由出土文獻論顏淵所好何學

The Research from Archaeological Lliterature on What Yen Yuan Was Learning

In the chapter of Confucian Analects《Yung Yey》describes: ”Ai Gung asked Confucian that who is the most studious student?” Confucian replied: Yen Huei is. He was not easy to vent his anger on someone and make the same mistakes repeatedly. Unfortunately, he died early and I had never seen such a studious student same as Yen Huei since then.” Mr. Yi Chuan (1033-1107) indicated ”Yen Huei was the one that Confucian only admired he is the hardest student of his three thousands students. However, what kinds of knowledge was Yen Huei learning? Was he learning how to be a sage such as Confucian?” As the archaeological literature shows, Confucian said Yen Huei is the most studious student on learning. And Mr. Yi Chuan also thought that Yen Huei is focusing on learning to be a sage like Confucian.Regarding to what Yen Huei was learning, there is not enough research that discussed on this. Recently, some records show the conversation between Confucian and Yen Hei, such as the articles in Chu Bamboo slips of Shanghai Museum ”Jiun Tz Wei Li, Vol.5” and ”Yen Yuan Wen Yu Confucius, Vol.8”. Therefore, we can exactly indicate what Yen Hei was learning according to these archaeological literatures.