“道尽高,言尽醇”——写在教育家张载诞辰1000周年

Profound Ideology and Mellow Expressions——Commemorating the 1000th Birth Anniversary of Distinguished Educator Zhang Zai

中国11世纪杰出教育家张载面对北宋前期的社会矛盾,出于重新确立儒学地位的目的,构建了以孔孟和《周易》思想为核心的思想体系,教育思想是其中重要组成部分。他提出"为天地立心,为生民立命,为往圣继绝学,为万世开太平"的儒者使命和社会理想,不仅被奉为后世学校的教育圭臬,也被后人称为"横渠四句",成为中华民族重要的精神财富;他开创性地将人性区分为"天地之性"与"气质之性",据以论证教育对人的可能、必须和"人皆可以为尧舜"的现实可行,恢复了先秦人性论的平等精神,适应并推进了宋代教育的下移趋势;他最先将《论语》、《孟子》、《大学》、《中庸》并提,重视它们的教育价值,开启了以"四书"为核心的新经学课程构建历程。张载的教育思想影响深远,成为宋以后中国传统教育发展的思想源泉。

Faced with the social contradictions in the early period of the Northern Song Dynasty(960-1127),Zhang Zai,a prominent educator in the 11th century,established an ideological system focusing on the thoughts of Confucius and Mencius and the Book of Changes so as to re-establish the status of Confucianism. He advocated the Confucian missions and social ideals of "having an appropriate understanding of Heaven and Earth,presenting petitions on behalf of people on the earth and making a proper settlement for them,re-establishing a value system and a method of discourse based on inheriting the spirit of Confucius,and eventually building a peaceful society." They were not only regarded as the educational standard for traditional schools,but also acclaimed as the "Four Famous Quotes from Mr. Hengqu" by later generations,thus becoming spiritual wealth of the Chinese people. Also,he creatively distinguished human nature into the "nature of heaven and earth"(innate human nature)and the "nature of temperament"(acquired human nature)so as to demonstrate the possibility and necessity of education for human beings and the feasibility of the assertion that "everyone doing good can make a difference to the world," thus restoring the equal spirit according to the theory of human nature in the pre-Qin Dynasty and promoting the popularization of education in the Song Dynasty. Being the first to put together the Analects of Confucius,the Book of Mencius,the Great Leaning,and the Doctrine of the Mean,he attached importance to their educational value,and commenced the construction of the curriculum of Neo-Confucian Classics by focusing on the "Four Books." His educational thoughts exerted a far-reaching influence,and became the ideological source of traditional Chinese education after the Song Dynasty.