Was Confucius a loser?
Text/Sun Qiang
(Web Photo)
Recently, the epidemic in our city has been raging, prevention and control have been upgraded, and the office of the Municipal Party Committee's Leading Group for Epidemic Prevention and Control and Economic Operation (Headquarters) has issued the "Notice on Further Strengthening Epidemic Prevention and Control and Strictly Controlling the Flow of Personnel". The community where I live is a preventive area, and it is stipulated that the residential area is isolated, and masks must be worn when leaving the house, and no gatherings are allowed. I have the habit of jogging 10.01 km for an hour and a half at night, which is a strange pity, so I like to run while listening to audio.
Cause and effect, a few days ago, I searched for Jia Zhigang's "Speaking analects", but I didn't know it, and I was shocked when I heard it. In his narration, he carried out round after round of "bombardment" of the "Analects" interpreted by well-known masters of Traditional Chinese studies in China, and refuted them to the fullest. I listened to it again from the point of view that the opening volume was beneficial and moderately abandoned, and it subverted a lot of cognition. In the first chapter, he defines Confucius as a failed man, which is quite interesting. Let me excerpt it, throw bricks and lead the jade, the benevolent see the benevolent, the wise see the wise.
Zi Yue: "Learn and learn from time to time, don't you say anything?" Have friends from afar, are you happy? People don't know and don't care, aren't they gentlemen? ”
In translation, Confucius said: "After learning and often reviewing, am I not (also) very happy?" Isn't it (also) nice to have friends coming from afar? People don't understand me, I don't resent or be angry, and I'm not (also) a gentleman? There have always been two interpretations of "no", one is "no also"; the other is to use "also" as an accentuation auxiliary, "not also" translated as "not exactly, not exactly". Both interpretations are correct and both are emphatic. This passage is a little strange, and the blame lies in the two words "no". The three sentences in this passage are actually not in line with each other, but they all use the turning word "no", which is a rhetorical question. So, what does it mean to use rhetorical questions? For example, if someone says, "Aren't peaches (also) delicious," there must be a sentence like "Apples are delicious." Therefore, in front of these three sentences of Confucius, there must be a sentence in each of them. Therefore, this passage is actually justifying something, and there is still some helplessness in the tone. Otherwise, Confucius should say, "Learn and learn from time to time, delight; have friends from afar, rejoice; people do not know but are not ashamed, gentlemen." So, what is Confucius justifying? What are the three sentences that were missed? Did Confucius say these three sentences, or did someone else say them? We tried to restore the scene. After Confucius returned to the state of Lu from Weiguo, his uncle Wu came to visit him. Why Uncle Wu? Because Uncle Wu had always looked down on Confucius. Uncle Sun Wu said to Confucius: "Teacher Kong, do you see that you have learned so much knowledge, or you have not been able to get an official and a half-job, or a teacher, are you very depressed?" Traveling around the world for so many years, like a bereaved dog, finally came back in a gray and slippery way, and there were few friends in the country of Lu, are you a failure? Your doctrine is not appreciated, and no one agrees with your claims, does this mean that your character is very poor? Basically, these are the three sentences that are missing. There is no doubt that Uncle Sun Wu came to humiliate Confucius. Confucius was a very face-loving person, and of course he had to refute this, so he said with a smile: "No, I have no problem." You see, although my knowledge is not used, I often take it out to review, is not it also very happy? Although there are few friends in Luguo, but there are friends from afar, is not also very happy? Although no one understands that I agree with me, I am not angry or annoyed, am I not a gentleman? Confucius's rebuttal is pale. First of all, what is the purpose of learning? The answer is found in the Analects, and Confucius's most proud protégé, Xia Xia, said: "Learn and excel." The purpose of study is to become a civil servant, to become an official and a civil servant, not to be used for review. Isn't it tragic that you bought a refrigerator and couldn't use it because it always went out of power and had to use it as a bookcase? Confucius was full of economics and could not be a civil servant, and could only keep studying, is it not a very tragic thing? Similarly, there are no friends around, only friends from afar who occasionally stop by to see, isn't it also very lonely? No one agrees that you appreciate you, and you are still comfortable, which can only mean that you have a good cultivation or a good psychological quality, and cannot mean that you are successful as a person. Therefore, for Confucius, the real happiness should be to become a senior civil servant and transform knowledge into power; the real happiness is that there are many friends around and can often drink and chat together; the real happiness is to get everyone's recognition and leadership appreciation, and get the social status it deserves. As for "learning and getting used to it, having friends come from afar, and people not knowing and not being ashamed" are just helpless self-enjoyment, and they are just giving themselves a step. Therefore, this passage of Confucius is full of masturbation, helplessness and self-deprecation, and the happiness he speaks of is helpless happiness, all of which are secondary happiness, and none of which are his ideal happiness. Among Confucius's disciples, the people who really received the first-class happiness were Zigong and Ran You, especially Zigong. In the Analects, Uncle Wu worshipped Zigong and belittled Confucius because he believed that Zigong was a success and Confucius was a loser. Now we know that taking this passage as the first paragraph of the entire Analects is actually full of profound meaning, because this passage is a portrayal of Confucius's life--people do not know, but are not apprehensive (not appreciated); learning, and learning from time to time (learning is useless, can only be self-intoxicated); there are friends, from afar (there are no friends in China). In this sense, Confucius's life was actually a failure.
How do you feel after reading this interpretation? Do you also want to hear teacher Jia Zhigang's intention to interpret the Analects of speaking? Listen to different voices, it is very helpful to enrich your own knowledge system.
However, nothing can change, the great image of the Most Holy Ancestor Confucius in my heart, the emperor of the heavens, the emperor of the past. How can the idea of benevolence he advocates, the moral self-discipline he preaches, the light of human nature he admires, and the ideal of unity he pursues not be admired?
Confucius's thought, profound and holy, broad and timeless, is the soul of China's excellent traditional culture and needs to be carried forward from generation to generation by the sons and daughters of China.
【About the author】Sun Qiang WeChat name: Shen Du. Know the destiny of heaven, love life, love nature, love to read, love to think, work hard to learn and practice excellent traditional culture, have a lot of understanding of life, and write spontaneously, that is, thinking is literature. Many essays have been published on literary platforms, and essays have been systematically recommended as fine essays for many times.