I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 15 I love my teacher, and I love the truth even more
The topic of the second debate was the sentence "He was able to read the Three Tombs, Five Classics, Eight Ropes and Nine Hills" from Zuo Zhuan, the 12th year of Duke Zhao.

Its content is to debate what kind of books the Three Tombs, Five Classics, Eight Threads and Nine Hills are.

There have always been different opinions on this question. Because there are no exact historical materials or books, everyone is just guessing and there is no clear conclusion.

However, since Lu Zhi studied under Ma Rong, he naturally accepted Ma Rong's views.

"The three tombs are the three qi, the beginning of yin and yang, the qi of heaven, earth and man. The five classics are the five elements. The eight ropes are the eight trigrams. The nine hills are the number of the nine states."

Lu Zhi gave his own argument.

In other words, he believed that "Sanfen" was a Yin-Yang book that discussed the relationship between heaven, earth and man; "Wudian" was a book that discussed the beginning and end of the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth; "Basuo" was a book similar to the I Ching and Bagua; and "Jiuqiu" was a book that described the customs and practices of the ancient nine states.

This view of Lu Zhi, or Ma Rong, was obviously influenced by the strong mystical thought of prophecies and divinations since the late Western Han Dynasty and the early Eastern Han Dynasty, and linked ancient books with theories such as Yin and Yang and the Five Elements that flourished during the Han Dynasty.

Yuan Shu does not fully agree with this.

He expressed his point of view.

"According to the Book of Documents, fen means big. What is big? The Tao! The Three Tombs should refer to three kinds of great Tao. Which Tao can be called the Great Tao? The Three Emperors, namely Fuxi, Shennong and Huangdi. The Three Tombs may be a book about the Three Emperors' Great Tao."

"The word 'classic' means 'normal', which is the ordinary way. The Five Classics are five kinds of ordinary principles. After the Three Sovereigns, what other five principles can match them? The books of the Five Emperors, Shaohao, Zhuanxu, Gaoxin, Tang Yao, and Yu Shun, can be called the Five Classics."

"Suo means to seek. The eight ropes can be called the eight seeks. What are they seeking? After the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties followed. Although the books of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties had different teachings, they all contained profound teachings and profound meanings. Therefore, they were treasured by successive generations and regarded as great instructions. The theory of the eight trigrams was called the "Eight Ropes", which means to seek its meaning."

"Qiu means gathering. Jiuqiu is the gathering of the ancient nine states. It means that all the land and customs of the nine states are gathered in this book. This book is the local chronicles of the nine states."

The explanation given by Yuan Shu surprised Lu Zhi and the onlookers. Not only did he make sense, but he also had a basis for his argument. It was not groundless or fabricated.

Judging from the results, in the debate between the two books Ba Suo and Jiu Qiu, Lu Zhi and Yuan Shu had relatively consistent views, both believing that they were closely related to Bagua and Kyushu Fengwu.

However, there are great differences between the two sides regarding the two books of Sanfen and Wudian.

Lu Zhi believed that the Three Tombs and the Five Classics talked about the three talents of heaven, earth and man, and the theory of yin and yang and the five elements. Yuan Shu believed that the Three Tombs were the books of the Three Sovereigns and the Five Classics were the books of the Five Emperors, both of which talked about the art of governing a country and maintaining peace.

Both sides have different opinions on this.

Lu Zhi quoted classics and used Ma Rong's words to explain his own views. He believed that there were many cases of divination in ancient times, and it was necessary to use the Three Tombs and Five Classics to predict good and bad luck.

"As the saying goes, 'the most important affairs of a country are war and sacrifice', the ancients always used divination to govern the country, go to war and suppress rebellions, and recorded them in the Three Tombs and Five Classics, which is reasonable."

Yuan Shu firmly opposed it.

"If you want to tell fortunes, the ancients had the Three Yis, Lianshan, Guizang, and Zhouyi. To tell fortunes and find out the way of heaven, they didn't use the Three Yis, but the Three Fen? Mr. Lu, what does this mean? Or do you think the Three Fen are the Three Yis?"

Lu Zhi was stunned.

Three Tombs are the Three Changes?

Who dares to say this?
The onlookers were also puzzled, whispering and talking to each other, and the sound of light conversations could be heard around the debate arena.

Lu Zhi was silent for a long time, thinking over and over, racking his brains but still couldn't figure out how to refute, so he could only suppress his surprise and turn the topic to the "Five Classics".

"The Five Elements theory is the Five Elements theory, which comes from the Book of History, which is an ancient book dating back to Tang Yao and Yu Shun. It coincides with what Yuan Jun said."

But Lu Zhi didn't expect Yuan Shu to shake his head firmly.

"The Five Classics are books about the Five Emperors. They may have chapters about the Five Elements, but they are by no means the only books about the Five Elements. The Book of History traces back to Tang Yao and Yu Shun, but where are Shaohao, Zhuanxu, and Gao Xin? The Five Elements originated from Tang Yao and Yu Shun, flourished in this dynasty, and may not have been an important thing in ancient times. Mr. Lu must not judge the past by the present."

Lu Zhi was retorted by Yuan Shu again. He wanted to refute, but he didn't know how to refute. After thinking about it, he was at a dead end again.

Could it be that the doctrines taught to him by Ma Rong also had fallacies?

Ma Rong did say that he was not a god and would make mistakes, but as a disciple, how could he point out the mistakes of his master? Wouldn't that be against the moral code?

