What is Sutra? The remarks of the sages and sages revealing the truth of the existence of the "three talents" are called the "scriptures".

What is Theory? Words that explain the meaning of the "Sutra" or explain the origin of the "Sutra" are called "treatises."

The so-called "theory", in the sense of the glyph, is "Lun", that is, the order, if further explained, is how to arrange and combine according to the order of up and down, left and right, front and back, in order to be clear and reasonable. Therefore, as long as there is no disorder and confusion in the world's morality and ethics, the classic judgments of the sages and sages will never be outdated. As for today, the scriptures and classics are not a piece of waste paper, let alone a pile of bad books, but as always, they will always be reborn in calamity, not only shining, but also in an era of chaos and strife, which can guide the chaos and set things right, and can lead to the light when a hundred wastes are waiting to be rebuilt. Otherwise, what is the value of culture? What is the significance of civilizational progress? Where did the Renaissance call?

Recalling the past, when Confucius was sorting out the classics, his daily commentary on the truth, even if it was just a few words, was recorded by his disciples. The disciples of Confucius ruled that the simplifications were short and long in accordance with the principles of heaven and earth and earthly humility, and compiled Confucius's former remarks into a book and named it the Analects. The Analects, on the other hand, was the beginning of the inclusion of the character "Analects" in the title of the anthology, and there was no precedent in the past. As for the first article "The Treatise on the Classics" and the second article "The Treatise on the Martial Arts of the Scholars" in "Taigong Liutao", they should be the titles added by later generations. If we examine the stylistic format and content of the previous title "theory", in fact, it is colorful and not completely unified, but there are many ambiguities. Among them, some of them evaluate politics in the same style as those of discussion and peace; Some interpret the classics, similar to the style of biography and commentary; Some discern the gains and losses in the historical context, and go hand in hand with praise and evaluation; Some explain the causes of the article, and the preface and introduction complement each other.

In view of the above-mentioned key points of writing that the author must pay special attention to under different genre names, in general, "discussion" should be appropriate and appropriate, and "speaking" should move people's hearts; "Biography" is to convey the teacher's saying, and "Note" is to proofread and explain; "Like" means enthusiastic support, and "comment" is persistent, neutral and reasonable; "Preface" is for clear thinking, and "Introduction" is for completeness. If all these eight aspects can be covered, then the exposition of a certain truth can be completely clear. Therefore, the theory is "the one who studies the truth of a certain aspect through extensive quotation and evaluation" (to the effect that a certain aspect of moral truth is discussed through extensive citation and evaluation).

If we cite the classic works named with "Treatise" in the past, such as Zhuang Zhou's "Theory of Things", it is based on the Treatise; And the six treatises of "Lü's Spring and Autumn Period", namely "The Theory of Enlightenment", "The Theory of Prudence", "The Theory of Guizhi", "The Theory of Unrelenting", "The Theory of Quasi-Shun" and "The Theory of Shirong", are impressive. After entering the Han Dynasty, Emperor Xuan of the Western Han Dynasty was in Shiqu Pavilion, and Emperor Zhang of the Eastern Han Dynasty was in Baihuguan, all of whom once gathered the famous doctors at that time to jointly study the sage's remarks and the scriptures of the Six Arts, with the purpose of unifying the height of ideological understanding and seeking to maintain consistency from top to bottom in the caliber of knowledge. Therefore, the "Shiqu Pavilion Treatise" (most of which is lost) and the "White Tiger Tongde Treatise" recorded their evaluation and discussion in the assembly at that time belong to the "serious" model of the "Treatise" style. As for Ban Biao's "Treatise on the Fate of the King" and Yan You (read by Boshi and Wang Mang in Chang'an Dun School), the narrative of the characters is concise, and the remarks are high-profile and open-minded, which belong to the style of essays that focus on "historical biography".

