Chapter 517 The radiance of the eyes, the candle in the palm (Part 2)
"But for me, it is to attract people's desires and follow the laws of nature."
In the warm study room, Qin Siyuan slowly said this. On the other side, Ning Yi tilted his head, and an extremely complicated look flashed through his eyes.
"In this world, everyone has selfish desires. If selfish desires expand, people will be blinded and cannot see the right or wrong of what they do. For so many years, we Confucian scholars have been busy with various theories, and all we have done is seek
One Tao, the Tao of Great Harmony, the Tao of the Gentleman. These Tao are interlinked after all. They can ultimately make all things orderly and allow everyone in the world to perform their duties. If he is greedy, he should be taught what he should be greedy for and what he should be greedy for.
No, you should teach him that a gentleman loves money and how to get it properly. If he is depressed, teach him what is the right way forward."
He paused and continued: "Why is this world like this? Why should it be like this? In the end, people can find the answer and not be confused. This is the truth and the law of nature. I have been stumbling for more than sixty years in my life, but I still can't find it.
It’s a straight path, but some simple opinions about what a person should be like and why he should be like this have been written in these books through the annotations.”
Yao Zunian said something that seemed to be complimentary. Qin Siyuan shook his head and smiled. Ning Yi, here, whispered: "Preserve the laws of nature and destroy human desires..."
"What Li Heng said is like what I thought of the state of a saint." Qin Siyuan laughed out loud, "Inducing people's desire to be in harmony with the laws of nature is also to make the small self and the great self one. But in this world,
How many people can truly achieve the same goal? When we write books and carry out education, the most important thing is not to tell them what the end point of the Tao is, but what the truth itself is. It is up to them to understand it and let them walk on their own.
, if they can understand the truth, they can naturally make people's desires gradually tend to the natural principles. As for those who can preserve the natural principles and destroy human desires, it can only be said that human desires and natural principles are already consistent, just like Confucius, who was seventy and
Follow your heart's desires and do not go beyond the rules. Your own will will not deviate from the Tao. This can be said to be destroying people's desires... But the saint Confucius has reached this step and is already seventy years old. I am afraid that it will be difficult for us... to do so in this life.
You can only tell others about your foolishness."
At this point, he also sighed with regret: "To make a digression, I have seen countless people's stupidity in the past few decades, but on the other hand, each of them has...
They all seem to be smart people. They...everyone seems to understand what justice is. But they are always forced to do so. Officials are greedy, how can they not be greedy? How can you not be greedy when everyone around you is greedy. Why?
If a general is timid, how can he not be timid? How dare you not run when everyone around you is running back. It sounds like everyone has no choice. You should blame him, but it seems that you shouldn’t blame him. In my life,
Too much planning. Every time I think about it, I always feel that a good reputation is rare behind me. But if I don’t do this, it will always be difficult to achieve anything..."
"I also thought about whether there is a way to correct this matter. Finally, after thinking about it, I can only explain the truth clearly. If everyone can understand the truth, there may be less selfish desires. If the soldiers can understand it,
Then the soldiers will not be afraid of fighting to the death, and the officials will be able to understand their principles and be less greedy. If these merchants who are collecting grains can also understand their principles, they may be able to understand what they are doing, which will cause great harm to their families and the country.
Maybe this method can be lighter, or maybe... Lin Chuting will not die."
He shook his head and smiled: "Of course, this is why I think too much. Although these books have some annotations, it is still difficult to say how many people will read them. Li Heng, your book club is doing well.
After finishing the practice, you can make a seal for me and send it out. If you can get the approval of a few friends, I will have left something behind in this life."
Ning Yi looked at him and nodded for a moment: "...of course."
This is basically what Qin Siyuan said about these books. His thoughts are already in the books, and there is no need to explain too much verbally. He only answered one or two when Wenren Buer and others occasionally asked about them in the year of Yaozu. Ning Yi buried his head in reading.
I read the book, looking for annotations one by one, deducing it, and what flashed through my mind were those two years.
Attract human desires and follow the natural principles. Preserve the natural principles and destroy human desires...
This is... science...
In later generations, Ning Yi did not study Neo-Confucianism carefully, and only appreciated Confucianism. However, with his ability, even if he appreciated some things, he could still deconstruct them slightly. Neo-Confucianism was criticized in later generations, but for Ning Yi
For example, if someone says that something that can be passed down and developed for thousands of years is just rubbish and there is no reason in it, he will simply regard this person as an idiot with zero IQ.
Neo-Confucianism and Confucianism were purely blindly abandoned by the May 4th Movement. In the eyes of some scholars or angry youths in later generations, there is a saying: Chinese people have no sense of awe. This is not a lie. Before the May 4th Movement, the Chinese people suffered
The greatest humiliation, so when foreign cultures invaded, they couldn't wait to overthrow and defeat everything they had. This kind of invasion of foreign cultures was advanced at the time, but the Chinese at that time overthrew their previous culture.
However, they did not learn the core spirit of the other party's culture. The long period of labor pains, the collapse of spiritual civilization and nowhere to convert were miserable.
