Since ancient times, sages, kings and emperors still have to study hard, not to mention ordinary people! This kind of thing can be seen everywhere in classics and history books, and I can't list them one by one, just to remind you what is important in modern times. The children of the scholar-officials are all over several years old, most of them have read The Book of Rites and Zuo Zhuan, and a few have at least read Shi Mao and The Analects of Confucius. At marriageable age, the physique and temperament are slightly stereotyped. With this innate intelligence, we must redouble our homework and induce. People with lofty ideals can temper and achieve the cause of the cremation; Those who have no ambition to succeed will become lazy and mediocre. In this world, you should have a major: farmers discuss farming, businessmen discuss wealth and goods, craftsmen elaborate tools, skilled people consider methods and techniques, warriors practice riding and archery, and scribes study and discuss classics. However, it is often seen that scholar-officials are ashamed to set foot in agriculture and commerce, but they can't wear armor when shooting arrows. Only by holding a pen can they remember their names, eat and drink enough, and lead a life of intoxication, and then they can die hard. Some people get a part-time job with their family background, so they feel satisfied and forget to study at all. When it comes to weddings or funerals, they talk about gains and losses and are tongue-tied, just like sitting in the clouds. Public or private parties feast, talk about ancient poetry, silently bow their heads, only yawn and stretch. People who know what to do see it, and they are ashamed to have no place to live. Why don't you want to spend a few years studying hard and humiliate yourself for a long time in your life?

In the heyday of the Liang Dynasty, most of the children of the gentry were ignorant, so that there was a saying: "You can be a writer if you don't get on the bus, and you can also be a secretary if you don't have any goods on you." There is no one who doesn't pay attention to smoking, shaving and painting. He drives a long-eaved car, steps on high-toothed bricks, sits on a square mattress with checkerboard patterns, and is filled with playthings on the left and right by a soft bag made of dyed silk. He is as calm as a fairy. When the meaning is clear, hire someone to answer the questions; If you want to attend the banquet of court dignitaries, please ask someone to help you write poems. At this time, he can also be regarded as a "gifted scholar". After the war and displacement, the court changed its dynasty and took charge of selecting talents and appointing people. They are no longer relatives. When they were in power, they didn't see the clique in those days. They don't seek anything for themselves. The world is useless. They put on thick linen coats outside, but they have no real skills inside, and they have lost the appearance of tiger skin outside. But the meat inside shows the quality of a sheep, like a dead piece of wood, but like dry water, it falls between military forces and horses and is dying. Only those who have knowledge and talent can live anywhere. Since the war, even those who have been captured for generations and know how to read the Analects of Confucius and the Book of Filial Piety can still be teachers. Although they have been big officials for generations, they can't write, and they all go to farm and raise horses. From this perspective, how can they not encourage themselves? If you can keep hundreds of books regularly, you won't be a villain for thousands of years.

A guest asked me: "I have met some people who only rely on strong bows and halberds to crusade against rebellion and appease the people in order to obtain the title of a duke;" Some people only rely on their mastery of literature and history to save the times, make the country rich and strong, and get the official position in Qing Xiang. However, learned people from ancient times to the present have both civil and military skills, no official title, and their wives and children are hungry and cold. There are countless such things. How to learn is worth promoting? " I replied: "is the fate of people bumpy or accessible, just like jade and wood;" "Learning knowledge and mastering skills is like thinking about carving. The reason why polished jade is bright and beautiful is because jade itself is a beautiful thing; A piece of wood and a stone is ugly because it has not been carved. But how can it be said that carved wood and stone are better than uncut Baoyu? Similarly, we can't compare the educated poor with the uneducated rich. Besides, some people who are pregnant with martial arts go to the army; Some are full of poetry books, and some are small officials. There are many people in name only, but few outstanding people. Those who bury themselves in reading and spread moral articles are not as useless as a lunar eclipse; People who pursue fame and fortune and indulge in pleasure are like autumn grass. How do they compare? In addition, I also heard that people who are born unlearned are geniuses; People who know after learning are inferior. Therefore, learning is to increase people's knowledge and understand the truth. Only a genius can be outstanding. Being a general coincides with the art of war of Sun Wu and Wu Qi. Rulers have the same political literacy as Guan Zhong and Zi Chan. Even if such people don't study, I say they have already studied. Since you can't reach this level now, if you don't follow the example of the ancients, it's like sleeping under a quilt and knowing nothing. "

