Confucius read "Yi", Wei compiled the three absolutes. And now that books are at your fingertips, how can it be compared to a feast of dedicated reading?
We modern people are really happy to read. The ancients, "written in the book of bamboo", bamboo is bamboo Jane, and bamboo is the silk. Books are rare and precious things. If a person can hang on a bamboo veil, he can be immortal. Confucius read "Yi" in his later years, Wei compiled the three absolutes, using phloem through the bamboo Jane, turning it over so that the phloem was broken, how difficult it was to read at that time!
Later, with paper and brushes, the production of books was more convenient, but before the art of printing was practiced, the circulation of books was entirely by copying. If we look at the Tang Dynasty scriptures and the banknotes of many ancient books, we can see that a book is not easy to come by. Since the advent of printing, engraving, movable type, lithography, photocopying, and even microfilm, the convenience of reading has been incomparable.
Low price may not be the color difference of the goods, and the best-selling content may not be good. The value of a book lies in the fact that its content is so good.
Things are precious. But books are not ordinary goods. Books are the crystallization of human wisdom and the treasure of experience, so although the valley is full of books today, the value of books is not measurable by money. Low price may not be the color difference of the goods, and the best-selling content may not be good. The value of a book lies in the refinement of its content.
Song Taizong read two volumes of the Taiping Imperial Records and other books every day, and after missing a day, he would make up for it later, saying: "It is beneficial to open the volume, and I don't think it is laborious." This is the origin of the phrase "unwinding is beneficial."
The Taiping Imperial Records collected more than 1,600 kinds of books, divided into fifty-five doors, and the classics of the past dynasties were all collected, so that the Song Taizong Emperor had two volumes of the Day's Leisure, of course, it can be said that "opening the volume is beneficial". Nowadays we have too many books, even if they are shoddy, at least a wide variety, and the contact is very extensive. We must have choices in reading, otherwise it will not only be useless but also a waste of time.
Reading never hates it too late. Late, better than never reading.
So what books to read? It depends on the interests and needs of each person. In school, if we can meet one or two learned people among the teachers, it is the luckiest thing, and he can properly guide us in the way of reading. Leaving school is on your own. Reading never hates it too late. Late, better than never reading.
There is one principle that may be worth considering: as an authentic Chinese, some books must be read. It has nothing to do with the industry. Science and engineering, finance and economics, grammar, all need to read some books that have become a Chinese cultural tradition.
The scriptures are, of course, an important part of this, and the history books are equally important. Blind reading of the Bible cannot be advocated, and the so-called "national studies" with vague meanings cannot satisfy the hopes of modern people. A series of ancient books that we should understand with a modern eye.
Why don't you read, look in the mirror and look abominable, and be tasteless to people?
Huang Gu said: "If people do not read, they will be born in the midst of the world, and if they look in the mirror, their faces will be abominable, and their language will be tasteless to people." "Savoring his words, he felt that it seemed to make sense. In fact, the people we see are indeed the most hateful and tasteless people. I wondered, where is the causal relationship? Why is it that without reading a book, one looks abominable and tasteless?
I think perhaps because reading is equivalent to the Shangyou ancients, and those ancient people who wrote books must be a momentary talent, and the ancients traveled unconsciously by its smoke, and finally received the merit of changing temperament, the realm is high, the mind is wide, and the face naturally reveals a fresh and refreshing atmosphere. At the same time, it is naturally lofty in terms of conversation.
On the other hand, if people do not read, what is the matter, probably trapped in the dust of the world's net, trapped in the locks of fame and fortune, burning and covering, distressed and troubled, naturally abominable, and able to speak with taste?
The easiest way to cultivate is to read.
Of course, changing your temperament doesn't have to depend on reading. For example, the artist has another kind of practice. For us ordinary people, the easiest way to cultivate is to read.
Books, in themselves, are interesting, cute, large and small books of all kinds, standing on the shelf, placed on the desk, placed on the pillow, no longer suitable. A good version is especially welcome. I have a penchant for line-bound books. Unfortunately, wire-bound books are now rare, as rare as those who wear robes.
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Minglun College - "Top Ten Chinese Studies Educational Institutions in China"