The world has seen a lot of suffering - Kang Youwei's aesthetics of suffering

Shan Zhengping/Wen Shennong tastes a hundred herbs, and "hundred" should be an imaginary number. How many kinds of grass can this old ancestor taste? There is no record in history. Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica" contains 881 kinds of botanicals, 61 appendices, and 153 named unused plants, a total of 1095 species. I estimate that the number of fieldwork in Shennong is not too far from what Li Shizhen recorded. There are 370,000 species of plants on the earth, and it is impossible for even gods to taste them all.

The problems of the human world are different. I have not heard of anyone who wants to comprehensively investigate the suffering of mankind. If there is, it must be Kang Youwei. He vowed to "enter the world audience", and in the past ten years, he visited more than 20 countries in Asia, Europe, and the Americas in exile. Such a grand tour, there is no second among the Chinese of the same era. He not only wants the audience to suffer, but also saves the suffering. For the human race to "go to suffering and be happy", he planned a specific path and operation plan. The general principle is "deboundary", that is, to eliminate all kinds of differences, so that mankind can gradually move towards a world of complete equality with each other.

Mr. Li Zehou said: "Looking back on the past 100 years, Kang Du is far from being comparable to Yan Fu, Liang Qichao or anyone else in terms of the originality of the concept, the integrity of the ideological structure, the great influence on the time, and the atmosphere of the entire era. ”

The most comprehensive and in-depth research on Kang Youwei is Mr. Xiao Gongquan's "Modern China and the New World: A Study of Kang Youwei's Reform and Datong Thought" and Mr. Li Zehou's "Research on Kang Youwei's Thought". In general, the research on Kang Youwei can be roughly divided into three major areas: first, historical research, that is, the study of Kang Youwei's early experience, the process of the Wuxu Reform, the era of exile, and his activities in his later years; One is the study of thought, which is divided into: the study of the relationship between Kang Youwei and traditional Confucianism, especially the study of classics, and the study of the thought of "Datongshu"; In addition, there are also calligraphy theories and literary and artistic ideas centered on "Guangyi Boat Shuangji".

So far, there has been no systematic study of Kang Youwei's aesthetic thoughts. First of all, it should be emphasized that in the more than ten years around 1900, when Kang Youwei wrote the Book of Datong, European aesthetics had not yet been introduced to China. There is no direct discussion of aesthetics in Kang Youwei's large number of writings. But this does not mean that Kang Youwei does not have his own unique aesthetic insights. The large number of calligraphy and paintings in Guangyi Boat Shuangji proves that Kang Youwei is one of the pioneers of modern Chinese aesthetics. When Wang Guowei and Cai Yuanpei carried out aesthetic research and had a wide impact, Kang Youwei had actually withdrawn from the field of Chinese thought and culture, and became a lively and lonely "Tianyouhua person" (Kang Youwei's later name "Tianyou Huaren").

In fact, the aesthetic ideas in the Book of Datong have special and important theoretical value, but they have not been taken seriously. Throughout the whole compilation, "Datong Shu" contains a wealth of aesthetic ideas, such as: the aesthetics of suffering as a special beauty - suffering everywhere in life; Seeking pleasure from suffering is the essential requirement of human beings. Suffering is not freedom, but happiness is freedom. The ultimate freedom of human beings is the highest state of beauty. Or conversely, beauty is a symbol of freedom; In order to be free, it is necessary to first debound, and debounding requires a clear theory and a specific path method; Once the differences have been eliminated, everyone will have equal freedom, from the community to the state, from the country to the world, from the world to the universe, the greater the space, the greater the freedom for man; Eventually, man will go out of the earth and become a celestial being, and the celestial man is the realization of absolute freedom. To a certain extent, what Musk is doing today is exactly what Kang Youwei thought back then.

Here, let's start with just one issue – the all-pervasive suffering of life.

List of bitterness

"Datong Book" begins with a clear meaning, the great truth of the world, is four words - to seek happiness from suffering, or to seek happiness and avoid suffering. It is human nature to seek happiness, and it is man's desire to go to suffering.

What is bittersweet? They are diametrically opposed two psychological states, both of which are emotional experiences from feeling to perception, but the value is different, the sense of musicality is positive and beneficial to people's physical and mental health, and the feeling of suffering is negative and harmful to people's physical and mental health. Moreover, nine times out of ten, life is unsatisfactory, with a lot of suffering and little joy. In this case, Mr. Li Zehou's statement that Chinese culture is a culture of musicality and does not involve a sense of suffering is one-sided. The fact that Kang Youwei made a huge list of life's sufferings in the Book of Datong is enough to support the opposite hypothesis: Chinese culture is also a culture of suffering. In order to give the reader a clear impression, here is a transcription of Kang Youwei's list of hard work as follows:

Seven sufferings of life: reincarnation, premature death, disability (disability), barbarism, frontier land, slaves, women.