People see good role models in their neighbors and tell their children to advocate learning, but they don't know how to learn from the ancients. Why are they so confused? The world only knows how to ride a horse in armour, hold a spear and bend a bow, saying that I can be a general, but I don't know how to observe heaven and reason, distinguish the right place, consider whether to conform to the current situation and the people's hearts, and examine the ability to know the rise and fall. I only know that I can be a good person, but I don't know the level of worshipping ghosts and gods, changing customs, adjusting yin and yang, and selecting sages and saints. I only know that I can manage the people, do things early without selfish interests, but I don't know the ability of being honest and clean, managing orderly, and educating people in disaster relief. I only know how to enforce the law, sentence early and forgive late, and say that I can raze the prison, but I don't know all kinds of skills such as reconnaissance, evidence collection, interrogation and inference. In ancient times, farmers, workers, businessmen, servants, slaves, fishermen, butchers and cattle herders all had outstanding and wise ancestors, which could serve as examples for learning and seeking knowledge, which was not detrimental to their careers!

Therefore, reading and studying is intended to broaden one's horizons and make them bright, which is conducive to doing practical things. If you don't know how to support your parents, let him see the ancients' exploration of their parents' wishes, submit to their parents' face, be patient and not afraid of hard work, and get something sweet and soft, so he carefully and carefully began to do it. If you don't know how to serve the monarch, let him see that the ancients kept their duties as well as they could, were fearless in times of danger, and did not forget to be loyal to the monarch for the benefit of the country, so he was compassionate and self-loyal, and he should follow suit. Always arrogant and extravagant, I want him to see the ancients' thrift, humility and morality, courtesy as the foundation of teaching and respect for the body, so he was surprised and restrained when he saw that he lost. Always mean, let him see that the ancients valued righteousness over wealth, selfish and greedy, and avoided profit and evil. If you are poor, you will be ashamed and regret it. If you can disperse, you will disperse. Always violent, I want him to see the ancient people's caution and self-contempt, the disadvantages of old teeth, tolerance, respect for the virtuous and accept the virtuous, so he is tired, depressed and too weak to wear. Always timid, let him see that the ancients are not afraid of death, strong and upright, they will always believe what they say, and they will not look back after doing good deeds, so they will be furious, struggle and will not be intimidated. If this goes on, all walks of life will be like this. Even if it is difficult to be pure, at least you can get rid of serious problems, and what you have learned is effective anyway. It's just that people who study all over the world can only say that they can't do it. They don't know loyalty and filial piety, and they lack benevolence and righteousness. To judge a lawsuit, they don't need to find out the facts, manage thousands of small counties, ask the people to build houses, and ask him if the lintel is horizontal, whether it is solid or not. They don't need to know whether Xiaomi is early or late, talk about banter and ridicule. Things are different, and people are trees.

When people are young, they are single-minded and keen. When they grow up, their thoughts will be scattered and they need early education. Don't lose the opportunity to learn. I read Lingguang Dian Fu when I was seven years old. Now, I comb (review) once every ten years and have not forgotten. After the age of 20, the classics I read have been abandoned for a month and have reached the point of abandonment. However, people have difficulties in their prime, and they have lost (learning opportunities). They should study in their later years and not give up on themselves. Confucius once said, "It's no big deal to learn the Book of Changes at the age of fifty." Cao Cao and Yuan are older and more devoted. This is all from small to large. Zeng Shen studied Taoism at the age of 70 and became famous all over the world; Xun Qing came here to study at the age of 50 and became a master of Confucianism. Gong didn't read Chunqiu until he was in his forties, so he became prime minister. Zhu Jun didn't learn the Book of Changes and The Analects of Confucius until he was forty, and Huangfu Mi didn't learn the Book of Filial Piety and The Analects until he was twenty. In the end, he became a master of Confucianism. This is all because I was confused in my early years and woke up in my later years. People in the world think it's too late not to study in their twenties and thirties, and it's foolish not to go to school because they are conservative. Learning from childhood is like the rising light of the sun; People who study in their later years, like torchlight at night, are still better than turning a blind eye.

