Today, we commemorate Xu Dishan because he was a unique and accomplished literary scholar, a pioneering religious scholar, an expert in philology and sinology, and a patriotic intellectual with great personality and charm.
More than 20 years ago, when I was studying the relationship between Chinese literature and Christian culture in the 20th century, I wrote a special chapter on "Xu Dishan and Christian Culture" to discuss his religious feelings for the academic study of religion and literary creation. Xu Dishan is the modern writer who has the most research on religion, and also the writer with the most literary imagination and unique expression of religion. Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, Bing Xin, Shen Congwen, Cao Yu, and Lin Yutang all lack the depth of Xu Dishan's religious studies and the uniqueness of literary expression. From this point of view, Xu DiShan is unique. Xu Dishan distinguished between religion and superstition in academic theory, dissolved the contradiction between religion and science, and rebuilt the value and significance of religion to modern society and the spiritual crisis of modern people.
I have already said this, and I will not dwell on it today. In Xu Dishan, there are many things worth inheriting and carrying forward, such as the national spirit and patriotism; such as the compassion of loving oneself as a person and loving others as oneself; and then such as his pragmatic, simple, dedicated, and enterprising "peanut spirit", and so on. What I want to say today is that his pluralistic, inclusive, magnificent cultural vision and "looking upwards" attitude towards life are worth inheriting and carrying forward today.
As we all know, Xu Dishan is very innovative. His novels are distinctly different from those of other writers of the Literary Research Society in terms of ideas, subject matter, and art, and are full of exoticism, religion, and romance. His academic research has also impressed the academic community. The History of Taoism, published in 1934, is the first special history of Taoism in China. After reading Xu Dishan's treatise on the history of buddhism and Taoism, Chen Yinke said: "In the past, Yin Ke had briefly ruled the study of the two schools of Buddhism and Taoism, but in Taoism, it was only for the supplementary evidence of historical events, and compared with Buddhism, the similarities and differences between the original text and the words and sentences of the translated texts, and the differences and differences between the original text and the translations were not said. After reading Mr. Xu Dishan's treatise on the history of the two teachings of Buddhism and Taoism, there were profound comments on the ontology of the teachings, and while he was convinced, he was ashamed of himself, so he gave up his old skills and did not dare to talk about this matter again. Xu Dishan's in-depth study of Buddhism and Taoism not only made Chen Yinke "ashamed" and "convinced", but also made him "abandon his old skills and dare not talk about this matter again" and give up speaking in the field. With Chen Yinke's academic prestige and influence, Xu Dishan was given such high praise, which shows the depth of Xu Dishan's academic skills and the uniqueness of academic insights.
Xu Dishan also compiled the "Introduction to the Buddha's Hidden Zimu". The three schools of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism each have a large series of books, the Buddha has the Great Tibetan Sutra, Confucianism has the Four Libraries Of The Whole Book, and the Tao has the Daozang. First there was the "Great Tibetan Classic", and the Taoists imitated it and compiled the "Daozang", "The Tao has a teaching, and it is prosperous because of the Buddha." The Tao has a scripture, because of the Buddha", the Confucians are not willing to show weakness, so they compiled the "Four Libraries of the Whole Book". The three large series represent the traditional mainstream culture of China, but they are voluminous and require search tools. Ji Yun presided over the compilation of the "Outline of the General Catalogue of the Four Libraries", and the compilation of the "Buddha's Collection" retrieval tool was first attributed to Xu Dishan's compilation of the "Introduction to the Buddha's Tibetan Sub-Catalogue", which was the first introduction to the Chinese Buddhist Collection, provided convenience for later Buddhist researchers, and was also a classic work of China's Buddhist-Tibetan Index.
In addition, Xu Dishan's collection of academic papers, "Guozhi and Guoxue", involves many fields such as religion, cultural relics and archaeology, history, language and writing, sinology and folklore studies. He used the scientific method to organize the country's history, and used new perspectives to conduct research, archaeology and exegesis. He used dialectical thinking to distinguish between "national essence and sinology", not only attached importance to cultural traditions, but also carried forward and developed them, especially under the impact of foreign cultures, studied "sinology" with a strong sense of cultural responsibility and fiery patriotic feelings, and strived to break the old and establish the new.
