The book is incomplete due to missing or
fallen-out pages.(書缺簡脫)
During China's Han dynasty, there was a
renowned Confucian scholar named Liu Xin. His story is recorded in history
books.
The Spring and Autumn Period and the
Warring States Period were extremely chaotic times in China, but they were also
a golden age for Chinese thought.
Many renowned thinkers lived during this
era, each proposing their own solutions to social and lifestyle issues.
Some advocated moral education to foster
social stability, while others emphasised the importance of clear laws in
building a better society.
Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, was
one of these thinkers.
The Confucian ideals he promoted were not
well respected during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. After
years of war and unrest, many of the Confucian classics were lost.
Confucianism began to rise in popularity
with the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty. From then on, Confucianism became
the dominant ideology in Chinese academia and politics.
Liu Xin was born around 150 years after the
Han Dynasty was founded. He wrote an article to the king at the time regarding
certain phenomena of the era.
The second paragraph of this article is as
follows:
Following the establishment of the Han
Dynasty, the country lacked a comprehensive legal system and ritual norms for
governance. The founding king of the Han dynasty devoted considerable effort to
establishing such a system.
He sought out a Confucian scholar named
Shusun Tong, who helped him establish the basic framework of the Han Dynasty's
legal system and ritual norms.
During the Qin dynasty, Emperor Qin Shi
Huang issued an edict ordering the preservation of Qin's historical books, as
well as books related to medicine, divination, agriculture and forestry. All
other books written by scholars of various schools and histories from various
countries were to be burned.
Thus, following the establishment of the
Han dynasty, books on subjects other than medicine, agriculture, forestry and
the I Ching became virtually unavailable throughout the country.
Following the reign of the second Han
emperor, however, the political and economic situation became relatively
stable, and many books by Confucian scholars and other schools, which had
previously been hidden among the people, began to be rediscovered. For
instance, an important book containing government announcements and documents
from the emperors and ministers of the ancient Chinese Xia, Shang and Zhou
dynasties was found in a secret chamber in a house wall.
Numerous books banned during the Qin
dynasty gradually emerged from various parts of China at that time. These
included many Confucian classics.
The discovery of these books excited
Confucian scholars throughout China, who began studying and researching them.
However, due to their age, many of these books were missing pages or were
damaged, which made them more difficult to understand.
As the number of these books increased, it
became impossible for most Confucian scholars to become experts in all aspects
of Confucian knowledge. Instead, they specialised in a single book within the
Confucian canon.
After studying these classics, these
scholars frequently held government-sponsored seminars. During these seminars,
disagreements often arose among the scholars, a situation that became
increasingly serious.
Around 80 years after the founding of the
Han dynasty, the king expressed his concern about this situation.
He said:
'Since the fall of the Qin dynasty, we have
acquired many lost Confucian classics, but almost every one of these books is
missing pages, leaving the collection incomplete.
This is a serious problem that we currently
don't know how to solve.'
The idiom literally means 'a book is
incomplete because pages are missing or falling off'.
It is used to describe an incomplete book.
Dear friends, what insights or inspiration
have you gained from this story?
Have you ever seen ancient books in a
museum? Have you ever enjoyed a book so much that you read it so many times
that the binding fell apart?
I hope this story gives you some new
insights.
書缺簡脫(The book is incomplete due to missing
or fallen-out pages.)
中國的漢王朝有一個著名的儒家學者，他的名字叫做劉歆，歷史書上記載了一個他的故事。
中國的春秋時代與戰國世代是一個極度混亂的年代，但那段間同時也是中國思想上的黃金時代。
有許多著名的思想家生活在那個年代，這些思想家針對當時的社會問題與人生問題提出了各自認為最好的解決的辦法和思想。
有些思想家認為要用道德教育來讓社會更安定，有些思想家強調要用明確的法律來建構一個更好的社會。
儒家的創始者孔子就是這些著名的思想家之一。
孔子所推廣的儒家的理念在春秋時代與戰國時代並不受到重視，經過長年的戰爭與動亂，所以很多儒家的經典書籍都已經失散。
儒家思想的興起開始於漢王朝的第七位國王，從這位國王之後，儒家思想開始成為中國學術界與政治界的主流思想。
劉歆出生的時間大約在漢王朝建立的150年後，他針對當時的一些現象寫了一篇文章給當時的國王。
這段文章的第二段如下。
漢王朝建立之後，國家沒有一套完整的治理的法律制度與禮儀規範，漢王朝的開國國王為了建立起一套管理體系花了很多的心力。
他找到了當時一個名字叫做叔孫通的儒家學者，透過這個學者，他才得以建立了整個漢王朝的法律制度與禮儀規範的雛形。
由於在秦王朝的時候，秦始皇曾經頒布了一條命令，他下令保留秦王國本國的歷史書和醫藥與占卜與農業和林業相關的所有書籍，除了上述的所有書籍外的所有各著學派的學者所寫的書與各國的歷史書都要全部焚毀。
所以漢王朝建立之後，整個國家內幾乎都找不到除了醫藥與農業還有林業與易經以外的書籍。
漢王朝第二任國王之後，漢王朝的政治與經濟情況已經變得比較穩定，很多原本隱藏在民間的儒家還有其他各種不同流派的學者的書籍開始被找到。
例如有一本匯集了古代中國的夏王朝、商王朝與周王朝的君王與重要的大臣們的重要政府公告與政府文件的書，這本書就是從隱藏在一間房屋的牆壁中的密室被找到。
當時陸陸續續地從中國的各地出現了很多在秦王朝時被禁止的書籍，這些經典書籍中，也包含了很多儒家的經典書籍。
這些書籍的出現讓儒家的學者們非常的興奮，整個中國內的儒家學者們便針對這些書籍進行學習與研究，由於這些書籍因為時代久遠，所以這些書籍很多都有缺頁或者損壞，所以增加了學者們理解這些書籍的難度。
這些書籍的出現的量愈來愈大，所以儒家的學者們大多數沒有辦法同時成為一個通曉所有儒家知識的專家，學者們大多成為儒家經典中的其中一本書的專門研究員。
這些儒家學者研究這些儒家的經典書籍後，在政府的主辦之下，他們也經常地舉辦各種研討會，在舉辦這些研討會的過程中，常常會發生各個學者的研究結果無法達成統一的情況，這種情況一天比一天更加的嚴重。
在漢王朝建立大約80年後，當時的國王就曾經對這個情況表示了他的擔憂。
國王說。
由於在秦王朝滅亡後到現在為止的這段時間內，我們得到的很多已經失散的儒家的經典書籍，但是這些書籍中幾乎每本書都缺頁或是脫落所以導致這本書殘缺不全。
這是一個很嚴重的目前我們還不知道該如何解決的一個問題。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是書本缺頁或是脫落所以導致這本書殘缺不全。
這句成語被用來形容一本書殘缺不全。
親愛的朋友，你聽完這個故事有什麼樣的或有什麼樣的啟發呢。
你曾經在博物館看過那些古代流傳下來的書籍嗎?你曾經因為太喜歡一本書所已把這本書看了太多遍，結果導致這本書裝釘脫落的經驗嗎?
我希望這個故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為漢書-卷36-楚元王傳
https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%BC%A2%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7036