Who was Confucius? In history, he is a well-deserved national Internet celebrity teacher and a "brother" in the cultural circle, and has been sitting on the top spot for more than two thousand years.
In ancient times, when the occupational segmentation was not clear, as a cross-border wizard, he won many titles such as thinker, politician, educator, and founder of the Confucian school.
After his death, he transformed into a walking "honor harvester", and was posthumously awarded heavyweight titles such as "Wensheng", "Xiansheng", "Xianshi" and "Xuanfu" by the kings of the "Zunkong" of the past.
When it comes to Confucius, many people first think of the characters in the textbook:
He was a gentle-smiling, highly respected old gentleman, not very tall, somewhat hunched over, trembling as he walked. In addition, he had many classic conversations with his students, recorded in the Analects, and then included in the textbook, asking us to "understand and recite the whole text."
It has been 2499 years since Confucius's death, but his ideas still shine in the contemporary era.
When contemporary people re-read the Analects, they find that confucius had already answered confucius in the confusion of our lives in this life. There are no answers to life, but there are reference books.
What kind of person was Confucius? Let's first talk about Confucius's birth date and hometown.
Confucius was born in 551 BC, nearly 2600 years from today.
At that time, China was in an era called "Spring and Autumn". What we often call the "Spring and Autumn Warring States" is actually two eras, one called the "Spring and Autumn Period" and the other called the "Warring States Era". After the Warring States Period, as we all know, the Qin Dynasty established by Qin Shi Huang unified China.
The era in which Confucius lived was already the end of the Spring and Autumn Period. He was a native of Luguo, his hometown in qufu, Shandong, china, and Confucius actually had his own name, Mingqiu, and the character Zhongni (the ancients had names and characters). Therefore, his name is actually "Kong Qiu".
So why should we call him "Confucius"? Because "Son" is an honorific title, which means "Sir", "Confucius" is "Mr. Kong".
When we look at the Analects, there is always "Zi Yue" and "Zi Yue", "Yue" means to speak, and "Zi Yue" is actually the meaning of "Sir said". If you have seen a sitcom called "The Tale of Wulin", you will definitely remember that Lu Xiucai said "Zi once knew" all day long, and what he said was actually "Analects".
Confucius was a famous thinker and educator in ancient China, who pioneered the atmosphere of private lectures, that is, teachers teach students themselves. Therefore, we still regard Confucius as the grandfather of the education world - some students may find it strange: teachers do not teach students, who teaches? Here we will bury a small foreshadowing, which will be said later in the book.
Many industries in China will worship an ancient man as their grandfather. For example, the grandfather of the carpenter industry is Lu Ban, the ancestor of agriculture is Shennong, the grandfather of the weaving industry is the zodiac, and the grandfather of education is Confucius.
Indeed, you may have the impression that Confucius was an old pedant with gray hair and a mouthful. But in fact, he may not be the same as you think!
Let's take a look at what Confucius himself said in the Analects — please note that from now on, we will have to touch the original text of the Analects!
The following passage is from the Analects of Shuzhi, which reads in the original text:
Ye Gong asked Confucius about the ZiLu, and the Zilu was not right. Zi Yue: "Female (rǔ) Xi does not know: he is also a man, angry and forgetful, happy to forget his worries, and does not know that old age will come to Yun'er." ”
Sounds a bit awkward, doesn't it? That's okay, let's explain.
First, let's talk about the background at that time:
That year, Confucius was 63 years old, and he was still on his way around the world. The Chu state has a Ye (yè) county. (Some students may suggest that you don't pronounce this word correctly, you should pronounce shè, not yè.) What you said is also not right, I did pronounce shè before, but now the dictionary labels this pronunciation as "old pronunciation", and now you can read the "leaf" of the leaf! One day, Ye Gong, the head of this Ye County, asked Confucius's disciple Zilu.
"May I ask, what kind of person was Confucius?"
(Ip Gong asked Confucius about Zilu)
Zilu said that he could not answer.
(Sub-road is not right)
Later, when Confucius found out, he taught zilu: "Oh, why don't you say that?" ”
("女奚不曰", "女" is a generic word here, which means "ru", which is "you"; "奚" is often used as an adverb in the text, meaning "why".) ）
Confucius went on to say, "(You told him) this man, when he works hard, he will forget to eat, and when he is happy, he will forget his sorrows, and he will not even know that he is about to get old." ”
Yes, this is the phrase "angry and forgetful, happy to forget worries, do not know that old age is coming to Yun'er" .
So why did Confucius use these three points to describe himself?
Let's look at these three points.
Let's look at the first point, "getting angry and forgetting to eat", that is, working hard to forget to eat. This doesn't seem remarkable, you may say: adults can't eat in order to work overtime, and sometimes I forget to eat when I do my homework (maybe you forget to eat when you play games)... Such things are all too common.
But we must know that Confucius did not actually teach people to "forget to eat", on the contrary, he was quite particular about eating! There is a special passage in the Analects about how exquisite he is at eating, which specifically mentions "from time to time, do not eat."
What does this mean? That is to say: do not eat on time, no, no.
Eating on time is not only a healthy lifestyle, but also a kind of cultivation. For example, some people, when they encounter unhappy or worrying things, will not think about tea, will say: "Alas, all this is the case, even if you are in the mood to eat..." In fact, this will not help solve the problem at all, and it will make the situation worse.
In contrast, a person who can eat on time in any situation must feel much more reliable, which also shows that he is more capable of solving problems. Therefore, eating regularly and regularly is good for both physical and mental health, and can shape yourself into a reliable person who is reassuring.
