(Turn) The ins and outs of Shan Hai Jing
-Solve the mystery of Laozi's Ci Zhou, the mystery of the disappearance of classics and the mystery of a hundred schools of thought contending.
More than 2,000 years ago, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Kyushu experienced social unrest, ideological formation and cultural ups and downs. Its magnificent and mysterious scenes left a deep impression on the history of China civilization, but also left many interesting and difficult mysteries. Among them, there are three cultural mysteries, namely priceless cultural treasure, the mystery of the disappearance of Zhou's books and archives, the mystery of the retirement of the great thinker Lao Zi, and the mystery of the author or editor of the world's wonderful book Shan Hai Jing. There are various indications that these three cultural mysteries are internally related. Let's start with Shan Hai Jing.
Shan Hai Jing is a monograph that records ancient natural geography and human geography. It records the origin and development of Chinese civilization and culture, and the natural ecological environment on which this survival and development depend. The ancient legend "Classic of Mountains and Seas" was written by Dayu and Boyi, who was the sage to control water and soil and Boyi was the minister of forest environment at that time. Most scholars in modern times believe that Shan Hai Jing was not written by one person or in a short time. The book was written in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, or the Qin and Han Dynasties, and some people think that its materials originated from the Yu Dynasty. As for the author of Shan Hai Jing, there are different opinions, either Chu people, Central Plains people or "overseas people". Among them, there are two views on "Zhongyuan people", one is Zhou people, the other is Qi people; And "overseas people" involve ancient Indians, Babylonians and so on.
The representative views are as follows: Mr. Yuan Ke said in the article "The Myth of China and the Study of Shan Hai Jing": "Shan Hai Jing is an ancient book written by many people from the early Warring States to the early Han Dynasty, and the author is probably the Chu people of Chu State." Mr. Mao Dun said in the book Myth Research: "The Five Zang Mountain Classics is probably the book of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. The reason is that it takes Luoyang as the center, and the words are the mountains in the east of Yongzhou and the mountains in the south of Jizhou, which are more detailed. The mountains near Luoyang are the thinnest, but the southeast is the least and the north is the least. " Objectively speaking, "Mountain Scenery with Zhongjing Mountain" gives a detailed description of the mountains and rivers of Chu and the myths and customs of Chu people, which shows that the author has a real understanding of Chu. At the same time, Shan Hai Jing ·Xi· Shan Jing gives a detailed description of the mountains, rivers, myths and customs in Zhoudi, which shows that the author also has a real understanding of Zhoudi. In addition, the title and structure of Shan Hai Jing are similar to the academic thoughts and works of Zou Yan, a scholar of Qi State, such as The End and The Great Sage. Some scholars believe that The Book of Mountains and Seas is closely related to the Zou Yan School.
It is worth noting that in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Zhou and Chu coexisted. Among the countries in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, except the Zhou Dynasty, only the king of Chu claimed to be king. In fact, Chu and Zhou (including the vassal States of the Central Plains) have been enemies for a long time, and both sides have conquered from time to time; Generally speaking, in this case, it is unlikely that there will be a person who can understand the surrounding areas and Chu customs well at that time. But there is one exception, and that is Wang Zichao and his descendants. The thing is, after the death of King Jing of Zhou in 520 BC, the Zhou royal family had a civil war on the issue of succession to the throne. The eldest son of Shu occupied Luoyang for several years, and Prince Gai (the second son, named Zhou) defected to Zeyi. In the autumn and winter of 5 16 BC, he sent troops to support the restoration of the Prince Beggars' Sect (which was responded by the vassal states of the Central Plains), and went to the State of Chu with his scriptures (there should be a large number of bronze ritual vessels of the Zhou royal family), which are recorded in books such as Twenty-six Years of Zuo Gong and Historical Records.
There are not only members of the royal family and hereditary aristocrats, but also officials and scholars working in the Zhou royal library, and Lao Tzu, a great thinker who has worked in the Zhou royal library for a long time, is likely to accompany him. As for the Zhou classics carried by Wang Zichao and his party, they should be quite precious. It should include the documents and cultural relics of the past dynasties (referring to Shang Dynasty, Xia Dynasty and earlier), the imperial edicts of the kings of the Zhou Dynasty, and perhaps the memorials, statements and other documents and files of various vassal States.
