Yang Zhao: reading the classics makes my life a little more decent.

Classics are not written for you, but they can bring you wisdom about life.

Yang Zhao

since childhood, countless of us will recite Lu Xun's comment on Historical Records, "historians' last song, non-rhyming Li Sao". However, many people stop and stay on this evaluation. the only depth is the Hongmen Banquet in the Chinese textbook (from the Historical Records Xiang Yu Benji).

We are more and more familiar with Haruki Murakami, Milan Kundera, Maugham, and Duras, but farther and farther away from Confucius, Zuo Qiuming, and Sima Qian.

how do we read ancient Chinese classics today? last September, when teacher Yang Zhao's "China in Classics" series was published, he had a conversation with teacher Liang Wenda.

Share it with you.

Today, how do we read Sinology classics?

(the following is an excerpt from the speech)

read the classics and start with a "movie dream"

Yang Zhao: 30 years ago, when I was your age, when I was a senior in college, I did a very interesting thing, but it was also very cheating.

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I don't know what kind of dreams you have in life at this time. When I was your age, the biggest dream of my life, and it was the common dream of many Taiwanese literary youths at that time, was to make movies.

my 22-year-old senior winter vacation triggered my dream after watching Shanghai Bund at that time. It took me seven days to write the first screenplay of my life. The title of the screenplay is called the Biography of Confucius.

however, 30 years later, I still don't know where this movie is. But then there was a very strange ironic coincidence for me, that is, as the leading actor in "Shanghai Bund", Chow Yun-fat went to shoot a biography of Confucius. I went to see Chow Yun-fat play Confucius. The more I saw him in a cold sweat, can I shoot the Legend of Confucius like this? Hurry home and take out my biography of Confucius. I'm sorry, I don't usually brag like that. I still think mine looks better.

Confucius' true temperament is his greatest characteristic

know Confucius, was first know as Zilu

where is my movie good? Let me boast that I have found such a good starting point to describe Confucius. My opening scene was the death of Zilu. Do you know Zilu? I have always thought that if you want to understand what kind of person Confucius is, the best way is to read all the passages related to Zilu in the Analects of Confucius.

in my screenplay, I asked Confucius to recall Qizi Road and told him that people said you were like a stray dog without a home. Confucius smiled and said, "I am, why would I remind Confucius of that paragraph?" Because this is not a special case in the teacher-student relationship between Confucius and Zilu, it often happens.

for example, when Confucius went to Wei country, he met Lord Wei Ling, and then Wei Ling Gong asked about the governance of China. Then Confucius replied, "must also be correct." The vernacular translation is what the first thing is, that is, what should be called. Zilu was on the side, but Zilu turned around and said to the teacher, "how can you be so pedantic? what on earth are you answering?" This is how Zilu treats his teacher.

there is another more famous story, "see Nan Zi". Nani is a highly controversial beauty in the State of Wei. After Confucius arrived in the State of Wei, Nanzi asked Confucius to see her, and Confucius went. Zilu fell out with the teacher. Nani is the most important behind-the-scenes power of Wei, so what Zilu means is that you would rather use the back door to pull nepotism to let the king of Wei use you? Are you mean? In the Analects of Confucius, the reaction of Confucius is, "if you give it to others, heaven will hate it!" God is sick of it! " If translated in today's language, Confucius is cursing. What he means is, "if I am like what you said, thunder and lightning will kill me."

A teacher who speaks "propriety" but cheats

I was in the movie, the scene of the death of Zilu when Confucius knew about Zilu's death, we were all very touched by the historical records, which is probably completely different from the image of Confucius as you think. In the Book of Rites, it is written that when the emissary told Confucius that Zi Lu had died, Confucius' most important reaction was called "mourning". This "mourning" has a clear meaning in ancient prose, and the so-called "mourning" means that sorrow exceeds what etiquette allows.

so, why did the disciple go to him and say, "teacher, you are too sad? the disciple uses this method to comfort the teacher on the one hand and to hold on to the teacher, on the other hand, saying that you have been teaching us what is meant by" propriety "all your life. What is meant by" courtesy "? the most important spirit of" propriety "is abstinence, and people can't do anything too much. But how did Confucius react? He cheated, and he said, do I? Am I too sad?

Zilu died miserably, and Zilu was chopped to pieces. Therefore, from then on, Confucius did not want to see meat sauce all his life. He could not eat meat sauce. Of course, there were only a few years left in his life, and the next year, Confucius died. It was a great blow to him in his later years.

behind this, there is a very important background, which is what did Confucius do all his life? He is a man who teaches etiquette. This incident makes it clear to us that Confucius is not only a saint, he is a person, he is not a truthmaker, he is a person, and he is a thoroughly true temperament person.

do you want a teacher like Confucius?

do you know what kind of teacher he is? If there is such a teacher in front of you today, do you want to choose this person as your teacher? I can simply give you some pretty confident conclusions about what kind of teacher Confucius is.

