Historical evaluation
Zuo Qiuming won the respect and love of the world. Confucius regarded him as a gentleman, respected him as Zuo Qiuming, said he liked him, but also said he didn't like him. "feicheng county annals" (11th year of emperor Kangxi of Qing dynasty) contains: "le zhengzi said in spring:' zi is suitable for fat. Fat is a gentleman. Zuo Qiuming was called "the gentleman of Lu" in Historical Records, and Feicheng was named "the city of gentlemen".
Zuo Qiu-ming is knowledgeable and virtuous. Confucius used Zuo Qiuming as an example to talk about his principles of being a man, and Confucius said he was ashamed of it. Yue: "Miao Yan, make color, full of respect, Zuo Qiuming is ashamed, Qiu is also ashamed;" If you hide grievances and make friends with others, Zuo Qiuming will be ashamed and autumn will be ashamed. " ("The Analects of Confucius Gongye Chang") That is to say, sweet words, slanderous flattery, and servility, this attitude, Zuo Qiuming thinks shameful, and I also think shameful; It is shameful for Zuo Qiuming to hide his resentment and pretend to be friendly, and so is Confucius. Confucius' evaluation of Zuo Qiuming reflects that Zuo Qiuming is an upright, honest and frank person with excellent moral quality, which is consistent with the cultural spirit of the historians of Chunqiu.
Confucius praised Zuo Qiuming's "gentleman" demeanor many times. For example, once Confucius went to Qi State and passed by Fei Yi, lamenting that "fat has a gentleman." It shows that there is an admirable gentleman here, and his admiration for Zuo Qiuming is beyond words. In addition, "The Analects of Confucius Yongye": "Quality is better than literature, literature is better than history, gentle and gentle, and then a gentleman." Wen Sheng's quality can be regarded as a pen of history, and his gentleness can be regarded as a gentleman. He also seems to respect Zuo Qiuming. If Gongye Chang is praising Zuo Qiuming's noble character, Yongye is praising Zuo Qiuming's historian writing style.
Hanshu praised: "There have been historians since ancient times, and they are rich in their hometown. Go to the stirrup of the hole, break on the top, and Qin Miao break on the bottom. Although there were posthumous title before Tang and Yu, the words were useless, so they were not clear about Huangdi and Zhuan Xu. Confucius wrote Chunqiu because of Lu's Historical Records, while Zuo Qiuming thought it was his technical biography, and the similarities and differences were also mandarin. "
After the Spring and Autumn Period, Zuo Qiuming's reputation as a "gentleman" has been used. Sima Qian, a famous historian in Han Dynasty, called Zuo Qiuming a "gentleman of Lu", which shows the far-reaching influence of Zuo Qiuming's reputation as a "gentleman".
In 647, in the twenty-first year of Tang Zhenguan, Li Shimin named Zuo Qiuming as a "master" and built a stone workshop in front of the tomb.
Xiahou Zhan in the Jin Dynasty wrote a poem praising Zuo Qiuming, saying: "The chaos in the world, winning or losing is the worry of military strategists. Qiu Ming is a saint and is interested in Chunqiu. Whispering and fleeing, the side line does not flow. I am gentle and eager to train. "
The Prime Minister of the Song Dynasty also praised Zuo Qiuming in a poem, saying, "I'm afraid of leftism. I'm famous for Taoism. According to the classics, use it slightly. Words have a aftertaste, and people are bound at the end of light. Qingxitu, the land of Guanglu. "
Li Xi, a scholar of Yuan Zhen, and Academician Zhang Qiyan both praised Zuo Qiuming's poems, or called them "the rule of article historiography" or "a man who is blind but not blind".
In the 9th year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty (1530), Zuo Qiuming was named "the former Confucian" by Emperor Shizong of Ming Dynasty.
In the 15th year of Chongzhen in Ming Dynasty (1642), Zhu Youjian named Zuo Qiuming a "saint".
Zuo Qiuming's hometown still has many cultural relics about him. "Dujunzhuang" is the residence of a gentleman. The name of this hometown alone vividly reflects Zuo Qiuming's "gentleman" demeanor. Zuo Qiuming's life story is indeed full of the reputation of "gentleman".
Loyalty to history is the bounden duty of historians. It is this kind of good historian's cultural and truth-seeking spirit that has cast Zuo Qiuming's noble moral sentiment and won him wide acclaim and the reputation of "gentleman".
The life of the character
The world is left as history.
According to later records and related textual research, Zuo Qiuming is the grandson of Taigong XXI, Taigong Shaozi Yin (Mu Gong) XX, the grandson of Chu Zuoshi, and the son of Qi Wang after the establishment of Lu Taishi. His theory may be based on early genealogy, which cannot be completely believed and should not be easily denied. However, according to Zuo Zhuan, it is impossible to call Zuo Qiuming the grandson of Chu Zuoshi.