According to "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals", "Xia Taishi was finally confused by Jie Li, so he managed his business according to his plan; You are puzzled by the history of Shang Dynasty, and this week includes its drawings. "On the one hand, it shows that the royal library of the Zhou Dynasty has collected cultural relics from the Xia and Shang Dynasties, on the other hand, it also shows that it is an ancient cultural tradition and the sacred duty of library and document management officials to bring books and records to the' country of Taoism'. Therefore, Wang Zichao went to Chu with Zhou Shi's classics. If it doesn't show that he believes that Chu will prosper from generation to generation, then it shows that he is still the legitimate heir of the Zhou royal family (having royal archives is one of the necessary conditions for having royal power). At the same time, during the years when Wang Zichao occupied Luoyang, the royal library of Zhou Dynasty, officials and scholars still stuck to their posts, which was objectively equivalent to standing on the side of Wang Zichao. Therefore, when Wang Zichao went to Chu with Zhou Shi's classics, I'm afraid these officials or scholars, whether they like it or not, can only go with Wang Zichao.
However, when Wang Zichao went to Chu, it coincided with the death of King Chu Ping, and Chu was also in chaos on the issue of succession to the throne. There are indications that Wang Zichao and his party did not reach the capital of Chu, but stayed in the western Hubei area of Nanyang (now Shiqiao, Nanyang City, Henan Province). In other words, Wang Zichao probably didn't give Zhou Shi's classics to the monarch and ministers of Chu, but kept them in his own hands. In the existing history books in our country, there is no record of when and where Chu received these classics, and there is no clear record of the whereabouts of these precious documents. These priceless treasures in the history of human civilization have disappeared mysteriously since then, and they have not been found in the cultural relics unearthed in previous dynasties (perhaps some classics have been unearthed or spread abroad, but people don't know that they are classics of the Zhou royal library). Because Wang Zichao is going to take away Zhou's classics, and he has been expecting to reset them; Therefore, the author thinks that we have reason to believe that Wang Zichao kept Zhou Shi's ancient books in secret.
Therefore, in the historical exploration novel "The Hidden Trace of Laozi" (published by China Foreign Translation and Publishing Company), the author assumes the following plot: Wang Zichao took Laozi's advice on his way to Chu, lied that he accidentally caught fire and burned them, and secretly disguised himself as a business trip to hide Zhou's classics in the caves of Moshan and Danyashan (now Xixia County, Henan Province). However, Huanglan records that Wang Zichao's tomb is in Nanyang and western Hubei, and the local Chao surname claims to be a descendant of Wang Zichao. In addition, today there is a place called Chaopi between zhenping county and neixiang county, which is named after the descendants of Wang Zichao. Therefore, Wang Zichao's secret collection of Zhou classics may also be in the above areas.
According to "Zuo Zhuan Ding Gong Five Years", "In the spring of five years, Wang Ren killed his son in Chu." It happened in 505 BC, but the reason and place were not mentioned. The author speculates that this matter is related to Zhou's pursuit of classics, and he refused to hand over the classics until his death. At the same time, Lao Tzu may have resigned and lived in seclusion until his death because he participated in the collection of Zhou classics. In fact, Zhou reigned for 44 years (died in 476 BC). During this period, it was impossible for Lao Zi to return to Zhou Royal Library and Archives.
It is worth noting that "Zhuangzi Tiandao Pian" records: "Confucius' collection of books is in Zhou Shi, and Luzmou said: Anyone who gets history from Zhou Zhi's collection will return to his home free of charge. If the master wants to collect books, he will try to find out the reasons. Confucius said: Good. To see Lao Dan, but Lao Dan wouldn't allow it. "If Zhuangzi is true, it seems that Zhou collected books from all over the world to rebuild the Royal Library of Zhou because he failed to recover Zhou's classics. Zhuangzi thought that Lao Zi and Confucius had different views, so he refused Confucius' request. Admittedly, after the indoor chaos in Zhou Wang, Lao Tzu's concept has really changed a lot. However, there is another reason why Laozi refused to act as an introducer. In fact, he has lost this qualification, and public activities are not convenient (probably shortly thereafter, Lao Tzu went out to Hangu Pass, leaving a five-thousand-word Tao Te Ching, which has since disappeared).
The reason why the author introduces the whereabouts of Wang Zichao, his party and Laozi here is that the mystery of the disappearance of Zhou's ancient books should be paid enough attention by the historical and cultural circles in China (inexplicably, no scholars have seriously raised this issue for 2,500 years), and the book of Shan Hai Jing is closely related to the above events. During the period of 1995, when the author and the painter Ms. Sun co-authored A New Map of Shan Hai Jing (published by Kunlun Publishing House, the People's Liberation Army Literature and Art Publishing House), they began to clearly realize that the author of Shan Hai Jing (including editors, translators and rewriters) was probably an official, scholar or descendant who followed the classic royal library of the previous week. The reason for this is the following：
1. From the perspective of the chapter structure of Shan Hai Jing, there is a general framework. When there is a writing program or editing policy, there is a writing team that is closely related to each other.
