My uncle heard that Confucius, who was 7 1 year-old, cried his clothes wet for this beast named Lin, and felt that this beast was serious, so he took it back from Guanshanlin.
Only the student Zigong is distressed by the teacher. While helping the crying teacher, he carefully and curiously asked, "Why did the teacher cry about it and cry so sadly?" Confucius stopped crying and said to Zigong, "Lin is an auspicious beast with benevolence and righteousness." Only when the politics is clear and the society is peaceful can there be a king who meets benevolent policies. But now it is a troubled time when the wicked are in power, materialistic and immoral, but Lin has come out. If you are not born at the right time, you will be destroyed. Don't you see? One of its legs was rudely broken. "I'm sorry if I see injuries while I'm away." As he spoke, he cried.
Zi Gong knows the teacher best. He knows that when the teacher cries, he is also crying for himself and an intellectual with the same fate as himself. Teachers feel sorry for all sentient beings in the world and for the world where they can do nothing. Then let the teacher have a good cry. He knows that in this fucking world, only teachers dare to sing, laugh, be angry and cry. When the teacher saw Lin, he said, "I am poor!" " Sigh, so shocked his heart. Zi Gong finally understood why the Spring and Autumn Annals that the teacher was writing came to an abrupt end in Lu Aigong.
Zigong will also experience the teacher's crying many times. In the year when the teacher cried, Yan Hui, the teacher's favorite student, died of poverty and illness. Such an excellent person is the last person to be used by society. Although he indulged in eating and drinking, he did not change his pleasure, but what did society do? What did the politicians do? Why do you ignore him and let such a gentleman among gentlemen and a sage among sages suffer from coldness and neglect, poverty and hunger? Zi Gong won't forget, of course, that the teacher cried Yan Hui so sadly that his body trembled like leaves in the wind. Yan Hui is gone. Later, Lutz died at the age of 72. This sub-road of "one word can break the prison" did not die naturally, but died in the civil strife that often occurred at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period.
The teacher cried again, still crying so sadly.
A succession of blows like this befell Confucius, who was dying.
Finally, in 479 BC (16th year of Lu Aigong), on February 5th of the summer calendar (April 5th of the week calendar), Zi Gong went to visit his sick teacher. Confucius had a feeling that he missed his students more and more. Yan Hui left, Lutz left, Min Ziqian left, Zhong Gong and others left, even his son Apollo left. The teacher knew that Zi Gong should come to see him. Sure enough, Zigong came, and the morning sun blocked the cold wind and bathed his teacher who was taking a leisurely walk. Zi Gong was suddenly moved. For decades, it was this man, like his father, who devoted himself to educating one student after another. He looked at the sick teacher on crutches. The wind blows his white hair and beard, and he is still so tall. Tall, but also a kind of elegant and free and easy, cast in this golden sunshine. An idea sprouted in Zigong's heart with the rising of the stars in the night sky: this man, the old man in front of him, who came from the people and returned to the people, will surely become the most immortal person in human history.
Zi Gong saw the teacher's eager eyes. He took a few steps, jumped in front of the teacher and held his hand tightly. My hands are so cold that I have a slight tremor, and Zigong instinctively holds them tighter. He subconsciously felt that he should pass his body temperature to the teacher through his own hands. But he suddenly felt that there was a strong warm current in this cold wind, which spread to his heart from these cold hands, and the music curled up above this warm current. Tears slipped quietly on Zigong's face.
The teacher seems to have never seen these. He complained about Zigong: "It is long overdue. How did you come so late? " While complaining, he looked at the distant sky with hazy eyes from Zigong's head. He let out a sigh deep in his chest. Later, Confucius began to sing: "Mount Tai is going to fall! Zhu Liang is going to collapse The philosopher is dying! -Taishan is not good! The beams and columns are destroyed! Philosophers wither! (Sima Qian's "Historical Records Confucius Family" "Desolate as a bell, lonely as a chime, pure as a harp, echoing in the cold wind.