In Ning Yi's view, Confucianism, including all other theories, studies how people should deal with themselves in this society, how to get along with others, how people should suppress and guide selfish desires, and in what form
A country can make this country the most glorious, and the people's spiritual outlook is relatively the best. This is the foundation of all philosophical systems, and it has never changed from thousands of years ago to later generations.
So, what exactly is Confucianism about? If you look at it from beginning to end, Confucius, who founded it, was not the moral guru of later generations. He was actually very pragmatic. On the one hand, he regarded the pursuit of morality as the highest standard.
On the other hand, he actually taught people how to do things based on social reality. From the story of Zigong's redemption, to the admonition to repay grievances directly, to arguments such as "the thieves of rural virtues", compared with later Confucianism
From the development of "propriety comes first to reason", to the later generations who blindly teach people to be modest and retreat but never clearly define personal rights, "follow etiquette before being unreasonable", the starting point of Confucianism is actually "reason first,
"Let's talk about etiquette later".
After Confucius, Confucianism developed for more than a thousand years. By the Song Dynasty in another period of history, social productivity had developed to a certain extent, and interests began to guide people's desires to a greater extent. When commerce developed and classes began to become chaotic, social needs
A clearer set of norms may even require a more refined set of shackles. To tell others what you should do, what you shouldn’t do, where your position is, and what you can pursue. At that time, it was like this
To establish a country is indeed the most reasonable in itself.
Neo-Confucianism, the center of its philosophy is principle and natural principle. One hundred million people form a country. In what way can this country be the most harmonious and stable? This is based on natural principle. Even in later generations, people know the differences between the big self and the small self.
The differences between individuals and the country must be from the small self to the greater self, and the unscrupulous desires of individuals must be suppressed and guided.
Man himself is nothing to say. He is also an animal with unlimited possibilities. But in terms of social composition, what is the most solid society? India's caste system has the strictest classes, but for thousands of years, their country has not even a single
There is no uprising that can be said, so it is so solid. While setting the rules, Confucianism actually retains the path for people to go up. It hopes that some people can stand out. It even hopes that "one day", the world will be unified and everyone will be like
Dragon. It is also because of this that China created the most glorious civilization in those thousands of years, unlike India, which was quiet and dead.
For the great Confucian scholars, when they created a knowledge, they had their own profound connotation, and what they wanted was a confidant. When talking about knowledge at that time, there was a principle of being willing to fight or suffer. If you are willing to learn, I will tell you. You don't understand.
, that's probably because you are stupid. Zhu Xi's "preserve the principles of nature and destroy human desires" is the highest state pursued by sages. The so-called human desires are not desires, but selfish desires. What they discuss is how a country can achieve the most ideal state.
Of course, there are various harsh aspects of the situation. But as ordinary people or common people, you may not be able to understand "why". Well, I will just tell you what to do.
In the end, the rules and regulations were left, but not many people understood the principles.
The people can make it known, but if they cannot, let them follow it: if you can understand it, I will tell you the truth, but if you cannot understand it, then I will just tell you what to do.
The rules and regulations of Neo-Confucianism have never been a setback in human nature or academics. Academically, it is a leap forward. The more rules and regulations there are, it does make people lose some of their blood, but the men on the grassland drink blood like hair and drink blood.
Who is willing to be the most bloody? After Neo-Confucianism, Confucianism truly found a soul and genetic code that runs through the whole process, so that after several dynasties, dynasties changed, but Confucianism has never disappeared, because without Confucianism, there would be no way to govern the country.
.
As for Wang Yangming's philosophy of mind, its core is the "unity of knowledge and action", which is also the highest pursuit of a saint and the highest pursuit of concepts such as kindness and integrity. However, relatively speaking, when used to govern the country, he did not "exist".
"Natural principles destroy human desires" has meaning. It is only the highest state of personal pursuit. It can only be regarded as purely academic development. Of course, in later generations it was even misinterpreted as "we must face our own selfish desires truthfully" and "kill decisively and face our true heart".
” is the funniest thing.
After Wang Yangming, the last great Confucian was Zeng Guofan. His teachings focused on self-cultivation and treating others. Due to the world environment at that time, he also emphasized pragmatism that could be applied in the world. However, a change that had only occurred for thousands of years soon ended, and Confucianism was overthrown.
In the mud pit, his teachings only influenced a large number of upper-level leaders, including Mao Gong and Jiang Gong. How high the so-called saints and gentlemen are can be seen from an incident of Zeng Guofan
: He once followed the example of Zeng Shen and reflected on himself three times every day - Are you unfaithful in your plans? Are you distrustful in making friends? Are you not accustomed to teaching? He persisted in this way every day for a month, which eventually led to tinnitus and blindness. In self-reflection
He vomited blood and fainted because he was thinking too much. And this strict rule of self-examination could only be achieved in his old age.
When the Industrial Revolution began, the world underwent unprecedented changes. The root cause was that the development of science and technology allowed one person to use the power of dozens or hundreds of people and create the productivity of dozens or hundreds of people in the past. But before
In society, no matter what, a person is used as a person. Whether it is Confucianism or the caste system, they all belong to the rule of man under this premise. Without the advancement of science and technology, they can almost always be self-consistent.
