Learning and imperial authority in northern Sung China (960-1126): The Classics Mat lectures

The Classics Mat XXX (ching-yen) indicated a place where lectures or colloquia attended by the emperor were held. Scholars commonly recognized as learned authorities in the lessons of history and the classics were called upon to speak there. The Great Learning XX (Ta-hsueh) provided the theoretical framework for the lectures and legitimated the authority of the learned individual who led them. The Philosopher Ch'eng I XXX (1033-1107), in a series of memorials presented to the Che-tsung XX emperor in 1086, and the Historian Fan Tsu-yu XXX (1041-1098), in his book The Learning of the Emperors XX (Ti-hsueh), discuss the tension inherent in striking a balance between hereditary political authority and the authority of the learned individual. Ch'eng proposed that imperial authority rested ultimately in the ability of the ruler to govern with the good judgement born of a learned and independent mind. He urged the emperor to make a personal commitment to learning, under the guidance of a learned mentor. Fan's Learning of the Emperors provided a rigorous review of imperial history from the Sage-kings to contemporary times. Only a scholar trained in history and in the classical tradition would be able to read such a document without substantial annotation and assistance. An emperor who undertook its study received a "crash course" in the very curriculum that constituted the life-study of any individual seeking admission to the civil bureaucracy through the public examinations. The sage-kings were extraordinarily learned and talented, but human nonetheless. To Ch'eng and Fan, sagely virtue was found in the capacity of the ruler--like any individual--to seek to become learned. Learned rulers could recognize and employ learned advisors, who would offer wise and frank counsel. Through the Classics Mat Lectures, the Confucians of the Northern Sung sought to reach the emperor as an individual and to make him aware of the potential for human error--and human strength--that he held in common with all humanity while preserving and even enhancing the supremacy of imperial authority. Thus, the Classics Mat and the Throne sat delicately balanced by the authority of learning.