The status of excellent traditional culture in modern society
What is the status of excellent traditional culture in modern society? On this issue, to tell the truth, since the founding of the four olds and the four news, the traditional culture has been seriously damaged, which can be seen from the contrast between Taiwan and the mainland.
What is the traditional culture of excellence that we are talking about? I think it is the three schools of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and it is mainly Based on Confucianism, with the Tao as the follower, and with the Interpretation as the guest. In the fifth year of Emperor Jianyuan of the Han Dynasty (136 BC), the Confucians accepted Dong Zhongshu's suggestion to depose the Hundred Families and honor Confucianism alone. Confucianism has always been the backbone of traditional Chinese culture, and in Confucianism, the king rules the world with benevolence and filial piety, which is an important factor in the continuation of Chinese civilization.
The Tao is attached to and supplemented by Confucianism. In other words, when you are unambitious in reality, you can go to Lao Tzu to find spiritual comfort.
"Buddha" was only introduced to China from the Han Dynasty and flourished after the Southern and Northern Dynasties. I think that without Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, China might have become a Buddhist country.
Although Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei was a Xianbei clan, he slowly moved his Xianbei nobles from Pingcheng to the capital Luoyang and changed their Han surnames, which is remarkable. Therefore, we say that the traditional excellent culture is Confucianism, Interpretation, and Taoism, with Confucianism as the mainstay, the Tao as the follower, and the Interpretation as the guest. After May Fourth, those who talk about Confucianism are all Buddhas and high-ranking people in the Tao. After the abolition of the imperial examination system, the status of Confucianism plummeted, and it was not until after the Eighteenth National Congress that Confucianism was completely decriminalized. Therefore, the revival of Chinese culture is not talking about Buddhism or preaching, but actually talking about the revival of Confucianism, which is the backbone of our revival of traditional culture. That's the first point.
Secondly, I would like to tell you about the current situation of Confucianism from my personal experience. I taught myself the I Ching in my sophomore year of high school, but I really understood the I Ching when I went to Germany to study and read a German translation, and that's when I understood the I Ching. Why? Because when I was in China, in Taiwan, the foundation of traditional Chinese studies was not good, I couldn't understand reading ancient books, the situation was very bad, the vernacular level was very poor, and I didn't even dare to write the annotations of the "I Ching" if I didn't even pass the college entrance examination? When I arrived in Germany, I read the German translation of Richhaid Wilhelm, and I actually understood the I Ching for the first time. I had a big shock, what does that mean? In fact, we are in a state of serious separation from our own traditional culture. Hurry up and replenish it. I specialize in the study of Kant in Germany, and no matter which subject I study in Germany, I get an inspiration from my doctoral supervisor: no matter what problem you study, you must first understand this problem, the history of this subject. Be sure to know who has studied this problem, and why is it worth your research now? Whether there is innovation and breakthrough on the basis of existing research can such research be truly original and meaningful.
《Zhou Yi》
Therefore, we are now in a state of serious separation from traditional culture, and we must quickly rescue and build a broken bridge. In this way, we are qualified to talk about the revival of Chinese culture. To complete the rejuvenation of Chinese culture and build a beautiful Chinese dream, it has always been inseparable from the excellent traditional culture itself.
The essence and similarities and differences of Confucius and Zhu Xi
It is said that Confucius said but did not do, what is "saying but not doing"? This "doing" is creation and innovation, and "narration" means that the ancient sages have already spoken about it, and we tell it truthfully, which is called "telling but not doing." Western civilization encourages creation, the most classics have not been learned well, how long to learn to create? It takes time to understand what to do first, and then you have the ability to do what?
Confucius and Zhuzi
For example, at the turn of the seventeenth and eighth centuries, the heir of Leibniz, the cultural giant of the Western world, was Christian Wolff. In 1721, Wolff gave a lecture on the theme of "Practical Philosophy on Chinese", and as soon as he opened his mouth, he said that my philosophical thought was completely consistent with Confucius in China. Why don't I talk about the practical philosophy of Confucius but the practical philosophy of Chinese? He said that because for Confucius, he was combing and integrating the maxims of the ancient saint kings before him, including Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen, Wu, and Zhou Gong. The most powerful thing about Confucius is that he collects the sages of ancient and medieval China in the Six Classics, which is called "describing but not doing." Without Confucius, Chinese culture would be as eternal as a long night. Confucius's greatness was to bring these essences together to teach his students. If there is no Confucius's "Ten Wings", how can our descendants understand the meaning of the "Zhou Yi"? In his later years, Confucius liked "Yi" and annotated "Zhou Yi", bringing together the essence of his predecessors' research on "Zhou Yi".