However, the development of science and technology requires people to expand their selfish desires and desires and give full play to everyone's subjective initiative, which fundamentally shakes the original nature of human rule. Only human nature that is not imprisoned can shine astonishingly. Of course, later,
It became "a positive human nature that is not imprisoned". Later American liberalism, universal values, and Western literati spirit all came from this center.
Confucianism was finally overthrown - it indeed should be overthrown, but the roots of the Chinese people have too many Confucian imprints, so that when the old culture was completely overthrown and the new culture was not born, there was too much pain. And later generations of China
Human thinking patterns are still very different from those in the West.
Chinese people analyze things from whole to part, while Western scientific analysis rules from part to whole. This is the core of the so-called difference between Chinese and Western thinking forms. But from the whole to the part, you first need a formed whole. If not,
You can only take it for granted. From the parts to the whole, you only need strict logical piecing together. No matter what the final whole looks like, it can be put into motion. This has led to the overall gap in scientific development between China and the West.
On the basis of society, the core of the Western spirit of freedom is to reason first, that is to say, first stipulate how many rights each person has, and then determine virtues. For example, if a lifeboat seems to be sinking after carrying too many people, some people still want to
Come up, you can push him down. This is the truth, no one blames you, of course, if you risk your life, you still save him. This is a virtue. And in terms of Chinese people, first of all, there are too many virtues, you should give in
, you should not argue, how should you treat others tolerantly, let society be harmonious, even if the social rights are stipulated to be one. Everyone can only get 0.7, and where did everyone go with the other 0.3?
Then they are often plundered by those who are unwilling to tolerate and don't care about face, so only good people or those who want to be good people will always be criticized. As for evil people...people's desires are like this. Isn't that a natural selfish desire?
At the same time that people want to be knocked down into the quagmire, most people have completely gone to the other extreme.
Of course, this is purely off-topic.
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Ning Yi and others stayed in the study for a long time, turning over the book roughly. Yao Zunian and Qin Siyuan had already started a heated discussion. It was obvious that Yao Zunian was very excited.
Neo-Confucianism...
Ning Yi sighed in his heart. He should indeed be excited.
If we extrapolate from the contents of these books, many things will become more orderly. Civil rights, monarchy, official power, etc. will even be affected to a certain extent. People in this world need shackles.
, these shackles can lock away some selfish desires that should not be had, and people also need some metaphysical pursuits. This pursuit can make people passionate, even if tens of thousands of people are there. "Having no choice but to do it" and "human nature" will never make people do anything.
There is a reason for everything. No one's ambition when he comes to the world is "I want to be a traitor." If Qin Hui in another period of history is similar to this, then he is also in all kinds of "human nature".
to reach the final position.
But that's a traitor.
In every dynasty and every generation, people identify one or two people and say: "Look, society was destroyed by them." Therefore, the distance between the two parties is clarified, and they will never feel that they are any similar to him. In fact, if not,
It is every moth that eats up an empty country and eats up a healthy country to the point of collapse. There will be no foreign aggression, it will never be the turn of a few treacherous ministers, and there will be no need for the blood of heroes.
The harm caused by corrupt officials, the harm caused by profiteers, and the harm caused by every numb person in the end is actually no less than that of traitors. It's just that it feels too good to call traitors, and if you reflect on yourself, you will vomit blood.
It was already late at night when everyone walked out of the room. Outside the room was a courtyard with bleak trees. Under the corridor, a warm yellow light was coming from the room. The night wind was cold, and Ning Yi stood there and raised his head slightly.
, walking out of the overlapping courtyards, he seemed to be able to see a huge city, eight thousand miles of road, fields, mountains, woods, rivers, ships, people, and everything, all quietly reflecting the stars in the night sky.
In every era, there will be certain people who gather the power of an era to pursue life and wisdom, and in the end shine brighter than the stars.
Ning Yi turned around and saw the old man at the door of the room, smiling and waving to them. Ning Yi sighed, he could understand the old man's hard work and hard work over the years, and he could also understand what was contained in that book.
The responsibility and love of this era, as well as the hysterical shouts.
Because I understand, I feel sad.
Because he also understands best that the time for this peaceful and prosperous age may be running out...
ps:
In a sense, this should be the most core picture of this book at this stage, but since a long discussion may not be pleasing, a similar length of discussion should not appear again. Let it appear, but I think
It is necessary to let some people know the glory of Confucianism. Of course, this is the glory in my eyes. Even though I am no longer interested in his theory, I still admire its position in the historical torrent of Taotao.
And a philosophical framework that can be passed down for thousands of years has wisdom in it that far exceeds our imagination.
In addition, "preserving the principles of nature and destroying human desires" is indeed Zhu Xi's words. The core words of his writings are an extreme state of emphasis. For some people who are talking about "human desires" and "existence is reasonable".
Secondly, it doesn't sound good, but its essence is to "preserve the natural principles and eliminate evil desires". People of that era saw the expansion of sexual desire and wanted to remove the bad sexual desire through education. This is the essence. Of course, this is Banana TVB's
I wrote it down as a family story. It’s up to you whether you believe it or not.l