Then, since eating is a serious thing that cannot be neglected in the eyes of Confucius, why does he forget to eat because of hard work? What does this mean?
First of all, this shows that Confucius was not a stereotypical and boring person. The habit of eating on time is good for both body and mind, but if you stick to the rules at a meal, it is too stiff and mechanical. Confucius taught us that this is not the way we treat rules, and we will learn more about this in the future.
More importantly, this shows that Confucius did not live to eat after all. Of course, at this point each of us is the same as Confucius. As Uncle Lei Feng once said: "Eating is to live, but living is not to eat." ”
Of course, Confucius's emphasis here is on focusing on one thing, not that you can often forget to eat. This is the key to "anger and forgetfulness". With such concentration, no matter what you learn or do, you will achieve something, won't you?
Let's look at the second point: "Happy to forget your worries." ”
Speaking of Confucius's sorrows, they are greater and more than the sorrows of ordinary people. When we were students, our concern was nothing more than that we would not be able to go out for a spring outing tomorrow when it rained, and what to do if we did not review the exam the day after tomorrow. Confucius, on the other hand, was worried about the country and the people, worried about whether the world would get better, and worried about whether his ideals could be realized.
Even in reality, Confucius ran between the nations, soldiers were in chaos, there was always danger, and Confucius encountered the problem of starvation and hunger, and even encountered the situation of being hunted down and killed. If you can maintain a happy mood and forget your sorrows in all these situations, it is still quite powerful, right?
In other words, as soon as we are happy, we forget the sorrow, this kind of skill without heart and lungs, don't we also have it? For example, there is a passage that says that a classmate is about to take the exam, so sad. What to do? He thought, or toss a coin to decide: if the coin is facing up, then play the game; if the coin is facing up, then go to sleep; if the coin is standing up, then go review it.
Sounds pretty good, right? To be honest, if you can really put aside the pressure of the exam and go to play games or sleep without heart and lungs, it is also a kind of mind. But it's still hard to do, right? Mostly while playing, I feel uneasy because I know that I am escaping.
You actually know that the problem has not been solved, and there will always be a time to settle the general ledger in the future. So, you don't really put your sorrows behind you, you're just the equivalent of "borrowing wine to pour sorrows." The Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai once wrote a poem called "Raise a glass to dispel sorrow and worry more" - this is not "happy to forget worries". So what does Confucius's "happy to forget worries" look like?
Here is an example of Confucius' descendants.
There was a great thinker in the Ming Dynasty named Wang Yangming, who was also a great politician and military expert. It can be said that he is one of the most typical descendants of Confucius after nearly two thousand years. Once, one of his students was sick, and he went to visit the patient and asked the student how he was feeling. The student said, "Kung Fu is very difficult. Wang Yangming said: "Always happy is kung fu." ”
"Always be happy, is kung fu" is actually equivalent to Confucius's "happy to forget worries".
"Happy to forget" is not to let us escape from sorrow or even "borrow wine to pour sorrow", but to say that no matter what worrying things we face, such as exams, illness, and the fate of the country, we must remain "always happy". In fact, this is the same reason that you can eat no matter what unhappy things you encounter. "Always happy" is to absorb positive energy and maintain vitality, so that negative energy such as sorrow will not become troublesome, which is "forgetting worries".
Under the mentality of "happiness", problems still have to be solved, such as actively treating diseases, reviewing exams well, and working tirelessly for the world like Confucius, and so on. If I have done all the efforts I should have done and still have problems that cannot be solved, then I can also be ashamed. I admit failure, but "always happy" cannot be changed - this is the highest state of "happy to forget worries".
Of course, to reach this level, it may be a little too early for you now. So let's start with "Eat No matter what happens"!
You see, "happy to forget worries" is actually Confucius's cultivation kung fu. Although this realm is very high, each of us can start with small things.
Finally, there is the third point: "I don't know that old age is coming", that is, I am about to get old but I don't know. When Confucius said this, he was 63 years old. This topic is a bit early for us young people. Still, we can try to understand what it means for someone in their early 60s to be "not knowing what it means to be old."
First of all, we must know that in terms of the average life expectancy of ancient people at that time, 60 years old is already a very old age, and there is an old Chinese saying, which is also in the Analects, called:
"Thirty and standing, forty and not confused, fifty and knowing the destiny, sixty and obedient."
What is "ear shun"? That is, no matter what you say about good things or bad things, I can listen to it like water and understand everything.
At that time, Confucius was 63 years old. Doesn't he know he's very old? Absolutely. But his sentence "I don't know how old he is coming" just shows that he doesn't care how old he is, because he has his own things to do, his favorite hobbies, and his own knowledge to impart, and for him, he doesn't care about time anymore.
Well, maybe some students will say: Confucius doesn't care about time, but he still lost to time, didn't he?
Yes, none of us can beat time. Confucius died at the age of 73, and he only existed in our world for 73 years. In the past 73 years, in the entire process of human civilization, it can be said that it is only a moment of lightning and stone fire, but until today, wherever there are Chinese people in the world, almost no one does not know Confucius, no one does not talk about him, and many people want to learn from him. It can be seen that the traces he left in the world have not been erased by time to this day.
Therefore, his sentence "I don't know that old age is coming", in light of it, is actually at least a draw with time.
In the vast river of history, everyone is just a small wave. How long can our traces be preserved in this river of time? We may not be able to understand the answer after we have lived our lives.