Confucius is a teacher who never asks questions with standard answers. The teacher never gives a standard answer. Later people said, why did the same disciple ask "benevolence"? how could the teacher give dozens of different answers? So we say that the answers given by the teacher should all be the same, and that's it. Because Confucius had some of his true temperament, something very clear inside, disappeared.

A teacher who teaches students by their aptitude-- "Sima Niu asks benevolence"

for example, in the Analects of Confucius, there are two items juxtaposed. The first one is called "Sima Niu asks benevolence", and one of the students is Sima Niu. Because the teacher thinks that the highest state of "benevolence" is the word "benevolence", Sima Niu asked, what on earth is "benevolence"? The teacher's answer is, "those who are benevolent, their words are also humble." What is meant by "benevolence", that is, those who do not like to talk and speak slowly and foolishly are "benevolent people".

this answer you will find a little strange, Sima Niu of course feel very strange, Sima Niu said, as long as you speak a little stupid, you can be benevolent? If it were the only one, I would have thought it was very strange. But the interesting thing is that the protagonist is Sima Niu. Sima Niu asked the gentleman what a gentleman is. Confucius replied, "the gentleman is not worried or afraid." Sima Niu immediately asked, "are you a gentleman without worry or fear?"

do you know that these two pairs are together, what have we read? In the Han Dynasty, Sima Qian had already read it for us. In the biographies of his disciples in Historical Records, he particularly described Sima Niu as a man whose greatest characteristics were restlessness, impatience, and the love of contradicting teachers. So you know what these two are? This is the teacher's sense of humor. This man, without going through his brain all day, is there intuitively every day. Sima Niu is such a person, so Confucius deliberately repaired him.

from here, we can see the relationship between the teacher and the student, and the teacher knows what is wrong with the student, so the teacher knows what method to use to deal with the student and what kind of instruction to teach him.

favorite student Yan Yuan

do you want this kind of teacher? This teacher also has a big problem, that is, by our today's standards, this teacher doesn't appreciate high achievers very much. Zi Gong is a high achiever, but Confucius does not particularly appreciate Zi Gong.

who does he admire most? We have never done anything useful under today's standards, and we can come up with any cause or any achievement. this person is Yan Yuan. He described Yan Yuan as having six keywords, and he described Yan Yuan's most important advantages as "no anger, no mistakes." Is it that great?

"Never make a mistake" is the mistake I made. I'll make it this time, but how much time can you do it? The other thing, which is more remarkable and more difficult, is called "do not vent your anger", that is, it belongs to me, it is mine, and I do not blame others.

I didn't think much of these six words when I was young, but the more you think about it, you will find that these six words are great, and the greatest thing is that when we are talking about moral rules, one of the most difficult things we encounter is the relativity of moral law.

moral self-discipline and moral heteronomy, most of the time in the face of moral heteronomy, it is easy for us to avoid heteronomy. Different people have different standards and practices for what is right. The amazing thing is that Confucius said to his disciples, just follow your standards.

the hardest part of "no mistakes" is that this standard of "no mistakes" is your internal standard. in your heart, you are not talking to anyone, and you believe in your heart that you are wrong. You can produce such great power, and you will never do this thing again, and you will never make this mistake again.

I am in my 50s, and there are very few things that I can live up to. What is more, "do not vent your anger" is to shirk responsibility. How many ways do we pass the buck? the biggest idea in life, if there is one, is how to convince yourself to blame others.

as a teacher, what Confucius cares about most is thinking that the most outstanding student he has taught is a student who "does not vent his anger and make mistakes", and the rest is not so important to him.

"becoming a different self" is the joy of learning

Confucius, this teacher, his true temperament, is his greatest characteristic. In many places in the Analects of Confucius, Confucius is teaching how to be a happy person, but what he teaches is different from what we know and understand today. All the happiness that Confucius talked about has something to do with learning. For example, "learn while learning", this so-called "study" is not to go home to review and prepare for the exam.

"learning" means that what I have learned, I take to myself, becomes a part of me. At this time, you will get the greatest happiness. Have you learned that, according to Confucius' most critical standard, that is, what you have learned will make you a different person?

later, the Confucianists explained it more clearly when they came to Xunzi. Xunzi said that the most important thing is to learn for others and yourself. Which one is better? When it comes to "learning to be human", it is unselfish and dedicated to society, which should be better. No, this basic spirit, XunziTell us that today's scholars, we are all in the "study of human beings", you learn, for the sake of scores, for the sake of the future. You have all kinds of reasons, and learning is your means.

but how often do you "learn for yourself"? Are you learning for yourself, to make yourself a better, richer, different person? For Confucius, when he "does not know that old age is coming", all these things have something to do with this kind of study. He is not happy that he has a little more power and bought two more apartments. all his happiness has something to do with this "self-continuous learning transformation".

