"According to Mr. Dongpo, a man wants to fulfill his life's ambition, not only should he read the Five Classics frequently to the window, but he also has to take a sword and ride a horse and shoot archery well?"

Liu Kui, the Imperial College Supervisor, asked a question with a smile.

This sounds like a joke, but in fact it contains a hint of murderous intent. "A man wants to fulfill his life's ambition, and read the Five Classics diligently in front of the window" is a sentence in "Lixue Chapter". Song Zhenzong is not a prodigy Wang who casually sarcastic Su Dongpo. If he fires randomly, he will have to look for trouble when he turns around.

"The "Lixue Chapter" by the late emperor encouraged poor scholars who had no good land, no tall buildings, no good media, and no one followed him to study and make progress." Su Dongpo said with a smile, "The so-called "being poor and wealthy martial arts" is much higher than reading the Five Classics, which is not something that poor scholars can afford. Therefore, if a poor family wants to achieve his life, he can only read the Five Classics. Reading the Five Classics diligently is an ambitious person in poor families. It is not suitable for you to Liu Gonglu. Your father-in-law is now a wealthy man in Haizhou, so Liu Gonglu's son should still be civil and military."

Su Dongpo's mouth was really unforgivable. He was sarcastic about Liu Kui. However, his words were not something that could not be faulted. A charge of distorting the highest instructions of the late emperor could probably be put forward.

Of course, as long as Mr. Dongpo supports Empress Liu as Empress Liu, there will be no trouble...

Liu Kui, who felt that he had caught something, did not argue with Su Dongpo anymore, but smiled and said, "Mr. Dongpo, Mr. Yichuan, please sit down, please."

When it comes to sitting, of course, you have to sit down first and then discuss. It is not a chair, but a kneeling on the ground according to the ancient method. After Su Dongpo and Cheng Yi sat down, the disciples behind each son also knelt on the ground.

The first person to speak was Cheng Yi's high-level master Hou Zhongliang. He said: "Why do you guys Sumen have only one way, heaven, earth, and man?"

Whether there is one Tao or three Taos between heaven, earth and man has always been controversial in traditional Chinese philosophical thoughts.

People in later generations do not understand this controversy, but Wu Haogu's memory has two-generation knowledge, so it is very understandable. "Only one way" probably means that there is a "god" or "reason". Although Confucianism generally does not talk about ghosts and gods, "heavenly law" is almost like a god, and is actually evolving into religion.

"Not one way" means "the difference between heaven and man" (this is Xunzi's theory). Heaven returns to heaven and man belongs to man. Heaven can live creatures, cannot distinguish objects, earth can carry people, cannot cure people. If this theory develops, it may be the theory of no gods.

Hou Zhongliang raised this question from the beginning, hoping that Su Jun would choose between "one way" and "non-one way", and then he could drag the discussion on the Tao to the two routes of "Mencius" and "Xunzi". However, Wu Haogu's answer was unexpected.

"Heaven, earth, and man are either one way or not one way." Wu Haogu said, "Since you seek the Tao through actual experience, you cannot preset the answer. You can only boldly assume and carefully verify. "Only one way" and "not one way" are not the answer, but a hypothesis for us.

The sage asked the Tao and sought the Tao, but rarely mentioned the way of heaven. The essence lies in asking and seeking. Mencius said that the unity of heaven and man, and Xunzi said that the separation between heaven and man was actually bold assumptions. Heaven and man may be united or separated. What happened must be carefully verified by later generations before they could understand it.

Mr. Yichuan's theory of the law of nature is also an assumption, which is based on Mencius's unity of nature and man. Therefore, the theory of the law of nature can be believed, but it cannot be regarded as the ultimate way. It is not necessary to not seek the truth or ask the truth because of the theory of nature.

Mr. Yichuan, what do you think?"

Under Su Dongpo's teachings these days, Wu Haogu's mouth cannon is becoming more and more powerful now, and he puts the empirical theory into the status of various hypotheses verifiers.

This made it difficult for Cheng Yi to refute that Confucianism is not a religion yet, so the laws of nature are not in a position of unverified and critical. Wu Haogu's "hypothesis" is tenable.

"Is that man different from beasts because he is kind, righteous, polite, wise, and trustworthy?" Cheng Yi asked.

Cheng Yi’s problem is not simple!

If the laws of heaven are difficult to prove, then we can prove the laws of heaven based on human desires! If there is a difference between humans and animals because of "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness", then where does "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness" come from? The most reasonable assumption undoubtedly comes from "nature of heaven", that is, the laws of heaven. In this way, the laws of heaven are proved to some extent?

If the laws of heaven make people have "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness" to distinguish them from animals, then "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness" is part of the laws of heaven, and people should abide by and implement them... This is actually the logic of moral theology.

"Shuzheng," Su Dongpo smiled and took over the question, "I often see people from the mountains and fields in Danzhou. They don't know that they are benevolent and righteous, and they don't respect etiquette and law. So are they humans? Are they beasts?"