Around the beginning of Cao Wei and Huang Chu (220-226 A.D., Emperor Wen of Wei, Cao Pi was named for a total of 7 years), the society admired famous and legalists, and was keen to take responsibility for the name, and the so-called "faith reward must be punished" became a common practice. Therefore, the treatises of Fu Yi (209-255 A.D. Lanshi or Zhaoxian Beidi Niyang) and Wang Cang are very rigorous and meticulous in distinguishing between name and truth. In the early years of Zhengshi (240-April 249 A.D., the year of Cao Fang, the monarch of Cao Wei, for a total of 10 years), the social atmosphere encouraged retro culture, and on the surface it carried out the true and the truth, but in fact it was just a textbook, which was extremely hypocritical in nature. Therefore, He Yan and others focused on talking about metaphysics, and the atmosphere of metaphysics gradually became hot. As a result, Lao Dan and Zhuang Zhou's doctrine of freedom and hypocrisy was on top of it, and it was difficult to distinguish between Confucius and Mencius. A detailed comparison of the papers of this period, such as Fu Yi's "Theory of Talent", Wang Cang's "Theory of Going to Cutting", Ji Kang's "Theory of Music without Sorrow", Xiahou Xuan's "No Matter of Ben", Wang Bi's "Yi Liuxian", He Yan's "Theory of Morality", etc., they not only inherited the classics, but also memorized unique opinions; Not only does the affiliation stand out, but the style is extremely sophisticated. Therefore, their works in this period can be called elite and strange in the papers. In addition, like Li Kang's "Theory of Fortune" (the word Xiao Yuan, the Three Kingdoms, Wei Zhongshan, Human Nature, Geng Jie, is not in line with the customs), although it is similar to the content of more than ten articles such as "Encounter", "Tiredness" and "Destiny" in Wang Chong's "On Balance", but the literary style surpasses "On Balance"; Lu Ji's "Theory of Discernment of the Dead", imitating Jia Yi's "On the Passage of Qin", although it failed to surpass him, it is still an excellent work. Another example is the essays of Song Dai, Guo Xiang and others, whose thoughts are sharp and almost magical, and the works of Wang Yan, Pei Yan and others are not only famous for a while in terms of philosophical speculation on "being" and "nothing", but also famous for later generations. However, when it comes to the cause and effect of the dispute between "being" and "nothing", those who insist on "being" stop at the gains and losses of external forms. Those who stick to "nothing" are obsessed with the freedom of loneliness and chat. They are pinpointed against Mai Mang, paranoid and contentious, Mo is finally, in fact, they do not belong to the bright road of the scriptures. Because the way they meditate, especially the things that they have studied all their lives, are they pursuing the ultimate state of taking refuge in Buddhist wisdom? The Eastern Jin Dynasty is partial to the left of the Anjiang River, and the court is up and down, and within the reach of its remarks, only Lao Zhuang metaphysics remains. Although there are some novel words in this, they are just repeating the same old tune.

In addition to the style of the content of the above-mentioned papers, there is also Zhang Heng's "Theory of Ridicule", whose tone of speech is more like playfulness and funny; and Kong Rong's "Theory of Filial Piety" is just a joke and mockery; Then there is Cao Zhi's "Dialectical Theory", which is like copying a book. Some attitudes like this are not correct at all, and they are completely inappropriate remarks, just like papers.

After listing and browsing the above essay styles, we can look at the righteousness that the papers must generally pay attention to, that is, for a certain aspect of the truth, anyone who can be called "the holy word of the scriptures" must be given a very clear evaluation of right and wrong, right and wrong, good and evil, gain and loss, and good and bad. How? First of all, for the rules of moral knowledge, we must give extreme thought, explore the subtleties, and study diligently from the shallow to the deep, that is, we must know in advance what is going on; Second, for abstract and empty, obscure, and incomprehensible remarks, we should strive to corroborate each other, touch on analogies, and explain in simple terms. The essays thus created are like compiling fishing nets that capture the essence of thought, or making scales that measure all things in the world. Therefore, the paper should be mellow and clean, and should not be fragmented and overgrown; It is important to be tightly knit and not leaky, taboo stubborn and biased and hang a leak; You are planning and taking precautions, and it is forbidden to be negligent and give authority. Therefore, writing a paper is like chopping wood, not only to clarify the texture and character of the tree, but also to do what you can. Because when chopping wood, the knife and axe are sharp and the body is strong, regardless of the wood texture, can cut it off at the waist. Therefore, there are some good speakers who, despite their deviance, can still speak like a reed, not only with vibrating words, but also with the Tao. A paper like this, even if it is meticulous and well-behaved, if it is checked all the time, it will be false and untrue, and it will harm the Quartet. Therefore, the so-called "benevolent and righteous gentleman" must be knowledgeable and knowledgeable, and the common aspirations and aspirations of human nature in the world, how can they distort the facts and fabricate papers that violate ethics and morality? As for essays that focus on interpreting classic words, although they usually seem to be fragmented, they are actually aggregated and regarded as essays as long as they are consistent with the purpose of the original text. For example, Qin Yanjun (a scholar of the Western Han Dynasty) used more than 100,000 words just to annotate the word "Yaodian" in the "Shangshu Yaodian"; In addition, there is also a Zhu Pu (a scholar of the Western Han Dynasty who wrote Kumon) to explain the Shangshu, which has more than 300,000 words. Such cumbersome annotations not only bore the scholars of the world, but also discouraged all readers. However, for example, Mao Heng's "The Biography of Mao's Poems", Kong Anguo's "The Biography of Shangshu", Zheng Xuan's "Notes on the Three Rites", Wang Bi's "Notes on Zhou Yi", etc., are not only concise and to the point, but also well-understood and subtle, which should be masterpieces and examples of this type of literary style.

