In the past few days of travel, the book I read most often was Mr. Jiang Xun’s "Jiang Xun Speaks of Song Ci". I have expressed my love for his writing more than once. Because I think his words always reveal his tolerance and softness for life, while also being rational and powerful. I think he can always inspire us to look at things from the height and breadth of life.
About the realm of life
Wang Guowei said in "Human Words": "Those who have achieved great things and learned great things in ancient and modern times must pass through three realms: 'Last night the west wind withered the green sky' Tree. Standing alone on a high building, looking at the end of the world. This is the first state. The clothes are getting wider and I don’t regret it. I am haggard because of it. This is the second state. , but that person is in the dim light. "This is the third realm." In fact, I have never found an interpretation of this three-level realm that impressed me, but in this book, I saw Mr. Jiang Xun's interpretation of it. It gave me a feeling of enlightenment.
Mr. Jiang Xun said:
The first realm is "Last night, the west wind withered the green trees, and I climbed up to the tall building alone, looking at the end of the world." In reality, "the west wind withered the green trees last night" means that because of the west wind blowing last night, the green leaves fell one after another, and the dense cover disappeared, so after "going up to the tall building alone" you can "see all the way to the end of the world" (of course There is also a saying of "looking across the road to the end of the world"), you can see the road very far away. To the creator, this sentence is just a picture, but Wang Guowei extended it to the first realm of life. When living in prosperity, it is actually difficult to have an understanding of life. The understanding of life often begins at the moment when prosperity falls, which is the "decadence" we once talked about. This "decadent" is not what the world calls decadence, but it has a high meaning of introspection and self-precipitation. If you have been in spring and summer, you have no chance to miss spring and summer. You miss spring and summer because spring and summer are about to pass. "Last night the west wind withered the green trees." After the leaves fall, you begin to have feelings, and then you have attachment and cherishment of life.
When I saw this interpretation, the first thing I thought of was "A Dream of Red Mansions". If you have not experienced some scenes of decline in life and have not experienced the loneliness of prosperity, you will not understand the prosperity you once had. of. We often realize what we once had when we lose it. When we have it, everything is invisible, and the joy and beauty of existence are naturally blocked. But when this habitual thing suddenly changes one day, we will think about it, because changes in things often cause changes in emotions, and emotions can bring pain. When we feel the pain and accept the pain, we will go back to reflect and cherish it. In a word: thinking and enlightenment in life begin with the experience of withering.
Wang Guowei believes that the second realm of life is "the clothes are getting wider and wider, but you will never regret it, and you will become haggard because of the beauty." You must be infatuated, you must be like Liu Yong said, your body is getting thinner and thinner ("the belt is getting wider"), but you have no regrets at all. "For Yi" means for a person or an object; "for it makes people haggard", this is infatuation. The second state is a process of obsession and obsession. This process is probably the longest and most painful. The first realm is "Looking at mountains is mountains, looking at water is water", and the second realm is "Looking at mountains is not mountains, looking at water is not water". At this time, it is very embarrassing, very embarrassing, and very divisive. Some people cannot pass this level and cannot reach the third realm.
When we experience the first realm and begin to awaken from the withering, we will always unconsciously think about doing something, and this awakening may allow us to find the direction, so we will be unswerving and will The belt becomes wider. Of course, not everyone is relaxed to the end. Most of them will last for a while and return to the original track. This is human nature. Human awakening cannot be completed in one go, but every awakening and growth, looking back When you look at it, it's rising. So we will continue to wander and entangle in this stage. Different stages have different infatuations. Every time we will experience this state of seeing mountains as mountains and water as water to seeing mountains as not mountains and water as not water.
Wang Guowei believes that the third realm of life is "looking for him in the crowd thousands of times, and suddenly looking back, that person is in the dim light." You almost gave up because you "searched for him thousands of times" but couldn't find him no matter how hard you looked. You were so desperate that you stopped looking. But "suddenly looking back", he was actually there. The person or thing we are looking for is always there but we can't see it. It's because we are too persistent, so we go back to "looking at mountains or mountains, water or water." It has not changed.
This is to find hope in despair. We have gone through the second stage of wandering, struggling and confused, and will pursue hard, want to see through, see through the essence of life and the essence of things, but in the end we find The appearance you pursue is actually not outside, but in your own heart. This is "Looking back suddenly, that person is there in the dim light." For example, Confucius said: "Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you." Don't impose it on others if you don't want to do it yourself, because others don't want to do it either. In fact, This is a good way to judge others. If we want to know what others don't like, we just need to ask ourselves. In fact, the most powerful thing about the psychology advocated by Wang Yangming is that he must write a letter to the enemy before every battle to understand the enemy's heart, because he can understand the enemy's heart, and to understand the enemy's heart, he must first understand his own heart.
Schumacher also had a similar view in his book "Unraveling the Confusion: Mental Models Determine Your Life." I feel more and more that many Western theoretical studies will gradually become more and more biased towards these traditional Chinese philosophical thoughts.