Eight sufferings of natural disasters: floods, droughts, famines, locusts, fires, floods, volcanoes, broken houses, sinking ships, and plagues.

Humanity suffers five: widowhood, loneliness, sickness without medical treatment, poverty, and humility.

The five sufferings of human rule: prison, harsh taxes, military service, having a country, and having a family.

The eight sufferings of human affection: stupidity, resentment, love, involvement, labor, desire, suppression, class.

The five sufferings respected by people: the rich, the noble, the old, the emperor, and the sacred immortal Buddha.

Buddhism says that people have seven sufferings: birth, old age, sickness, death, resentment, love, parting, and not being able to ask for anything. Kang Youwei has made great expansions on this basis. Of the 38 items in this list, only eight are natural disasters, and the rest are disasters caused by human beings, intentionally or unintentionally. The intensity and intensity of the suffering caused by the eight natural disasters, especially the death toll are gradually decreasing with the progress of science and technology and the improvement of social management. Kang Youwei realized that human beings rely to a large extent on technological progress to eliminate suffering and happiness. But if you are harsh on the ancients, Kang Youwei doesn't seem to realize that the control and oppression of human beings by science and technology is becoming a new kind of suffering. Related to this, Kang Youwei does not seem to have observed the suffering of competition that people are bound to encounter in society, and has not felt what it is like to "roll". Most of these 38 sufferings are easy to understand. "The suffering of stupidity" and "the suffering of the sacred immortal Buddha" are beyond the cognition of ordinary people, and it is necessary to introduce them slightly.

Kang Youwei said that the ability of people to cross the six combinations, through thousands of eons, to prove the gods, to become a holy philosopher, is the power of wisdom. And the foolish people "can neither examine the principles of the earth and all things, nor accept the splendor of the ancient saints...... Ask the seven stars but don't know, tens of thousands of countries do not know, learning stops at the "Analects", and "Nanhua" and "Hanshu" are rare books, knowledge is limited to the land, and the circle of the ball is a wonder...... If the foolishness is like this, it is to cut off the land and abandon itself, and to destroy the heavens and the heavens, will it not be sad."

Mental deficiencies lead to stupidity, and stupidity is naturally difficult to be enlightened. However, Kang Youwei's eldest disciple Liang Qichao and Lu Xun, who was deeply influenced by him, advocated the new people and transformed the national character.

In 1930, Hu Shih argued with Liang Shuming about who China's enemies were, and Liang said it was imperialist and feudal warlords. Hu Shi thought it was "poverty, disease, ignorance, corruption, and disorder." Here, Hu Shi almost copied Kang Youwei's statement.

As for the "suffering of the Sacred Immortal Buddha", we can see the "sympathetic understanding" of Kang Youwei, who regards himself as a saint:

The Divine Immortal Buddha, those who save others by self-discipline, those who go into the turbid world to save people without getting tired, and those who go to hell to save people without suffering or worrying. However, it is easy to say, if it is implemented, it will go through immeasurable suffering, immeasurable life and death, immeasurable danger and difficulty, "suffering its mind", "starving its body and skin, emptying its body, and acting chaotically". For this reason, he cut off his head and killed himself, broke his family and Shen clan, and saved the world, although he was strong and strong, and the catastrophe remained unchanged, but when it was difficult, he was stunned, his feelings were sad, his heart was sad, his heart was sad, his dismemberment was moving, and there were all kinds of difficulties. The husband has the form of a man but no one's affection, his body is like a dead wood, his heart is like ashes, he is a person who escapes the world, the fruit of extinction, and he is not a great way...... And Ding is in troubled times, exhausting his wisdom, or entrusting the heavens to persuade benevolence, or trying to establish righteousness, or many ways to open wisdom, or thick smoke with etiquette and music articles, or direct and quick to see the nature, all of them are small supplements, and there is no benefit to generosity. The people of the cross-eyed people are surging with sorrows, and there is no way to save them. So I took the risk to taste it, and it was difficult to help. Therefore, the holy immortals and Buddhas of the troubled times, all the masters of the hundred sects, are suffering, and they have not yet been helped.

In a word, the suffering in the world is too deep, and the holy immortals and Buddhas don't say that they help the world and save people, they themselves are mud bodhisattvas crossing the river, and it is difficult to protect themselves. This shows more and more that suffering is omnipresent and that suffering is difficult to dissolve. Is this Kang Youwei's master's own way?

