason, in fact, mostly stands for point of view. These things are subjective and tendentious. Since it is a tendentious thing, we cannot look at these views in isolation, but also need to look at who said the views, and what interest group the person who made the views belongs to. If you listen to a person's point of view without thinking about the relationship between his expressed point of view and his own interests, it is easy to be convinced by eloquence. Even if opinions are expressed in the way we think of scientific research today, people with a little scientific common sense know that the same fact is presented in different ways, even if it seems objective, it has tendencies or hints. Sex, both could be completely different. This is true for pursuing rigorous and objective academic judgments as much as possible, let alone subjective judgments. Those who study must remind themselves to think critically from time to time. Of course, what you believe may not be correct; but if you believe what you want to believe, even if you take a detour and pay the price, you are still responsible for your actions. And if you are convinced by other people's words, and become a believer in other people's views, become a supporter and mouthpiece of others, I don't think it is wise. Therefore, we need to follow the advice of others and carefully examine the advice provided by others.