2. Four-character rhyming sentences often appear in Shan Hai Jing and are often used in Tao Te Ching, which has been noticed by many scholars. The author suspects that the four-character rhyme sentence is a rhetoric method commonly used by ancient historians and wizards, which was inherited by Zhou historians, which can also be proved by Shangshu. Therefore, the author of Shan Hai Jing should be a historian (wizard and scholar) who followed Wang Zichao to Chu or his descendants.
3. The contents of Xishan Jing and Zhongshan Jing in Shan Hai Jing are particularly detailed and accurate, which shows that the author is very familiar with the folk allusions of mountains and rivers of Zhou and Chu, which is the specialty of his party or their descendants.
4. A lot of contents in The Classic of Mountains and Seas come from ancient books collected by the Royal Library of Zhou Dynasty, including ancient historical legends recorded in historical archives of past dynasties, reports from various vassal countries and fairy tales collected by the people (ancient myths and legends are carriers of historical information, please refer to Searching for Ancient Information written by the author and published by China International Broadcasting Press). The above books and records are rare to others, but familiar to historians who went to Chu with Wang Zichao or their descendants.
Laozi's Tao Te Ching was a masterpiece at that time, but it was extremely careful to hide all the specific events, which must have its difficulties. In contrast, Shan Hai Jing is also extremely careful to avoid any events that have a specific relationship with reality, so it has its own difficulties. Perhaps, the obscurity of Tao Te Ching and Shan Hai Jing is due to the same reason, that is, their authors or writers try their best to hide their true identity for some realistic consideration. Therefore, if the author or editor of Shan Hai Jing is Wang Zichao and his party or their descendants, then they really have reason to hide their identity. In addition, Wang Zichao and his party and their descendants still have some difficulties of "not being human inside and outside", so they don't want to express their opinions on reality, but concentrate on the sorting and editing of ancient books and documents. At the same time, compiling such a masterpiece as Shan Hai Jing requires the writer to have sufficient time and financial resources, with little or no interference from worldly trifles. Obviously, such conditions are fully possessed by the descendants of Wang Zichao and his party, and this kind of work has become their new way of life and fun of survival.
6. According to legend, Confucius didn't read the Book of Changes until he was 50 years old in 50 1 year BC. We have a new explanation for this, that is, the Zhouyi and other books were originally hidden by the Zhou royal family, and outsiders usually could not read them; However, since Wang Zichao went to Chu with Zhou Shi's ancient books, the original collection of Zhouyi and other books gradually spread. This is because Wang Zichao and his descendants have lost their former source of wealth, and they must find new ways to make a living, including editing, copying, writing and selling all kinds of classics and books (precious original books should have been kept in secret for a long time, but it is not excluded that some original books are scattered all over the world). Accordingly, the author has reason to believe that Wang Zichao and his descendants started the book publishing industry in China, and the popularity of copying Zhou's classics promoted the rise of education, especially private schools, and the prosperity of private schools contributed to the academic prosperity of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period (just as the spread of Dunhuang books contributed to the rise of Dunhuang studies). In fact, the book Tao Te Ching written by Laozi should be regarded as the first book written by an individual in the history of China to expound his personal views. The so-called deletion of poems and books by Confucius shows that Confucius collected some lost Zhou classics and reorganized them into books (in the past, scholars mistakenly thought that Confucius selected some contents from all Zhou classics and edited them into books).
7. Zou Yan's concepts of "Big Kyushu" and "Little Kyushu" probably came from Shan Hai Jing, or from the descendants of Wang Zichao and his party (the ancient Nanyang region was culturally and academically developed, and many talents such as Zhang Heng, Zhang Zhongjing and Chao Cuo also benefited from it). This is because the concepts of Kyushu and Kyushu both contain the idea of taking a place as the center. However, Qi is close to the sea, not in the center of the Central Plains. At that time, only the people of the Zhou royal family (including their descendants) had a strong concept of central unity.
8. The Classic of Mountains and Seas is full of the idea of the four directions of the central government and the unification of the world, and at the same time, it shows everywhere the praise and yearning for a small country that enjoys itself and is self-sufficient. In this regard, a reasonable explanation is that Wang Zichao and his descendants are still deeply immersed in the memory of the good old days. At that time, although the Zhou royal family had only a small territory directly under the central government, it was still a sovereign country that unified the world in name, so it was able to live a dignified, wealthy and peaceful life. Interestingly, Lao Tzu also yearned for the ideal society of small countries and few people in Tao Te Ching. Perhaps the reason why Wang Zichao and his descendants compiled The Classic of Mountains and Seas is an emotional sustenance after losing their country, in order to establish their own ideals in it.
