Honoring Confucian Learning崇儒學第二十七
太宗初踐阼，即於正殿之左置弘文館，精選天下文儒，令以本官兼署學士，給以五品珍膳，更日宿直，以聽朝之隙引入內殿，討論墳典，商略政事，或至夜分乃罷。又詔勛賢三品以上子孫為弘文學生。
As soon as Taizong came to the throne he set up the Hongwen Academy to the left of the main hall. He chose with care the scholars of letters of the empire and had them serve as academicians while keeping their own offices, gave them the choice food of the fifth rank, and had them keep night duty turn by turn. In the spaces between hearing court he led them into the inner hall and discussed the ancient records with them and weighed the affairs of government, and at times they did not break off until the night was half gone. He also decreed that the sons and grandsons of men of merit and worth of the third rank and above be made students of the Hongwen Academy.
貞觀二年，詔停周公為先聖，始立孔子廟堂於國學，稽式舊典，以仲尼為先聖，顏子為先師，兩邊俎豆干戚之容，始備於茲矣。是歲大收天下儒士，賜帛給傳，令詣京師，擢以不次，布在廊廟者甚眾。學生通一大經以上，咸得署吏。國學增築學舍四百餘間，國子、太學、四門、廣文亦增置生員，其書、算各置博士、學生，以備眾藝。太宗又數幸國學，令祭酒、司業、博士講論，畢，各賜以束帛。四方儒生負書而至者，蓋以千數。俄而吐蕃及高昌、高麗、新羅等諸夷酋長，亦遣子弟請入於學。於是國學之內，鼓篋升講筵者，幾至萬人，儒學之興，古昔未有也。
In the second year of Zhenguan it was decreed that the Duke of Zhou should no longer be honored as the Former Sage, and a temple of Confucius was set up for the first time at the national academy. The old canons were examined, and Zhongni was made the Former Sage and Yanzi the Former Teacher, and the array of sacrificial vessels and of shields and axes on either side was first made complete at this time.
That year the scholars of the classics of the empire were gathered in great numbers. They were given silk and post horses and bidden to come to the capital, and they were raised to office out of the usual order, so that those ranged in the halls of government were very many. Any student who had mastered one of the great classics or more could be appointed to office. More than four hundred rooms of school buildings were added at the national academy, and the number of students was increased in the Guozi, the Grand Academy, the Simen, and the Guangwen as well; and for writing and for reckoning too, erudites and students were appointed, so that all the arts were provided for.
Taizong also went to the national academy several times and had the libationer, the director of studies, and the erudites lecture and discuss, and when they had finished he gave each of them a bundle of silk. Scholars who came from the four quarters carrying their books were to be counted by the thousand. Before long the chieftains of Tubo and Gaochang and Goguryeo and Silla and other foreign peoples also sent their sons and younger brothers and asked that they be admitted to the school. So within the national academy those who struck the book boxes and went up to the lecture mat came to nearly ten thousand men, and such a flourishing of the learning of the classics had never been in former times.
貞觀十四年詔曰：「梁皇侃、褚仲都，周熊安生、沈重，陳沈文阿、周弘正、張譏，隋何妥、劉炫，並前代名儒，經術可紀，加以所在學徒，多行其講疏，宜加優賞，以勸後生，可訪其子孫見在者，錄姓名奏聞。」二十一年詔曰：「左丘明、卜子夏、公羊高、谷梁赤、伏勝、高堂生、戴聖、毛萇、孔安國、劉向、鄭眾、杜子春、馬融、盧植、鄭玄、服虔、何休、王肅、王弼、杜預、範寧等二十有一人，並用其書，垂於國胄，既行其道，理合褒崇。自今有事於太學，可並配享尼父廟堂。」其尊儒重道如此。
In the fourteenth year of Zhenguan a decree was issued:
"Huang Kan and Chu Zhongdu of Liang, Xiong Ansheng and Shen Zhong of Zhou, Shen Wen'a and Zhou Hongzheng and Zhang Ji of Chen, and He Tuo and Liu Xuan of Sui were all famous scholars of the classics in earlier ages, and their learning in the classics is worth recording. Moreover the bands of students everywhere mostly follow their lecture commentaries, and so generous reward should be added to encourage those who come after. Search out and ask after their sons and grandsons now living, and write down their names and report them."
In the twenty-first year a decree was issued:
"Zuo Qiuming, Bu Zixia, Gongyang Gao, Guliang Chi, Fu Sheng, Gaotang Sheng, Dai Sheng, Mao Chang, Kong Anguo, Liu Xiang, Zheng Zhong, Du Zichun, Ma Rong, Lu Zhi, Zheng Xuan, Fu Qian, He Xiu, Wang Su, Wang Bi, Du Yu, and Fan Ning, these twenty-one men, all wrote their books and handed them down to the sons of the state. Since they carried out the way, it is fitting in reason that they be praised and honored. From now on, when there is a sacrifice at the Grand Academy, let them be offered sacrifice together in the temple of Confucius."
