"And in the old man, it is to attract people's desires and follow the principles of heaven."
In the warm study, Qin Siyuan said these words slowly, on the other side, Ning Yi tilted his head, an extremely complicated look flashed in his eyes.
"In this world, all people have selfish desires. When selfish desires are inflated, people are deceived and cannot see what is right or wrong. I have been waiting for Confucian scholars for so many years. There is one way, the way of great harmony and the way of gentlemen. These ways, after all, are interlinked, and can ultimately make all things orderly and make everyone in the world perform their duties. If he is greedy, he should be taught what to be greedy and what to do. No, you should teach him that a gentleman loves money and take it in a proper way. If he is depressed, he should teach him what is the right way to move forward."
He paused for a while, then continued: "Why is this world like this, why is it like this, so that people in the world can finally find the answer and not be confused. This is the truth and the principle of heaven. This old man has been in his life for more than 60 years, and he still stumbles and can't find it. It’s a straight path, but some simple ideas about how to be a human being and why they need to be so are already written in these books by annotating them.”
Yao Zunian said something that seemed to be complimenting beauty, Qin Siyuan shook his head and smiled, but Ning Yi was here, but whispered: "Keep the principles of heaven, and destroy human desires..."
"What Liheng said is like the realm of a saint that this old man thinks." Qin Siyuan laughed, "Attracting people's desire to be in harmony with the principles of heaven is exactly what makes the small self and the big self one, but in this world, How many people can really achieve the same? My generation writes books and promotes enlightenment. The most important thing is not to tell them what the end of the Tao is, but what the truth itself is. It is up to them to understand and let them go by themselves. If they can understand the principles, they will naturally make human desires gradually tend to the principles of heaven. As for those who can preserve the principles of heaven and eliminate human desires, it can only be said that human desires and the principles of heaven are already in harmony, just like the sages of Confucius. Do what you want, don't go beyond the norm, and your own sexuality will not deviate from the Dao. It can be said that it is true. Desires are eliminated... But the sage of Confucius is still in his seventies. I am afraid that it will be difficult to achieve in this life. If you get stupid, tell others to listen to it."
Speaking of this, he also sighed with some regret: "Speaking out of the question. This old man has seen people's stupidity for decades. There are countless, but from another perspective, each of them. They all seem to be smart people. They... It seems that everyone understands the meaning of righteousness, but they always have no choice but to be greedy for officials. How can you not be greedy? When everyone around you is greedy, how dare you not be greedy. If you are timid, why not? How dare you not to run when everyone around you has to run backwards. It sounds like everyone is forced to, you should blame him, but it seems that you should not blame him, this old man spends his life with I've tried too much, every time I think about it, I always feel that I have a good reputation behind me, but if I don't do it, it will always be difficult to achieve..."
"The old man thought about whether there is a way to correct this matter. In the end, after thinking about it, I can only explain the truth clearly. If everyone can understand the truth, there may be less selfish desires. If the soldiers can understand the reason, Then the soldiers will not be afraid to fight to the death, the officials will understand the reason, and they may be less greedy for ink. If these merchants who collect grain can also understand the reason, maybe they will know what they have done. Maybe this method can be lighter, or maybe... Lin Chiuting, will not die."
He shook his head and smiled: "Of course, this is because the old man thinks too much. Although these books are sometimes annotated, it is hard to say how many people can read them. Liheng, your book club is doing well, and I will wait until the old man. After completing the repair, you can print a seal for the old man and send it out, if you can get the approval of three or two friends, the old man will be left with something in this life."
Ning Yi looked at him and nodded for a moment: "... Of course."
That's basically what Qin Siyuan said about these books. His thoughts are already in the book, so he doesn't need to explain too much orally. He only answers one or two questions when Yao Zunian, Wenren Buer and others occasionally ask. Ning Yi immersed himself in the book, searched for each annotation, and deduced it. The two years flashed in his mind.
Intriguing and terrifying. Preserving Heaven's Principles, Destroying Human Desires...
This is... science...
In later generations, Ning Yi did not study Neo-Confucianism carefully, and only appreciated Confucianism. But with his ability, some things can be deconstructed a little even if he appreciates them. Neo-Confucianism has been criticized in later generations, but for Ning Yi, a thing that can be passed down and developed continuously for thousands of years, if someone says that this is pure dross, there is no reason for it, he will only directly regard this person as a person with zero IQ idiot.
Neo-Confucianism and Confucianism were simply blindly abandoned by the May Fourth Movement. In the eyes of some scholars or angry youths of later generations, there is a saying: Chinese people have no heart of awe. This is not a lie. Before the May 4th Movement, the Chinese suffered the greatest humiliation, so when foreign cultures invaded, they couldn't wait to overthrow and destroy everything they were originally. The invasion of this foreign culture had an advanced side at that time. However, the Chinese people at that time overthrew their previous culture, but did not learn the core spirit of the other party's culture. After a long period of pain, the collapse of spiritual civilization and It is miserable to have nowhere to take refuge.