About tolerance
Mr. Jiang Xun said:
The Song Dynasty was an era that knew best about integration. The so-called fusion means that in the past, you were a Buddhist, he was a Taoist, and I was a Confucian (for example, Du Fu is a Confucian, so he is a "poetry sage", Li Bai is closer to Lao Zhuang, so he is a "poetry sage"; and Wang Wei is relatively close to Buddhism, so it is a "poetry Buddha"), but in the Song Dynasty, this boundary became increasingly blurred. There is a kind of open-mindedness in the literati. They can play a Confucian role when they are in the upper court, but they are different when they are in the lower court. If you look at the relationship between Su Dongpo and the Buddhist monk Foyin, he can "do nothing without being content".
This is a kind of maturity and wisdom. You will find that there are actually many "Is" in your body, but when you decide which one is the real "I", you will start to reject the other "Is", and then you will fight with yourself and get entangled. Let’s call it “split.” But "split" is actually the beginning of reconciliation and the beginning of harmony. When you find that your "A" and your "B" and your "C" can sit down and have a good conversation, it will probably be a very pleasant experience.
I think, maybe this is the power of literature. It can give people the greatest awakening and tolerance. We can find so many different selves in literature, and then let ourselves in different forms talk to ourselves.
Finally, I would like to share some sentences that moved me:
1. In the Song Dynasty, you could watch all things quietly. The reason for watching all things quietly was because you had confidence in your life and could see everything. Life comes and goes; you have greater tolerance and do not make comparisons and distinctions.
2. In life, you are often between "helpless" and "deja vu". There are many lives that have a "helpless" relationship with you, and they are probably about to end, and the fate has been exhausted; however, There is a lot of joy and joy in life and you start a new "deja vu", so it is the two states of life. You will feel that you are always living between "helplessness" and "déjà vu": there are many helplessness, such as the death of relatives, the farewell of friends, and the passing of youth; at the same time, there are new things that are "like déjà vu" emerging, because it is still In the loop. Life has not fallen into depression and despair because of the "helplessness" in front of it. "Deja Vu" has restored the familiar feeling of hope in life. I call it a "body temperature". "Deja Vu Yan Returns" is a kind of body temperature that makes you feel that the "new things" and "new life" you come into contact with are not the first time you have known them. "Helpless" is non-cyclical, but "Deja Vu" is cyclical. At this time, the meaning of life and the cyclical nature of life are highlighted.
3. We often cannot develop something true in our lives. Sometimes we are very afraid, so we always write some great topics, and great topics sometimes hurt people. Personal relationships make you less and less aware of what your inner world is like.
4. "The flowers fell helplessly" is relatively plain, while "Tearful eyes asked the flowers without saying a word" is very affectionate. I asked the flower with tears in my eyes, but the flower didn't answer. The final conclusion was that "the red flowers flew across the swing." The fallen flowers scattered by the wind flew over the high swing frame and flew away. From such sentences, we can generally see the disillusionment retained in the hearts of this generation of intellectuals in the Northern Song Dynasty. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this disillusionment, and as I mentioned above, it would be vulgar for people with power and wealth to lose this part. It is in the midst of power and wealth that he feels the impermanence of the essence of life, and he is tolerant. I strongly disagree with many people who say that reading such things will make people negative and pessimistic. I see the true nature of life from it: flowers will wither and spring will be over. After understanding this truth, there is still persistence in life. Asking flowers with tears will turn into a kind of deep affection, and this is probably the most charming part of the intellectuals of the Song Dynasty. It would be difficult for us today to ask someone with Ouyang Xiu's status to write such an affectionate sentence as "Tearing to the flowers without saying a word".
5. The open-mindedness and calmness of life probably come from not having to insist on either/or, but from being able to swim leisurely in the changes of life and patiently look at the things we have not discovered for a certain period of time. meaning. Gathering and scattering are changes, flowers blooming and fading are changes, and the waxing and waning moon is change. However, when we don’t know the true meaning of change, we will be frustrated, sentimental, and even desperate. Why be sentimental if you know it is a natural process? At this time, people will look at these things with a very open-minded attitude.
I think the reason why they move me is probably because they make me feel the tolerance that exists in life. We generally appreciate and accept happiness, but are not happy to see sadness, and even regard it as evil. .
But here, I see the meaning of its existence. Only because people can have private feelings (one's own inner emotions) can they have true temperament. Only those who dare to reveal their true temperament can be complete.
Originally we could all be this, but in an era like ours where we generally live with masks and advertise ourselves as mature adults, true nature becomes even more valuable!
Only when we can truly experience the withering in life, feel the changes it brings, and understand the true meaning of changes, can we feel the meaning of depression, sadness, and even despair, and then understand this. It is a necessary journey in life, not directed at any one person. At that time, I think the calmness and open-mindedness we are in will be real.