In this regard, Zhu Xi undoubtedly faithfully fulfilled Confucius's "description without doing". All of Zhu Xi's creations are based on the best of his predecessors. For example, who wrote the original zhuzi family training? It is Cheng Hao, that is, Mr. Ming Dao's "Cheng Family Training". However, after Zhu Zi polished the "Cheng Family Training" written by the extremely talented Cheng Hao, it became "Zhu Zi Family Training". For another example, the "Recent Thoughts" that I specialize in was not completed by Zhu Zi alone, but was also compiled by Zhang Yu, one of the "Three Sages of southeast china". Another example is the Ercheng Zhiyan of the Most Outstanding Disciple of Ercheng, Yang Shi. Zhu Xi saw that the Ercheng Zhiyan was not enough, and it should be necessary to summarize the records of other disciples, but also to expand to his teacher Zhou Dunyi, whose most outstanding student, his cousin Zhang Zai, compiled the "Records of Recent Thoughts", which reflected Zhu Xi's "description but not writing".
Notes on the Four Books
Especially the more important "Notes on the Four Books Collection" cost Zhu Xi a lifetime of painstaking efforts. How did the Four Books come about? If you can read through the Analects and Mencius, then the Six Classics will also be understood. He said that he would read "University" and finally "Moderation". Therefore, Zhu Zi left the Analects and Mencius according to the Second Journey, and then combined them with the thirty-first "Zhongyong" and the forty-second "University" in the Book of Rites, which is the "Four Books". Then he spent his whole life writing commentaries on the Four Books, and there were very few scribes among the theorists, and obviously, Zhu Zi had reached the level of a scribe, so this was also "to say but not to do"
Speaking of which, I would like to say that Wang Yangming, of course, is also a saint, but I don't think he is a qualified scholar. Because when he quotes the classics, he is very willful and arbitrary, often misquoting, missing, misquoting or randomly quoting, and this problem is very serious. Wang Yangming is a thinker, but by no means a qualified scholar. He only focused on "University", how can his knowledge be compared with Zhu Zi? Wang Yangming is the most contradictory and entangled with Zhu Zi, and he admires him and wants to surpass him. It can be said that without Zhu Zixue, there would be absolutely no Yangmingxue. In today's world, it is not advisable for those who study Yang Ming to focus on the difference between Yang Ming and Zhu Zi. I think that the study of Yang Ming must first stand on this understanding, Yang Ming and Zhu Zi are both Confucian masters, we must start from their commonalities, we will find their differences, only by studying their similarities and differences, can we see the outstanding place of Yang Ming.
I think Zhu Zi is the person who reads the best books and does the best academic work after Confucius, and is also the person who can fully expound Confucius's thought. Speaking of the essence of Confucius and Zhuzi, what is it? This is also the question I have been thinking about for a long time, why can Chinese civilization continue for thousands of years? This is inseparable from Confucianism, which I summarize into three words: the first word is Confucius's central idea of "benevolence", the "benevolence" of benevolence; the second is the "middle" of moderation; the third is the "home" of the family.
Confucius's central idea was "benevolence", "self-denial and retribution". This "ren" must be called "ren" by two talents, and the so-called "widow will enter the well". Westerners like to talk about individualism, Chinese do not talk about individualism, there must be two people, so there are five luns, called father and son have relatives, kings and subjects have righteousness, husband and wife are different, long and young are orderly, friends have faith, must be the relationship between people.
