"PS: Some book friends feel that the recent chapters are too hardcore, in fact, the author is more tired of finding information to write, but since he wrote about the pre-Qin hundred schools, it must be simple about the origin and development, not to mention that the Taoist and famous masters were all prominent scholars at that time, otherwise the storytelling of the novel will be missing, after all, the protagonist will meet other celebrities of the hundred schools of thought in the future, such as Mencius, Xunzi, Mozi, etc. After this chapter, there is basically nothing hardcore in the Song Kingdom chapter, so you don't need to worry."

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There are three main reasons why Zhuangzi wanted to use the ideas of famous scholars to dilute the influence of Confucianism on his disciple Meng Zhong.

First, the idea of mastery is the study of the "similarity and difference" of all things, the "name and reality" and the corresponding relations, which is very consistent with Taoist thought.

Second, Huizi was a close friend of Zhuangzi, and if Zhuangzi did not exclude what doctrines were taught to his disciples, then in addition to Taoist thought, there were only famous scholars.

For the rest, Confucianism, Legalism, Bingjia, and even Moism, Zhuangzi was more or less dissatisfied in his heart.

Third, Zhuangzi always believed that Huizi "still has an unfinished tree", and that the theories put forward by Huizi were only very crude and immature ideas - in this regard, Zhuangzi once said that "the name is the coarseness of things", and hoped that Huizi would study the inner relationship of all things in the world more deeply, rather than sticking to appearances, but unfortunately, Huizi devoted a large part of his energy to governing the country as Wei Xiang and organizing "Lianheng to resist Qin", so that he did not have the spare energy to do further in-depth research.

This made Zhuangzi feel very unswerving.

In line with the idea of gradual progress, Zhuangzi first taught Meng Zhong and his disciples Huizi's "Treatise on Jianbai".

The core of the treatise "On the Solid White" is the theoretical idea of a solid white stone.

This solid white stone has three different concepts of "hard", "white" and "stone" at the same time.

Among them, "white" and "stone" can be observed by human eyes.

But "firmness" needs to be touched by human hands to feel it.

Therefore, when people only observe with their eyes, they come to the conclusion that it is "white stone"; And when you close your eyes and touch them with your hands, you come to the conclusion that "solid stone".

It is only when you see with your eyes and touch with your hands that you come to a conclusion that you are "solid white stone".

However, since the "names" of these three are different, can it be said that these three are actually different objects?

Keiko's thought is to study the "name" and "reality" of things, and the relationship between the two. [PS: Gongsun Long's theory of "leaving Jianbai" is to cut Keiko's Jianbai theory, falsely claiming that "white stone" and "solid stone" are different objects, even if they actually appear on the same item at the same time. 】

In general, Keiko's "Theory of Solid Whiteness" is still relatively simple and unpretentious.

In contrast, the "contract heterogeneity" he put forward is much more extensive.

Keiko believes that things in the world are inherently relativity of "sameness" and "difference".

He once said: "Great sameness" is different from "small sameness", which is called small sameness and difference; All things are the same, and this is said to be very similar.

Taking the horse as an analogy, all animals that belong to the category of horses are included, which is "Datong"; Among them, there are differences between black horses, white horses, big horses, small horses, etc., which is called "Xiaotong".

From this he came to the conclusion that "all things are the same", thus uniting the same and different things in the abstract.

Speaking of the "Theory of Contract Differences", it is impossible not to mention Keiko's "The Theory of Pervasiveness for All Things", which is the basis of the treatise "Contract Differences".

It is said that at that time, when Hui Shi and Zhu were talking under the tree, a debater named "Huang Yi" once asked Hui Shi "why heaven and earth do not fall, and why the wind and rain thunder".

Hui Shi answered without hesitation, and later recorded this answer, that is, "The Doctrine of All Things".

Afterwards, Hui Shi sent this treatise to his close friend Zhuangzi, and in the name of asking for an axe, it was actually nothing more than showing off to Xiang Zhuangzi.

Who made Hui Shi, a debater who "debated all over the world", but was always deflated in front of Zhuangzi, and almost never won?

After receiving Hui Shi's "The Theory of All Things", Zhuangzi removed the dross and retained Huizi's ten propositions, namely "The Ten Things of the Calendar", which was recorded in Zhuangzi's "Tianxia Chapter".

The "Ten Things in the Calendar" includes:

One of them: the greatest is the greatest, which is called the great one; To the small without the inside, it is called the small one.

(Something that is so big that it has no periphery to speak of is called the 'big one'; something that is so small that it has nothing to contain is called the 'little one'.) ）

Second: there is no thick and cannot be accumulated, and it is thousands of miles.

Third: the sky and the earth are inferior, the mountains and Zeping.

Fourth: the Japanese side is blind, and the material side is alive and dead.

(The sun begins to deflect at the same time as it is in the middle of the sun, and all kinds of things are created at the same time as they mean that they are dying.) ）

Fifth: the big and the small are the same, which is called the small same; All things are the same, and this is said to be very similar.

Sixth: the South is infinite and poor.

Seventh: Today is the right thing to do.

Going to Yue today can be said to be coming to Yue yesterday.

Eighth: the chain can be solved.

