Zhu's anecdote

Half an acre of square pond is like a mirror, crystal clear, and the sky and clouds are floating on the water. Why is the water in the pond so clear? Because there is inexhaustible living water for it.

-Zhu's reading thought

A poem entitled "Thoughts on Reading" met Zhu, a famous scholar in the Southern Song Dynasty. By chance, I walked into Wuyuan, Zhu's hometown, and got a close look at the master's past.

The courtyard is quiet and cool, and it exudes a long and quaint atmosphere everywhere.

Zhu was born in a Confucian family, and his father Zhu Song attached great importance to Zhu's education. The legend in the History of the Song Dynasty goes like this: "Xi is young and ignorant, but he can speak. His father pointed to heaven and said,' Heaven is also heaven', and Xi said,' What is heaven?' "This legend shows that Zhu was a curious person since he was a child. Because Zhu Song is a Confucian scholar who grew up under the education of Confucianism, his requirements for his son are naturally carried out in accordance with the goal of being a saint in Confucianism. According to the Chronicle of Zhu Zi, at the age of 65,438+00, Zhu began to "learn from sages", and he was obsessed with learning The Great University, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects of Confucius and Mencius every day. He himself recalled: "When I was ten years old, I read Mencius and liked saints like me." From then on, I decided to be a saint. Later, he taught his students that "mortals should take the responsibility of saints".

Zhu was taught by his father since childhood, and he was smart and imaginative. According to legend, Zhu Song once asked someone to tell a fortune, and the fortune teller said, "More is rich, more is expensive. Giving birth to a child is Confucius. " This is a fact, and I am afraid that future generations will attach importance to it. Zhu has become a great scholar. There is a Nanjian House near Jianyang (later Yanping House, now Nanping City), which is the original spreading center of Taoism in the south. Zhu is keen on Taoism and has close contacts with local Taoists. This environment had a profound impact on Zhu's life. He inherited the theory of Dong Li, a branch of Luoxue at that time, and created the representative work of Neo-Confucianism, Fujian Studies, which, together with Mr. Nan Jiansan, was called "the four sages of Yanping". Zhu was taught by his father since childhood and was brilliant. At the age of four, my father pointed to the sky and said, "This is the sky." Zhu asked, "What's in the sky?" His father was frightened. He is diligent in thinking and learning. At the age of eight, he could read the Book of Filial Piety. He wrote an inscription in the book saying, "If it is not, it is not human." Zhu's father died when he was ten years old. His father's friends Liu Zi, Liu Mianzi and Hu Xian were all Taoist priests. At that time, some Taoists rejected Buddhism and some were obsessed with learning Buddhism. They all belong to the latter. Therefore, Zhu is not only keen on Taoism, but also interested in Buddhism. In the seventeenth year of Shaoxing (1 147), 18-year-old Zhu took part in rural tribute. It is said that he was admitted with the theory of Buddhism and Zen. Examiner Cai Zi also said to people: "In my next life, all three strategies want to handle important matters for the court, and the future is very special."

In the Southern Song Dynasty, when Zhu was young, he passed through Putian from Jianyang to Tongan County, Quanzhou, and met him in Jiakuang Caotang. Zheng Qiao, who is in his fifties, is very polite to him. During the dinner, there was only a dish of ginger and a dish of salt on the table. When Zhu An saw it, he was secretly unhappy. Zhu took out a manuscript, please revise it. Zheng Qiao respectfully took it and put it on the table. Then, he lit a wick and suddenly there was a different smell in the room. At this time, just a gust of mountain wind blew out of the window, and the manuscript was opened page by page. Zheng Qiao stood motionless, as if blown down by the breeze. When the wind passed, he slowly turned around and returned the manuscript to Zhu. The two talked heart-to-heart for three days and nights. Zhu was very happy and specially wrote a pair of couplets to express his gratitude. The joint sentence is: clouds will know bamboo, and mountains will be glorious.

After Zhu left the thatched cottage, he walked to the place where he dismounted last time. His buddhist nun said discontentedly, "What kind of saint is this old man? He is too rude to Xianggong. No wine, no vegetables, only a plate of ginger and a plate of salt, thanks to him. " Zhu said, "Isn't that salt only found in the sea? Isn't that ginger only found in the mountains? Everything you do in the mountains and seas is a big gift! "

Buddhist nun: "Xianggong's manuscript, he doesn't even read it ..." Zhu: "Didn't you see it? When I sent him a manuscript, he specially lit a wick incense and was very respectful to me; When Feng opened the page, he finished reading the manuscript. He told me a lot of good ideas, and he can recite the original sentence in the manuscript, which is admirable. " Buddhist nun: "Xianggong came all the way to see him. But when he left today, he didn't even give a ride. "

Zhu Tao said, "I sent it to the gate of the thatched cottage, and I have already paid my respects. An inch of time and an inch of gold, we scholars, every minute is precious. "

Just then, there was a loud noise in the grass ahead, and a five-colored pheasant flew overhead. Two people couldn't help looking back, but see Zheng Qiao still standing in front of the thatched cottage in the distance, maintained the original posture of fujian, holding a book. Zhu smiled and said, "Look, he is still standing at the door, not forgetting to study. He is really a saint. "

Zhu has a foot disease, and once a quack came to treat him. After acupuncture, Old Master Q felt that his legs and feet were lighter. Zhu was very happy and gave the Taoist a poem: "I walked on a thin bamboo for many years, but I didn't expect acupuncture to be really magical." The child who threw the crutches out laughed. Is this the old man who used to crawl? The Taoist priest took Zhu's poems and left. "。 A few days later, Zhu's foot disease recurred, and it was more serious than before acupuncture. I quickly sent someone to chase the Taoist priest, and I don't know where I fled. Zhu sighed: "I don't want to punish him, I just want to get back the poem I gave him, so as not to make a bluff and miss the treatment of others." "

These light and even humorous anecdotes add luster to Zhu's serious lecture life.