How do you say "five hundred years ago, five hundred years later"?

At the end of this section, Mencius successively created two important idioms for us, one is "solving problems" and the other is "getting twice the result with half the effort". We still often use these two idioms when we speak and write articles. Mencius' words sound like this. As for the feasibility of benevolent government, I have already talked a lot in Liang Wanghui, so I won't go into details. What is worth noting here is Mencius' statement about "machine". People have felt the "timing" since ancient times. I have introduced Liang Wudi in detail in Liang Wang Hui. Someone once used "Heaven and earth work together, but heroes are not free" to evaluate Liang Wudi. These two poems were originally written by Luo Yin, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, to evaluate Zhuge Liang. This is a heroic feeling of "opportunity"-at that time, everything in the world is helping you. You can pick up a wallet when you stumble, but if you are lucky, you can break your teeth when you eat tofu. In fact, although Luo Yin wrote these two poems about Zhuge Liang, he probably felt sorry for himself-he himself has always been a "hero is not free". Luo Yin is also a well-known gifted scholar, but he always failed in the imperial examination, and he was very down and out. Tell an interesting story about him. Once he passed by Zhong Ling and met an old acquaintance more than ten years ago, a prostitute named Yunying. After a long separation, Yunying saw that this was Daniel Luo Yin more than ten years ago. Yunying asked, "I haven't seen you for more than ten years. Why are you still in Ding Bai? " Luo Yin is very angry. Well, if you are poor to me, I will be poor to you. Now I write a poem: "Zhong Ling has been drunk for more than ten years, and Yunying is in the palm of his hand again. I'm not famous or married, so maybe I'm not as good as people? " It's a disgrace to the smelly literati, which means: I really failed in the exam for more than ten years, which is really disappointing, but you have been a prostitute for more than ten years, so why haven't you been a good person? Oh, we may all be the same, so don't talk about anyone! Aside from negativity, Luo Yin did write a good poem, which was brilliant and witty, but he was unlucky. He took the exam for half his life and failed. Therefore, when he was chanting Zhuge Liang, he naturally envied others "when heaven and earth came together", and then he felt sorry for his later experience, so "transporting heroes is not free." Luo Yin's fortunes and fortunes only stay at the level of life feelings, and their meanings can be far more than that. In fact, whether it is time or luck, when the good days come, you can figure it out by pinching your fingers. How to calculate? Let's look at the storytelling experts, Zhuge Liang, Liu Bowen and Xu Maogong. They all know that 500 years ago and 500 years later. When you meet people with the same surname at a party, you will befriend them and say, "We were a family 500 years ago.". Has anyone ever wondered why it's all "500 years" and why it's not 800 years or 1000? Later generations say "five hundred years" is a good saying. In fact, this "500 years" really has a source. This "five hundred years" represents a historical cycle, which can be found in Mencius. Mencius will talk about the latter part in detail, but now there are signs: it is time to talk about people who have ruled the world for a long time, so it is not normal. You will understand that this is not just an expression. It is an important part of Mencius' thought. He believes that the development of history has cycles, and it is a cycle of 500 years. The theory of historical development cycle is a statement that has a far-reaching influence on the history of China, which involves the change that has been repeatedly emphasized when talking about "Liang". The historical cycle is becoming more and more complicated, and more and more things are mixed in, such as five lines of gossip, and finally the mystery is incalculable. The general mentality is that the more mysterious things are, the easier it is to believe, just like reading a doctor's prescription. If you know everything about doctors and you can understand what doctors write, then you will doubt the level of doctors. Mencius' talk about the historical cycle and historical vicissitudes is just a simple historical sentiment, and later people developed this idea, which is extremely mysterious. Since history has cycles, accordingly, the future can also be predicted through this cycle. As The Romance of the Three Kingdoms said, "It is said that the general trend of the world, long-term separation will be combined, long-term separation will be combined", which not only illustrates the law, but also can be used as a prediction, which is quite credible. What Mencius regretted at this time was actually "if it was separated for a long time", but he was worried that this "close" person had not yet appeared. This is the problem. There is no quantitative standard for this prediction. When will it "close"? The same is true for a hundred years, and the same is true for three hundred years. Moreover, it is not 100% that needs to be "combined". It can only be said that the possibility of "combination" seems to be slightly greater than the possibility of "no combination". People in China tend to believe in concepts such as cycle, period and prediction, unlike Christian culture that history is linear and goes to the end. Zou Yan, a contemporary of Mencius, systematically expounded the theory of historical cycle, which is of great reference significance to later Confucian scholars. There are more and more sayings without a clue, more ideas flow into the people, and various fortune-telling theories have been greatly developed. It is an interesting phenomenon that fortune-tellers come forward to look for grandfathers and even scholars. The great Confucian granddaddy found by the fortune teller was Shao Shao Yong Kang Jie, a master of Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty and one of the five founders of Neo-Confucianism, who once worshipped Confucius. Shao Kangjie was very studious, studied the laws of historical development, and wrote The Emperor's Experience in a seemingly mysterious system. Many people may have some impressions of this title. There is a book, praised by many people and widely circulated, called "Four Discarded Disciplines", which was taught by a man named Yuan Lefan in the Ming Dynasty with his own personal experience. Yuan Lefan said that when he was young, he met an expert, Mr. Kong, who died like a god, and gave a detailed account of his fate, including what he would achieve in future exams, how big his official position would be, and how high his salary would be. Anyway, he calculated all