It is consistent with historical facts and facts to say that the left world is left history, which is consistent with the official system of Shang and Zhou dynasties and should be related to this. Zuo Qiuming attacked a surname and learned a lot from others. He once followed Confucius's "Reading Zhou Shu" and determined to explain the Spring and Autumn Annals for Confucius, indicating that his relationship with Confucius should be a teacher-friend relationship. It is precisely because of Qiu Ming's knowledge, experience and position that he can calmly do the work of Chunqiu Zuozhuan.
participate in the deliberation and administration of state affairs
Zuo Qiuming once served as an official with Confucius, and their relationship was that of teachers and friends. The two respected each other, and Confucius said that they had the same likes and dislikes as Tyumen. Zuo Qiuming also fully supported Confucius politically.
According to records, Duke Lu intended to appoint Confucius as Si Tuleideng, so he called Ji Sun and Uncle Sun Sanhuan to discuss it and told Zuo Qiuming about it. Zuo Qiuming remonstrated, saying, "Confucius is also called a saint. Ruled by sages, people who commit crimes will lose their power. Even if you want to plan with the three companies, isn't the fault of the three companies just in line with this situation? " Duke Lu still doesn't understand its meaning. So Qiu Ming made a metaphor to further explain: "Some people in the Zhou Dynasty liked fur coats and delicious meat, but he wanted to make fur coats and discuss with foxes to get their fur, and also wanted to hold rich sacrifices and discuss with sheep to get their meat, so foxes and sheep quickly hid themselves deeply. So, the man waited for a long time, but he couldn't finish the fur coat and the rich sacrifice. Why? This man's plan in the Zhou Dynasty caused problems. Now, you have to discuss with Sanhuan to appoint Confucius as Stuart, which is the same as discussing with foxes to make fur coats and sheep to make sacrifices. " Therefore, Duke Lu appointed Confucius as Stuart without consulting with Sanhuan.
Zuo Qiuming knew Confucius and deeply understood his political proposition of "strengthening the public and weakening the private". His advice to Lu Gong was a strong support for Confucius' political career.
Compile history and biography
Lu, a Duke of Zhou, preserved a complete ritual and music culture and a large number of historical documents. As a teacher Lu, Zuo Qiuming can naturally wander among them, accumulate profound education, and lay a solid foundation for future writing. Later, I traveled around Zhou with Confucius and consulted the archives in Zhou Taishi, so I became more familiar with the history and anecdotes of various countries and further deepened my friendship and mutual understanding with Confucius. Because of Zuo Qiuming's knowledge, experience and special relationship with Confucius, he can be familiar with historical events and anecdotes of various countries, especially Confucius' theory, thoughts and propositions, and deeply understand the connotation and implication of the Tao in Confucius Chunqiu. Therefore, it is natural for Zuo Qiuming to interpret Chunqiu.
Zuo Qiuming's interpretation of Chunqiu is not like other people's annotations and explanations, but focuses on combining the narrative of historical events in the Spring and Autumn Period and inventing Confucius' way of Chunqiu. Proceeding from this purport, Zuo Qiuming's Biography of Zuo's Family in the Spring and Autumn Period is not only an important work to explain the Spring and Autumn Period, but also a basic document about the history and culture of the Spring and Autumn Period.
In addition to Zuo Zhuan, Zuo Qiuming also compiled Mandarin. This book should have been written after left blindness, and its materials are complementary to Zuo Zhuan, both of which are classics about ancient history and culture.
Perhaps Zuo Qiuming died shortly after the completion of Zuo Zhuan and Guoyu, about before the middle of the 5th century.
Personality achievement
Zuo Qiuming and Confucius lived in the same era. Confucius shared his likes and dislikes and called him a gentleman. He is a noble and respectable Confucian and saint. Zuo Qiuming's works and academic thoughts are an important part of Confucian culture. Zuo Zhuan is an informative and incisive chronicle with high historical and literary value. It is also a famous military work and one of China's historical classics.
Literary works
Zuo Qiuming is said to have two literary masterpieces, Zuo Zhuan and Guoyu. Zuo Chunqiu Zhuan explained Chunqiu with historical facts. It began in the first year of Luyin (722 BC) and ended in the twenty-seventh year of Lu Aigong (468 BC). It is mainly based on notes, with detailed sentences and vivid and concise words, which fully reflects the social and historical features at that time. It is not only an important Confucian classic, but also the first complete chronological history book in China, which has a high position in literature. Guoyu recorded the historical facts of the Zhou royal family, Lu Qijin, Zheng Chu and wuyue from the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period (about 967 BC-453 BC), and concentrated on the words of the monarch and his ministers. It is the earliest national history book in China.