9. In fact, the contents of Shan Hai Jing are both official and folk. Both of them have a central consciousness and can treat distant foreign countries equally; There are not only clear mountains and rivers in Wan Li, but also local products and customs. Obviously, it is Wang Zichao and his descendants who have the above information (the geographical map has military value and people can easily see it) and can describe it with an equal attitude.
It should be pointed out that Wang Zichao and his descendants are the editors, collators and rewriters of Shan Hai Jing, not the original authors of Shan Hai Jing. In fact, according to the author's multi-angle research on the Classic of Mountains and Seas for more than 20 years, it is considered that the Classic of Mountains and Seas is a compilation of four ancient books, namely, the Classic of Five Zang Mountains in the Yu Dynasty, the Classic of Waisi in the Xia Dynasty, the Classic of Yesi in the Shang Dynasty and the Classic of Family Five in the Zhou Dynasty. For discussion, please refer to Notes on Geographical Restoration of Shan Hai Jing and other related papers written by the author.
But today, it is difficult for us to tell exactly what is handed down from ancient times and what is rewritten or supplemented by Wang Zichao and his descendants (it cannot be completely excluded that other scholars later rewritten or supplemented). For example, there is a record about Fengshan in the Eleventh Classic of Mountains and Seas in the Middle Ages: "There is a beast that looks like an ape, with red eyes and a yellow beak, and its name is Yonghe. Seeing it, its country was afraid. Where God cultivated his father, he often swam in the abyss of Qingling. When there was light coming in and out, his country would be defeated when it saw it. It's nine o'clock, you know first frost. " Guo Pu said, "Qingshui River is on the mountain in western Hubei. When God came, the water was red and sparkling, and now there are houses and temples. " As Wang Zichao lives in western Hubei, the author quite suspects that the above records are related to Wang Zichao's trip to Chu: 1, "harmony" is an auspicious name, but he also said that "seeing the country is a great fear", which means "good people have no good news", which seems to rehabilitate Wang Zichao; 2. The name of God's "agricultural father" means to work hard for the people, but he said that "he who sees his country loses" is also describing Wang Zichao's unfortunate experience; 3, the so-called "nine minutes, know first frost", these nine minutes is an important ritual of the Zhou royal family, was taken away when he ran to Chu, it was late autumn and early winter. "Knowing the frost" may be a precursor of the political situation at that time, and it was engraved on Wang Zichao and his party's mind.
As Shan Hai Jing is a monograph on natural geography and human geography, it has extremely high military and political value, so it will inevitably affect its spread. The author speculates that The Classic of Mountains and Seas was compiled and edited by scholars from Wang Zichao and his party, and it was given to Chu as an important gift (Wang Zichao and his party took political refuge in Chu, and of course some valuable gifts were also given to the monarch and ministers of Chu, including ancient books and ritual vessels. In fact, a large number of bronze ritual vessels were unearthed in Jingchu today, which only spread to the upper level of Chu for a long time. Therefore, Qu Yuan had the conditions to read The Classic of Mountains and Seas, and based on this, he wrote poems such as Tian Wen, and never sang again. Before and after, the State of Qin posed a great threat to the State of Chu. For the sake of safety, the contents about the main mountains and rivers in Qin Chu were deliberately deleted, and this part became the lost Zhong You Yi, which is located in the Hanshui and Danshui areas at the southern foot of the Qinling Mountains today (the existing version of Zhong You Yi originally belonged to Zhong You Yi).
Later, the State of Chu was destroyed by the State of Qin, and The Classic of Mountains and Seas was probably collected in the library of the Qin Dynasty with other classics (before that, Wu Jun had invaded the capital of Chu, and I wonder if there was any transfer of literature and classics). Since then, Liu Bang led his troops to Xianyang, and a large number of documents and classics in Qin Museum were collected by Xiao He, which became an important source of documents and materials in Han Dynasty libraries. At this point, the book Shan Hai Jing was gradually known by scholars in the Han Dynasty. Unfortunately, when Sima Qian wrote Historical Records, he failed to quote its materials because he could not interpret its contents well.