The singing teacher cried again. Tears flow happily like a stream. Zi Gong listened to the teacher ramble like a song: "There is no way in the world for a long time, and no one can respect my opinion,' I can't obey'. When the Xia people died, they had to park their coffins on the steps of the east wing. People in the Zhou Dynasty died, so they had to park their coffins on the steps of the West Chamber. When our Shang people died, we stopped the coffin between two pillars in the hall. Last night, I dreamed that I was sitting between two pillars, and I was worshipped, Zigong. It seems that I am going to die. "
Zi Gong was surprised. Is the teacher really going to die? However, the teacher is as detached as talking about the four seasons. Although it includes the desolation of the clock, the loneliness of the chime and the purity of the musical instrument, his heart is as bright as the sun in the sky.
There are also tears glittering and translucent as jade in the sun. Is the teacher crying?
He knows he doesn't need any comfort. Of course, teachers are crying for their students, for themselves and for this heartless society that makes the whole world suffer. However, these cheerful, jade-like tears are waving goodbye to this still warm world and everything in the world, but also to the coming death. These tears are clearly the messengers of a river, leading the teacher's life to the boundless ocean.
Qilu wasteland, the north wind whistling.
Are you sick? How can footsteps be so light? Stepping on this land that was born and raised in Sri Lanka and will soon disappear, Confucius felt a sense of sureness that he had never felt before.
Seventy-three years, is stepping out of an endless road. He is very pleased to see that he has devoted his life to plowing a field of culture on the land of China. He can't help but wonder, after leaving, will this fertile field be covered with thorns and hazelnuts because of the trampling of villains?
Confucius brushed away his beard, which was a little messy by the north wind, and turned his eyes to the empty fields and his tortuous life. How many villains has he experienced, and he has been hurt and cheated by those powerful villains.
When we read The Analects of Confucius, we can still feel Confucius' hatred and spit on villains. They are moths that destroy the society and maggots that poison the social atmosphere. Throughout the Analects of Confucius, Confucius mentioned villains twenty-four times, only four times referring to ordinary people, and twenty times describing or denouncing such wicked villains.
Confucius described this kind of villain for the first time at the beginning of the first article of The Analects of Confucius: "Clever words make color." Sweet words are better than singing. They can tell the truth, play things in the hearts of leaders, and pretend to be hypocritical, but one thing is that they are not really serious people. "Make friends by complaining" (Gongye Chang), this is a sinister villain. He obviously has hatred and jealousy in people's hearts, but he pretends to be fair and even affectionate. When dealing with people, he will take a bite and even kill people when he meets the opportunity.
Just as a villain is a mirror of a gentleman, Confucius also regards a gentleman as a mirror, showing the smallness, meanness and sinister of a villain with the gentleman's aboveboard. As Confucius said, "The beauty of a gentleman as an adult is not the evil of an adult. The villain is the opposite. " (Yan Yuan) The villain is annoyed at the beauty of others and the goodness of others. If others are beautiful and others are good, he will feel uncomfortable. Sometimes he feels uncomfortable, his thoughts are blocked or he can't wait to make a gap. Therefore, "the beauty of adults" has become a gentleman's demeanor that everyone appreciates. "Gentlemen are harmonious but different, while villains are not harmonious" (Lutz). A gentleman can unite with others, but stick to his own opinion and won't go along with it. On the contrary, the villain only speaks and acts according to his own interests, even if he knows it is a fallacy, he will resolutely agree with it as long as it is beneficial to him. "A gentleman is Thai but not arrogant, and a villain is arrogant but not Thai" (same as above). The gentleman is serene and Shu Tai, never arrogant and overbearing, but the villain uses his power (even a little power) to bully the weak. The fundamental reason is that gentlemen know how to respect people and their labor, while villains only consider their own face and interests and never know how to respect people and their labor.
Confucius famously summed up gentlemen and villains: "an upright man is open and poised, villains are in the same boat" (Uncle Er). Here Confucius is talking about the nature of mind, which is what we people often say. A gentleman is big-minded, magnanimous, upright and smooth, even if Mount Tai is at the top, he is calm and right; Small people are narrow-minded, narrow-minded, mean, dark and cold. For his own self-interest, he can be a dog or a cat, but he is not a person.
