I will start today the second part of the course, Nan Huaijin's learning.
In the first class, I talked about Nan Huaijin as a contemporary promoter of traditional Chinese culture. It was well deserved for him, and I couldn't do it, and neither could other professors and experts. At best, those of us can only be said to be researchers of traditional culture.
Why? I once said that the characteristic of traditional Chinese culture is a "tong" character, which not only covers the learning of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and the Hundred Schools of The Sons, but also opens up literature, history, and philosophy. Contemporary experts and scholars have specialized studies and can study deeply in one or two fields, but to truly carry forward traditional Chinese culture, we must dabble in the four parts, three religions, nine streams and hundreds of schools, and open up literature, history and philosophy. Some people say that there are no people under the heavens who understand everything, and I originally agreed with this view. But then following Nan Huaijin, I can say that such a general person has! Teacher Nan himself is a liberal and knowledgeable university scholar, who is fluent in Confucianism and Taoism, and has a fine literary and historical philosophy. In addition to being proficient in the Buddhist scriptures, Confucian classics, and zhuzi doctrines, Nan Huaijin's knowledge also involved the study of strategy, respectively, he talked about the "Book of Plains", "Anti-Classics", "Taigong Art of War", etc.; he was also proficient in medical science, deeply studied the "Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic" and "Sam Tong Qi", and spent his whole life exploring the mysteries of life, including "Small Talks about the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classics and Life Sciences" and "I Say The Same Deed". Others, such as martial arts, martial arts, magic numbers, Kanyu, poetry, calligraphy, etc., Teacher Nan is proficient.
Once, I took an entrepreneur friend to see Teacher Nan.
Teacher Nan asked him what he was doing.
He replied that he was mining somewhere in Hunan.
Teacher Nan had never been to that place, but immediately talked about the local geographical situation and mineral resources, and stunned my friend on the spot. It is conceivable how profound Nan Huaijin's knowledge is. As a couplet he wrote himself said: "Five thousand years up and down, 100,000 miles; the three major religions, in and out of the hundred schools" Because Nan Huaijin's knowledge is profound and profound, he often uses Tao and Buddha to understand Confucianism in his writings; to understand the Tao with Buddha and Confucianism; and to understand Buddha with Confucianism and Taoism. Next, I will give you a few examples from Nan Huaijin's book.
First of all, let's see how Teacher Nan used Buddhism and Taoism to understand Confucianism.
In explaining the Confucian classics, especially the Confucian study of the mind and the cultivation of kung fu, he quoted extensively from Buddhist and Taoist texts. For example, in the Analects of Discourse, it is explained that "the fourth son: no will, no will, no solidity, no me." He said of "no self" using the Diamond Sutra as a comparison, saying that "there are four concepts in this book that are similar to those mentioned above, so-called: "No self phase, no one phase, no sentient being phase, no life phase." In Buddhism, the so-called "phase" is an image or phenomenon. When we get along with each other, we often feel very painful, troubled, and always trapped by phenomena. Life must have me in the world, and it is impossible to achieve "no self". I have you, I have him. With you, me, and him, there are troubles. As a result, I forgot that you are also human, I am also human, and everyone is the same. "Everyone is the same" is what Buddhism calls "equality." Confucius's concept of the four absolutes, that is, equality. "This is the Buddha's interpretation of Confucianism.
In the explanation of "Son in Kawakami: The deceased is like a sifu! When he did not give up day and night", he explained Confucianism with Taoism: "Lao Tzu is also like the concept of Confucius, who often uses water to represent the philosophy of life. Lao Tzu taught us to imitate water, and there is an old Chinese saying that 'man climbs high, and water flows to low places.' Lao Tzu taught us to learn inferiority—not the unorthodox filth that is not ordinary, but the inferiority of water—the sea. The waters of the world flow downwards to the sea. The so-called vulgar is to be humble and stand at the bottom, "What people abandon, I take." "Man must have capacity, as all-encompassing as the sea. Lao Tzu also taught us that 'goodness is like water', and the highest virtue is like water. Taoists describe water as wonderful, the water is absolutely clean, dirty things into the water, are washed clean by the water. Let our state of mind, as well as the cultivation of our character, be like water, ice pure and jade, free from a little dust. Although it contains a lot of waste and dirt, it is still water, and the nature of water has not changed, and it will never cease to improve itself. “
In Mencius and dedication, Teacher Nan explains the phrase "those who do their best, know their nature", "do their best", find out the root of their own heart, and then they can "know their nature". When Buddhism entered China, it was called "clear mind and insight". The Taoists call it "cultivating the mind": "Sex should be exercised, which is equivalent to what The Buddhist Zen Buddhism says'
It's this', the Tao is 'this', the fall is 'this', and the climb is 'this'. Therefore, Taoists say that to 'cultivate the mind and cultivate nature', we must first cultivate, and between the forbearance of the heart or the clear mind, it is impossible to cultivate without cultivation. This is explaining Confucianism in terms of Buddha and Tao.