I object to reading classics from a modern perspective

what is the attitude toward reading classics?

having said so much, let's go back to the questions just asked by Wen Tao. For me, if you want to ask me the first thing, why should I introduce Confucius to you in this way? This is different from the Confucius you used to know, is it? I said, this is not what I said, it's all in the classic books. If we are willing to use an "effective attitude" to seriously climb books to understand these classics, Confucius will jump out there.

what is an "attitude that I think is effective"? The so-called effective attitude, for me, also involves the survival of the classic, what is the classic? When we are talking about both Chinese and Western classics, classics must have two different qualities that contradict each other.

first of all, he must have a universal and effective truth that transcends time and space before he can become a classic. That's why we think that the book of more than 2000 years ago can still be read today, and we still need it because it has some wisdom that is still relevant to our time and space after 2000.

however, it must have another side, because it is a book handed down from the history of time, it is a historical document. If we want to be able to read the classics effectively, the most important thing is that we must put these two contradictory natures on our attitude toward the classics.

Confucius is not one of us

so I am extremely opposed to reading the classics from a modern perspective. That means we are just looking for what we want in the classics, something meaningful to modern times. A large part of the classic reminds us that in different situations and environments, some people look at life and things differently today.

if you want to know Confucius, you must have a basic distance in your heart. You know, the most important feature, Confucius is not one of us, so he can teach us more. He can teach us that in an environment that we take for granted today, what we believe and follow is not so taken for granted.

in an era like ours today, no teacher teaches students in this way, and no teacher can treat and treat students in this way. So we will rethink, what is meant by "teacher", what is meant by "learning", and what is the greatest achievement I can have and the biggest goal I need to pursue as a person?

see

some things are more important than being alive-- the death of Zilu  

reading classics, on the one hand, under the value of culture, strengthens and enhances the taste we must have. But another important thing about reading the classics is that it moves us to a very different environment than we are not familiar with, even in ancient China, which shows us a very different attitude towards life.

if we use this vision, we will not only read the Analects of Confucius but also the stories of Confucius and Zilu. When we read a lot of literature from the Spring and Autumn period to the warring States period, we will know that there are some things that we are not very familiar with. It was a strange time because the strangest thing about the people of that time was that they died so easily. Die easily. Let me give you a random example.

in the Policy of the warring States, there is a story about a minister who offended the king. The king was so angry that he found an assassin and wanted him to kill the minister. The assassin went to the minister's house in the middle of the night, ready to kill him. But he was startled, and the minister put on his royal clothes and sat there taking a nap. Why? Because it was going to be early in the morning, he got up early and would rather take a nap there than be in a hurry. This is how he sees his position and duties as a minister.

when the assassin saw that he was such a dedicated man, he could not do it. He can't kill a good man. But he can't betray his promise to the national army. What should he do? There are only four words in the literature, "die of touching a locust". There is a big locust tree next to it, and he bangs into it and kills himself.

you must say that you must have made up this story. How could such a thing happen? People at that time, why would there be such people? At least the only conclusion that can be drawn is that they are very different from us. At that time, living is not so important. There are too many principles, beliefs, thoughts, and beliefs that are more important than simply letting people live.

Classics are "precious books of noble personality"

because of this, they live out very different personalities and live out the weight of very different people. I can only describe it in my limited Chinese, which is called "noble". It is for the sake of these principles, for their own beliefs, even for life.No, no.

I don't encourage people to choose how they live in this way, but I believe in this feeling, does one know what is more valuable than being alive? Whether there is such a noble standard in a person's heart or not will inevitably affect him to be very different. You can't understand this nobility if we just live under all the situations we have right now.

Why are classics valuable, or why are classics meaningful? to me, after the washing of time, this is a common standard called civilization, which may be expressed in various ways. but it must contain what I call "the treasure book of noble personality". If we read the classics in this mood, the point is, because in this way you meet all kinds of people who are very different from you, and these people, they have lived.

another thing is that in the huge and long-term tradition of China, he should have a kind of continuity with us, including reading traditional Chinese classics. I still hope that if you have the chance, you will spend a little time learning traditional Chinese characters.

inhuman civilization, how many of us can read the literature of more than 2000 years ago without translation? this is a treasure! Over the past 2000 years, generation after generation, they have left behind the noble personality of life. The more you see, I don't believe that you will always stay in the original mood of life.

one of the most important functions of reading classics for me is that by reading classics, you will think that if I simply live in this way, it is not worth it. I can live a richer life, I can live a more meaningful life, and live a more decent life.