Whether the learning atmosphere is strong or not depends on whether the society attaches importance to the practicality of knowledge. Scholars in the Han Dynasty can use a Confucian classic to promote the way of being a saint. Many people obtained Qing Xiang's official position by studying astronomy and knowing people. Since the end of the world, the wind of talking clearly has prevailed. Scholars stick to chapters and sentences and only recite teachers' remarks for current affairs, and almost none of them are useful. Therefore, the children of scholar-officials pay attention to reading more books and refuse to stick to chapters and sentences. In childhood, the aristocratic children of the Liang Dynasty must be admitted to Chinese studies first, and their aspirations and admiration must be observed. After they entered the official career, they did all the things of literati, and few of them finished their studies. Generations of officials engaged in Confucian classics, such as He Yin, Ming Shanbin, Zhu Yi, Zhou, He Ge, Xiao Zizheng, Liu Ying, etc., are all proficient in literature and history, not just explaining Confucian classics. I also heard that there are Saihao, Zhang Wei and Liu Fang in Luoyang. I saw Xing Zicai on a summer night. These four Confucians not only like Confucian classics, but also are famous for their erudition. A wise man like this can naturally be the top grade. In addition, most of them are people from other places, with vulgar words and rude manners. They are all arbitrary, conservative and incompetent. Asking a question requires answering hundreds of sentences, all of which are irrelevant. There is a saying that "the doctor bought a donkey and wrote three contracts, but there was no word' donkey'". You will be angry with him if you make him worship you as a teacher. Confucius said, "study hard, and your salary is in it." Now some people only try their best at useless things, I'm afraid it's nothing serious! Sage classics are used to talk about enlightenment. As long as you are familiar with the classics, preach the righteousness, and often behave appropriately, it is enough to be a man. Why should we mark the word "Zhongniju" on two pieces of paper, so as to find out whether "Ju" is in the inner room of a secluded place or in the hall where Confucian classics are taught? Even if it is right, what's the point of this argument? What are the advantages of competing for who is higher and who is lower? Time flies, we should cherish it. Like running water, it's gone forever. We should read the essence of classic works and use it to achieve fame and fortune. If we can have the best of both worlds, then I have nothing to criticize.

Secular Confucian scholars do not read widely. In addition to studying Confucian classics and latitude books, they only read works that annotate Confucian classics. When I first arrived at the summer night, I had contact with Kui Yan Wen of Bolin. I once told him that there is a point in RoyceWong's collected works that is difficult to refute Zheng Xuan's Notes on Shangshu. Cui turned to the Confucian scholar to talk about this problem, and then he talked about it. He refused out of thin air, saying, "There are only poems, poems, inscriptions and obituaries in the collection. Did you talk about Confucian classics? " Besides, in pre-Qin Confucianism, I didn't know that a RoyceWong "Cui" left with a smile, and finally didn't show them RoyceWong's library. When Wei Shou was discussing Cao Cao, he discussed the ancestral temple with several doctors. He quoted Hanshu as an argument, and the doctors laughed and said, "I have never heard that Hanshu can be used to demonstrate Confucian classics." Wei Shou was very angry and didn't say anything. Take out the biography of Wei Xuancheng, throw it in front of them, stand up and leave. Doctors read Wei Xuancheng's biography all night. At dawn, they came to apologize to Wei Shou and said, "I didn't know Wei Xuancheng had such knowledge!" "

After the summer night was settled, I was transferred to Guanzhong. Lu Si, the eldest son, once said to me, "There is no position in the imperial court, and there is no accumulated wealth in the family. We should do more to express our support. " And every time I am urged by the course, I have worked hard in history. I wonder if my son can feel at ease? I taught him: "A son should take nurturing as his heart, and a father should take learning as his teaching. If I ask you to give up your studies, concentrate on seeking wealth, and let me have plenty of food and clothing, how can I feel sweet after eating it, and how can I feel warm after wearing it? If I am engaged in the right way and inherit the family business, I am willing to eat poorly and dress in a mess. "It is not easy to organize, write and order books. Only with Liu Neng. If you haven't read all the classics in the world, you can't revise them rashly. Some books feel wrong, and this book feels right; Some views are similar, and some two books are short of words, so you can't listen to one side of the story and believe one side of the story.