Although Confucius would not "repay kindness with kindness" as advocated by Taoism, he has put it down. Dirty little people always dirty themselves, show their ugliness to the world, and make the gentleman stand tall and radiant. Between the corners of Confucius' mouth, there is a smile that others can't detect easily. He grabbed a handful of dirt from his feet and gently lifted it to let the wind blow it away. His previous hatred for villains also dispersed with the wind like this sand, leaving only pity in his heart. It is this era that makes the villain gain the upper hand and the gentleman hit a wall, but will this society last long? How can it last long if it goes against justice and people's hearts? Isn't the villain also a victim? Encouraged and encouraged by the society and the times, they defiled their precious lives and became maggots and moths that endangered society and others. This is pathetic. In the wind, Confucius is looking forward to the fertile soil of culture and education that he has cultivated for decades, which can make more gentlemen grow into trees, and even look forward to the endless stream of villains in China, who can also become gentlemen on this fertile soil and live an aboveboard life for a few days.
The wind is getting stronger and stronger. The sun rises in the east.
Confucius didn't know that clouds rose at night. But he seems to have no feeling about the clouds blocking the sun, and his heart is still very clear.
Of course, he doesn't know the title given to him by later generations, but the students have addressed him as a "saint". He remembered that it was in a conversation with Zi Gong, who once asked him, "Is the master holy?" At that time, he replied to Zigong, "I can't be holy, and I can't get tired of teaching." Zi Gong said at this time: "Learning to be excellent is an official; Teaching tirelessly, benevolent. Benevolence, Lord! " ("Mencius Gongsun Chou")
In fact, what is the topic, and what is its significance and relationship? Throughout his life, no matter whether he is poor or not, he has always demanded himself as a gentleman. A book, The Analects of Confucius, talks about gentlemen 107 times. He once warned his student Xia Zi that they should be gentlemen, not villains. As a teacher, it is natural to be consistent in words and deeds, and set an example.
I haven't shouldered the sufferings of the whole world for a long time. If a gentleman doesn't bear it, who will? I have broken my head, there is no way out, and even I have met a seemingly insurmountable desperate situation. But have you ever had moments of sadness and fear? No, never. "Introspection is innocent, what is the husband worried about?" Seventy-three years old is not short. Who knows how happy a life without regrets is?
He passed quickly to bear the suffering of the whole world. It stands at the peak of life, with storms and lightning, dangerous peaks and canyons, hanging waterfalls and deep pools, steep cliffs and dangerous rocks. Of course, there are hardships and purgatory-like tests, but it is precisely because of these that there are great gains and joys that ordinary people can't enjoy, even villains can't enjoy.
"If you listen to the Tao, you will die in the evening" ("Standing Man"), and let death take life. You can take away his life, but you can't take away the kindness in the gentleman's heart, because his kindness has been carried in his "Tao" and headed straight for the future. What is this kind of benevolence? This kind of love is that you can give young orphans and the lifeblood of the country to him. Even in the face of life and death, he will never waver or give in (six feet can entrust an orphan, a hundred miles can kill him, a big festival can't be taken away, and a gentleman is also-"Taibo"); This kind of love is
"Cultivate one's morality, cultivate one's character and protect the people" (virtuous article), cultivate your virtue as a gentleman, and let all the people in the world live a happy life.
Who's that? Is that him? A familiar and strange Confucius came from afar. He rode in the car of the Yin Dynasty, wore clothes and hats of the Zhou Dynasty, and played the perfect Shao Qu in the era of (Xia Zhishi, Zhou Zhimian,).
The era of Dayu is so desirable. When Dayu accepted Shun's throne, he accepted Shun's entrustment-the four seas are poor and Tianlu will not die (Yao Yue)-if everyone in the world is poor, the throne that God gave you will be terminated forever. It is this Dayu who would rather make his office building as simple as others' houses, but also save financial resources to build water conservancy projects for the world. It is this Dayu,
"I didn't go home three times." On the fourth day after my marriage, I left my family and led the people to control the flood. It was this Dayu who "personally wrote the manuscript and made nine rivers in the world." Hairless fibula, hairless tibia, torrential rain, a burst of combing, a collection of national achievements. Great Sage is also striving for the world "("Zhuangzi Tianxia "). Miscellaneous treatment, calf for calf, meat for meat. Personal-it seems that the word "personal" has existed since ancient times-fuck that guy and take the lead. Not only do it, but also do it for a long time, otherwise it won't dry until there is no meat on the calf and the hair on the calf is polished.
