Art Talk 丨 Gong Ailin: Travel with Mencius

Wen 丨 Gong Ailin

Confucius said, "Fifty and know the Destiny of Heaven." Confucius believed in fate and believed that life should be "known to know one's destiny." The so-called "knowing the fate" is a person's life, to strive to do what should be done, whether it can be done, how the result is, can not be forced, nor can it be done because it cannot be achieved, that is, "do nothing". It is actually very difficult for people to realize this, so Confucius said, "Fifty and know the Destiny of Heaven." This sentence is actually the cultivation realm of people. At the age of fifty, it is unknown whether I have reached this state of cultivation. But one thing I know is that this year, the organization arranged for me to go to a job that I never thought about. It became an important point in my life, changed the trajectory of my life, and influenced my views on many issues.

The new jobs are related to literature. I studied Chinese in college, but my hobbies from childhood are not here. When I was a child, I didn't read many books, but I read a lot of newspapers, thanks to the unit where my father worked, I was able to often read several major newspapers at that time, such as People's Daily, Guangming Daily, People's Liberation Army Daily, Hunan Daily, and Reference News. They were my daily spiritual feasts, which made me so interested in current politics that as soon as I entered the university, I made it my next goal to study philosophy.

I have always thought that I am very diligent, but my understanding is not high. However, I was able to make up for my clumsiness, which made me admitted to a famous school, studied under famous teachers, studied for a master's degree and a doctorate, continued my studies, and enjoyed a good education. Still, the problem may lie in perception. Although I have read a lot of scriptures and read a lot of classics, the spark of thought is still not very much. Coupled with the relationship between professions, over the years the profession has become a hobby and hobby. Whenever I think about this, I often feel regretful. Although there is no regret to take medicine, but the heart is unwilling.

Before the age of fifty, my work had nothing to do with literature. After the age of fifty, eight years of literary work experience was inextricably linked to my thinking on philosophical problems.

The habit I have developed over the years is that in a few days, I have to turn over the book "Mencius" on the desk to moisten my spirit. Every time you read Mencius, it's a trip. From ancient times to the present, it was "Mencius" that took me through and enjoyed different scenery. "Mencius" has become a different classic in my heart.

This grand work of thought, starting from Yao and Shun, is a benevolent government and Taoist system, and follows it for five thousand years, walking all the way, exploring and thinking. The baptism of human nature, the tempering of thoughts, and the elevation of the realm are like the pearls on the tip of the leaf, one pearl and one world.

Mencius was known as the "Yasheng", second only to Confucius in status. The Four Books and the Five Classics are important classics of Confucian culture, and Mencius is one of the Four Books, with a wide and far-reaching influence. Here is just one example, which can be seen. According to statistics, after more than two thousand years of circulation, there are more than 200 idioms that originate from "Mencius", such as "for the rich is not benevolent", "clearly observing the autumn", "asking for fish in the wood", "deep and hot in the water", "rebelling against the wind", "exposing ten colds", etc., which can be described as familiar and well known. This also shows that many of the ideas of Mencius have been deeply integrated into the lives of Chinese. Of course, the main reason why Mencius is important is that it enriched and developed Confucianism. As a representative work of Mencius's thought, like Confucius's thought, Mencius undoubtedly represents the thinking of the ruling class at that time, and its world outlook and methodology are undoubtedly based on idealism, which determines that many of the understandings and views in the book have historical limitations, and there will be many outdated and wrong things. However, in the long history of the Chinese nation, the ideas of Mencius are closely linked to the inheritance of the Yao Shun Way, which makes it gain an unshakable position in the development of Chinese civilization and has infinite vitality.

Over the years, there is a book called "Mencius" on the desk, and I have accumulated many ideas in my heart. Thanks to fate for this arrangement, the changes in the job position have given me the inspiration of imagination, fiction and exaggeration. I suddenly realized that the combination of these ideas and inspiration seemed to be my unique advantage. The possibility of making up for regrets has finally emerged. So I had the writing of "TravelIng With".

My writing revolves around Mencius and is divided into four chapters. For me, each chapter is like a picturesque landscape -- how the way of Yao Shun is formed, how the system of benevolence and government is manifested, how the faith gene is rooted, how the blood of civilization flows, goodness, human nature, human morality, moral cultivation, ideal personality, moral realm, and so on, these ethical and moral issues in the speculative sense can be described and displayed with the help of easy-to-understand and simple words, which is my original intention and has become my wish.

I don't know if you have ever had such an experience: if you revisit the old place, the angle of appreciation is different, the length of time is different, the change of seasons is different and the climate changes are different, your feelings will be different. In different feelings, you will have new discoveries, some of which are particularly unexpected and amazing. Every trip with Mencius, like revisiting the old place again and again, will make me have different experiences, different perceptions, different understandings, and among these differences, the different feelings about the way of Yao Shun are the most profound. What Mencius presented to me was a landscape painting of reverence for virtue and goodness, filial piety to parents, fraternity for relatives and friends, following benevolence and righteousness, sacrificing life for righteousness, putting the people first, and practicing benevolent government. Through this landscape painting, I understood what the Way of Yao Shun is, and understood the profound and long-standing traditional Chinese culture, which was actually closely connected with the Way of Yao Shun from the very beginning, and on this basis, hundreds of flowers bloomed and bloomed vigorously.

The Tao of Yao Shun is by no means unique to Confucianism, it is more or less contained in the Hundred Schools, but Confucianism, as an outstanding representative, can best accurately and completely embody it. It is precisely because it is possible to bring together a hundred schools of thought, in the collision of various ideas and schools, the traditional Chinese culture with the Yao Shun Way as an important source, that it is able to abandon itself, self-revolutionize, move towards integration, revitalize itself, and continue to move forward. As an important source of traditional Chinese culture, the way of Yao Shun has gone through vicissitudes, thousands of hammers, flowing in the blood of Chinese civilization, becoming an important gene of Chinese faith, promoting the steady and far-reaching development of Chinese civilization, and why Chinese civilization is the only civilization in the world that has not been interrupted, from which important answers can be found. People often lament the disappearance of ancient Egyptian, ancient Babylonian and ancient Indian civilizations, and deeply regret the interruption of ancient Greek civilizations, and whenever I encounter this time, my heart is not only a strong sense of national pride, but also a burst of great gratitude to Mencius. It is Mencius's Yao Shun Way that has opened up the bloodline of the Chinese nation's humanistic and moral civilization and provided a very important faith support for this ancient nation.

Mencius's avenue to simplicity, the Way of Yao Shun fixed on the concept of "human nature is good" and "people-oriented", the profound humanistic morality has an ordinary expression, and the beautiful moral ideals are in the simple truth. The process of traveling with Mencius is the process of restoring the way of Yao Shun, and it is also the process of taking its essence and removing its dross, so that the precious spiritual wealth of the Chinese nation can be passed down from generation to generation, rooted in the hearts of Chinese, and constantly glow with strong vitality.