Because recently there was a news that a teacher insulted a student in class and was exposed by the student's recording, more than two thousand years ago, Zaiyu was repeatedly insulted by Confucius, and it was also turned over. Many people say that it is not to blame the current teachers for insulting students, and that insulting students is a tradition in China. Confucius, the teacher's ancestor, insulted the students many times. And a lot of insults, seemingly unreasonable and angry. Confucius really made a bad start.
(Confucius stills)
So, why did Confucius insult his student Zaiyu, and what was the final outcome of Zaiyu?
If we carefully analyze the dialogue between Confucius and Zaiyu, we will find that Zaiyu should not be scolded once.
The first was a discussion about "filial piety.". Zaiyu said that three years of filial piety is too long, and if you do not talk about etiquette in these three years, etiquette will be forgotten; if you do not listen to music, music will be wasted. Zaiyu, while questioning the decadent ritual of "keeping filial piety for three years," proposed a new concept. He said: "There is no old valley, the new valley has risen, and the flint is changed into fire, and the period is over." "The meaning of Zaiyu is very clear, the harvest of grain cultivation is also one year, and since grain is reincarnated every year, life should be like this. Therefore, he believes that according to the principle of "the unity of heaven and man", the best time to keep filial piety is one year.
However, Confucius was obviously disdainful of discussing with Zaiyu, and he asked Zaiyu impatiently, "You only keep filial piety for one year, are you at ease?" Zaiyu also replied dryly, feeling at ease. Confucius ridiculed him, you are at ease, you can do that. After Zaiyu went out, Confucius scolded Zaiyu and scolded him for being unfilial to his parents.
Here, Zaiyu is the time to discuss filial piety with Confucius, but Confucius directly makes personal attacks and leads the topic to Zaiyu, believing that Zaiyu is not filial piety and completely deviates from academic discussion.
The second time was a discussion about "Ren". Zaiyu posed a question to Confucius that was full of "paradoxes." He said that if there was a "benevolent man" who was told that there was a "benevolent man" in the well, should he follow? Of course, what Zaiyu is discussing here is not that one person has fallen into a well and whether another person should be rescued. Rather, it is because Confucius once said that for "benevolence", we should be eager to do so. If that's the case, if that "benevolence" is in the well, should it be rushed to it? If you are eager, won't you also fall into the well?
Confucius certainly understood that Zaiyu's words were a trap, and Zaiyu was setting a "trap" for him to jump into. So he directly scolded, "The gentleman can be deceived, but not reckless", which means that Zaiyu is "playing" him.
(Zaiyu stills)
The third time was the discussion of "Society". Lu Aigong asked Confucius, the Xia Shang Dynasty, what kind of wood was used as the "society", that is, the god lord of the land god. Zaiyu I, the Xia Dynasty used pine trees, the Shang Dynasty used cypress trees, and the Zhou Dynasty used chestnut trees. The purpose of using chestnut trees is to make people shudder. When Confucius learned of this, he replied very strangely, saying: "If you do not say anything when you are done, you will not advise you on what you have done, and you will not blame the past." ”
When Confucius says here, "There is no blame for the past," he must have meant that Zaiyu was not talking nonsense, that it was true. But he couldn't think of anything to answer, so he said, in the past, Chen Guzi was rotten and said what he was doing! Obviously, when Confucius really couldn't find the answer, he used the teacher's "big throat" to force Zaiyu not to say.
From the above three things, it can be seen that although Zaiyu is a tricky and eccentric student, he is actually a good thinking student. And the problem he pondered was one of the fatal weaknesses of Confucius's teachings. That is to say, when the era has developed to the Spring and Autumn Period and slavery is about to disintegrate, if we still stick to the rules and adopt the set of Zhou Rituals in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, it is obviously not in line with the trend of historical development. From Confucius's three answers to Zaiyu, it can be seen that Confucius is actually helpless to this question and cannot answer it. That's why he seems very impatient and uses the teacher's "big voice" to suppress Zaiyu.
However, when Zaiyu sleeps during the day (this sleep is not necessarily in class. Even in class, it shows that Zaiyu really did not want to listen to the set of words that Confucius said), Confucius was completely insulted. The reason why Confucius was more contracted before was because Zaiyu really made sense. But now it is completely unreasonable to zaiyu, so Confucius said such ugly words as "rotten wood cannot be carved, and the wall of dung and soil cannot be carved."
Of course, Confucius was the Grand Master after all. Although he was angry, he still had some courage, and he also had a more pertinent evaluation of Zaiyu. He said, "From me to Chen Cai, none of them are as good as Menye." Virtue: Yan Yuan, Min Ziqian, Ran Boniu, Zhonggong; Speech: Zai I, Zi Gong; Political Affairs: Ran You, Zi Lu; Literature: Zi You, Zi Xia. ”
This is the famous "Ten Philosophies of Confucius". Here, Confucius spoke highly of Zaiyu as a man who could speak the Tao, and in the ranking, he also ranked him in front of zigong, who could speak and understand the Tao. That is to say, I still fully affirmed the advantages of myself as a student. It is obviously not the same character as the teachers who insult students on the Internet.
What was the final outcome of the student who was repeatedly suppressed by Confucius?
The "Chronicle of History" writes about his tragic ending, saying that he worked as a doctor in linlingu in the state of Qi, participated in the rebellion with Tian Chang, and was eventually exterminated. When Confucius heard about this, he felt ashamed.
However, "Han Feizi" says that "Zaiyu is not exempt from Tian Chang", that is, Zaiyu is not exempt from Tian Chang's coup, but it does not say that he participated in the coup. Even if it was involved in the coup, it was a conflict between the new and old nobles of the State of Qi, and it was in line with the new ideas represented by Zaiyu and the old ideas represented by Confucius, not simply rebellion. Moreover, the Tang Dynasty historian Sima Zhen suspected that Sima Qian regarded Kan As Zaiyu, and their words were the same.
Zaiyu was scolded by Confucius many times, but the evaluation of Zaiyu in later generations was not low. Wang Chong once complained about him, saying that it was "small" to sleep during the day, and Confucius could not go up to the top of the line and rose to become a "great evil", saying things like "rotten wood cannot be carved". At the same time, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang posthumously honored him as "Marquis of Qi", the Song Dynasty posthumously as "Duke of Qi", and Jiajing as "Sage Zaiyu".
Such an evaluation and ending is also the historical position that Zaiyu deserves.
(References: Analects, Han Feizi, etc.)