In Ning Yi's view, Confucianism, including all other theories, studies how people should behave in this society, how to get along with others, how people should restrain and guide their selfish desires, and what form should they take? A country can make this country the most brilliant, and people's mental outlook is relatively the best. This is the foundation of all philosophical systems, which has never changed from thousands of years ago to future generations.
So, what is going on with Confucianism? From the beginning to the end, Confucius who founded it is not the moral master of later generations. He is actually very pragmatic. On the one hand, he takes the pursuit of morality as the highest standard, on the other hand, he is actually based on social reality. For consideration, teach people to do things. From the story of Zigong redeeming people, to the exhortation of directly repaying grievances, and then to arguments such as "the thief of the countryside wishes virtue", compared with the development of later Confucianism, it has developed into "ritual precedence in principle", and then blindly teaching people in later generations. Modest and backward, but never clearly define individual rights, a pure rural society where "ceremony is not unreasonable", the starting point of Confucianism is actually "reason first, then etiquette".
After Confucius, Confucianism developed for more than a thousand years. In the Song Dynasty in another history, social productive forces have developed to a point where interests begin to guide people's liberty, business development, and classes begin to become chaotic. A more refined set of shackles to tell others what you should and shouldn't do. where is your location. Where are the things you can pursue. At that time, it was indeed the most reasonable to establish a country in this way.
Neo-Confucianism, its philosophical center is Li, Tian Li. One hundred million people make up a nation. in what way. This country is the most harmonious and stable, this is the principle of heaven, and even in the future. People also know that the difference between the big self and the small self, the difference between the individual and the country, to grow from the small self to the big self, the unbridled ** of the individual must be suppressed and guided.
Man himself is lackluster, and he is also an animal with infinite possibilities. But what is the strongest society in terms of its social composition? India's caste system has the strictest classes, but for thousands of years, their country has not even a single identifiable uprising, how strong it is. While Confucianism sets the rules, it actually preserves the way for people to go up. It hopes that some people can stand out, and even hopes that "one day", the world will be harmonious and everyone will be like a dragon. It is also for this reason that China has created the most brilliant civilization in those thousands of years, instead of being as quiet and dead as India.
For the great Confucians, the creation of a knowledge has their own profound connotations, and what they seek is a confidant. At that time, there was a rule of being willing to be beaten and be punished. If you are willing to learn, I will tell you that if you don't understand, you are probably stupid. Zhu Xi's "preserving the principles of nature and destroying human desires" is the highest state pursued by sages. The so-called human desires are not sexual desires, but selfish desires. They're talking about how a country can be at its best, and of course there's some harshness to it. But as ordinary people or ordinary people, you may not be able to understand "why", that's fine, I'll just tell you how to do it.
In the end, there are no rules and regulations left, but there are not many people who understand it rationally.
The people can know it, but not, let it be: if you can understand, I will tell you the truth, but if you can't, then I will tell you what to do.
The rules of Neo-Confucianism have never been a human or academic retreat. Academically, it is a leap forward. The more rules and regulations, it does make people lose some blood, but the man on the grassland is the most bloody, who wants to be? Since the beginning of Confucianism, Confucianism has really found a soul and genetic code that runs through it, so that after several dynasties and dynasties changed, Confucianism has never been extinguished, because without Confucianism, there is no way to govern a country.
As for Wang Yangming's mind study, the core is "the unity of knowledge and action", which is also the highest pursuit of a sage, and the highest pursuit of the concepts of kindness and sincerity. Heaven's law destroys human desires" is meaningful, and this is only the highest realm of personal pursuit. It can only be regarded as pure academic development. Of course, in later generations, it was even misinterpreted as "we must face our own desires truthfully" and "kill and face our true intentions decisively", which is the most comical thing.
After Wang Yangming, the last great Confucianist was Zeng Guofan. His theory focused on self-cultivation and treating others. Due to the world environment at that time, he also emphasized the pragmatism of practical application. It was just a change that had only happened in thousands of years and ended soon. Confucianism was thrown into the mud pit, and his teachings only affected a large number of upper-level leaders, including Duke Mao and Duke Jiang. And how high is the so-called sage and gentleman, we can see from one incident of Zeng Guofan: he once imitated Zeng Shen, and every day he checked himself three times - was he disloyal to others? Can't believe it with friends? Not used to it? This persisted every day for a month, eventually leading to ringing in the ears, blindfolded eyes, vomiting blood and fainting during self-reflection because of overthinking. And this kind of strict self-examination criterion can only be achieved when he is old.
By the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the world had undergone unprecedented changes. The root cause is that the development of science and technology enables one person to exert the power of dozens of people and hundreds of people, and can create the productivity of dozens of people in the past. In the previous society, in any case, a person was used as a person. Whether it is Confucianism or the caste system, they all belong to the rule of man under this premise. Without the advancement of technology, they can almost always be self-consistent.
