Tu Shu's anti-divination school

In the first stage, especially after the discussion of White Tiger View, criticizing divination theory became an important mission of jurists at that time. Huan Tan, Wang Chong and others' angry words broke the dreary situation that Confucian classics and divination dominated the whole country, and laid a new foundation for the development of law. Huan Tan (23 BC-A.D. 50) once wrote that evil words bend the law. When Guangwudi met him, he praised this fallacy, which led Guangwudi to be furious, saying that he was unholy and almost beheaded (Biography of Huan Tan in the Later Han Dynasty). Huan Tan kowtowed until he bled, and Liu Xiucai pardoned him temporarily. Huan Tan was soon kicked out of Beijing, when he was over 70 years old, and finally died on the road of being demoted. Throw eggs at the stone, and there is nothing to do.

Huan Tan once wrote a book "New Theory", expounding his academic views on law and politics. Later generations characterized it as the theory of physical materialism. Wang Chong (about 27-99 AD) is a thinker who once again criticized the theory of the relationship between heaven and man, Confucian classics and divination after Huan Tan. He wrote the book Lun Heng, which was an encyclopedic masterpiece at that time, and launched a fierce attack on all kinds of superstitious ideas and unfair phenomena in society, with distinct militancy. With the method of combining facts and logic, this paper makes a detailed analysis of various philosophical problems concerned by the society at that time, showing the spirit of modern science, which is obviously ahead of time and has a far-reaching impact on future generations. But because he opposed divination, he was not allowed to be an official for life. "There is not an acre of poverty to protect God" and he is down and out.

After the second stage, another famous astronomer and mathematician, Zhang Heng, rose up and launched a struggle against divination theology. There are two main aspects in the struggle between Zhang Heng and Chen Wei. First of all, the debate about the calendar

Observing astronomical phenomena in ancient times was out of theological needs, but if it was inconsistent with astronomical projection, it would also harm the interests of the ruling group. So the emperor personally presided over the reform of the calendar in order to conform to the astronomical phenomena. The calendar of the Han Dynasty has been revised several times. In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the Zhuan Xu calendar of the Qin Dynasty was used, and the calendar formulated by Luo was used by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. In the second year of Yuanhe in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 85), it was changed to a calendar. The four-year calendar was a relatively accurate calendar at that time, but there were also some phenomena that were inconsistent with the astronomical phenomena. So there was a discussion about changing the calendar. In the second year of Yan Guang (A.D. 123, 44 years have passed since the White Tiger View Conference), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty organized courtiers to discuss the calendar. The reason is that some people criticized the scientific four-part calendar of the Eastern Han Dynasty used at that time, and suggested that it should be changed to the corresponding Jia Li. Others, starting from Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's "expanding territory and enjoying the country for a long time", think that taichu calendar should be adopted. According to Hanshu Fa, Zhang Heng was appointed Shang Shulang at that time. Zhang Heng and another businessman, Zhou Xing, refuted and heckled the above two views, leaving the supporters of these two wrong views speechless.

Zhang Heng and Zhou Xing also studied the astronomical observation records for many years, compared them with the theoretical calculations of various calendars, and put forward the appraisal. They think that the tropic year and the length of the moon in the Nine Daos Law are more accurate than those in taichu calendar and Jili in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and propose to further supplement and modify Jili with the Nine Daos Law. This method was put forward by our ancestor Jia Kui. This is a theory about the speed of the moon. Before the "Nine Roads" came into being, people thought that the speed of the moon was uniform and the duration was flat (the value of each lunar month was the same). According to the observation results, Jia Kui and others thought that the speed of the moon was uneven after the formulation of the Han Dynasty. Therefore, the calendar should be based on the "new moon" (the value of each lunar month is different). This is a scientific understanding that conforms to the actual operation of the moon, but it was not adopted at that time. Zhang Heng once again put forward Jia Kui's "Nine Methods", which was very correct at that time. Zhang Heng pointed out in particular that all theories can only become truth if they conform to nature. If they are subjectively distorted, it is "leaving doubts as false". However, the opposition used the "Nine Laws" to compile calendars for three consecutive months and two consecutive months, which did not conform to the habit of thousands of years and hindered the application of the "Nine Laws". Han Andi, who was confused by the opinions of various factions, was very upset and had to put aside the matter of changing the calendar. Zhang Heng and Zhou Xing suggested adopting the Nine Laws, which was the most reasonable and progressive at that time, but failed to pass in this big discussion, which was a loss in the legal history of China. The implementation of the "Nine Ways" has been delayed for more than half a century. Under the background of the popularity of divination, the road to science is full of twists and turns.

Although the "Nine Laws" have not been adopted, it is scientific. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were often errors in solar eclipse prediction in calendar calculation. Liu Hong's "dry calendar" finally adopted the "nine methods", which greatly promoted the progress of the calendar. Those who change the calendar on the grounds of divination will eventually fail.

