From the perspective of events, they are history; from the perspective of the Way, they are classics.
"The Five Classics are only history. History illuminates good and evil, showing models for emulation and warning."
爱曰：「先儒论六经，以《春秋》为史。史专记事，恐与五经体例不同。」
先生曰：「以事言谓之史，以道言谓之经。事即道，道即事。《春秋》亦经，五经亦只是史。史以明善恶、示训诫。善可以为训者，特存其迹以示法；恶可以为戒者，存其戒而削其事以杜奸。」
Xu Ai said: "Earlier scholars discuss the Six Classics, taking the Spring and Autumn Annals as history. History specifically records events, so I fear its format differs from the Five Classics."
The Master said: "Speaking of events, they are called history; speaking of the Way, they are called classics. Events are the Way; the Way is events. The Spring and Autumn Annals is also a classic; the Five Classics are only history. History illuminates good and evil, showing models for emulation and warning. Good deeds that can serve as models are specially preserved to show the way; evil deeds that can serve as warnings are preserved as warnings while their specific events are erased to prevent imitation."
Yangming's insight that "classics are history" reminds us: philosophy is not abstract theorizing but the distillation of lived experience. When studying any subject, look at its history — the concrete events and stories contain more wisdom than abstract principles alone.
"Speaking of events, they are called history; speaking of the Way, they are called classics."
This is the core of Yangming's "the Six Classics are only history" thought. Classics and history are not two different kinds of books but two aspects of the same book: from the perspective of recording events it is history; from the perspective of embodying the Way it is classics. Events and the Way are unified — every historical event embodies the Way, and every principle is manifested in concrete events.
"Good deeds that can serve as models are specially preserved."
This explains the principle behind Confucius's editing of the Songs and the Spring and Autumn Annals: preserving good deeds as models and preserving warnings from evil deeds while deleting specific details to prevent imitation. This is the deeper meaning of "Spring and Autumn brush methods" — not simply recording history but using selection and editing to convey moral lessons.