I have been lecturing in Nanjing for nearly three months, and in the academic circles here in Suzhou, there have been several letters inviting me, but unfortunately I have homework every day in Nanjing, so I can't come here separately. I am very grateful to be here today to be able to gather with all the gentlemen of all the schools in the city, but there is one thing I would like to ask for your forgiveness: because I have been sick for a month, and I have barely supported it, I cannot give a long speech today, and I am afraid that I will not live up to your expectations.
When you asked, "Why did you go to school?" I think everyone would answer in unison, "It's for the sake of learning." Then ask, "Why do you ask for knowledge?" "What do you want to learn?" I am afraid that the answers will be very different from each other, or they may not be able to answer themselves. Ladies and gentlemen, let me answer you one sentence: "For the sake of learning to be a man." "What you learn in school, such as mathematics, geometry, physics, chemistry, physiology, psychology, history, geography, Chinese language, English, and even philosophy, literature, science, politics, law, economy, education, agriculture, industry, commerce, etc., is just a means needed to be a human being.
The human psyche has three parts: knowledge, affection, and intention. These three parts of the state of perfect development, our sages are called the three virtues - wisdom, benevolence, and courage. Why is it called "Dade"? Because these three things are the standard of ordinary human morality, and there must be three of them in order to become a human being. Confucius said: "Those who know are not confused, those who are benevolent are not worried, and those who are brave are not afraid." Therefore, education should be divided into three aspects: intellectual education, emotional education, and mental education,——, and now the intellectual education, moral education, and physical education are not right, the scope of moral education is too general, and the scope of physical education is too narrow - intellectual education should be taught to people not to be confused, emotional education should be taught to people not to worry, and mental education to teach people not to be afraid. Educators should take these three things as the end when educating students, and we should also take these three things as the end when we educate ourselves.
How can we not be confused? The most important thing is to develop our judgment. If you want to develop judgment, the first step is to have at least a considerable amount of common sense, and further, you must have special knowledge about what you want to do, and then you must have the wisdom to be able to make decisions when encountering problems. If a person doesn't even have common sense, and when he hears thunder, he says that it is thunder, and when he sees a lunar eclipse, he says that he is a toad. Then, you must have no idea about anything, and when you encounter a little difficult problem, you can solve it by asking God to ask for fortune telling, and you are really so-called "puzzled", and you have become the most pitiful person. What is taught in the primary and secondary schools in the school is to have a lot of basic knowledge, so that people do not grope for everything in secret. But just a little common sense is not enough, we must always have a special occupation as human beings. This profession is not something that I have done alone, but many people have done it before, and they have accumulated countless experiences and discovered many principles and principles, which is specialized knowledge. If I plan to do this profession, I should have this specialized knowledge. For example, if I want to be a farmer, how to improve the soil, how to improve the seeds, how to defend against floods, droughts, diseases, and insects, and so on, all of these are all things that have been learned by the experience of our predecessors; when we have this kind of knowledge and apply it to deal with these things, we will naturally not be confused, but on the contrary, we will be confused. The same is true of workmanship, trade, and so on, each with his own expertise. Do I want to be a treasurer, what kind of tax can produce what kind of results, what kind of public debt can produce what kind of results, and so on, all of which have been learned by the experience of our predecessors; when we have this kind of knowledge, we will naturally not be confused when we apply it to deal with these things, but on the contrary, we will be confused. Educators, military strategists, and so on, all have their own special doctrines, and the same is true. This is the kind of knowledge that we seek in higher education. But is this kind of common sense and knowledge enough? Not yet. The universe and life are alive and not staying, and the things we encounter every day are complex and changing, not simply rigid, if we only understand this one thing after learning this one, then we will be in a hurry when we encounter something that we have not learned. Therefore, it is necessary to cultivate general wisdom in order to have fundamental judgment. How can this general wisdom be cultivated? First, we must really temper our always rough brains, so that they can become subtle and down-to-earth. Then, no matter how difficult things are, I can think through his reasoning thoroughly, and naturally I won't be confused. The second thing is to raise our brains, which have always been muddy, and make him clear and clear. Then, when one thing is reasonable, I can judge him very calmly and clearly, and naturally I will not be confused. The above-mentioned common sense and overall wisdom are all elements of intellectual education, and the purpose is to teach people to be "not confused by those who know".
How can we not be worried? Why do benevolent people not be worried? To understand this truth, we must first know what the outlook on life of the Chinese sages was. The word "benevolence" is wrapped in the whole great usefulness of the Confucian outlook on life. What exactly is "benevolence"? It is difficult to explain in words, but it is difficult to explain it reluctantly, so to speak: "the realization of a universal personality." Confucius said, "The benevolent are also people." This means that the completion of the personality is called "benevolence." But we must know that personality is not something that can be expressed by a single person, but from the perspective of people's relationships. Therefore, the word benevolence is from the two, and Zheng Kangcheng explained that he was a "puppet". In short, it is necessary to sympathize with each other and become one, and then my personality can be realized. Therefore, if we do not speak of personalism, then we have nothing to say, and when we speak of this doctrine, of course, we will end up with universal personality. In other words, the universe is life, life is the universe, and our personality is indistinguishable from the universe. But why do such benevolent people not worry? Where all worries come from, there are no more than two ends, one is worried about success or failure, and the other is about gains and losses. If we have a "benevolent" outlook on life, we will not worry about success or failure. Why? Because we know that the universe and life will never be perfect, the 64 hexagrams in the Book of Changes begin to "dry" and end with "unfinished." It is precisely in this universe that will never be perfect that we will always be able to create and evolve. What we have done is nothing more than an inch, two inches forward in the evolution of the universe, where is it worthy of success? But what if we don't do it? If we don't do it, we won't even move that inch, and that is really a failure. The "benevolent" sees through this truth, and trusts that only if you don't do things can you fail, and if you are willing to do things, you will not fail. Therefore, the Book of Changes says: "A gentleman is constantly striving for self-improvement." On the other hand, can they believe that they have moved an inch or two of tens of thousands of miles that will not succeed in everything? Do you think, what else can a person with such a outlook on life worry about about their success or failure? Moreover, if we have a "benevolent" outlook on life, we will not worry about gains and losses. Why? Because if you believe that this thing is mine, you will gain or lose. Even personality does not exist alone, and it is not clear that this part is mine, and that part is someone else's, but where is there anything that can be gained for us? There is nothing for me to gain, and certainly nothing for me to lose. I am only learning for the sake of learning, working for the sake of labor, and I am not using academic labor and other means to achieve a certain goal—it can be "obtained" for us. Therefore, Lao Tzu said: "To be born without being, for the sake of not being afraid." "Since you think that people have more, you have more people with you." In short, with this outlook on life, one will naturally feel that "heaven and earth are born together with me, and all things are one with me," and that "no one is self-satisfied." His life is purely interesting and artistic. This is the highest emotional education, and the purpose is to teach people to be "benevolent and not worried".