It was at the end of the Western Han Dynasty that Shan Haijing became a famous scholar and was known by scholars all over the world. In 26 BC (the third year of Emperor Hancheng's peace), in order to expand the collection of the National Library, Emperor Hancheng asked Dr. Guanglu Liu Xiang and others to edit and collate all kinds of ancient books on a large scale, including the editing and proofreading of Shan Hai Jing. In 5 BC, Liu Xiang's son Liu Xin (later renamed Liu Xiu) inherited his father's business and continued to sort out ancient books. Shortly thereafter, Liu Xiu submitted the Table of Shan Hai Jing, and revised the original 32 Shan Hai Jing into 18 Shan Hai Jing, from which all the editions of Shan Hai Jing we see today originated. In fact, The Classic of Mountains and Seas was valued by people from all walks of life in the Han Dynasty, which was inseparable from the efforts of Liu Xiang and his son and Dong Fangshuo, because they explained many strange foreign objects and cultural relics unearthed in distant countries according to the records in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
It should be pointed out that 18 editions of Shan Hai Jing revised by Liu Xiu and 32 editions of Shan Hai Jing based on Liu Xiu have long been lost. Shan Hai Jing was popular for a period of time in the middle of Han Dynasty, and then returned to loneliness. About 300 years later, Guo Pu (276-324 AD, with alchemist color), a scholar of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, revised and annotated The Classic of Mountains and Seas comprehensively. Since then, The Classic of Mountains and Seas has been re-circulated in the world and is still widely circulated today.
There is another important issue about Shan Hai Jing, namely the relationship between Shan Hai Jing and Shan Tu Hai. Most of the pictures of Shan Hai Jing that we see today are drawings of monsters, ghosts and gods with lines, which are generally derived from the Interpretation of Shan Hai Jing by Wang Chongqing in the Ming Dynasty (with a volume attached), Shan Hai Jing by Wu Renchen in the Qing Dynasty (with five volumes attached) and Shan Hai Jing Cun by Qing Dynasty scholars (with more than 300 pictures attached). Previously, Shu Ya, a painter in the Song Dynasty, and Zhang Sengyou, a painter in the Southern Dynasties, also painted the Classic of Mountains and Seas, but they were all lost. Tao Yuanming, a famous scholar in Jin Dynasty, said in a poem: "If you look at the Biography of Zhou Wang and the mountains and seas, the government will admire the universe. What can you do if you are unhappy?" It can be inferred from his poems reciting Shan Hai Jing that what he saw was still illustrated, similar to what Guo Pu saw.
Whether Liu Xiang and his son, Dong Fangshuo, Sima Qian and others have read Shan Hai Jing is unknown. Many scholars believe that Shan Hai Jing is a literal interpretation of Shan Tu Hai. At first, Dayu was cast on Jiuding. Later, some pictures were painted on the walls of the ancestral temple of Chu, and appeared in stone carvings in the Han Dynasty.
It should be noted that the map of Shan Hai Jing, which has the nature of "looking at pictures and talking", belongs to natural geography map and human geography map, and it is completely different from the later illustrations of Shan Hai Jing because of its connotation of geographical orientation information. The author speculates that the earliest "Mountain and Sea Map" should be illustrated with a large number of pictures and texts (perhaps similar to Dongba characters, as well as some rock paintings and pottery paintings). In fact, the predecessor of Chinese characters is hieroglyphics, and the predecessor of hieroglyphs is pictures; Before our ancestors invented and widely used characters, they experienced a long period of recording information with pictures (combined with myths and legends). In fact, ancient legends about gossip, river map, Luoshu and Bai Ze map were all recorded by pictures, among which the river map and Luoshu belong to natural geographical maps and the Bai Ze map belongs to human geographical maps.
Unfortunately, the ancient physical geography map and human geography map of China have been lost; However, Shan Hai Jing has miraculously spread to this day. According to the author's textual research, "Mountain Scenery in Jason Wu" is a survey report of land and resources in the Yu era (before 2200 BC), and the map drawn at that time was a map of mountains and seas that had long been lost. In order to reproduce Shan Hai Jing, the author cooperated with the painter Ms. Sun. Since 1995, she has drawn 350 fantastic landscapes (published by Kunlun Publishing House), hundreds of fantastic landscapes of Chinese paintings, dozens of landscapes of artistic geography of mountains and seas, and ancient tribal civilization of mountains and seas. On19/999, she created a huge painting "Landscape of Mountains and Seas", which depicts all 447 mountains in the Five Zang Mountain Classics. Obviously, this is the first time in thousands of years, and it has high scientific, artistic and collectible value, and can also comfort the emperor.
In fact, Shan Hai Jing is one of the most precious historical books that record the origin and development of Chinese civilization and culture. It is as important and valuable as the pyramids and terracotta warriors and horses. This is also the reason why I want to explore the ins and outs of Shan Hai Jing for more than 20 years. It's ancient information, so it's necessary for us to listen and listen again. Only in this way can the human survival experience continue.