"The people in the mountains and fields do not have 'benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness', but no one helps them discover their 'benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness'." Cheng Yi said, "If they can be educated, they will know 'benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness'. And animals, plants and trees cannot be educated because they do not have 'benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness' at all."

Well, this seems to be a biological problem...

Wu Haogu breathed a sigh and asked with a smile: "Mr. Yichuan, there is not only 'benevolence, righteousness, wisdom and trustworthiness' in the world, but also 'equality of all beings and compassionate', 'Go to the heart of God, Allah is the greatest', and 'man has original sins, God loves the world'. It can be seen that people are different from animals because they can be taught, but what they believe and know is related to education. And whoever is true and false in various educations naturally needs to be verified."

"How to verify?" Cheng Yi frowned. Wu Hao's old sayings are full of words!

"Of course, it was verified by education!" Wu Haogu said lightly, "Keep the way of heaven, and besides the heretics!"

This is what I say...

Cheng Yi's face changed slightly, and Wu Haogu seemed to be taking over his own Taoist tradition!

Neo-Confucianism emphasizes "preserving the laws of heaven and destroying human desires", and regards moral saints who destroy human desires as the path to attain enlightenment and seeking the Tao.

Wu Haogu took away Cheng Yi's "heavenly principle hypothesis" and then regarded "extinction of heretics" as a way to prove the law of nature or the way of heaven.

In other words, we must educate all the barbarians who believe in all kinds of heretics to prove that there is a certain connection between the laws of nature (the way of heaven) and Confucian morality such as "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness".

"Then do you believe in the theory of unity between man and nature?" Cheng Yi asked afterwards.

"Believe and prove it!" Wu Haogu said, "The sages proposed hypotheses, and we should believe it and then prove it. If we don't believe it, why should we prove it? If we don't, we will believe it blindly, and we will be stupid."

Wu Haogu is building his own "theological system". The basis of theology is of course God and faith. The laws of heaven, and the way of heaven creates everything and God creates everything. The first sentence at the beginning of the Christian New Testament. John Gospel is "There was the Word at the beginning, and the Word is God, and the Word is God." The "Word" of Christianity actually has its origin and its origin.

Therefore, building a Neo-Confucianism that creates the "natural system" of all things is close to religion and can answer questions about the worldview.

However, Wu Haogu wanted to allow positivism and theological system to coexist, so he proposed the concept of "faith" and "proof" being together.

Of course, "faith" and "certification" are not contradictory, otherwise how could a scientific and rational school emerge under the Christian and Tianfang religion system? Many early Western scientists not only believed in Christianity, but even were clergy themselves. For example, Copernicus, who created the heliocentric theory, was a priest.

Therefore, "positivism" does not belong to the category of atheism. It is a hypothesis that God is the same as hypothesis. It requires careful and repeated verification to draw the final conclusion.

And having "positivism" does not mean that faith is no longer needed. Don't those who later generations shouted that "practice is the only criterion for testing truth" believe in the truth of the universe?

Of course, Cheng Yi's set of Neo-Confucianism cannot be fully absorbed without transformation, because although the system of Neo-Confucianism is relatively complete, the system of retaining the laws of nature and destroying human desires is too negative, and it is not conducive to the external dissemination of moral standards, but no one is willing to follow.

...

"Mr. Dongpo, Wu Chongdao, are you afraid of destiny?" Cheng Yi then asked the question.

In fact, he didn't care much about Wu Haogu's "Taoshima" because the "Taoshima" inherited the mantle to some extent.

"Believe in the laws of nature" or "Believe in the laws of heaven", plus "Believe in the laws of heaven", has formed a fairly complete system.

However, this system is for great Confucianism and philosophers, not for ordinary people.

So on the second day after the Imperial College discussion, Cheng Yi took out the "Fear of Destiny" among the "Three Fears of Gentleman" to ask questions from the question.

Su Dongpo replied: "I believe in the way of heaven, and I should be afraid of heaven's destiny and the anger of heaven."

Of course, this answer was repeatedly discussed by Wu Haogu and Su Dongpo.

The way of heaven, destiny, anger, and of course, return to heaven. Only by getting together can we form a relatively complete theological system.

Theology is indispensable for heaven, and hell, coaxing, deceiving and scaring!

If you are fearless, then it is not theology.

Wu Haogu added: "Believe in the way of heaven, you should abide by the five constants and five relationships, and finally return to heaven. If you do not fear the destiny of heaven, you will create punishment from heaven and will be abandoned by heaven."

He further explained: "The way of heaven is the source of all things, and it is known by nature. The five constants and five relationships can be interpreted as the virtue of heaven, which is the connection between human nature and heaven. In the end, it means that after death, people return to nature, return to the origin, and obtain the final liberation. If they do not fear the destiny of heaven and do not abide by the virtue of heaven, they will be punished and abandoned by heaven and will not be liberated..."

"What about people's words and ancestors?" Cheng Yi led the question to a more sensitive "deep water zone". Wang Anshi's "three shortcomings" (actually not called out by Wang Anshi, but summarized by others) is that destiny is not worth fearing. This is actually controversial, but people's words are not worth caring about, and ancestors are not worthy of law, but it is more realistic.
Chapter completed!