Chapter 030: A Gifted Person
"You have great ambition. You are worthy of being a young man who can write a poem like "Linjiangxian"!"
Lin Zhen praised Shen Yichen for his decisive "acceptance of the challenge", saying that regardless of his academic knowledge, this boy at least had an extraordinary bearing.
"Just now Weichu asked me to help you point out the scriptures. Does that mean that Yichen, you have memorized the four books by heart?"
“I dare not say that I have mastered it by heart, but I have gained a lot from studying for a few years.”
Shen Yichen didn't dare to speak too confidently, but he also couldn't act too timid, so he had to look as confident as possible.
"Well, I'll give you a test."
After saying this, Lin Zhen pondered for a while, and then said, "Mencius said that there are five reasons why a gentleman teaches. What are the five things?"
Lin Zhen chose a passage from "Mencius: The Doctrine of the Mean" as the test question. The translated meaning of this sentence is that Mencius said that there are five ways for a gentleman to educate people, and asked Shen Yichen to answer which five ways they are.
Shen Yichen was almost delighted by this question. Isn't it delivered to his door? The book he was best at among the Four Books was Mencius, and the champion chose to use Mencius to set questions.
Of course, although he was very happy, Shen Yichen could not show it on the surface, so he pretended to be calm and said: "There are those who are like timely rain, those who are virtuous, those who are wealthy, those who answer questions, and those who are private students. These five are what gentlemen teach."
"Then what do you think Mencius wanted to tell the world when he said that a gentleman should teach five things?"
If the previous questions were just rote memorization, then what Lin Zhen asked now was to let Shen Yichen explore the philosophy behind them.
“Teach students in accordance with their aptitude.”
Without any hesitation, Shen Yichen gave the standard answer.
Sun Tixue, who was standing next to him, heard this and couldn't help but nodded and said, "Not bad!"
A faint smile also appeared on Li Tingxiu's face. Firstly, he was happy for his student. Secondly, he knew very well that Shen Yichen was good at "Mencius" and this kind of question would not stump him.
"Well, the Doctrine of the Mean says that governing is about people, selecting people based on their character, cultivating one's character based on the Way, and cultivating the Way based on benevolence. What does this mean?"
If this question had been asked a month ago, given Shen Yichen's familiarity with The Doctrine of the Mean, even if he could answer it, it would only be passable.
But during this period of time, the four words "reading by candlelight at night" are no longer just a joke, but Shen Yichen's daily life experience.
He has basically memorized the original text and annotations of the Four Books!
"Replying to Mr. Zhuangyuan, this is what Confucius said in response to Duke Ai of Lu's question about politics. Confucius believed that to implement good governance, one must have virtuous officials. To have virtuous officials, one must first improve morality, and morality is based on benevolence and righteousness."
"That's a good answer, but there's also a line in The Doctrine of the Mean: 'While the man is alive, his policies are carried out. When the man dies, his policies cease.' So how can we ensure that good policies can be implemented for a long time?"
When Lin Zhen raised this question, the expressions on Li Tingxiu and Sun Tixue's faces changed significantly.
Because this kind of test questions completely exceeded the Four Books knowledge requirements for Tongsheng, and even exceeded the examination stage for Xiucai and Juren. It was more like the emperor personally questioning the candidates who were admitted to the joint examination in the palace examination.
When Lin Zhen asked Shen Yichen this kind of question, those who knew would understand that he was trying to test the limit of his knowledge, while those who didn't would think that he was deliberately making things difficult for him.
To be honest, facing Lin Zhen's question, Shen Yichen was in a dilemma.
From the literal meaning, this sentence in The Doctrine of the Mean is not difficult, and is much better than many obscure and difficult ancient Chinese texts. Even if you call a high school student in the future, he can roughly understand that this sentence means that when people are alive, the government is in power, and when people die, the government ceases.
Lin Zhen now asks how to change this situation and ensure that good policies can be implemented for a long time.
The answer from a modern perspective is actually very simple, that is to change "rule by man" to "rule by law". Fix the policy in the form of law, so as to avoid the situation where the government is in power and ceases to exist after the government dies.
The problem is that this way of thinking is correct in modern times, but in ancient times when Confucianism was the only religious ideology, it emphasized that "law" was higher than "people" and "benevolence".
That is equivalent to you, as a Confucian scholar, breaking through the bottom line of your own political philosophy, which, when spread out, is equivalent to "social death" in popular terms, and your future career and academic studies will be hopeless.
Unless one can defy fate and change the entire social ideology.
So this question is even more difficult for Shen Yichen. Not only does he have to come up with a reasonable answer, but he also has to go against his own conscience!
Looking at Shen Yichen in deep thought, Lin Zhen had a slight smile on his face and was not in a hurry to urge him.
From the previous questions, he could already tell that Shen Yichen had a solid foundation in the Four Books, and his answers were quick and accurate. It even puzzled Lin Zhen for a while. How could someone with this level of knowledge fail to pass the examination to become a student after studying in the private school of Duke Chengguo's mansion for several years?
So Lin Zhen broke away from the restrictions of the Four Books and Five Classics and asked more practical policy essays, wanting to see whether Shen Yichen was just a nerd who only knew how to study hard, or was truly talented.
“Good laws lead to good governance.”
After thinking it over and over again, Shen Yichen finally gave his own answer.
Shen Yichen initially struggled between answering "rule by man" or "rule by law", but soon came to realize that "rule of law" was not a new concept of later generations, but had already been discussed during the period of the Hundred Schools of Thought.
With Lin Zhen's talent as the top scholar, how could the test questions he set be just superficial choices between two options?
If we follow our own heart and simply choose "rule of law", then this answer must be flawed. Where is this flaw?
It was precisely because he realized the problem that Shen Yichen pondered for a long time. Fortunately, he finally figured it out.
That is, the code itself will not automatically uphold justice for the weak, it only provides a basis for everyone to protect themselves. And how to use the code still depends on people. A law that no one abides by is worse than a piece of waste paper!
Xunzi once said, "There is governance of people, but no governance of laws." Therefore, neither "rule of law" nor "rule of man" is correct. Morality nourish the rule of law, and morality and justice should be strengthened by the rule of law. Only when the two complement each other can there be good laws and good governance!
"Good answer!"
Almost as soon as Shen Yichen gave the answer, Lin Zhen excitedly slammed the table and cheered loudly!
He had never imagined that this issue, which had been debated by countless sages and great men, could be summarized by an uneducated young man in just four words.
If we add the previous "teaching students in accordance with their aptitude", it can be said that Shen Yichen's accuracy in getting to the point and his agility in solving problems are unmatched among all the students taught by Lin Zhen!
"He is truly a genius!"
Sun Tixue stood up tremblingly, his tone extremely excited, which made Shen Yichen afraid that something might happen to him. What would he do if he fainted?
Compared to Lin Zhen, who started running a school and teaching only after resigning from office in recent years, Sun Tixue can be said to have been an educational supervisor for half his life and has met countless scholars.
There are those who are proficient in poetry, songs, and romantic stories, and there are also those who can write eight-part essays with great eloquence, but there is really no one who has reached the level of insight and pattern of Shen Yichen at the age of sixteen!
As expected of a student who could compose "Linjiangxian", his maturity at a young age is truly admirable.
Even Li Tingxiu, the teacher, was stunned. He originally just wanted to ask Lin Zhen to help Shen Yichen make up for his shortcomings in classics and prepare for next year's college and provincial examinations.
The test scope turned out to be completely out of line. What was even more outrageous was that Shen Yichen was able to answer the questions, and did so brilliantly...