Second, let's look at how Nan Huaijin used Buddhism and Confucianism to understand Taoism.
In "Zhuangzi's Poetry/Getaway", Teacher Nan explains with The Buddha: Zhuangzi uses fables such as the carp bird, the tick and the dove, the fungus does not know the obscurity, and the cockroach does not know the spring and autumn to illustrate the idle life in his mind, and how to get away to life: that is, man must break through the shackles of space, time and mental insight.
Teacher Nan borrowed the Buddhist "liberation" and the Zen "concrete" to explain what is the real "leisure": "We often say that people should be at ease, and this leisure often refers to the ideal of the cultivator, how to go to the leisure, is equivalent to the person who learns the Buddha, asking for liberation." "To borrow the Buddhist concept, life can be liberated, only then can we get the game of samadhi, and only then can we dare to play in the realm of life." If life cannot be liberated, this life is simply a painful thing."
What kind of realm is it to truly get away?
Teacher Nan explains with the Buddhist enlightenment and sermons: "In "Getaway", the story of the carp from the North Sea to the Roc and the flight to the South Pole begins, and finally points out the true liberation, the realization of the essence, the realization of this path, and the return to the land of nothingness. This is equivalent to the later Zen Buddhism saying that "there is no gain" and "there is nothing in the original, where there is dust", the same truth. Only when we have reached the point of true nothingness and nothing to gain can we truly attain leisure. “
In "Lao Tzu He Says", Teacher Nan explains in Confucian classics that the family's "Tao is dao, very Tao." He said: "The 'Tao' represents abstract laws, laws, and practical rules, and can also be said to be the principled Tao, which is immutable in doctrine or theory." As ZiChan said in the "Zuo Zhuan": "The way of heaven is far away, and humanity is far away." As Zi Si said in the first chapter of "Zhongyong": "The destiny of heaven is sex, and the willfulness is the Tao." Sun Tzu said, "Soldiers, tricksters." And so on.
Finally, let's look at how Nan Huaijin interpreted the Buddha in Confucianism.
In How to Revise the Dharma, he explains the Buddhist concept of "concentration": "Originally translated as 'Zena', it is a Sanskrit transliteration. Later, borrowing the concept in Chinese culture, "knowing and then having concentration" in "University", so it is called "meditation". Later translations of the classics believed that 'Zen' could not fully express the meaning it implied, so it was translated into 'thinking cultivation'. Later, it was found that this term was easily misunderstood as mental thought, so Master Xuanzang translated it as 'meditation'. Whether it is meditation or concentration, it is from "University". When talking about the Buddhist method of practicing qi, Teacher Nan used the analogy of Mencius's Haoran Qi: "Before buddhism was introduced to China, there was a sage who also put forward the principle of refining qi long ago, that is, Mencius. He said in the Nourishing Qi of the Gongsun Ugly Chapter: "I am good at raising the qi of my haoran, which is qi, the greatest to the strongest, and the harmless to the direct cultivation, is stuffed between heaven and earth." "Those who study Buddhism should not despise his family, the truth of the world is universal. Those who study Buddhism should be even more clear that Mahayana bodhisattvas manifest themselves in various incarnations and in different incarnations, and mencius's suggestion of nourishing qi is very reasonable. Those who cultivate the Dharma of Peace should pay attention to Mencius's words: 'Zhi Yi is moving qi, and qi one is moving zhi", if the spirit and qi cannot cooperate, if they want to not have delusions, they absolutely cannot do it. Mencius, in the "Second Part of the Heart", mentioned the order of nourishing qi and doing kung fu, and when it comes to being a saint by an ordinary man, there is a procedure: "What is desired is good, what is self is faith, what is full is beautiful, what is full and glorious is great, what is great and what is great is holy, and what is holy and unknowable is God." ‘”
In the "Yogi Earth Theory", Teacher Nan explains the four major dispersion processes, quoting the death of ZengZi in the Analects: "When people really die, the earth is scattered first, and the body, hands and feet are no longer felt." We can understand it by reading ancient books. In the Analects, Zengzi was about to die of illness and said to his disciples, 'Qi Yu Foot, Qi Yu Hand.' Ask the student to put his feet and his hands well. He also said, 'The clouds of the poem: trembling, like approaching the abyss, like walking on thin ice, and now and then, I know that I am free of husband! brat. He said, now that I'm dying, I won't make any more mistakes when I enter. Before dying, he is still diligently doing good, and he usually has no evil thoughts, and now he will not make mistakes. This situation is a great dispersion of the earth, and the loss of physical perception. ”
In particular, I would like to tell you that when Nan Huaijin was so widely recruited and quoted, she never wrote a good speech in advance, let alone used a computer search engine to find information like we are now.
Whether it is quoting the Thirteen Sutras of Confucianism, the Great Tibetan Sutra of Buddhism, or the Taoist classics, he blurted them out and picked them up. This is what I witnessed with my own eyes around him. Such amazing memories and vast knowledge, in our time, I don't know if I can find a second person.