What does it mean? Speaker, Yue also. In "Yi • Hexagram", it is used as a witch as a tongue; From this, the original meaning of "speaking" is to use words to impress others, or to please others with words. Needless to say, words that have never been excessively pleasing to others must have become hypocritical. Therefore, the "Shangshu Shundian" records that Emperor Shun was not only very disgusted by sycophants' words and deeds, but also was particularly vigilant and took strict precautions. If you give examples of rhetoric, such as Yi Yinyin's discussion of cooking seasoning, he became famous in one fell swoop; And Jiang Ziya's clever words at the beginning of the week were even more prestigious; and then Candle Zhiwu persuaded Qin Mugong to protect Zheng Guo; There was also Duanmu Ci's instigation to attack the Wu State, and the Lu State was lucky to avoid disaster. In the Warring States Period, the nations were competing for power, and the so-called clever and eloquent people sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, not only rising from the ground, but also emerging in endlessly. Therefore, the heroes of the troubled times are scrambling, and all the intrigues and tricks are used to the extreme, and even the intrigue is afraid of being caught off guard. For example, Guiguzi's "Zhuan Pill" specializes in teaching the well-behaved wit of rhetoric, while his "Flying Tongs" seeks more subtlety and subtlety in seeking conspiracy and conspiracy. Therefore, the sophistry of one person is more important than the treasures of the Nine Tripods and Seven Treasures; A three-inch tongue is better than a million armored heroes. That's why there were unique and strange historical figures at that time, such as Su Qin's waist wrapped around the six countries, just because he resisted Qin; And like Zhang Yi fell into the bag of Qin Wang Wuyi, he only attacked from afar. After the Han Dynasty was stabilized, the polemicist lobbyist lost its usefulness. Because there was Li Shiqi who was killed by Qi Wang Tianguang in the past, and Kuaitong was almost thrown into Liu Bang's soup pot later. Above the court, although there is still Lu Jia arguing that his prestige is far and wide, Zhang Shi is good at catering to others, Du Qin is skillful at observing words and feelings, and Lou Hu is happy to agitate his lips and tongue. However, a group of people like them can only bend the imperial jade steps and walk between the seats of the princes and ministers, and they can only perfunctory and echo the trend, and no one dares to compete against the current, let alone turn the tide.

Based on the above-mentioned historical facts, it can be seen that "speaking" is important as things change, and it is necessary not only to observe words and feelings, but also to adapt to changes, and more importantly, to judge the situation so as to relax appropriately. But "speaking" does not only refer to agitating the mouthpiece, but also to writing. For example, Fan Sui's "Dedication to King Zhao" and Li Si's "Book of Exhortations to Guests" are both impassioned and straightforward, although they go against the emperor's wishes, they have become famous. This is the best example of the style of "speaking" in the upper book. As for others, such as Zou Yang of the Western Han Dynasty persuaded King Wu and King Liang of Shangshu, because of his euphemistic words and sincere feelings, although he was in adversity, he was in danger. Another example is the Eastern Han Dynasty Feng Yanjin said that Bao Yong and Deng Yu corresponded to him, not only the facts are not clear but also do not distinguish between priorities and urgency, although they have good intentions, they are ignored. Therefore, whether "speaking" is a verbal discourse or a written word, the key is to be pragmatic and reasonable. Only after being well versed in the environmental conditions and key factors of "speaking" can it be possible to advance and retreat freely, "advance" can achieve fame, and "retreat" can be at ease. Except for some special circumstances, such as deliberately deceiving and confusing the enemy, the usual "saying" must abide by the virtues of "loyalty" and "faith". Because only bold words and shrewd rhetoric are the foundation of this style. However, regarding the style of "speaking", Lu Ji pointed out in his "Wenfu": "Saying Weiye is a lie. Preaching like this is a fallacy, and it will surely mislead people's children.

To sum up: the general speech must be reasoned and well-founded, and the argument is based on the reason and the special explanation. There is no limit to talking about heaven and earth, and there are intervals between the size and the distance; Yin and yang are unpredictable, and there is no hidden ghost. If you ask what to use, it is like a pair of tongs locking the throat and pharynx.