In thousands of years of cultural accumulation, we have become too familiar with connecting Confucius and "benevolence", and even equating them. But the real Confucius is not the incarnation of "benevolence" we know. He has his own "little temper" and has always practiced what he understands as "benevolence" and "righteousness". Therefore, sometimes, some of the stories about him and his disciples are slightly different from what we think of "Confucius" and "benevolence and righteousness".

One of the important reasons why Confucius and his proud disciples were able to travel around the country all year round to promote their ideas and increase their knowledge was that they could not find a monarch who appreciated and accepted them very much. Occasionally there are a few monarchs who are "wise monarchs" to them, and only occasionally there are a few. Those who can meet these monarchs and have a disciple of Confucius with an official position are considered "lucky" among their fellow disciples. But after further investigation, it seems that Zilu, the "lucky guy", is not very "lucky".

The Tang Dynasty treatise "Fijing" (also known as "Long and Short Classics"), known as the "Little Zizhi Tongjian", records such a story: At that time, Zilu was in the territory of Lu. Shao Di became an official. At this time, the Ji family, who controlled the government of Lu State, ordered the people to dig a canal within five months.

With such a tight construction schedule, the people who participated in the construction naturally did not have a good life. So Zi Lu, a kind-hearted man, generously took out his family's grain reserves, cooked it into porridge and distributed it to everyone. When Confucius learned of this, instead of praising Zilu's kindness, he sent another disciple, Zigong, to overturn the pot where Zilu was cooking porridge and smash the stove and cooking utensils.

Zilu was "confused" and angrily asked Confucius: "Master, is this jealousy because of benevolence and righteousness?" In other words, are you jealous of my ability to do benevolent and righteous actions? As a result, Confucius replied without blushing and without a beating heart: "Husband, the world loves the world, the princes love their territory, the officials love their official positions, and the scholars love their families. If you exceed what you love, it is called invading the officialdom."

The key point of Confucius's words is the last sentence, "To exceed one's love is to invade an official." Just like his old man's famous saying "Jun Jun, minister, minister, father, father, son, son", the "benevolence" he pursued was based on a certain etiquette system. on a basic basis. In his view, the good operation of politics must first be guided by a wise king, and then proceed step by step. At this time, Zilu went beyond the ruler Ji who ordered the canal to be built to express condolences to the people. He committed the crime of overstepping his authority and not abiding by the most basic etiquette. Therefore, the story of Zilu giving porridge ended with Confucius overturning the porridge pot. Otherwise, Confucius, Zilu and others might have "broken the law" and been held accountable.

However, it is worth noting that the story of "Zilu invades the officialdom" does not come from "Discourses". Zhao Rui, the author of "Anti-Jing", had his own reasons for "recording" this story.

From the fact that "Fijing" is called "Small "Zizhi Tongjian"", we can actually roughly understand the writing direction of "Fijing". In order to write this practical strategy treatise, Zhao Rui used a large number of stories from previous dynasties in the book to integrate the thoughts of Confucianism, Taoism, military science, law, Yin and Yang, and other pre-Qin schools of thought with the actual military, political and other fields. Therefore, the authenticity of the story "Zilu invades the official" actually needs to be verified.

And in "Anti-Jing", why does this story end with Confucius sending Zigong to overturn the pot and destroy the stove?

Zhao Rui wrote this in the opening chapter of "Anti-Jing": "The discussion says: The key to running a country is to reward and punish with benevolence and righteousness. This is a rough idea. However, if it is used improperly, it will cause harm. Therefore, it is written "Fijing" explains this in a chapter: "In other words, as early as the Tang Dynasty, "benevolence" was already a generally recognized strategy for governing the country. However, Zhao Rui believes that if the method of implementing benevolence and righteousness is improper, it may cause harm. So he wrote the chapter of the Anti-Sutra.

Zhao Rui quoted a sentence of Confucius contained in "The Analects of Confucius": "The emperor loves the world, and the princes love the territory, and they cannot do more than the one they love, and they hate personal favors." That is to say, when practicing benevolence and righteousness, We must be careful not to exceed the rules. The emperor must love the world, and the princes must love the people in their fiefdoms. Therefore, if Zilu really went beyond the king of Lu to give private benefits to the people, he might indeed be criticized by Confucius.

But later Zhao Ruixian wrote that Zilu once rescued a man who fell into the water. Afterwards, the man's mother gave Zilu a cow, and Zilu happily accepted it. After Confucius heard about this incident, instead of criticizing Zilu, he praised him generously, thinking that it was not a bad thing for him to accept gifts from others.

Zhao Rui analyzed that the reason why Confucius had such an attitude was that he felt that Zilu had not violated any etiquette, and secondly, he felt that this could persuade people to do good and make more people of Lu willing to lend a helping hand to others. . Zhao Rui cited this example to demonstrate that officials should be honest when they should be honest, and do not have to be honest for the sake of "integrity." Only in this way can more people be guided to become honest and good officials.

But when it comes to the next example, that is, the example of "Zi Lu invades an official", what Zhao Rui wants to demonstrate is that the implementation of benevolence and righteousness may bring some counter-effects, that is, based on an inappropriate starting point or using inappropriate methods Practice benevolence and righteousness.

Before Zhao Rui wrote the story of "Zilu's invasion of officials", he also cited the example of Dong Zhuo usurping power. In his opinion, Zilu's behavior of benevolence and righteousness beyond his rank was the same as that of Dong Zhuo, a treacherous minister who tried to win over court officials and deliberately performed "courtesy of virtuous officials".

Thus, returning to Zhao Rui's original intention, Zilu was taught by Confucius when he gave porridge, which is a "fixed plot" in "Anti-Jing".

And because this happened to be in line with Confucius' political ideals, the story of "Zilu invaded officials" was more widely circulated than "Anti-Jing". If Zhao Rui knew about this "follow-up", I don't know whether he should be angry or happy.