Text/Idleness
Some time ago, I had the honor to participate in the "Rose Book Fragrance" female staff reading activity organized by the Municipal Federation of Trade Unions, and received a copy of "National Treasures of the Forbidden City", written by Xiang Si, a researcher of the Palace Museum, deputy director of the library, a famous contemporary court history expert, and a writer known as the "living dictionary" of the Forbidden City. This book is a collection of the essence of the author's years of research results, which contains more than 300 precious pictures, telling the legendary fate of the Forbidden City for hundreds of years, detailing the arduous process of the Forbidden City's several southward relocations during the war-torn era, interspersed with appreciation of some national treasures, which is eye-opening and beneficial. Because there is a set of "Sanxitang Fa Stickers" collected at home, I am particularly interested in the "Sanxi" national treasures detailed in the book, and I want to share it with you:
Sanxi Hall, although called "Hall", is actually a small room of only eight square meters, which is also divided into an inner and outer room, located in the westernmost part of the south window in front of the Yangxin Hall. Fortunately, the book is equipped with pictures, otherwise it is impossible to imagine how such a small space could be arranged as a place for the emperor to read. Why "Sanxi"? There have always been several interpretations: the first solution: "Man Shishi, Shi Xi Xian, Xian Xi Sheng, Sheng Xi Tian". Meaning: the scholar wants to become a sage, the sage wants to become a saint, and the saint wants to become a man who knows the heavens, that is, to encourage himself to pursue unremittingly and to be diligent and self-motivated. The second solution: Xi Tong rare, three rare, is three rare national treasures, including the Jin Dynasty great calligrapher Wang Xizhi's "Qing Ti in the Fast Snow", Wang Xianzhi's "Mid-Autumn Festival" and Wang Xun xún's "Bo Bó Yuan Ti". Third solution: The Qianlong Emperor's childhood teacher Cai Shiyuan admired the learning of the two, one was the Northern Song Dynasty Fan Zhongyan (zi Xiwen), and the other was the Southern Song Zhende xiu (late Southern Song Dynasty theorist and chancellor, scholars called him "Mr. Xishan", the character Xiyuan) so he named his study "Erxitang". In his lifetime, Qianlong had three mentors, namely Zhu Shishì, Cai Shiyuan, and Fu Min, and said that "Yu Shi had the body to learn, Yu Shiyuan to learn the use, yu Fu Min to learn the foundation" Qianlong admired his own teacher, so he added Yi Xi, built a special study, and gave the name "Sanxi Hall".
Qianlong was obsessed with the three national treasures, often played with them, appreciated them, loved them, and personally wrote the "Records of The Three Xitang", in which he said: Mencius knows that those who do their best know their nature, and those who know their nature know the heavens. If everyone has the duty to be intellectual, then everyone has the way of The Holy Spirit. This means that Mencius said: To do one's own goodness is to become aware of one's own nature. When you realize your own nature, you also understand your destiny. Everyone has the responsibility to fulfill his good heart and enlightened nature, so everyone can become a sage and a man who knows the heavens.
Xixian Xisheng has been an ideal personality pursuit since ancient times in traditional Chinese culture. Confucius once divided personality into five stages from the bottom up: philistine, scholar, gentleman, sage, and saint. Mencius also divided personality into six categories: good people, believers, beauties, adults, saints, and gods. The so-called Xixian Xisheng is to rise from a low-level ordinary person to a higher level after continuous cultivation, to the ideal realm of the saint. In the eyes of ordinary people, this is a realm that is difficult to reach, but the ancients believed that as long as they work hard to "meditate" and give full play to their innate goodness, there is no realm that cannot be achieved.
Regardless of the difficulty of this path to sanctification, it is not impossible to use the four realms of scholars, sages, saints, and heavens as the value criterion at the individual level: first become a person with knowledge to read, then become a moral and virtuous person, then become a sage who is virtuous, meritorious, and make a statement, and finally become a person who knows heaven, earth, and man. I think that in this increasingly impetuous real society, guiding the world's readers to set such an ideal goal is of great positive significance for cultivating noble personal cultivation and creating a good social atmosphere.