Kang Youwei classified suffering, but the principle on which the classification was based did not seem to be clear. In particular, the list of "human suffering" seems to be more confusing. He concluded, "The root cause of all suffering is only due to the Nine Realms. "The nine realms are: national borders, divided into territories and tribes; The grade boundary is divided into high and low, and turbid; Species boundary, divided into yellow, white, brown and black; The shape of the world, divided into men and women; Family boundaries are divided into fathers and sons, husbands and wives, and brothers; The industry is divided into agricultural, industrial and commercial products; In the chaotic world, there are uneven, incomprehensible, different, and unfair laws; In the class world, there is a difference between people and birds and beasts; The world of suffering, with bitterness giving birth to suffering, is endless, incredible. "And the way to save suffering is to break the Nine Realms."

It is human nature to complain about pain and remember bitterness and sweetness, and it is not surprising. But like Kang Youwei, who "complains bitterly" and "pours bitter water" for the world, is indeed unprecedented. He "entered the suffering of the world audience", and explained all kinds of sufferings one by one, just like a "complete collection of bitterness".

Mr. Li Zehou said that Chinese culture is a "musicality culture", and its specific connotations have four aspects: the life spirit of "happy life"; the life wisdom of "Lequn"; "Optimistic" attitude to life; The pursuit of "musicality" in human nature. Reading Kang Youwei's 38 sufferings, I think it can also be called a "bitterness" culture. Bitterness and musicality are diametrically opposed, the two are the premise of each other's existence, there is no suffering, that is, there is no happiness; If there is no happiness, we do not know what suffering is, and even take suffering as happiness. If this is the case, it is really a boundless sea of suffering, and it is difficult for Cihang to cross.

What is bitterness?

Let's start with the concept of "suffering". A check of the "Shuowen" shows that the glyph of the word "bitter" has not changed from ancient times to the present. "Ku" is first and foremost a noun that refers to bitter herbs. The second is an adjective, which refers to a feeling that appeals to the sense of taste, and produces complex psychological reactions such as association, imagination, emotion, and emotion through perception. This is how traditional psychology describes it. According to the common sense of brain science, "bitterness" is probably a chemical substance that passes through the stomach and intestines, enters the bloodstream, and finally reaches a certain part of the brain, which stimulates the neurons there, and then affects people's mood. Tea is the most illustrative example. The chemical components in green tea mainly include tea polyphenols, amino acids, alkaloids, trace elements, sugars, etc., and its pharmacological effects are extremely rich and complex. The effect of daily tea drinking is mainly to refresh the mind and make people feel happy, and the simple physiological reaction has become a complex aesthetic experience. On a purely sensory level, a moderate amount of bitterness is the most enjoyable to taste. The so-called "huigan" of the tea ceremony roughly means this.

Taking a step further from taste to taste, it is taste. Taste refers to both the sense of taste and the extended meaning or synaesthesia that transcends the sense of taste. The so-called words are endless and the meaning is endless, the so-called lingering sound, the so-called Confucius did not know the taste of meat when he heard Shao music for three days, and what he said was that the taste was long and endless. Zhong Rong's "Poems" said that five-character poems are "those who have a taste for all works". The taste here has nothing to do with the taste itself, and it is also said that the aftertaste is long. Another peculiar phenomenon is the "mix-and-match" of smell and taste. The lilac leaves are bitter, but the lilac flowers give off a rich aroma. The bitterness of taste and the fragrance of smell exist in the same tree at the same time, which is also a wonderful act of nature. A similar, and more exaggerated, sense of bitterness comes from the poppy. There is no doubt that the poppy is beautiful, but the pulp of the poppy is the raw material of drugs, and drugs are harmful to mankind and the crime is so evil that the poppy has become the "flower of evil". Further, drugs allow the addict to experience the highest level of illusion, which is the ultimate in aesthetic pleasure. But at the same time, it also costs the user dearly, suffering in extreme pain until death.

There are a few well-known aphorisms that deserve a little analysis.

First, bitterness comes sweetly, or bitter first and then sweet. Is this a lesson learned, or is it wishful thinking? There is no reason at all. Suffering may not come willingly, and it may be that after the suffering, there will be greater suffering one after another, continuously. The reason why we accept and even accept the truth without thinking about it is that we want to be happy with all the hardships. Whether this Gan will come in the end, whether there is a taste of honey on the lips and tongue, who knows!

Second, if you have to endure hardship, you will become a superior person. Is this inducement, or encouragement? It's as if suffering is the price that must be paid for success. But the question is the same, if you endure hardships, you will definitely become a master? Not necessarily. Countless underdogs have proven this countless times. This kind of bitterness is monotonous and boring bitterness, just like inferior tea, which has no "sweet" quality at all.

Third, there is no end to learning from the sea. Same as above. The talent is too poor, no matter how hard it is, the sea of knowledge will not be able to cross. An adventurer who crosses the Pacific Ocean in a canoe can succeed, but the odds are too small to be an example for most people to follow.

