Chapter 1101: Live as a Worthy, Die as a Sage (Seeking Subscriptions)

The task Zhu Cilang gave Kong Yinzheng was neither hard nor easy.

What he wanted was a "Confucianism ABC" — ideally so simple that anyone who could read a few characters could understand it. So no classical Chinese — Zhu Cilang himself was excellent at classical Chinese; he had been a top student in two lifetimes, so how could he not be? And now the civil officials' memorials were mostly in classical Chinese, and Emperor Zhu read them every day, so how could his classical Chinese be poor?

But he also knew that learning classical Chinese was a painful business. First, it was useless in daily life, and a language you never use is easily forgotten. Second, classical Chinese had too many ambiguities — all for the sake of saving characters! Back then, classical Chinese was carved onto bamboo slips and wooden boards, so characters had to be saved. But now there was so much paper — why couldn't they write a few more characters and make things clear?

Those Confucian teachings, honestly speaking, were very easy to understand when written in plain language. It was nothing more than cultivating oneself, regulating the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to all under heaven — plus the heavenly principle of the unity of Heaven and man, which was simply the Confucian God!

If this whole system were refined and written in plain language, one could grasp it roughly after finishing elementary school, and after middle school one could certainly speak of it fluently and convincingly. But if it all had to be in classical Chinese, then it became difficult! Just reading it through took a tremendous effort.

Of course, Confucianism had no limit in its higher reaches. The advanced study of Confucian doctrine was "investigating things to extend knowledge" — that is, seeking the heavenly principle, or one might say searching for God! But this was not something the vast majority of Confucian scholars needed to pursue; it was the research direction of great Confucian masters, and had little to do with spreading Confucian teachings.

And since Emperor Zhu wanted to expand Confucianism, making it one of the twin main threads of the Heavenly Dynasty's civilizational sphere alongside Buddhism, he naturally needed a plain and easy-to-understand "Confucian Classic."

"Duke Yansheng, you say His Majesty wants to compile a plain and easy-to-understand Confucian Classic?"

"Exactly. The Son of Heaven is truly a great sage of our Confucian school! He wants Confucianism to flourish greatly, wants everyone under heaven to study Confucianism, every person to become a sage. I, Kong, am utterly prostrate with admiration."

"Reading one plain-language Confucian Classic and you become a sage? How could becoming a sage be that easy? Even those of us called great Confucians — who among us dares claim to have become a sage?"

"If one cannot become a sage, should one then not study Confucianism? Are the sages' principles prepared only for those capable of becoming sages?"

Inside the Wuhan Imperial University in Wuchang — the imperial universities now included the Yingtian Imperial University and the Wuhan Imperial University, with a Tianjin Imperial University also planned — Kong Yinzheng, who had come over from East Lake Palace, was discussing the compilation of the Confucian Classic with the Wuhan Imperial University's Chancellor Huang Zongxi and the Proctors Wang Fuzhi and Zhang Guozhong.

Kong Yinzheng stroked his steel-needle-like full beard, his face full of admiration and reverence: "The First Sage already said there should be education without class — and 'without class' of course includes the foolish and the dull. Classical Chinese is actually the ancient language; to people today it is obscure and hard to understand, and merely reading it through is already a great scholarly feat. For the foolish and dull, classical Chinese alone would take who knows how long to learn — where would they find the extra energy and money to study the sages' principles?

Are the sages' principles prepared only for those naturally gifted and able to afford many years of arduous study? For those of us who teach and nurture others, is spreading the sages' principles more important, or teaching people classical Chinese? To delay the spread of the sacred Way because classical Chinese is hard to learn — is that not putting the cart before the horse?

Fortunately we have a sage Son of Heaven compiling the Confucian Classic to enlighten all under heaven. Otherwise, people like us who falsely claim the title of great Confucian could only watch helplessly as the sacred Way goes unspread — how shameful!"

Huang Zongxi and Wang Fuzhi, hearing Kong Yinzheng's "flattery," both showed a hint of disdain. This Duke Yansheng — his scholarship and martial skill were both excellent, and he had contributed to the great Way of Confucianism, so calling him a great Confucian was well deserved. It was just that he was too fond of flattery. It seemed he would have no chance of becoming a sage in this lifetime.

"The Duke Yansheng speaks reason. Indeed, the sacred Way is now hard to spread!" The speaker was Zhang Guozhong, a top disciple of the great Hebei Confucian Sun Qifeng.