Why has Xu Dishan achieved so many pioneering achievements in many fields such as literature and academia? Why? In my opinion, that is, he has a pluralistic, inclusive, magnificent and equal cultural vision, his life wandered the world, he did not go to foreign countries to visit, but to learn to absorb the world's excellent culture, the formation of a pluralistic knowledge structure, inclusive cultural vision, equal cultural mentality, and innovation in abundance, the formation of his own unique creative personality, to obtain such profound and rich academic results. Such a mentality and vision is also manifested in Xu Dishan's life in the world, because he is tolerant, so he is easy-going, because he is diverse, so he is talkative.
Xu Dishan has extensively studied sociology, anthropology, religion, folklore, psychology, linguistics, literature, archaeology, and even biology, among which literature, religion, and folklore have the most writings and the highest achievements. It is precisely because of his "synthesis" of knowledge and ideas that he is innovative and unique. He is open but not closed, tolerant but not narrow, pluralistic but not single, so that his literary creation, academic research and people and deeds have a world vision, Chinese thinking and local character. The cultural character and spiritual pursuit that appear on Xu Dishan are also worth inheriting and continuing, and carrying forward.
Finally, I would like to briefly talk about Xu Dishan's attitude towards life of "looking upwards and moving forward".
In the spring of 1941, a man named Mei Yusi asked Xu Dishan to write an inscription on his fan-faced mountain, and Xu Dishan wrote 6 words in the inscription "Looking Upwards Forward". This is also Xu Dishan's philosophy of life. As we all know, Xu Dishan's life was miserable, his fate was uncertain, and there was no lack of bitterness and loneliness in his heart. The May Fourth generation of ideological and cultural awakeners, who have not yet been lonely and depressed, Lu Xun, Yu Dafu, Guo Moruo, Zhu Ziqing all have. Among modern writers, Xu Dishan is a unique one, whose life experiences twists and turns are comparable to Shen Congwen, and whose inner world is lonely and bitter, compared to Lu Xun. Whether it is his family migration at an early age, the teenager seeking a life in Nanyang, the young widow, or the study in Yanjing, the study in Britain and the United States, and the lectures in Hong Kong, all kinds of changes in the world have made him experience deep drifting and sadness. It can be said that his rich life experience and complex thinking, his reverence for Confucianism, Buddha, Taoism and Christ, the active entry of Confucianism into the world, the Taoist conformity to nature, the fundamental suffering of Buddhist life, and the fraternity and compassion of Christianity have all dissolved into Xu Dishan's philosophy of life and become a multi-faceted spiritual style. In my opinion, its "oneness" is "the spirit of falling peanuts" and "looking upwards". Despite so much suffering, misfortune at home, and disaster in the country, he is still peaceful, easy-going, and even humorous, and what is hidden is the simplicity of his life belief and the perseverance of his heart, is to be an "undignified but useful person", is to constantly "look upwards", no matter how great the suffering and difficulties of life can be accepted and surpassed. Xu Dishan's novels also embody such a philosophy of life, and the Xiguan in "Merchant Woman", Shang Jie in "Spider with Webs", the Spring Peach in "Spring Peach", and the image of Yuguan in "Jade Official" all show such an attitude and way of life.
"Looking upwards" and the spirit of falling peanuts, should be the philosophy of life and wisdom of life left by Xu Dishan, which is worth inheriting and carrying forward, especially in today's impetuous society, in an era of inner volume and lying flat, it is more necessary to lead and guide Xu Dishan's philosophy of life. The spirit of falling peanuts allows us to be a duty and useful person, looking upwards, then let us continue to look upwards and forward, the former is similar to what people often say "down-to-earth", the latter is similar to "looking up at the stars", Xu Dishan's philosophy of life focuses on "moving forward", which is more important, with "simplicity", with "hope", can not lie down, but also to continue to move forward, because persistence and action are more important than hope.
The above are the two points of my feelings, in order to deeply commemorate the 80th anniversary of Xu Dishan's death, and Xu Dishan's spirit does not die. (The author of this article: Wang Benchao, Dean and Professor of the School of Letters of Southwest University, authorized the original release of this number, if you need to reprint, please indicate the source.) ）