Second, "refuting illusions"

Zhang Heng's struggle against divination did not stop the rulers from continuing to advocate divination superstition. After Andi, in the first year of Yongjian (13 1), the school building was expanded, the number of students was increased, and a large number of books on divination, longitude and latitude, books and so on were added. The rulers even stipulated that the Seven Jingwei were "internal learning" and the Confucian Five Classics were "external learning". In other words, the book of divination is arranged above the Confucian classics. Only by mastering divination can we successfully embark on the official career. As an official, Zhang Heng was very dissatisfied with this. He believes that divination is illusory, not the method of saints, but an insult to Confucian classics. Confucianism strives to learn divination to add evil words, just as capital seeks fame and reputation. In the second year of Shun Di Yang Jia (AD 133), he was promoted to lieutenant, so he presented his own "Refutation of Illusion" to Shun Di:

It's said that the sage's insight into the dharma calendar focuses on good and bad luck, divination is the most important, and the nine palaces are miscellaneous. After the test of Tao, this is all. Or watching the disobedience and warmth of the stars, or watching the tortoise's raiders, and the words of witchcraft, these are not skills. There are statements before and signs after, so the wise are expensive, which is called the book of divination. Since the Prophet, very few people have known it. It is a great event to take Qin from Han and fight hard.

At this time, if Xiahou wins, Meng's disciples will be famous for Taoism, and they didn't say anything. Liu Xiang and his son took the school secretary and read nine streams without recording. After the funeral, I began to smell.

"Shangshu" Yao made a gun to cure the flood. After nine years of failure, the gun died and Yunis prospered; And "Spring and Autumn Annals" predicted that * * * could be used to control water. All predictions are that the Yellow Emperor attacked Chiyou, but the poem predicted that Chiyou was defeated, and then Yao was ordered.

In Yuan Ming Pao in the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a story about the bus class and Mo Zhai. Look at the warring States period, not the spring and autumn period. Some people say that it is not beneficial, and the place that is beneficial is in the Han Dynasty. Its name is Sanfu Zhu Ling, ranking first in the world. As for Tu, he finally became an emperor. The number of one volume is different from each other. A sage's words have no power. Almost a hypocrite, in order to get information from the world. I served Jia Kui in the past and looked forward to more than 30 things.

You can't say anything if you are optimistic. As for Wang Mang's usurpation of the throne, what does it mean that the 80 articles will not be returned when a disaster strikes in the Han Dynasty? Then you know that the picture is also a time of mourning. And the six arts of Heluo, the record has been set, and there is no room for future generations to usurp. The Song scene of Qinghe River in Yongyuan County, therefore, the calendar is used to infer the flood, but it is actually called Dong Ban, or abandoned his family and went into the mountains, but all of them are invalid. The re-adoption in previous lives proved this point. As for permanent reunification, we can't know.

This is all bullying the world and disregarding the customs. It is ignorance of the situation, which is more natural and false. It is forbidden to correct, and Fa Li, Jiu Gong and Feng Jiao are effective; Stone mill is willing to learn; Actually, it's called a book that doesn't take up space. For example, you are still drawing a picture, you are drawing a dog and a horse, but you are good at being a ghost. Reality is difficult, but hypocrisy is not poor. It is advisable to collect the divination and ban it; Then Zhu Xi was dazzling and classic.

The above is excerpted from Ye Fan's Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Volume 59, Zhang Hengchuan.

In this essay, Zhang Heng first discusses the history and development of prophecy, pointing out that prophecy is not made by saints, but fabricated by villains for promotion and wealth. He said that Liu Bang conquered the world in the early Han Dynasty and succeeded by force. Even Xiahou Sheng, Meng and others who like to talk about martial arts didn't mention it. When he became emperor, he observed a moment of silence for the emperor and ordered Liu Xiang and Liu Xin to proofread the secret mansion. There was no prophecy in the compiled bibliography. It was not until the funeral that I heard of a prophecy. He said that the prophet said it was true. Since divination can predict the future, the biggest disaster in the Western Han Dynasty is Wang Mang's usurpation of power. Why didn't they warn in advance? In the first year of Yong (89 ~ 105), Song Jing, an expert in divination, said that he could predict floods, which scared many people to abandon their homes and businesses and flee into the deep mountains. As a result, there was no flood, so Song Jing had to use the historical flood to clear his name. Finally, Andi is required to check all divination books and ban them completely, so as to prohibit them from continuing to wreak havoc on society and poison the world.

The purpose of Zhang Heng's criticism of divination is that "Zhu Xi is dazzled and the classics are flawless", and his opposition to divination is not thorough. While criticizing the hypocrisy of divination, he also said that "divination, Jiugong and Fengjiao are all effective", and he criticized divination with the theory of Yin and Yang numerology. Even so, it is commendable to dare to persuade the emperor to destroy the fraudulent letter from a professional point of view, which requires a great spirit of adventure. Before this, some people criticized Chen Wei, but all of them were persecuted and attacked without exception. Huan Tan was almost beheaded because he said in front of Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu that divination was fabricated by some villains. Later, Huan Tan, who was over 70 years old, was expelled from Beijing and eventually died on the way. Others, such as Zheng Xing and Yin Min (the old ministers who helped the Guangwu Sect determine divination in the second year of Jianwu), expressed some doubts about divination and were also condemned or exiled. Wang Chong, the author of Lun Heng, was also banned from being an official for life because he opposed divination. "There is not an acre of poverty to protect God" and he is down and out. Zhang Heng dared to publicly expose the falsehood of divination in front of the emperor. Presumably, Zhang Heng also understands that if you want to convince the monarch, you must convince the emperor from a more professional perspective, which can not only correctly guide the problem, but also cleverly protect yourself. This fearless spirit of struggle, which is not afraid of power and sticks to the truth, has the courage to fight against Chen Wei, a villain, and is admired by future generations. Because of some Zhang Heng's insistence, the truth came out.

Zhao Mingcheng, an epitaph in the Song Dynasty, once said: "The science of divination flourished in the late Western Han Dynasty and decayed in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and Ping Zi alone did it."