Working day and night, it took more than 30 years, and a biography of Zuo Shi in the Spring and Autumn Period, which lasted more than 200 years and had more than 654.38+0.8 million words, was finally finalized. Its historical, literary, scientific and military value is immeasurable, and historians and literati of all dynasties admire it. The annotations of Zuo Zhuan are quite detailed, and historical events are generally complete from beginning to end. In addition, Zuo Zhuan also absorbed the advantages of other historians and organized their historical materials in chronological order, which made the chronological history books reach a basically mature level.
Therefore, Zuo Zhuan is China's first truly chronological historical work. Not only that, in the compilation of history, Zuo Zhuan also expanded the capacity of chronicle history books: the overall pattern of chronicle is full of changes, sometimes deliberately writing the whole story of a historical event, and sometimes focusing on the experience and activities of a historical figure. This not only expands the capacity of chronicle history books in writing and remembering people, but also helps to make up for the shortcomings that a historical event is separated by other historical events in related years. In addition, in the field of compilation, Zuo Zhuan initiated the column of "Gentleman's Pleasure". "Gentleman's words" sublimate historical events in the form of discussion, providing a garden for historical writers to express their opinions and becoming an excellent historical tradition.
Ideological proposition
Zuo Qiuming attached great importance to the function of ceremony. He believes that courtesy is the basis and means of governing the country, stabilizing the society and benefiting the people, and it is also the norm that "gentlemen" must follow; As a gentleman, we should first put propriety and righteousness in the most important position. "A gentleman thinks of propriety when he moves, and does what he says, not for profit, not for sin" (Thirty-one Years of Zuo Zhuan Zhao Gong). It means: think of courtesy when thinking about problems, consider righteousness when doing things, lose your ambition for profit, and feel guilty for injustice. Many ceremonies embodying etiquette should also be combined with righteousness, and rude behavior should be resolutely criticized.
Influenced by the thought of valuing ceremony, Zuo Qiuming paid special attention to personal moral cultivation. These accomplishments include loyalty, filial piety, faith, righteousness and surrender. He believes that loyalty is a person's best moral character, and the primary meaning of loyalty is loyalty to the monarch: Chu's capsule does not forget to add a good name to the monarch after his death, and he does not forget to defend the motherland when he is dying. He thinks this is loyalty; King Xiang of Chu, who was threatened with a weapon, admitted that he had committed a crime and cut off his foot. He thinks this is loyalty, too. Be loyal to the king and filial to your parents.
Zheng Zhuanggong put her mother under house arrest because she helped her brother rebel and vowed never to meet again. Uncle Yingkao helped Zheng Zhuanggong mediate the relationship between her mother and son. Zuo Qiuming praised Uncle Ying Kao, saying that he could love his mother and pass this love on to Zhuang Gong, which was "pure filial piety". Faith is a gentleman's moral standard, which is not only reflected in personal morality, but also between countries. If the alliance between countries is not based on faith, then even the alliance is meaningless.
A noble gentleman should not only write letters, but also give lectures. Dish, the doctor of Wei, put his righteousness above family loyalty and executed his son who participated in the rebellion. Zuo Qiuming spoke highly of him, calling him a "pure minister". Jean is humility and an important part of the ceremony. If a country can form a good humble social atmosphere, then it can maintain long-term stability. In addition, a gentleman follows good and does not follow evil, knowing that good can't be lost and evil can't last long, so that he can follow good advice. For those who trample on loyalty, filial piety and faithfulness, and have bad conduct, Zuo Qiuming expressed his deep hatred.
Zuo Qiuming believes that the monarch must also pay attention to moral cultivation: to govern the country well, the monarch must first be wise, honest and selfless, broad-minded, know people and be good at their duties; To govern the country, it is also necessary to combine moral politics with punishment, to govern the people with morality, to punish the good and evil, to let the people live and work in peace and contentment, and to eliminate all evils.
Zuo Qiuming believes that we should also attach importance to the role of morality in the military: we must make full preparations before the war, otherwise we should not start work. These preparations include: to have virtue, that is, to consider whether one's virtue can win the support of the people; Do what you can, that is, correctly evaluate the comparison between the enemy and ourselves; Kissing, that is, trying to unite the people you love to get the maximum support; Expropriation, that is, there must be sufficient reasons to participate in the war; Finding guilty means finding the guilty target. Except the second article, "Do what you can", the other four articles are all related to moral justice.