Fourth, the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from the bitter cold. The general understanding should be that plum blossoms can only give off their fragrance in cold weather. No botanist has explained how the cold air can stimulate the plum blossom and make it bloom. The average person is, of course, even less clear. For plum blossom admirers, the aroma of smell comes from the bitter cold of taste. Again, it's unclear how this feeling translates. For literature, especially poetry, the irrational association between things is often the condition for the production of poetry. Logic, science, and common sense have become pedantry that does not understand the amorous feelings, and the poison that dissolves the poetry. On the other hand, poetic expressions and all kinds of inexplicable aphorisms and aphorisms will inevitably suffer losses once they are enshrined as a guide to life.

Fifth, in daily life, we often hear the elders tell the younger generations about the difficult days of not having enough to eat, and they are quite proud. In this context, suffering is no longer suffering, it becomes a spiritual product for consumption, and bitterness really becomes sweet. Its ugly history is understood in his retelling of memories, and after being "whitewashed" it becomes a less sophisticated literary narrative.

The real suffering is hard to look back on. Retelling a repetition is tantamount to re-traumatizing. The Tang Dynasty poet Gao Chan has a poem: "The world has infinite Danqing hands, and a sad heart can't be painted." "The bitterness in my heart can neither be drawn, let alone spoken.

In the first three of the above, there is a common question: is it a summary of experience, or is it a kind of comfort, or is it simply an irresponsible promise? Who is making this promise of comfort? Sage? Mingjun? Leaders? Teacher? Parents? Why do we accept and obey such promises without thinking or reflecting?

Most of the aphorisms and aphorisms come from famous poems and texts in the past, and a small part come from folk culture. Such as: diligence can make up for clumsiness, people are diligent and spring comes early, there will be more than celebration in the house of goodness, hard work pays off, and so on, and so on, and so on, and so on. They are extracted from their original context, and after millions of repetitions, they become unquestionable truths. This phenomenon seems to have never been examined in detail.

Bitterness culture

For more than 2,000 years after the Qin Dynasty, the Chinese people have been living in a continuous stream of natural and man-made disasters for most of the time, and man-made disasters, especially wars, have caused far more damage than natural disasters. Kang Youwei's birth in 1857 coincided with the height of the Taiping Rebellion, which lasted for 14 years and killed more than 100 million people. In the 24 histories, the texts that record natural and man-made disasters are extremely brief. Although the official history is not recorded, there are a large number of tragic and extremely painful records in the field history notes, such as the Ten Days of Yangzhou and the Three Massacres of Jiading in the early Qing Dynasty, such as Zhang Xianzhong's brutal actions in Sichuan...... What's more, there is also a folk word of mouth. The history of thousands of years of suffering, borrowed from Mr. Li Zehou's invention, has also been "accumulated" in the depths of Chinese consciousness and has become their special psychological structure.

This psychological structure is first reflected in the fact that Chinese have an extremely strong psychological ability to withstand a life of suffering. On the one hand, you can seek satisfaction with grievances and bear the burden of humiliation, and on the other hand, you can take suffering as pleasure, make fun in suffering, self-extrication, and think about it no matter how bitter it is. It's better to die than to live. Rather be a peace dog, don't be a chaotic person. Gou Quan's life is in troubled times, and he does not seek to reach the princes. Such aphorisms pervade our daily lives and become a basic philosophy of life.

Secondly, in most places in traditional China, due to the harsh living environment and frequent natural and man-made disasters, ordinary people do their best every day, and they dare not have and will not have optimistic prospects and imaginations for the future. Between heaven and earth, there is nothing but sorrow. As Du Fu described, "the worries end in the south, and the holes cannot be broken".

Only in this way is the optimistic imagination of the future of mankind in the Book of Datong. In late Qing China, apart from the Book of Datong, the only futuristic work was Liang Qichao's 1902 The Future of New China, an unfinished work that only looked forward to 1962, 60 years later, when Chinese civilization would rise in full swing, and the landmark event was the International Exposition held in Shanghai. Liang Qichao's divine prophecy was 48 years ahead of the actual 2010 Shanghai World Expo. For the future, Liang Qichao did not think further. Kang Youwei predicted in the Book of Datong that the mixed race of different races will eventually evolve into white people, and the process of realizing Datong will take a thousand years! The apprentice's vision is far less lofty than that of the master.

When the ideal of Datong is too far away, when everything in the world becomes the embodiment of suffering, or in other words, when suffering is everywhere at all times, it becomes ontological. Bitterness has become the only reality in this world.

Finally, copy a few sentences from the American missionary Ming Enpu in the book "The Characteristics of the Chinese":

The Chinese's unparalleled endurance should be used to achieve a nobler mission, not just to make them endure the hardships of life and the torture of starvation. If the lessons left by history can be summed up in terms of survival of the fittest, then such a nation with such a gift of strong endurance and strong vitality will certainly have a bright future in the future.

(The author is a professor at the School of Liberal Arts, Hainan Normal University)