Lu Zhi felt that he could not do such a thing.

But if this continues, he will lose the debate.

What Yuan Shu said might not be right, but he was indeed going to lose.

Lose to Yuan Shu just like this?
No!

In desperation, Lu Zhi decided to use his ultimate move.

"Mr. Yuan, what I said was taught by our master. Our master is a great scholar, so there must be something wrong with him, right?"

This move could be called a tactical nuclear bomb. Once it was released, everyone present changed their expressions, feeling that what Lu Zhi did was a bit unkind.

As a senior student, he must be able to learn more than his disciples and students. This is an obvious information gap, and using this information gap to deal with his opponent is obviously like Bo Yue beating up Xu Kun, a weakling - a dimensionality reduction attack! Not to mention the gap in knowledge, in today's academic world, how can a disciple refute what his teacher has taught?
Moreover, this teacher is recognized as a great master of ancient Chinese classics in the academic circles of the Han Dynasty.

Although the Ancient Text School of Confucianism first used Zhou Gong to suppress Confucius, who was promoted by the Modern Text School of Confucianism, this is a traditional skill of the school, but you use it in this situation...

Of course, Lu Zhi knew that what he did was a bit unfair, but he could accept a draw but did not want to accept failure.

Even if Yuan Shu was truly amazing, and even if all of Ma's disciples knew about it, outsiders didn't know. They would only think that Ma's top disciple actually lost in the debate to a ten-year-old boy!
That's kind of embarrassing, isn't it?

So Lu Zhi blushed and looked at Yuan Shu, wanting to see how Yuan Shu would respond.

Yuan Shu didn't expect that Lu Zhi would actually launch a tactical nuclear bomb. This was a very unkind thing to do. How could you, Old Lu, actually have such an idea?
But Yuan Shu is not an ordinary Confucian scholar who follows the rules. Now that things have come to this, will he surrender just for the so-called "respect for teachers"?
Do not!
"I love my teacher, but I love the truth more. Wherever the truth is, I will go even if there are thousands of people against me! Mr. Lu, Shu, I don't think I am wrong!"

Yuan Shu stood up, straightened his clothes, faced the direction of Ma Rong's inner hall, bowed deeply, then looked directly at Lu Zhi and said these words.

Suddenly, the scene was in an uproar, and a single stone caused a thousand ripples.

Obviously, no one expected that Yuan Shu would dare to express his opinions so bluntly, to express his attitude of pursuing the truth instead of blindly following his teacher, and even to express his determination!

He actually wanted to refute Ma Rong's point of view, thinking that Ma Rong was wrong and he was right.

Regardless of whether what he did was right or wrong, his courage alone is admirable.

Dou Yun, Wei Jia and others who already respected Yuan Shu looked at Yuan Shu with stars in their eyes, almost to the point of worship.

Even some of the disciples who had been pinned to the ground and beaten by Yuan Shu in the debate were the same. They all showed shocked and admiring looks.

Only a very small number of their group left on their own because they could not accept the outcome of the eviction, while most of them stayed and sought new opportunities.

As long as they can approve of everything Yuan Shu does, it will be beneficial to them.

Why not learn valuable knowledge without spending any money?
If we leave here and things get the same as before, wouldn't that be walking into a trap?

And now, they watched Yuan Shu, who was much younger than them, perform with great energy in the debate arena, and they all felt recognition and admiration from the bottom of their hearts, feeling that at their age they were living a dog's life.

Look at him, at the age of ten he dared to question his teacher, at the age of ten he dared to blast injustice, and he also said that for the sake of truth, he would go forward even if thousands of people blocked his way.

Regardless of whether he was sincere or not, the fact that he could say it was already remarkable.

And what about yourself?

You are in your twenties, thirties, and forties, and half of your body is about to be buried in the ground, but you are still wasting your time here!

One is shining brightly, the other is like a candle in the wind, how can they be compared?
He even comes from a high-class family and has a noble status, so his future achievements will surely be amazing.

Zhao Jun, a disciple who admired Yuan Shu very much, expressed his feelings about this.

"Such a demeanor, such a wise man, I have no regrets in my life to be able to witness this debate! Lord Yuan of Runan, good!"

There are many people who share the same opinion as Zhao Jun.

Even most people have this feeling vaguely.

Regardless of whether Yuan Shu is arrogant or not, his attitude of thirsting for truth is truly admirable!
Although I cannot reach it, my heart yearns for it!
At this moment, some people were already fascinated by Yuan Shu's figure and had the idea of following him from the bottom of their hearts.

Although it was just a slight thought, once this thought appeared, it could no longer be suppressed.

Others are like this, and Lu Zhi is even more so.

To be honest, he really didn't expect Yuan Shu to say such words and make such a statement.

With such a comparison, Lu Zhi suddenly felt that he had become a failed villain, and Yuan Shu had become a great martyr.

Even if he loses, he will still be brilliant, but even if I win, I will become a rat in the sewer.

He suddenly began to doubt his own behavior, questioning what kind of mentality he had in mind at that moment to make such a decision.

Is this something I should be doing?

After so many years of studying the teachings of saints, in the end, you did such a despicable thing as taking advantage of your power to bully others?

Lu Zhi was startled and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

I'm wrong!
I was really wrong!
Lu Zhi raised his head, looked at Yuan Shu, straightened his clothes, and saluted him respectfully.

"Mr. Yuan is so righteous. In this round, I admit defeat."

(End of this chapter)