Brief Account "Book Of Justice" Research

With the foundation of the Sui Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty, the separation of China since Wei Jin period was ended, leading to the unity of the country and the southern and northern academic sects. To forge a more unified nation, Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty took measures in the cultural field, one of which was to unify Confucian Classics, which were split into many sections. Kong Yingda and other Confucian experts were asked to comment and explain the Five Classics. As a result, the Explanatory Notes to the Five Classics consisting of170volumes was compiled, enabling the Tang Dynasty to possess the voice in the academic field.Compiled by Dai Sheng, a Confucian scholar in the Western Han Dynasty, the Book of Rites is one of "Three Rites"; The Explanatory Notes to Book of Rites compiled by Kong Yingda is deemed as one of "Five Classics". The thesis studies the Explanatory Notes to Book of Rites from many perspectives and conducts a multidisciplinary research. The thesis is composed of nine chapters, namely, introduction, naming of the book, brief summary of the book before the Tang Dynasty, compilation, proofreading, semantic studies, explanation of people, things and systems in the book, and analysis of thoughtsChapter One introduces the academic significance of the Book of Rites, importance of studying the Explanatory Notes to Book of Rites compiled by Kong Yingda, and the research methods adopted in the thesis.Chapter Two focuses on naming and compiling of the Book of Rites. It reviews various titles (like Xiaodai Liji, Xiao Dai Ji, Li, Ji, etc.) and the selection of the Book of Rites in the end. The thesis believes that the Book of Rites consists of two parts, compiled into a book and into a volume. Furthermore, it illustrates the seven interpretations regarding compiling of the Book of Rites and comments on their strengths and weaknesses.Chapter Three deals with studies on the Book of Rites by reviewing the the relevant studies in about800years in the Han Dynasty, Three Kingdoms and Wei Jin Period to the Southern and Northern Dynasties before Sui and Tang Dynasties. The other clue is to describe the rising academic importance of the Book of Rites and relevant political, cultural and academic reasons to reveal the academic background for the compilation of Explanatory Notes to the Five Classics in the Tang Dynasty.Chapter Four focuses on the process of compiling the Explanatory Notes to Book of Rites and different versions. At first, it analyzes the life of Kong Yingda by putting the emphasis on his communication with Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty and his achievements to highlight his outstanding academic success, character and political opportunities. Then, it discusses the initial compilation and edition of the Explanatory Notes to the Five Classics to reveal the political reasons for the compilation. In terms of its versions, it surveys the manuscript in the Tang Dynasty, block-printed editions and the copy edited at present.Chapter Five concentrates on emendation of the Explanatory Notes to Book of Rites, examining the version, emendation methods and contents and Notes to Book of Rites by Zheng Xuan, summarizing the characteristics of Kong Yingda’s emendation and pointing out some errors.Chapter Six discusses the textual research on Book of Rites in the Explanatory Notes to Book of Rites. It analyzes and summarizes Kong Yingda’s investigation of the compilation of Book of Rites, naming of each chapter, comment and structural analysis of its some chapters before discussing their strengths and weaknesses.Chapter Seven focuses on the semantic studies in the Explanatory Notes to Book of Rites. The chapter summarizes Kong Yingda’s thoughts on the semantic studies and then analyzes those studies from the four levels of explaining words, sentences, paragraphs and texts. The chapter puts the emphasis on explaining words by observing the explanation from the perspectives of meaning, sound and structure. It summarizes the explanation of sentences and paragraphs briefly. In the end, it distinguishes and points out some explanation errors in the Explanatory Notes to Book of Rites.Chapter Eight discusses the explanation of people, things and social rites in the Explanatory Notes to Book of Rites. It is observed that the book explains those ancient various rites in details. Depending on the academic thoughts of Zhang Xuan and Kong Yingda, the chapter attaches the priority to the explanation of rites system based on the system of "Five Rites".Chapter Nine discusses the rich and deep thoughts about rites in the Explanatory Notes to Book of Rites. On the one hand, it summarizes Kong Yingda’s understanding of origin and significance of rites, fulfillment of rites, his thoughts on books of rites. On the other hand, the thesis explores its political thoughts by analyzing Kong Yingda’s discussion of the relation between rites and politics, advocating the opinion of unity, elaborating loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and justice.