The chain is incomprehensible, but it can be said that it is being solved all the time.

Ninth: I know the center of the world, the north of Yan, and the south of Yue.

I know that the center of the world can be said to be in the north of the Yan country, or it can be said to be in the south of the Yue country.

The tenth: love all things, heaven and earth are one.

Loving all kinds of things extensively, because heaven and earth are inherently undifferentiated wholes.

The "name" of a famous artist refers to a concept.

For example, "noon" is a concept, and when someone shouts "noon", it is already afternoon.

And by the time the midwife shouted "the child has been born", the baby was already dead.

Compared with the obscure Taoist thought, the scholarly theories of the famous masters are interesting to the disciples of Zhuangzi, because the famous scholars have many interesting debate propositions.

Therefore, after Zhuangzi was taught on the same day, the princes still felt that they were still unsatisfied, so they discussed with each other in the courtyard to discuss these interesting propositions put forward by the famous masters.

To Zhuangzi's surprise, his disciple Meng Zhong seemed to really understand the ten propositions of Keiko's "Ten Things in the Calendar".

"Is there such a wise man in the world?"

Even if it was Zhuangzi, he couldn't help but secretly babble in his heart.

Le Jin, who was on the side, even exclaimed: "Ah Zhong, isn't your intelligence actually above Keiko?" ”

Zhuangzi frowned when he heard this, but he didn't show it, just quietly looked at Meng Zhong to see how the latter would answer.

At this time, Meng Zhong said with a smile: "In the past, there were two people who tried to cross the river, and the first person who crossed the river was the slowest, and it took a long time to reach the other bank, and the latter person only took half the time, so the former person asked: Are you familiar with this river?"

The latter shook his head and said, "Not familiar."

The former asked, "Why did you spend so little time if you weren't familiar with it?"

The latter replied, "The reason why I have only spent so little time is because I have crossed the river along the path you have walked."

……

The reason why I was able to read Keiko's treatise so quickly was because Keiko had already explained his thoughts very thoroughly. ”

The princes suddenly realized, and Zhuangzi, who was quietly watching from the side, also nodded imperceptibly.

At this time, Zhuangzi had a great impression and expectation of Meng Zhong.

After the day's teaching, the princes still felt that they were still unsatisfied, so they dragged Meng Zhong to the courtyard to continue debating the propositions of the famous masters.

Le Jin asked Meng Zhongdao: "The eggs are hairy, what is the explanation?" ”

Meng Zhong replied without hesitation: "Eggs (eggs) can hatch birds, and birds have hair, so eggs have hair." ”

Xiang Yu asked Meng Zhong again: "The mountain has a mouth, what is the solution?" ”

Meng Zhong smiled: "If the mountain has no mouth, how can it reverberate?" ”

Le Xu asked Meng Zhong again: "The lonely horse has no mother, what is the explanation?" ”

Meng Zhong replied, "From the moment the foal was called a lonely, it had no mother. ”

"The fire is not hot, what do you understand?"

"Heat is the definition given by people, and fire itself does not have the concept of 'heat', therefore, fire is not hot."

"White dog black, what's the explanation?"

"Even though it's a white dog, can't I name him 'Black Dog'? Even if I name it "rabbit", it can be called a rabbit even though it is a dog. ”

Hearing this, the princes laughed.

For half an hour, Zhuzi continued to ask Meng Zhong about the interesting propositions put forward by the famous masters, but he was never able to stump Meng Zhong, which made Zhuzi secretly surprised in his heart.

At the same time, Zhuangzi also heard the sound of the princes debating in the courtyard, so he went to the door of the house and watched quietly.

I saw Meng Zhong, who was surrounded by all the sons, with a calm face and talking eloquently, which made Zhuangzi seem to see the shadow of his former best friend Huizi again in an instant.

Originally, Zhuangzi secretly praised Meng Zhong's unarrogant and arrogant character, but when he saw this scene, he couldn't help frowning.

He felt that if he didn't do something, Meng Zhong, a young man whose talent was no less than him and Hui Shi, might gradually follow Hui Shi's back path, focusing on argument and using words to persuade the other party, rather than using real truth to convince people.

"Is it a mistake that I taught him the idea of benevolence?"

Zhuangzi frowned and thought for a long time.

The next day, Zhuangzi called Meng Zhong to him and wrote on the bamboo plaque: "Chicken three claws, what is the solution?"

This is also a proposition put forward by a famous artist, Meng Zhong said without hesitation: "The chicken has a left claw and a right claw, but it also has a chicken claw, so the chicken has three claws." ”

Looking faintly complacent, even as if waiting for himself to praise his disciples, Zhuangzi calmly wrote on the bamboo plaque: It is very easy to convince people that "chickens have two claws", and this is also true; It is very difficult to convince people that the chicken has three claws, and it is also false. I don't know if you want to choose the easy and true, or the difficult and false?

Meng Zhong was speechless, and only after half a sound did he give up his hand and say, "The student has been taught." ”

After that, Meng Zhong no longer debated these "interesting" propositions put forward by famous scholars with Zhuzi, but steadily followed Zhuangzi to learn the treatises of Taoism and Mingjia.

Until October of that year, a major event occurred in the Song Kingdom......