So it was that the learning of the classics was honored and the way was held weighty.
貞觀二年，太宗謂侍臣曰：「為政之要，惟在得人。用非其才，必難致治。今所任用，必須以德行、學識為本。」諫議大夫王珪曰：「人臣若無學業，不能識前言往行，豈堪大任？漢昭帝時，有人詐稱衛太子，聚觀者數萬人，眾皆致惑。雋不疑斷以蒯聵之事。昭帝曰：『公卿大臣，當用經術明於古義者，此則固非刀筆俗吏所可比擬。』」上曰：「信如卿言。」
In the second year of Zhenguan Taizong said to the ministers in attendance:
"The essential thing in government lies only in getting the right men. If men are used who have not the ability, good order is sure to be hard to reach. In appointing and using men now, virtue and conduct and learning must be taken as the root."
Wang Gui, the grand counselor of remonstrance, said:
"If a minister has no learning behind him, he cannot know the words and deeds of former men, and how then could he bear a great charge? In the time of Emperor Zhao of Han a man falsely called himself the Wei crown prince, and those who gathered to look on were tens of thousands, and the crowd were all taken in. Juan Buyi settled it by the affair of Kuaikui. Emperor Zhao said, 'For the high ministers and great officers one ought to use men whose learning in the classics makes them clear on the meaning of antiquity.' Such a man is truly not one with whom the common clerks of brush and knife can be compared."
The emperor said:
"It is truly as you say."
貞觀四年，太宗以經籍去聖久遠，文字訛謬，詔前中書侍郎顏師古於秘書省考定五經。及功畢，復詔尚書左僕射房玄齡集諸儒重加詳議。時諸儒傳習師說，舛謬已久，皆共非之，異端蜂起。而師古輒引晉、宋以來古本，隨方曉答，援據詳明，皆出其意表，諸儒莫不嘆服。太宗稱善者久之，賜帛五百匹，加授通直散騎常侍，頒其所定書於天下，令學者習焉。太宗又以文學多門，章句繁雜，詔師古與國子祭酒孔穎達等諸儒，撰定五經疏義，凡一百八十卷，名曰《五經正義》，付國學施行。
In the fourth year of Zhenguan, since the books of the classics were far removed from the time of the sages and the characters were corrupt and mistaken, Taizong decreed that Yan Shigu, who had been vice director of the secretariat, should examine and fix the Five Classics in the Palace Library. When the work was done he decreed again that Fang Xuanling, the left vice director of the department of state affairs, should gather the scholars of the classics and have them consider it once more in detail.
At that time the several scholars had handed down and practiced the explanations of their masters, and the errors were long established, so that they all alike said it was wrong and strange claims rose up like a swarm of bees. But Shigu at once brought out old texts from Jin and Song and the ages after and answered them clearly point by point, and the grounds he cited were full and plain and all went beyond what they had thought of, and there was none among the scholars who did not sigh and yield. Taizong praised him as good for a long while and gave him five hundred bolts of silk, and appointed him supernumerary cavalier attendant in ordinary as well, and the book he had fixed was promulgated throughout the empire so that students might practice it.
Taizong also held that letters and learning had many gates and that the chapters and phrases were many and tangled, and he decreed that Shigu and Kong Yingda, the libationer of the national academy, and other scholars should compose and fix the commentaries and meanings of the Five Classics, a hundred and eighty volumes in all. It was named the Wujing zhengyi, and it was handed to the national academy to be put into use.
太宗嘗謂中書令岑文本曰：「夫人雖稟定性，必須博學以成其道，亦猶蜃性含水，待月光而水垂；木性懷火，待燧動而焰發；人性含靈，待學成而為美。是以蘇秦刺股，董生垂帷。不勤道藝，則其名不立。」文本對曰：「夫人性相近，情則遷移，必須以學飭情，以成其性。《禮》云：『玉不琢，不成器；人不學，不知道。』所以古人勤於學問，謂之懿德。」
Taizong once said to Cen Wenben, the director of the secretariat:
"Though a man receives a settled nature, he must learn widely to accomplish his way. It is just as the nature of the great clam holds water, and yet it must wait for the light of the moon to let the water down; and the nature of wood holds fire, and yet it must wait for the fire drill to move before the flame rises. The nature of man holds spirit within it, and yet it must wait for learning to be accomplished before it becomes fine. This is why Su Qin pricked his thigh and Master Dong let down his curtain. Without diligence in the way and in the arts, a man's name is not established."
Wenben answered:
"The natures of men are near to one another, but their feelings shift about, and so one must order one's feelings by learning and so accomplish one's nature. The Book of Rites says, 'Jade that is not carved does not become a vessel; a man who does not learn does not know the way.' This is why the men of old called diligence in learning and asking a fine virtue."