Confucius, wearing a hat of the Zhou Dynasty, riding a car of the Shang Dynasty, blowing little music, is coming from far away, walking in the time and space of the Xia Dynasty, singing loudly: "Wei Guo, Shun Yu has the world without considering ..." ("Taibo")-Shun and Yu are really tall and noble. They are rich in the world, but they work hard for the people all the year round.
Is it snowing?
Confucius looked at the chaotic world outside the window, and there was a lingering flame in his chest.
He is the last person to give up his students.
Three thousand students walked in front of them in the snow one by one.
I want them to stop for a while so that they can touch their faces, heads and hands again. Even if you close your eyes, you can tell whether it is Yan Hui or Zigong with your hands. I want to dust off the snow for them, and then bring a bowl of boiling water for them to drink slowly, warm their hands, bodies and hearts. But you should tell impatient children in advance that the water is hot and you should drink it slowly. Otherwise, it will definitely burn him. I really want to hear their voices reading. Music that is 100 times better than Tiansu and Shaole. It is a voice that can forget life and death! Whether it's freezing in cold weather or sweating in hot weather, once you learn, you will always forget the cold and heat and concentrate on the spiritual wonderland. I want to have a deeper and more thorough debate with the students, even if I get more questions. It was a heart-to-heart collision, and there was a flame that lit the soul. Yan Hui is here. I have to tell him that he still has to take good care of himself. Isn't this (that is, Fan, also surnamed Chi)? Don't leave in such a hurry. Are you still dissatisfied with my "little man, Xu Fan"? You asked me about planting crops and vegetables, but I really didn't understand. I was a little impatient and went too far. Now that I think about it, what's wrong with learning to farm and grow vegetables? Didn't I say that "knowing is knowing, not knowing is not knowing, and knowing is also"? There is something the teacher doesn't know. That's a good question. Don't you want to ask something else? Ask, ask, the teacher really wants to hear your questions!
However, no one stayed, but walked in front of Confucius one by one and made progress.
However, at this moment when snowflakes were falling in China, Confucius, who was infinitely nostalgic, heard a loud voice from the vast number of students, echoing in the snow: the benevolent loves, and the benevolent loves. The teacher smiled. This is Fan Chi's voice. The teacher then cried, laughing and crying, because he heard the chorus of life of the whole team: the benevolent loves, the benevolent loves. ...
"Virtue is not alone, there must be neighbors" ("The Analects of Confucius"), and a moral gentleman will never be lonely again. This group of students will be infinitely extended, infinitely extended and infinitely expanded.
A great joy and happiness filled Confucius' boundless chest.
In the near future, there will be another gentleman and scholar named Mencius, still lamenting the happiness of Confucius. He told the world: "It is a pleasure to be educated by talents in the world, but the king of the world is not there." This kind of joy and happiness can't be exchanged by an emperor! Compared with unchanged, it is simply incomparable joy and happiness.
It's snowing. Confucius laughed and cried.
He knew that his mother was waiting for him.
That woman named Yan Zhizhai is destined to be immortal because she has a son.
The tree in front of my mother's grave has grown big and thick, but my mother's face is getting clearer and clearer, as if it were in front of me. Although there is no formal teacher, my mother is of course my first teacher. Mother's calm and bold attitude towards life in difficulties, her equal care for her disabled brother, and her decent and generous attitude towards others are all imperceptibly educating young Confucius. That Mount Nishan and the cave on Mount Nishan have not been boarded for many years, have they? Mother stopped her needlework before her death and wandered in that direction.
Especially the mother's smile, beautiful, with a sense of tolerance. I am sick, but as soon as I see my son, a smile will naturally appear on my face, which is so warm. During my fourteen years in exile, my mother's smile often appeared in front of my eyes, adding strength to my difficult journey. She once gave her flower-like youth to her father, and even more silently gave her life to her son.
If you didn't have the experience of being a farmer or an official when you were young, how could you have the mind and tolerance of "abandoning the world like a lost dog" later?
