The combination of the Modern and Ancient Confucian Document(今古文) and the study of divination(谶纬) in the conference of ‘White Tiger Pavilion(白虎观)’

Abstract

Since “the dismissal of a Hundred Schools of thought and the sole respect for Confucianism(罢黜百家，独尊儒术)”, there has been much controversy over the version and writing of the classics due to the different inheritance of Confucianism. Although the "Shiqu Pavilion Conference(石渠阁议)" tried to unify, in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, the fierce debate between the Modern and Ancient Document(今古文) Confucian School is deepening day by day, due to different teachers, inheritance, & interpretation, chapters and sentences. Emperor GuangWu(光武帝) announces the prophecy(图谶) and further integrates Confucianism with the study of divination(谶纬). Emperor Zhang(章帝) summoned famous Modern and Ancient Document(今古文) Scholars to discuss the similarities and differences of the Five Confucian Classics. Emperor made Court decision in “the White Tiger Pavilion(白虎观)” Ban Gu(班固) has compiled the results of the discussion into "BaiHu Tongyi(白虎通义)", as a classic publication. The first of the three outlines is to make the feudal outline systematic and absolute. At the same time, divination(谶纬) superstition and Confucian classics are combined to make Confucianism further theological. “BaiHu Tongyi(白虎通义)” integrates Modern and Ancient Document(今古文) with divination(谶纬) superstition in an attempt to unify Confucian Classics and establish theological Confucian classics. Once Confucian classics develops into theology, its vitality will eventually be exhausted, leading to the decline and decline of Confucian classics.