Countries have borders, and cultural ideas are interconnected
Today, when I read the book Russia, China and the World Order, I felt the different influence of Chinese culture on Russia, which mentioned 2 well-known figures in Russia
Pushkin
Alexander Sergeych Pushkin and Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, two great representatives of Russian culture, were the first to begin studying the excellent philosophy of China, and they had long ago seriously considered the spiritual wealth of the Chinese people
Tolstoy
Chinese philosophers (Confucius, Laozi, Mozi, etc.) spoke of Russia relatively early, compared to China's knowledge of Pushkin's poetic prose and the works of Tolstoy, Russia's greatest writer and moral preacher, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries
Pushkin had deliberately incorporated certain values of Confucius into the text of his novel Evgeny Onegin. In his first manuscript in Odessa before 1823, there are a few lines of ticked verse that can be recognized as follows: Chinese sage (Confucius)
Teach us to value our youth
To avoid errors
Don't rush to judge
Only adolescence can give hope
There may be hope...
Evgeny Onegin
The text was later interrupted and the draft was not completed, but it is clear that Confucius's ideas resided in Pushkin's creative activities, which is also related to Pushkin's familiarity with the work of Bhikkhulin, through which Pushkin learned about the commonalities between Russia and China's understanding of human moral values
As early as January 7, 1830, Pushkin also wrote to Benkendorff, the director of the Third Chamber, applying to go to China, but this request was rejected.
Tolstoy had a harder time acquiring Chinese culture than Pushkin, who had published a series of translations of Chinese classics before the mid-19th century
In 1891, a Petersburg publisher, М.М. Legere, asked Tolstoy the question, "Which writers and thinkers had the greatest influence on him as an adult?" ”
Tolstoy said that of all the philosophers in the East and the West, Confucius and Mencius had a great influence on him, and Lao Tzu had a great influence on him
Tolstoy described Confucius's values in "On Confucianism in China" as follows: "The essence of Confucianism is that the true doctrine teaches people to learn the highest goodness—to teach people self-cultivation. In order to achieve maximum happiness, it is necessary to: (1) manage the general public well. In order to manage the general public well, it is necessary to (2) manage the family well. In order to manage the family well, it is necessary to (3) manage yourself well. In order to manage oneself well, one needs (4) to purify one's mind and cultivate one's self-cultivation, and (5) to be honest and enlightened. In order to have ideological awareness, it is necessary to (6) reach the highest stage of cognition. In order to reach the highest stage of cognition, it is necessary to (7) study itself. ”
It turned out that in the eyes of the Russian Tolstoy, Confucius's values were like this
Tolstoy believed that the atrocities committed in China by the British and other European colleagues in the 1860s and later were a perversion of modern civilization.
Soon after, Tolstoy wrote in a slightly sarcastic tone in his article "The Definition of Progress and Education": "We know that China, with a population of 200 million, is overthrowing all our theories of progress, but we do not doubt for a moment that progress is the common law of all mankind, and those who have confidence in progress are right, and those who do not believe in progress are guilty, so we take cannons and weapons to make Chinese accept our ideas of progress." ”
The study and translation of the works of Chinese philosophers brought great satisfaction to Tolstoy's creation. He wrote in his diary, "I am in a very good state of mind, and I think it is because I read the works of Confucius, and more importantly, the works of Lao Tzu. ”
In his letter to В.Г. Cherkov, Tolstoy listed a Chinese wise maxim that he had translated: "My three provinces and my body." He added: "I love that phrase. ”
At the end of February 1884, Tolstoy wrote to Cherkov: "I have a fever today, a severe blow, and stay at home. I can only read Confucius's book tomorrow. It is hard to imagine what an extraordinary moral height this is. ”
In 1900, when the Eight-Power Coalition suppressed the Boxer Rebellion in China, Tolstoy wanted to publish works by Chinese philosophers in Russia. In his diary, summaries of Confucius alternate with worries about the Eight-Power Alliance's plundering of China and considerations for the future of human civilization.
On November 12, 1900, Tolstoy wrote in his diary: "I don't write anything now, and it would be good to study Confucius' things." I'm drawing on spiritual strength. I want to document my current understanding of "University" and "The Mean." He then went on to write: "I conceived three articles —(1) a letter to Chinese, (2) all of us killing, and (3) we are quasi-Christians and we don't have any religion. ”
The plundering of China by the Eight-Power Alliance prompted Tolstoy to draft a letter of Chinese. In his appeal, he declared that the Western world was killing and that the Christian governments in Europe did not have a shadow of Christian benevolence. How relevant Tolstoy's ideas still have today, 100 years later!
Tolstoy also spoke highly of Confucius's theory on the role of self-education, which begins with "purifying the mind" and ends with the realization of the "highest goodness" and the attainment of the "highest stage of cognition."
Pushkin and Tolstoy, the two great representatives of Russian culture, laid the foundation for a truly creative dialogue between the Russian Chinese and The Ming Dynasty by their own study of the moral philosophy of Confucius and other ancient Chinese sages. This is a real dialogue between the geniuses of the two peoples through thousands of years. This is of great benefit to contemporary Russia in finding its own geo-civilizational self-identity.
As an Asian nation and country with the oldest civilization, For some reason, China has retreated to the outer edge of world historical development for hundreds of years or endured humiliation and burden, and now it has leapt to a prominent position in world politics. In the long river of two thousand years of history, the principles of mutual respect and tolerance, peaceful coexistence and cooperation have become the background. Confucius's definition of the humanistic principle: "Do not do to others what you do not want" should be one of the main values of all mankind and the cornerstone of building Asian and global security.
Author: Mishabo