Why did Confucius delete the Book of Songs, and how did Confucius evaluate the Book of Songs

Original text] Zi said: "Three hundred poems (1), in a word (2), said: "Thinking is innocent."

Notes] 1) Psalm 300: Poem, referring to the Book of Songs

2) Cover: Meaning to generalize.

3) Thinking without evil: This is a sentence on the "Book of Songs, Lu Song", and the "thinking" here is the ideological solution. Innocent, one interpretation is "pure", the other interpretation is "straight", the latter is more appropriate.

Translation] Confucius.

said: "The 300 articles of the Book of Songs can be summed up in one sentence, that is, 'pure thought'."”

Comment] During the time of Confucius, there were not many books available for students to read, and the Book of Songs was used as a teaching material after being sorted out and processed by Confucius. Confucius had an in-depth study of the Book of Songs, so he summed it up with "thinking without evil". The Analects

The words of the interpretation of the Book of Songs are all put forward in accordance with the principle of "thinking without evil".

Confucius: "Three hundred poems, in a word, thinking is innocent." "If you don't learn poetry, you can't speak."

Translation: "Poems" 300, in one sentence to summarize it, you can say, not cranky. I haven't studied the Book of Poetry, so I can't even speak.

Confucius had a high opinion of the Book of Songs. Regarding the ideological content of the "Book of Songs", he said, "Three hundred poems, in a word, thinking is innocent." As for its characteristics, it is "gentle and generous, and poetry is also taught" (that is, it is thought that the Book of Poetry has the effect of clarifying the soul after reading, and it is the best strategy as a tool for education).

Confucius even said, "If you don't learn poetry, you can't speak" (if you don't learn poetry, you can't speak), showing the profound influence of the Book of Songs on ancient Chinese literature. Confucius believed that the study of the Book of Poetry can cultivate the ability to associate, improve the ability to observe, learn the method of satire, and can use the principles to serve the parents and the monarch, so as to achieve the unity of the family, the governance of the country, and the peace of the world.

Before Confucius deleted the part of the Book of Songs, there were probably more than 3,000 poems.

The Book of Poetry is the earliest collection of poetry in China, called "Poems" in the pre-Qin period, also known as "Three Hundred Poems" or "Three Hundred Poems", which collected 305 poems from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period for about 500 years. In the Western Han Dynasty, it was revered as a Confucian classic, originally called the "Book of Songs", and has been used to this day. However, there is still controversy about the Book of Songs, and tradition holds that Confucius sorted out the Book of Songs, which had a significant impact on the circulation of the Book of Songs, and Sima Qian was the first to put forward the theory of "Confucius deleted poems".

Historical Records of the Confucius Family" notes: "The ancients have more than 3,000 poems, and Confucius, to the weight, take the can be applied to etiquette and righteousness, on the deed, Houji, in the description of Yin, Zhou Zhisheng, to the secluded, strong lack of ......Three hundred and five articles, Confucius are all string songs. From the Han Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty, scholars and relevant historical records of all dynasties are convinced of this, and have supplemented and explained to varying degrees.

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Kong Yingda began to use "the poems cited in the "Book" and "Biography" are seen by many people, but there are few people who have died", thus doubting that "Confucius recorded that nine out of ten cannot be removed." Ma Qianyan has more than 3,000 ancient poems, which are not credible" ("Mao's Poetry Justice· Poetry Preface Shu"). This statement is the first to deny "Confucius's deletion of poems".

Since the Tang and Song dynasties, there have been different opinions, and there is no consensus.

Famous figures who support the "deletion of poems" include Ouyang Xiu, Cheng Hao, Wang Yinglin, Ma Duanlin, Gu Yanwu, Zhao Tan, Wang Song and others; The camp opposing the "deletion of poems" is larger, including Zheng Qiao, Zhu Xi, Lu Zuqian, Ye Shi, Zhu Yizun, Wang Shizhen, Zhao Yi, Cui Shu, Wei Yuan, Fang Yurun, and so on. The main opponents of modern times are Liang Qichao, Hu Shi, Gu Jiegang, and Qian Xuantong. Contemporary scholars of the Book of Songs basically disagree with Confucius's statement that he "deleted poems".

Judging from the newly unearthed silk slips, the circulation of the Book of Songs is far more complicated than we originally thought, and it is certain that Confucius was not the only one who sorted out the Book of Songs, but on the other hand, he was undoubtedly a very important organizer, so if you ask who is the person who wrote the Book of Songs? It is difficult for us to say that it is Confucius, or that it is the ** of the Zhou Dynasty that collects poetry, I think that it may be like this, the Book of Poetry, including Confucius, has gone through the hands of many people from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty to the Western Zhou Dynasty, and Confucius is only a very important representative of it. Because please note that the books written at that time are different from the books we have now, and the formation of ancient books often takes a long time, and it is normal for it to be not the hands of one person at a time.