In the softest place in Confucius' heart, besides his mother, there is also his wife. It's too hard for her. How did she spend her fourteen years as a widow? The hardships are beyond words. A trace of guilt floated to my heart, with a sigh.
Oh, and that Nanzi. She's long gone. However, although her kindness and concern were misunderstood by the world, including her own students, Confucius knew it well. A kind of gratitude is always hidden in the depths of memory. After fourteen years in exile, no one of more than 70 doctors, including monarch and minister, can really understand Confucius' reuse of Confucius, but this Nanzi, who is burdened with many "gossip", has real respect for Confucius. How many years? There is no need to calculate, but the meeting is like yesterday. Behind the curtain, there is her return visit, and the ringing sound of the ring jade jewelry worn during the return visit is as fresh as new. If the mother is alive and knows that Nanzi is kind to her son, she will definitely have a good impression and gratitude for Nanzi, right?
Snow will surely cover mother's grave. Wait for my mother, my son is here.
Dusk.
Light that lamp. How many such days and nights, Confucius devoted himself to these cultural classics under this lamp. Like a fish in the sea and an eagle on a cloud.
My legs are numb and stiff, so I can only lean against the wall of the bed. Put the scattered bamboo slips back on with a broken cowhide rope and tie them firmly. If you don't listen to your hands, a knot will take a long time. But Confucius' mind is as clear as ever, just like a spring morning after a rain.
Even with his eyes closed, he is familiar with every piece of bamboo slips and every word on them. Sometimes, he thinks these bamboo slips are closer than his own son. Those powerful people don't take these things seriously at all. They don't have time to think about their own value, and of course they don't have time to take a look. Even if you have to study because of socializing, you always turn around in the fur and rarely go deep into the soul from the skin.
It's hard to open your eyes. Just close your eyes and rub gently with your hands.
There is wind blowing in through the cracks in the window, and the lights are swaying like wicker in spring. There is a portrait of Confucius hanging on the wall, which is so huge and firm.
Is Lin, whose leg was injured, dead or back in the mountains? These bamboo slips are more important than Lin's life! They are just like this lamp. They look fragile and can be blown out with a single breath. However, when they have been engraved in people's hearts, especially in the hearts of the benevolent, they will never be extinguished. People, people's feelings and thoughts, and vanished history will be immortal and reborn because of them. They are just lights, which can illuminate the night and the long night. Once you light your heart, you light a star, and the star is even less likely to be extinguished by night and strong winds.
Later, there was a stupid emperor named Qin Shihuang. He thought that if these intellectuals with lights were killed together with the lights on, his status as emperor would last forever. However, history has long proved that "burning books to bury Confucianism" only declared the short life of an authoritarian dynasty and nailed the evil of this authoritarian system to the shame column forever. It is a small wall of Confucius' descendants, protecting the seed of this cultural civilization. Authoritarian rulers should understand that many intellectuals, including ordinary people's minds, are not all "Ruby"? It's no use killing and setting fire.
Maybe Confucius has seen all this? In the flickering light, a smile lingered between Confucius' beards.
This winter evening, I heard a sad hymn escape from the crack in this room: heaven is healthy, and a gentleman is constantly striving for self-improvement. ...
It is not cold at all.
Confucius really heard the footsteps of snowflakes. Is that Yao's footsteps, Shun's footsteps, Yu's footsteps, or yours? "Isn't it a pleasure to have friends coming from afar?" Confucius was overjoyed by the succession of bosom friends.
Hand in hand, already flying.
Bright souls, like this fluttering snowflake, dance between heaven and earth. Is it flying between the peaks of Mount Tai? Only the striking pines and cypresses, in this silvery white world, vomit a rich green. This is a gentleman on Mount Tai. "When you are cold, you will know the pine and cypress before carving" (The Analects of Zi Han).
Qilu is a vast land and the world is boundless. Mount Tai, which stands on the Wan Ren, is like this light snowflake flying in the universe.
Unprecedented liberation and unprecedented freedom permeated Confucius' life. Every snowflake flower is a note, which together with * * * constitutes an endless harmony. Is this music from the sky? Obviously, on the earth, every cell of itself has become an inseparable part of this harmony.
A great peace and joy came.
Is it the sharpness of cold that stung Confucius? He woke up from a dream.
