Chapter 6772: 1 Name
Evils sent by heaven can still be avoided; evils sent by oneself cannot be forgiven!
This sentence comes from "Shangshu·Taijia" (middle), which says: "Evils sent by heaven can still be avoided; evils sent by oneself cannot be forgiven."
The meaning of this sentence is very simple. Disasters caused by heaven can still be avoided; disasters caused by oneself cannot be escaped.
As for who Taijia is?
His name is Zizhi. He is the eldest grandson of Shang Tang, the son of Tai Ding, the nephew of Wai Bing and Zhong Ren, and the fourth monarch of the Shang Dynasty.
And how did this allusion come about?
After Shang Tang established the Shang Dynasty, he died after 30 years in office. The inheritance law of the Shang Dynasty was that the younger brother succeeded the elder brother, and if there was no younger brother, the throne would be passed to the son. Shang Tang had no younger brother, so his eldest son Tai Ding should have ascended the throne, but Tai Ding died earlier than his father, so Tai Ding's younger brother Wai Bing succeeded to the throne. Wai Bing also died after three years in office, and his younger brother Zhong Ren succeeded to the throne. Zhong Ren also died after four years in office. At this time, the founding father Yi Yin was in charge, and Taijia, the son of Taiding, inherited the throne.
This Taijia became the fourth monarch of the Shang Dynasty. Of course, although it had gone through four generations of monarchs, the Shang Dynasty was still a newly born country. There was still a lot of work to be done, and because the empire had only been established for a few decades, and the various tribes around it had not been wiped out, the Shang Dynasty was still very fragile at this time.
Therefore, Yi Yin, the founding father of the Shang Dynasty and the elder of the four dynasties, wrote three articles for Taijia to read after Taijia inherited the throne, teaching him how to be a good monarch. One article is titled "Si Ming", which specifically talks about how to distinguish right from wrong, and clearly states what things should not be done and what things should be done. Another article is titled "Qu Hou", which talks about the legal system during the Shang Tang period, educating Taijia to act according to the rules set by his ancestors, and not to abandon his ancestral teachings and love what he wants.
At the beginning of Taijia's succession to the throne, he trusted or was afraid of Yi Yin, a veteran of four dynasties. Therefore, under his supervision, Taijia's performance in the first two years after his succession to the throne was acceptable, but from the third year onwards, he was no longer able to do so. He issued orders arbitrarily, indulged in pleasure, tyrannized the people, and the government was in chaos. He also violated the laws and regulations formulated by Tang. Although Yi Yin advised him in every possible way, he would not listen. Yi Yin had to exile him to Tonggong (now north of Yucheng County, Shangqiu City, Henan Province) near the tomb of Shang Tang, let him reflect on himself, and he became the regent. This is known in history as "Yi Yin exiled Taijia". Taijia stayed in Tonggong for three years and repented and blamed himself. Yi Yin welcomed him back to Bodu (now Shangqiu Gushu Town) and returned the power to him. Taijia, who was in power again, was able to cultivate virtue, and the princes all submitted to the King of Shang, and the people were able to live in peace.
This allusion is about the life experience of this Taijia. He was a good king, but he acted recklessly and was eventually punished to guard the imperial tomb. You know, the imperial mausoleum in the early Shang Dynasty was very simple. It was just a pile of grass, and then an equally simple palace was built on it, which was only used for annual ancestor worship.
In this case, staying there for three years was not a good thing. It was very depressing, and life was very hard.
Of course, this was also in the early Shang Dynasty. If it were placed in the future, such a king would have been killed long ago. Yi Yin would have replaced him long ago. Nor would he be welcomed back to serve as the king again after seeing him reform.
As for who this Yi Yin was? He was also a remarkable figure. He was also a powerful figure in Chinese history.
Yi Yin (1649 BC-1549 BC), surnamed Yi, named Zhi, nicknamed Aheng, "Yin" is not a name, but means "right prime minister". Born in Kongsang in the late Xia Dynasty, because his mother lived on the Yi River, he took Yi as his surname. Yi Yin was a famous prime minister, politician, and thinker in the early Shang Dynasty of China, and one of the earliest known Taoist figures. He is also the ancestor of Chinese cooking and the founder of the Central Plains cuisine.
It can be said that Yi Yin is a very awesome figure. A politician, a thinker, one of the earliest Taoists, and the ancestor of cooking, this is the ancestor of cooking. He is also the founder of the Central Plains cuisine. Simply put, the dishes we eat today are all created by him. Without him, we don’t know what to eat.
Around the beginning of the 16th century BC, Yi Yin assisted Shang Tang in destroying the Xia Dynasty and made great contributions to the establishment of the Shang Dynasty. The theory of "using a tripod to stir the spoon" and "harmony of five flavors" to govern the world is what Lao Tzu said, "Governing a big country is like cooking a small fresh." This allusion also comes from Yi Yin.
During Yi Yin's tenure as prime minister, he rectified the administration of officials and had insight into the people's sentiments, making the economy of the Shang Dynasty more prosperous and the politics more clear in the early years of the Shang Dynasty, and the national strength of the Shang Dynasty rapidly strengthened. For the strength of the Shang Dynasty in later generations and the conquest of the surrounding areas, it laid a very solid foundation.
Yi Yin served five monarchs of the Shang Dynasty, including Shang Tang, Waibing, Zhongren, Taijia, and Woding, for more than 50 years, and made great contributions to the prosperity of the Shang Dynasty. In the eighth year of Woding, Yi Yin died at the age of 100. Woding buried Yi Yin near the capital Bo (now southwest of Henan-Nan Shang-Qiugu-Shuzhen) with the ceremony of the emperor to commend his great contribution to the Shang Dynasty. Yi Yin was worshipped as the "Shang Yuansheng" by later generations.
The king of a country cannot be called a saint, but Yi Yin is called a saint, and a Yuansheng. You can imagine how awesome this person is!
Of course, there is another point that is even more surprising. That is, in terms of medical skills, Yi Yin is the first generation of great wizards in the Shang Dynasty. This great wizard is not the kind of evil wizard, not a magic spell. But medical skills! The earliest great wizards of this kind are all doctors, because they can bring people back to life.
In the earliest days, when people got sick, they either had to wait for the body to recover automatically or wait for death. At that time, medical skills were not popular and were only in the hands of a very small number of people. Because at that time, it was still the oracle bone script era, and it was very difficult to spread the text, so it could only be passed on by word of mouth. This made very few people study medicine.
Therefore, anyone who knows medical skills is called a great wizard.
And Yi Yin's status in medicine was compared with Huangdi and Shennong, and became one of the three saints!
In short, this is an extremely awesome person. As for why his reputation is not prominent. Of course, this is mainly because the Shang Dynasty existed too long ago, and the merits of King Zhou of Shang made the biggest impression of the Shang Dynasty in later generations remain on King Zhou of Shang's tyranny.
In addition, because there were few written records at that time, it was not so well known to later generations.
At this moment, the blood book on the wall after the death of Mr. Jiankang, with these twelve big characters, is really thought-provoking. What does this mean? Who did it?
You know, although the place where Mr. Jiankang was detained was extremely free, the security was also extremely tight. Not to mention that even flies could not fly in, at least no one could kill someone here without being noticed by anyone, and even leave a blood letter.
Who did it?
Gentlemen, a name came to mind!