The second word is "Zhong", the last article of the Analects, "Yao Yue", the "Analects" has always said "Zi Yue", why is it "Yao Yue" in the end? Yao was at least 160 or 700 years older than Confucius, so what is the explanation? Is this related to the compilers of the Analects? Ercheng pointed out this point, and the Analects should have been compiled by zengsan and youruo's disciples. When Confucius died, his disciples said that if you look most like Confucius, we should respect you like a teacher. It is recognized that Zeng Ginseng is the most blunt, but it is Zeng Ginseng who really gets the true transmission of Confucius, and Zeng Ginseng passed on what he learned to Confucius's grandson Kong Ling. Every time the Analects mention Zengsan and Youruo, they must be called "Youzi" or "Zengzi". Looking at the Analects, the first "Xueer", the second chapter is "Youzi Yue", and the fourth chapter is "Zeng Zi Yue", in fact, this already implies that the Analects were compiled by Zeng Zi and Youzi's disciples. Zi Si was Zeng Zi's most outstanding disciple, and undoubtedly played a pivotal role in the compilation of the Analects, and Zi Si always had to explain "Yao Yue" in the end when he participated in the editing. Yao Yue: "Consultation! Ershun! The calendar of heaven is in Erzhu and allowed to cling to it, the four seas are poor, and the heavens are eternal. ("Analects of Yao Yue") means that when Yao gave up the world to Da Shun, he said, Da Shun! The Mandate of Heaven is now your turn, and from now on you must abide by the Middle Way, do not do anything too much, do not fall short, and do it just right, if you do not do this, the four seas will be poor, and the heavens will give you no money. This passage is also recorded in the Shang Shu Da Yu Mo. Later, Da Shun also passed on these words to Dayu, and the last article of the Analects talks about this. This "zhong", later King Wen of Zhou was imprisoned by the King of Shang, when he was writing for the "Zhou Yi", the sixty-first gua of the "Zhou Yi" was in the middle of the Fu Gua, how to keep the middle way, not only that, he explained the second and fifth gua in the gua, the second is the middle of the inner gua, the fifth is the middle of the outer gua, in the words of Confucius, "two more reputations, five more skills", "zhong" always runs through the sixty-four gua, as long as the middle is good. Now Henan people don't talk about it, is it okay? This is what Confucius left behind. We often talk about the "great path," that is, the middle way.
Finally, when I talk about "home", many people are analyzing why Chinese culture is revived. Because no one has ever had such a strong sense of family as Chinese. No matter how hard parents work, including overseas now, it is to make their children receive the best education, parents sacrifice vacation time, overtime, and attach importance to their children's education, which is what Confucianism teaches us. Mencius said the most representative sentence, "The way of Yao Shun, filial piety is enough." Filial piety is home. China's family culture is the richest in the world, the title of the family is the most complete, there is no small family, where can we come from? Without home, there is no hope.
Therefore, the three core concepts of benevolence, middle and family, I think are the most fundamental factors why Chinese culture has been able to continue for five thousand years. Today, when we talk about reviving Chinese culture, we must carry forward Confucius's idea of "benevolence", benevolence is two people, treat each other with empathy, like our current Belt and Road is empathy, and the community of human destiny is the expression of reason, and it is definitely not a neighbor. "Zhong" admonishes us not to go to extremes, Chinese to do everything without going to extremes, and it is best to be impartial. Finally, there is the "home", everything has returned to home, only the Qi family can govern the country and the world.
Inheriting and carrying forward China's excellent traditional culture in the new era, how to strengthen the foundation and make up for shortcomings?
If we want to revive traditional Chinese culture now, the most important thing is to restore the status of Confucianism. So, what is the carrier of Confucianism? I think it's the Four Books and Five Classics. It is very meaningful to talk about it today, Confucius's "Six Classics" and "The Book of Music" have been lost and become the Five Classics, which he summed up the teachings of these former ancient saint kings before Confucius. As for Zhu Zi, he also described but did not do it, and his life's energy was focused on the "Four Books, Chapters and Sentences Collection". Of course, later the status of the four books surpassed that of the Five Classics, why? Because Zhu Xi represented Neo-Confucianism, he based on Confucius and Mencius thought, highlighted the importance of "University", "Zhongyong" and "Yi Chuan" to make up for Confucius's shortcomings of "no strange words, force, chaos, gods, rare words, fate, and heavenly path", which are clearly stated in "Zhongyong" and "Yi Chuan", and then absorb the strengths of the Buddha and Tao. The Buddhism we believe in China now is very different from the original Buddhism, and it has long been Sinicized and Confucianized, and Zen Buddhism is a typical representative. The Six Ancestral Tantras are the only original Chinese buddhist scriptures, and they were also written by the "illiterate" Liuzu Huineng, which is very magical.
The Six Ancestral Altar Sutras
Today, to revive traditional Chinese culture, it is necessary to strengthen the foundation and make up for shortcomings, that is, to strengthen the carrier of traditional culture (that is, the study of scriptures), that is, to study the Four Books and Five Classics well. In the past two decades, a "crooked wind" has been blown, and children have been asked to recite the classics. I have personally read and memorized the Analects and been able to memorize the Analects in its entirety, which are two different things. You can only recite, never understand, that is useless. Especially to memorize the I Ching, for the I Ching, not to say that I can recite it backwards like a stream, at least it can be said that it is a jumping back like a stream. What is the point of having children read the I Ching? This is what we should pay attention to and consider. I think that as long as you reach a certain age, even if no one teaches you, you will naturally understand, and I strongly oppose children memorizing the I Ching.
