Early life

Kong Yingda was born 574 in Hengshui, Jizhou (冀州), in the state of Northern Qi of the Northern Dynasties. He was said to be a 32nd-generation descendant of Confucius, and his father Kong An (孔安), grandfather Kong Shuo (孔碩), and great-grandfather Kong Linggui (孔靈龜) all served as high-ranking government officials.

Kong began studying Confucian classics in childhood. He later became a pupil of Liu Zhuo (劉焯), a renowned scholar of the time, and studied the Shangshu and Du Yu's annotations of the Zuo Zhuan under his guidance.

Sui dynasty

After Emperor Yang ascended the throne of the Sui dynasty in 604, the emperor invited famous scholars and their students to his court, including Liu Zhuo and Kong Yingda. Kong excelled in scholarly debates, and was appointed to a high post at the age of only 30. His eminence caused envy in some established scholars, who were ashamed of being inferior to him and made an abortive attempt to have him assassinated.

Tang dynasty

After the Tang dynasty replaced the short-lived Sui, Kong Yingda became one of the "Eighteen Scholars" in the court of Emperor Taizong of Tang, along with the likes of Du Ruhui and Fang Xuanling. He served in several top positions of the Imperial Academy, and participated in the composition of the Book of Sui, the official history of the Sui dynasty. The emperor awarded him the nobility rank of viscount.

To reconcile the conflicting versions and traditions of the Confucian classics, in 637, Emperor Taizong sponsored a project to create a standardized compilation and interpretation of the texts. Kong Yingda was appointed the head of the project, and he gathered a team of experts including Yan Shigu, Sima Caizhang, Wang Gong (王恭), and Wang Yan (王琰), who spent five years to finish the project, and Emperor Taizong personally named the work Wujing Zhengyi (五經正義, "Correct Meaning of the Five Classics"). However, their work was criticized for verbosity by other scholars including Ma Jiayun, and the emperor ordered further revisions to be made. Kong Yingda died before the revision was completed, and Zhangsun Wuji was appointed to finish the work, which was finally approved in 653 by the next emperor, Gaozong.

Kong Yingda died in 648, at the age of 74. He was given the honour to be buried in the Zhao Mausoleum, accompanying Emperor Taizong in death.

Legacy

Kong Yingda's Wujing Zhengyi became the canonical interpretation of the Confucian classics, and the standard curriculum for the Imperial Examinations. He coined the Chinese word for curriculum, kecheng, in a commentary to the Classic of Poetry. Wujing Zhengyi was also the basis for all future official commentaries on the Five Classics. As such, Kong Yingda is recognized as one of the most influential Confucian scholars in history.

生平

生於北齊後主武平五年（574年），八歲就學，曾從劉焯問學，日誦千言，熟讀經傳，善於詞章，隋大業初，選為「明經」，授河內郡博士，補太學助教。隋末大亂，避地虎牢（今河南省滎陽汜水鎮西北）。入唐，任國子監祭酒。曾奉唐太宗命編纂《五經正義》，融合南北經學家的見解，是集魏晉南北朝以來經學大成的著作。卒於貞觀二十二年（648年），終年75歲。

孔穎達所疏或正義的經書包括《周易》、《尚書》、《詩經》、《禮記》和《左傳》等。

孔穎達碑

現在陝西醴泉縣昭陵博物館，于志寧撰文，書者不詳。螭首方趺，碑圭篆書陽文《大唐故國子祭酒曲阜憲公孔公之碑銘》，共4行，每行4字。前人稱《孔祭酒碑》或《曲阜憲公碑》。

參考

• 《昭陵碑石》

外部鏈接

• 孔穎達世系考略——兼《元和姓纂》與《宋史》所載孔子世系訂誤