Unable to turn over, he saw a silver object invading the bed. Is it snow? He turned his face slightly with difficulty. A joy suddenly ignited in the middle of the night: the snow fell, and it was the kiss of the moon.
Confucius had no worries or doubts. Snowflake, Mount Tai, bosom friend, they all existed, so they won't be lost. Or is the moonlight in front of me a snowflake in my dream?
There may be only a little warmth in his heart, and he is soberly aware of the coming of death. Confucius (The Analects of Confucius), who has been "silent about strange things, contingency, chaos and spirit" all his life, is about to die.
Calm as water, Confucius even had a bold idea to warm the misunderstood death with the only warmth in his heart.
What a wonderful spirit this is! It gives people ultimate rest and liberation, and also gives people ultimate equality and freedom. This freedom is so free that even the body is abandoned.
Death is so beautiful. It can be a leaf falling from a tree or a star burning from the sky. It can be that the mountain stream seeps into the yearning field, or the Yellow River jumps off the hukou. But all of them, with the light of life, sublimated into a peaceful and happy state.
The cold is slowly leaving again, and the integrated soul is as soft as swan feathers and flows like white clouds in the sky.
In this way, the soul flies in the moonlight.
That's Surabaya, where you often park, right? It shines with jade in the moonlight. Yes, Surabaya has been waiting for Confucius for a long time. Where did it come from? Where did you go again? Surabaya smiled and said silently, I came from my usual place, and I went to my place. Confucius smiled, and the moonlight shone on a river, smiling. Confucius couldn't help but pick up a handful of river water and gulp it down. Ah, even my heart was penetrated by moonlight.
Heaven and earth, moon and river, man and the world, plants and animals, spirit and flesh, life and death, past and future are all in an endless harmony. It's just that this harmony is not static, but that all life is thriving because of great freedom and liberation.
Isn't it? Look at this Surabaya, doesn't it flow day and night? All life, all time, don't all flow forward day and night like this Surabaya?
Death is also a flow.
I haven't been free for a long time. But tonight, life has given birth to a joy and beauty that has never been seen before.
Okay, I'm going.
In 479 BC (the 16th year of Lu Aigong), Confucius died at the age of 73.
Is Confucius dead? His life is turning into a ship, carrying a full moon and sailing to a foggy distance with Surabaya.
"The dead, don't give up day and night. The dead, don't give up day and night ... "
After the death of Confucius, he was buried on the bank of Surabaya in the north of Qufu, the capital of Lu. When Confucius died, Lu Aigong went to pay homage to Confucius and wrote a sad eulogy for him. The eulogy said: "God is so unkind that he will not leave the old man and let him leave me alone in this world. I am lonely and sad. Oh, how sad! Father, no one can be my role model -if you don't hang on to the sky, you won't leave an old man and let you stay on the throne alone, sorry for it. Alas! Father, don't be self-disciplined (Historical Records Confucius Family) "
His students, like their father, came to mourn the teacher for three years. After three years of mourning, everyone cried, and many still could not bear to leave. Only Zigong built a small house next to the teacher's grave and mourned for the teacher for three years. He always leaves after six years of mourning.
At the end of Confucius' House, Sima Qian wrote a passage full of emotion: "There is a cloud in the poem:' The mountain rises and the scenery stops' (like a mountain, people look at it, like a road, people follow). Although I can't reach it, I am eager for it. I read Confucius's book and want to treat him like a human being. Temples, cars, costumes and ritual vessels are all suitable for Lu. The students are polite to go home, but I can't come back to the clouds (I can't bear to leave with reverence). There are many kings and saints in the world, before and after Dou Rong's death. Confucius has been wearing cloth for more than ten generations, and scholars have been advocating it (scholars still respect him as a master). China's compromise with Confucius from the son of heaven to the prince (taking Confucius' theory as the highest criterion) can be described as the most sacred! "
About the author:
Li Musheng, vice president of Shandong Prose Society, is a member of china confucius foundation Lecturer Group. He wrote 3 million words of prose and more than 300 poems, and more than 100 essays were selected into various anthologies. He has won the Bing Xin Prose Award, the first Guo Moruo Prose Essay Award and the first Taishan Literature and Art Award.