The Analects can be memorized, because you will probably understand them by the age of seventeen or eighteen. When I was a freshman in high school, the person I hated the most was Confucius, and at that time, I thought that the important thing was to learn mathematics and English well, and the rest did not want to care at all. When I encountered a setback in the first semester of high school, I suddenly thought of a sentence that Confucius said, and I felt that this made sense, and I suddenly realized that I had read it in the past and read it again in conjunction with my own life. Every day after class after my first semester of high school, there were always seven or eight classmates around me, asking me to tell them about the Analects that the teacher had taught that day. Reading the Analects must be combined with the personal experience of life, it is useless to memorize it, you must read its righteousness, and then take these principles as the criterion for our standing and acting, so that the path is closely integrated with us, so that we can apply what we have learned. Therefore, the classics are not for you to recite, and there is no point in memorizing the classics deadly.
In fact, Confucius's rationality is very strong, and Zhu Zi's rationality is also very strong. I have always observed the description and not the work, and my most important works, "The General Explanation of the Records of The Near Thoughts", the "General Explanation of the Sixty-Four Gua of Zhou Yi", the "General Solution of the Easy Transmission", and the "General Explanation of the Transmission of the Records of Transmission", are all described but not done. There are so many new things to talk about, and it is good that you have made clear what people have said in the past. Therefore, I think it is necessary to make up for the shortcomings and do the following:
First, we must be proficient in a classic, or at least proficient in a classic. The Analects, the Middle Way, the University, the Records of Recent Thoughts, and so on, are all. Mastering the Scriptures first is the most important thing.
Second, we must face the world and the future. Before facing the world and facing the future, we must first clarify what is your own identity? As Chinese, at least the foundation of Confucianism is necessary to have a dialogue with Christianity, Islam, and so on. Unfortunately, most of the contemporary Chinese intellectuals are intellectually illiterate and do not know what Confucius is talking about. When I first arrived in Germany in 1980, I had to take a three-month language class, and we had a pastor from the United States in our class. He talked about the Bible, and I said I'm sorry, in China this is not the Bible, the I Ching is called the Bible. You guys are legends. Genesis, which says that God created Adam in His own image, took out Adam's second rib and created Eve, which is called the origin of mankind. I said this is a low legend! I asked him, if Adam and Eve were the origin of mankind, how would they reproduce? In the future, either brothers and sisters will get married, or sons and mothers, or daughters and fathers, which violates the theory of evolution, and inbreeding is becoming more and more backwards, right? He said this is against scientific common sense, does not make sense, I said what kind of Bible this is, I asked him can not answer. When I say we are China, what do you say? There is heaven and earth, and then there are all things; there are all things, then there are men and women; there are men and women, then there are couples; there are couples, then there are fathers and sons; there are fathers and sons, then there are kings and subjects; there are kings and subjects, then there are up and down, and then there are ceremonies and righteousness. How did you throw away all the "courtesies, righteousness, and shame"? So, Chinese't engage in monism, God, or anything like that. I never believed it, but now if you are illiterate, you can easily be pulled away by Christianity. Therefore, we must vigorously revitalize the excellent traditional Chinese culture in order to prevent the "cultural aggression" of the West, and only by reviving the traditional culture can we be qualified to carry out reciprocal exchanges and dialogues with the cultures of other ethnic groups, including Western culture.
Third, we cannot rest on our laurels and stay within the scope of Confucianism. Generally speaking, Confucianism pioneered by Confucius created the first cycle of Chinese civilization. Then the world was in chaos for four hundred years, from the Yellow Turban Rebellion to the Sui Dynasty to unify the world for more than four hundred years, people's hearts were floating, and they had to rely on Buddhism to settle down, Taoism rose up to fight against it, and Confucianism was marginalized. From Han Yu to the appearance of the five sons of the Northern Song Dynasty, and then to Zhu Xi, he could gather great achievements. Zhu Xi is very remarkable, and if you have not read Zhu Xi, you will not be able to talk about Confucianism.
We are entering a new era today, and China has completed industrialization and entered the industrial society. After all, Confucianism is a product of a small peasant society, not a mature society. Now in advanced countries, more than 80% of the people live in the city, and China has rapidly urbanized, so the most advanced Marxist social and economic ideas of the industrial revolution must be integrated with Confucianism, so as to create the third cycle of Chinese civilization. The second cycle is because Buddhism is introduced, and then it is absorbed and transcended. We are now facing industrial civilization, and after one hundred and seventy or eighty years of suffering, we have returned to the study of industrial civilization. Not only that, but also combined with tradition, as long as we can combine Confucianism with the most advanced Marxism in the West, then we can create a brilliant third cycle of Chinese civilization, when Westerners really have to learn from China.
Article source: Phoenix Guoxue