However, the development of science and technology requires people to inflate their selfish desires and desires, and to exert everyone's subjective initiative, which fundamentally shakes the original essence of rule of man. Unchained humanity can shine with astonishing magnitude, of course. Later, it became a "positive and upward human nature that is not imprisoned." The liberalism, universal values of the United States in later generations, and the literati spirit of the West all came from this center.
Confucianism was finally overthrown—and it really should be overthrown, but the Chinese have so many Confucian imprints on their roots that there were too many pains when the old culture was overthrown and the new culture was not born. However, the thinking mode of the Chinese in later generations is still very different from that of the West.
Chinese people's method of analyzing things is from the whole to the part, while the Western scientific analysis law is from the part to the whole. This is the core of the so-called difference between Chinese and Western thinking patterns. But from whole to part. First you need a formed whole. If not, you can only take it for granted. From the part to the whole, only a strict logical patchwork is required, no matter what the final whole is. Anyway, you can move. This has led to the overall gap in scientific development between China and the West.
And on a social basis. The core of the Western spirit of freedom lies in reasoning first. That is to say, first determine how much rights each person has, and then determine the virtues. For example, if a lifeboat is going to sink with too many people on board, and someone has to come up, you can push him down. This is the truth, no one is to blame, and of course, if you risk your life and still save him, this is a virtue. As for the Chinese people, first of all, there are too many virtues, you should give in, you should not fight, how should you treat others leniently, so that the society can be harmonious, even if the social rights are one, everyone can always only When you get 0.7, where does everyone's other 0.3 go, they are often plundered by those who are unwilling to tolerate and don't care about face, so only good people or those who want to be good people will always be blamed, as for the evil people... ** That's it, isn't it a very natural selfish desire - when the desire to destroy human beings is thrown into the quagmire, most people completely go to the other extreme.
Of course, this is also purely an off-topic deduction.
********************
Ning Yi and the others stayed in the study for a long time, and roughly turned the book over. Yao Zunian and Qin Siyuan had already had a heated discussion. It could be seen that Yao Zunian was very excited.
Science…
Ning Yi sighed in his heart. He really should be excited.
If the things in these books are deduced later, many things will become orderly, and civil rights, monarchical rights, official rights, etc., will even be affected to a certain extent. In this world, people need shackles. These shackles can lock up some unwanted selfish desires. People also need some metaphysical pursuits. This pursuit can be impassioned, although millions of people go to me. "I have no choice but to be a traitor" and "human nature" can never be the reason why people can do anything. No one's willingness to set up in the world is "I want to be a traitor". If Qin Hui in another history is similar to this , then, he also reached the final position in various "human feelings".
But that's a traitor.
Every dynasty and every generation, people stand up one or two and say, "Look, society is ruined by them." So the distance between the two sides is clarified, and they will never feel any similar to him. In fact, if it wasn't for the worms of every empty country that ate a healthy country to the point of collapse, there would be no foreign aggression, and it would never be the turn of a few traitors to act, and there would be no need for heroes to shed blood.
The harm caused by corrupt officials, the harm of profiteers, and the harm that every numb person eventually collects is actually no less than that of traitors. It's just too cool to scold the traitor, to reflect on yourself, and to vomit blood.
When everyone walked out of the room, it was already late at night. Outside the room is a yard with desolate tree shadows. Under the corridor, the room is shining with warm yellow light. The night wind was cold, Ning Yi stood there, raised his head slightly, and walked out from the overlapping courtyards. He seemed to be able to see the huge city, the eight thousand-mile road, the wilderness, mountains, rivers, forests, rivers, ships, and human settlements. The stars in the night sky shone quietly.
In every era, there will be certain people who have gathered the power of an era, exhausted their life and wisdom, and in the end they will shine brighter than the stars.
Ning Yi turned around, the old man was at the door of the room, smiling and waving at them. Ning Yi sighed, he could understand that over the years, the old man's hard work and hard work, he could also understand the responsibility and love for this era contained in the book, as well as the hysterical cry. .
Because I understand, so sad.
Because he also knows best that the time that belongs to this peaceful and prosperous world may be running out... (...)
ps: In a sense, this should be the core piece of the book at this stage, but since the large-scale discussion may not be pleasing, similar pages should not appear again, let it appear, just I feel that it is necessary to let some people know the glory of Confucianism. Of course, this is the glory in my eyes. Even though I have no feelings for his theory, I have a strong sense of its place in the historical torrent of Taotao. respect. And a philosophical framework that can be passed down for thousands of years has wisdom far beyond our imagination.
In addition, "preserving the principles of nature and destroying human desires" is indeed Zhu Xi's words, and the core words of his writings belong to an extreme state of emphasis. Second, it doesn't sound good, but its essence is "preserving the principles of nature and eliminating evil desires." The people of that era saw the expansion of sex and wanted to get rid of bad sex through education. This is the essence. Of course, these are the words of the Banana TVB family, I wrote it, believe it or not, it is all up to you.