His teacher Sun Qifeng was a great Confucian of Hebei, a famous child prodigy of Baoding Prefecture in his youth, who passed the provincial examination at seventeen — that was still in the Wanli years, so one could call him precocious. At twenty-two he entered the capital to sit the Ministry of Rites examination when he heard of his father's death, and returned home to build a hut by the grave and observe mourning. After finishing the mourning for his father, just as he was preparing to take the examination again, his mother also passed away, and so he continued mourning for another three years. He mourned all the way from the Wanli years into the Tianqi years. Then he ran into Wei Zhongxian's domination of the court, and since he was too close to the Donglin Faction — running about to rescue Zuo Guangdou and others, and even writing to the then Liaodong Supreme Commander Sun Chengzong, asking him to enter the court and deal with Wei Zhongxian — after all that commotion, naturally there was no hope of passing the jinshi examination under Wei Zhongxian. So he could only devote himself to scholarship and become a great Confucian.

Later, when Chongzhen took the throne, Sun Chengzong and Fan Jingwen wanted to recommend him for office, but he declined every time, content to write books and establish his teachings in the countryside, teaching and nurturing talent, and training a large number of famous Hebei Confucians, forming the Xiafeng School — Xiafeng being Sun Qifeng's sobriquet.

Then came the Jiashen Catastrophe, the Son of Heaven's journey south, the eastern barbarians' entry through the pass, and a whole series of upheavals. Sun Qifeng, who had originally intended to spend his life in scholarship, could no longer stay in the countryside, and had to lead his disciples and followers to join Gao Hongtu and Zuo Maodi in defending the Kong family cemetery.

In the end the Kong family cemetery was still robbed — and out came a "Zilun Gewu Pian." So Sun Qifeng gave up on office and took his disciples and followers to Dengzhou in Shandong to establish the Xiafeng Academy, devoted entirely to studying the "Zilun Gewu Pian." They even produced some results, and his student Zhang Guozhong entered the Imperial University because of it — first as a professor, and later rising to Right Proctor of the Wuhan Imperial University.

But even with the achievements of Sun Qifeng and the Xiafeng School, the reality that Confucianism was hard to spread in the north remained unchanged!

Zhang Guozhong sighed: "Though great Confucians now emerge in numbers, the lesser Confucians cannot compare to the Chongzhen years. The young men of the Hebei countryside no longer study Confucianism much, and even those who study a little stop at rough understanding."

Huang Zongxi said: "That is because the civil examinations are gone! The Imperial University is not the civil examinations after all, and examination for clerkship cannot compare with entering office through the examinations. More people are selected, so of course the threshold is lower. Moreover, petty clerks do practical work; martial skill and mathematics are more substantial than Confucian principles, so the clerk examinations below only require a rough grasp of Confucianism."

Wang Fuzhi added: "Brother Taichong speaks reason. However, the Confucian scholars of the past did indeed spend too much energy delving into philology and neglected practical learning. Before, without the 'Zilun Gewu Pian,' there was not so much scholarship to delve into, so one could study more classical Chinese. Now, with so much learning in the 'Zilun Gewu Pian,' where is the time to delve into classical Chinese? So now it is not only the Hebei countryside where few study Confucianism — even in the culturally flourishing southeast, people no longer delve much into the Four Books and Five Classics. In recent years many Imperial University students cannot even write eight-legged essays well, and many newly promoted civil officials have begun writing documents in plain language, just like military officers."

Kong Yinzheng said: "Plain-language documents are good — understandable at a glance, with fewer ambiguities, and they don't hold up business. That is why His Majesty wants us to compile the Confucian Classic in plain language. Then studying Confucianism becomes easy, and the young men can spend more time on practical learning."

Zhang Guozhong nodded: "Then let us compile it!" He thought for a moment. "Allow me to offer a modest beginning. The Confucian Classic should emphasize two points: first, morality; second, the heavenly principle. It must clarify the relationship between morality and the heavenly principle, so that the world reveres the heavenly principle and thereby possesses morality."

"Yes, yes, that's it!" Kong Yinzheng laughed. "Morality should emphasize loyalty and filial piety. As subjects and people, one must be loyal to the sovereign and love the country; as sons and daughters, one must honor one's parents — this is preserving the heavenly principle! And those who are disloyal and unfilial — those are the wicked and perverse human desires that must be eliminated. Only those who preserve the heavenly principle and extinguish wicked desires can live as worthies and die as sages!"

"Live as worthies and die as sages?" Zhang Guozhong clapped his hands. "That's good, that's very good. It's a bit like the Christians' ascent to heaven! Duke Yansheng, do those who give their lives for the country and have their names entered in the Shrine of the Loyal count as sages?"

"Of course they are sages!" Kong Yinzheng said with a solemn face. "They are sages of the nation!"

"Sages and worthies must also be ranked?" Wang Fuzhi asked.

"It seems ranking is necessary," Huang Zongxi thought for a moment and said with a smile. "There should be Confucian sages and worthies, national sages and worthies, and local sages and worthies. A Shrine of the Worthy should also be established to honor the Confucian sages and worthies and the local sages and worthies."

(End of Chapter)