How can we not be afraid? With the effort of not being confused and not worrying, of course, there will be a lot less fear. But it's a matter of will. If a person's willpower is weak, he will have a wealth of wisdom, and he will not need it temporarily, he will have beautiful sentiments, and he will change his hexagram temporarily. But how can the will be strong? The first thing is to have a bright heart, Mencius said: "The spirit of the mighty is the greatest and the most strong." If you are not careful, you will be discouraged. He also said, "I will not shrink from myself, although I am brown and broad, I will not be discouraged, and I will shrink from myself, although there are tens of millions of people." As the saying goes: "Don't do bad things in life, and don't be shocked when you knock on the door in the middle of the night." "For a person to have courage, he must start with all his actions being open, and that is the first thing. The second thing is not to be held back by inferior desires. "Analects" notes: Zi said: "I have not seen the strong. Or to say stretch the fang. Zi said: "I also want it, and I am strong." "Once you are bored materially and lustful, then the hundred refinements will become rigid and soft. In short, it is very easy for a person's will to change from strong to weak, and it is extremely difficult to return from weak to strong. If a person has a weak will, that person is finished. If you can't be your own master, what else can you do? If you are oppressed by others and slaved by others, as long as you are willing to struggle, you will eventually be able to regain your freedom. If you become a slave to your own lust by your own will, then you will really sink into a catastrophe, and there will never be room to regain your freedom, and you will be afraid of it all your life, and you will become a poor person. Confucius said: "Harmony without flow is strong, and neutrality without leaning is strong." The country has no way, and it will not change until death, and it will be strong and correct. "I'll tell you honestly, if you don't do this, you will never become a person. But it's not easy to do this, you have to do the kung fu of tempering your will all the time, and you can get home from the will tempering, so you naturally look at what you should do, don't hesitate at all, and do it on your shoulders, "Although tens of millions of people go to me." In this way, we can be regarded as a person of the world, and there will never be an ugly state of hiding your head and hiding your tail. This is the purpose of moral education, to teach people to be "brave and fearless".
Let's take these three things as the standard of life, and ask you to think about which one of my own things I am doing at the moment—which one I am a little more sure of. If you can't even do one thing, you can't even be sure at all, belch! That's really dangerous, and you probably won't be able to do it in the future. When it comes to education in schools, the second level of emotional education, the third level of ideological education, it can be said that there is no at all, and the rest is only the first level of intellectual education. Even if we are educated, we only have the so-called common sense and knowledge, but as for the general wisdom that I am talking about to develop fundamental judgment, there is nothing at all. It is really chilling to think about the future of this kind of education in the "knowledge grocery store"! Now this kind of education cannot be reformed for a while, and our lovely young man has no place to be educated except him. Ladies and gentlemen, do you still want to be a human being? You must know the danger, unless you use your own mental methods to save yourself, no one will save you! Ladies and gentlemen, you must not think that you have acquired some fragments of wisdom, even if you are learned. I'll be honest with you, if you become a person, the more knowledge you have, the better: if you can't become a person, the more knowledge you have, the worse it gets. Don't you believe it? Just think about the traitor who the whole country spurns for being wise or not? Just think about the bureaucrats and politicians who are hated by the whole country -- those who specialize in helping the warlords to do evil and the good people -- are they wise or not? You must know that when these people were in school more than ten years ago, they were full of spirit and naïve, so why didn't they fall into such a field? Why did they fall into such a field? Qu Yuan said: "What was the grass in the past, and now it is Xiao Aiye! How can he have other reasons, and he is not good at repairing. "The saddest thing in the world is to watch a group of good young people go down the bad road step by step. Wake up, O kings, and the people you hate and hate now are a lesson for you. Ladies and gentlemen, do you doubt now? Are you dull? Are you sad and painful? Do you feel that you cannot resist the oppression from outside? I tell you: If you are doubtful and dull, you will be confused because you do not know, if you are sad and painful, you will be worried because you are unkind, and if you feel that you cannot resist the oppression of the outside world, you will be afraid because you are not courageous. This is all because your knowledge, feelings, and intentions have not been tempered by cultivation, so you have not yet become a person. I hope you will have a painful realization! With realization, you will naturally succeed. Then, outside the school, of course, there is a lot of knowledge, read a scroll of scriptures, turn a history, and you can find your good teachers everywhere! Awaken your fundamental wisdom, experience your personal outlook on life, and protect your free will. Whether you are an adult or not, it depends on the past few years! December 1922