the details very concretely. Later, it was amazing that none of the predictions were wrong. Those who have read Fan Si Xun should be deeply impressed by this passage. Mr. Kong is so amazing because he "got Shao's story". According to the popular saying, this "Shao Zi" is Shao Kangjie, and this "Ji Di" is Shao Kangjie's "History of Emperor Ji Jing". This explanation should be said to be good. Besides, Shao Kangjie is indeed a fortune teller in the public mind. He is proficient in the Book of Changes and is the ancestor of many fortune tellers. His Jing Shi of Huang Ji is a heavenly book that integrates fortune telling. Actually, it's not like this. If Shao Kangjie knew that he was considered a fortune teller, he would be very angry. He is a master of Confucianism and one of the five masters of Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty. Scholars went to the temple to pay homage to Confucius. They didn't hang out in Beijing Tianqiao. It is true that Shao Kangjie is proficient in the Book of Changes, but the Book of Changes in the hands of Confucianism is not a fortune teller. Zhu also knows the Book of Changes, which is easy to learn and highly respected, but Zhu is never a fortune teller. Huang Shi is not a fortune-telling book at all, and it has nothing to do with fortune-telling. Generally speaking, this is a historical chronology compiled by Shao Kangjie according to his own special system. Modern historians sometimes have to refer to this book when they carry out the Zhou Dynasty Dating Project to determine the age of ancient history. Shao Kangjie did infer the historical cycle with the help of rumors and tried to sort out a historical development system, but he failed to accurately explain the past, let alone accurately predict the future. Therefore, the difference between folklore and reality is similar to the difference between Zhuge Liang and the real Zhuge Liang in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and the difference between Huangshi in folklore and the real Huangshi is similar to the difference between Zhuge Liang's application and Zhuge Liang's real works. Not only that, there is also the so-called "three yuan nine luck" school in Feng Shui, which is also derived from here. By the way, we can generally know from the title that the book Huang Shi is not a fortune-teller, and we just want to review Ji Zi, the most important sage of Shang Dynasty mentioned by Mencius. What is "Huang Ji" in the title of the book? Reading without asking for answers is easy to be fooled. This "imperial pole" comes from two classics, Shangshu, which Mencius often quoted. At that time, Shang Zhouwang was so tyrannical that he couldn't tell the good from the bad, so he locked up the Kiko that Mencius had just praised. Later, the Zhou Dynasty was cut and the business was destroyed. Knowing that Ji Zi was a saint, he let him out of prison. Two years later, Zhou Wuwang came to see Ji Zi and asked Ji Zi an embarrassing question: "Why did the Shang Dynasty perish?" Ji Zi said to himself, "Don't be a good girl when you get cheap!" Ji Zi didn't want to say what his scandal was, and Zhou Wuwang didn't want to force him, so he turned to ask him how to help people in heaven. "The way God keeps people safe—"Ji Zi said, "has nine principles." Zhou Wuwang quickly called the historian in. "Teacher Ji Zi is going to give an important speech. Write it down for me. " Historians quickly recorded this "Nine Principles", which was called "Hong Fan and Nine Ugliness" in classical Chinese, and later became a classic of China's political thought (as to whether these words were really said by Ji Zi, I'm really not sure). Ji Zi said, "In those days, when guns drew water, God was angry. If we don't give him the Nine Principles, the world will be in chaos. Later, after the gun was finished, my son went on to control the water, which was very successful. Later, he managed all the people and was very diligent. When God was happy, he gave him nine principles. Since then, he has a way of governing the country and the world is stable. " I won't elaborate on the nine principles of the goddess. I just want to tell you that the fifth principle is called "the emperor pole built for use". You see, this is where the "Emperor Pole" in Shao Kangjie's "Emperor Pole Jing Shi" came from. So, what is the "imperial pole"? Quite simply, this is the rule of kings. Ji Zi has specific explanations, such as the king should set a good example for ministers, ministers should not form a party for personal gain, and everyone should take the right path instead of the wrong path, and so on. As for these laws, it is necessary to publicize them widely, set off a nationwide upsurge of studying Huang Ji's thought, let ministers use Huang Ji's thought to guide their work, and even slaughterhouses should claim to use Huang Ji's important thought to guide slaughter work, and so on. This is the emperor's pole, which is the ruling principle of Ji Zi. Ji Zi's "Nine Domains of Hong Fan" really has a domain about fortune-telling. Article 7 "Outwits and puzzles" means what to do if there is a problem. Everyone can guess that Ji Zi came from Shang Dynasty, and tortoise shell was the most popular divination in Shang Dynasty. Isn't that when Oracle Bone Inscriptions appeared? Therefore, when confronted with a difficult problem, I naturally went to divination, while Ji Zi continued to talk about how to divine and so on. Then, if Shao Kangjie really wrote a fortune-telling book, it should be called The Book of Doubts, not The Quiet History of Huang Ji. Say a word from Huang Ji. Everyone knows that the new emperor's coming to power is called "Deng Ji". Isn't it often said in TV series that "the emperor ascended the pole"? The "pole" ascended by the emperor is "Huang Ji", which means that the emperor accepted the God-given strategy of governing the country and was ordered by heaven. The emperor is willing to accept this rhetoric of "being ordered by heaven" and can put a layer of legitimacy on his identity. Similarly, the founding monarch is most willing to accept the theory of historical development cycle, because it means that the last cycle ends and a new cycle begins, in the final analysis, it is the legalization of identity. They used this thing to fool the people, but many people really believed it. This idea of looking for rules from the historical cycle and the personnel cycle is just like the so-called technical analysis made by people who are now trading stocks with the K-line chart, and its accuracy is the same as the probability of flipping a coin to see the pros and cons. More than two thousand years ago, Mencius made a simple and forgivable mistake with his simple understanding of history, but until modern society, many people still make such mistakes again and again, which makes people feel a little incomprehensible.