Introduction: "Coming to the Edge of Life" is a collection of philosophical essays by Mr. Yang Jiang, which embodies her thinking and questioning about truth, life and death, destiny, and the value of life in her twilight years. It is a good book worth reading in depth. I hope everyone has the opportunity to read it.
Thoughts after reading "Coming to the Edge of Life" by Yang Jiang:
This collection of philosophical essays is essentially a discussion of human nature and life. Regarding human "spirit and flesh", "life" and the exercise of spirit and flesh, it really surprised me a little. At the beginning, Mr. Yang Jiang said that Mr. Yang Jiang was afraid of "ghosts", and "ghosts" are actually the souls after death. . The book also records several incidents of encountering ghosts by others and ourselves. What about "ghosts breaking walls" and "ghost possession" are all mentioned openly, and they are clearly stated, you can. You don’t believe in certain things, but you can’t deny the existence of these things. Don’t tell me, I really remember that in our college classroom, our lovely Japanese teacher actually shared her personal experience of encountering a ghost with us. , as well as the subsequent strange events and her way to ward off evil. I still remember that after that incident, a classmate sent her a text message, saying that she had left a shadow on her classmates, and the teacher even pretended to apologize to us in class. Therefore, I also feel that although we do not believe in certain things in the world, we cannot deny their existence.
There is also the so-called struggle and unity between the spirit and the flesh. When the rational side has the upper hand, it shows our side as a wise person. It is when human nature conquers the animal nature. When the flesh, that is, the animal desire, takes over, it shows that we are also one of the animals. Of course, The "spirit" also means that we are the high-level side that can control and manage ourselves. The "flesh" even has some basic needs and desires of animal nature. Therefore, as a human being, we are always in conflict and struggle. Yes. At this time, I couldn't help but think of another venomous saying on Zhihu: Male animalistic desire is the foundation for human beings to continue to reproduce, and female restraint is the fundamental source of human cultural development. Of course, this is a bit off topic, but. , and I suddenly thought of an interesting story.
The article also mainly talks about the cultivation and training of a person's life, which is the training of the soul and the physical body. Those who do great things must endure hardships and never be satisfied in order to develop a persevering character. After a person undergoes different levels of training, he will gain different levels of cultivation and benefits. The finer the grinding, the stronger the fragrance. ?In fact, this is what our ancestors have always advocated: "rectify your mind, cultivate your character, manage your family, govern your country, and bring peace to your world".
At the end, the old gentleman also included it. It contains some notes. In fact, it is a record of some real events in life. One of them is very impressive. An aunt who worked as a housemaid in Beijing recounted her tragic life, including the war of resistance, the Great Revolution, and the People's Commune. , reform and opening up. When I was a child, I had no food to eat and no clothes to wear. When I grew up, I worked hard and went out to work to support the family. As a result, my husband couldn't bear the loneliness, was ruthlessly seduced, and was physically betrayed. Later, I accepted the fact of her husband's betrayal by default and continued to make money outside. Supporting the family. It really is what she said: "All I know in my life is working, making money, saving money, and saving money." When I was young, I was trying to earn 25 yuan to support my family, but later I lost my home. ?Woman, why is this? However, there is also a personal experience that a wife and her husband must stay together no matter what. Long-term separation will always cause problems, and in the end the gains outweigh the losses. When I said this emotion, even Mr. Jiang who was playing online games immediately echoed: ?Yes, that's right!!?
Two thoughts after reading Yang Jiang's "Coming to the Edge of Life":
It took me a long time to read Mr. Yang Jiang’s masterpiece "Coming to the Edge of Life? Questioning and Answering Myself" and I felt a lot. This book was written by Mr. Yang at the age of 96, which shows how diligent she is. Although this book is not too thick, with only more than 40,000 words, it embodies a generation of scholars' questioning and thinking about truth, life and death, destiny, and the value of life in their twilight years.
As we all know, Mr. Yang is the wife of the great scholar Qian Zhongshu. She is also a famous translator and writer.
In the past few years, Mr. Yang's novel "Bathing" and the memoir "The Three of Us" have become familiar to readers. Last year, after the Commercial Press released this book "Coming to the Edge of Life", it immediately caused a reading whirlwind among readers. , I will talk about my feelings about the most impressive aspects of this book.
Many years ago, Mr. Qian Zhongshu wrote a book "Written on the Edge of Life", which can be called a classic. Several years later, Mr. Yang wrote "Coming to the Edge of Life", which is also a very thoughtful and readable book. The two books are like Gemini, and they have great fame in the Chinese reading world. Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang are of the same gender in professional pursuits, interests and hobbies, and they can be said to be like-minded. They went through ups and downs from the time they got married holding hands to the end of their lives, which was not easy. The subtitle of this book is "Questions and Answers for Oneself", which is very modest and not condescending at all. This also shows from another aspect Mr. Yang's tireless pursuit in his later years. In this book, the notes take up nearly half of the book, which is rare in contemporary published books. In general, the annotations of books (except ancient books) are ancillary parts of the book, but each annotation in this book is a piece of dusty past events, which is a vivid example of life thinking in the main text. Each note can be written as a separate article. For example: Aju's troubles, Father Lao, Third Uncle's love, etc., can be read as prose by themselves.
Generally speaking, wise old people like to think deeply about gods and ghosts, human nature, soul, destiny, civilization and other issues, and Mr. Yang is no exception. Mr. Yang has his own opinions on these issues. In the preface of the book, Ms. Yang's opening chapter directly refers to the word "death". She wrote: I have reached the edge of life. If I go forward, it means "gone", "gone", "no longer". ,?there is none left?. Both China and foreign countries use these words to soften the unpopular and inevitable word "death". At the age of over ninety, Mr. Yang can face the inevitable "death" in the future with ease and ease, which is a super-ego state of life.
Since the ideological consciousness of our society has been unified by materialism, discussions on the issue of gods and ghosts have rarely been seen. It has become a common thinking mode for everyone to use scientific methods to analyze and study our problems. When a person reaches a certain age, it seems impossible not to think about these issues, let alone an intellectual like Mr. Yang. In her article "The Problem of Gods and Ghosts", she mentioned that "idealism" and superstition cannot be equated. For example, people talk about faith. Faith is an abstract concept in the mind. Can people see it? There is no doubt that faith is invisible and intangible, but we still need faith and cannot live without faith. Also, we often say that nature has laws, and generations of scientists have discovered many laws. But it later turned out that some rules were wrong and must be overturned. From this point of view, the rules may not be comprehensive and can be broken through or supplemented. In the article, Mr. Yang also recalled that when he was a child, he went to a fortune teller to tell his fortune. She is already on the verge of life, and she still remembers the fortune teller who accurately predicted what happened to her family more than 70 years ago. Fortune tellers may not know any modern scientific truths, but they can predict the ups and downs of fate based on the "Book of Changes" and "Book of Changes". Why is this? She still can't figure this out.
In the book, Mr. Yang talks about "the way of self-cultivation". The human body needs to be exercised, and the human character needs to be cultivated. She said: The human body is made of flesh and cannot be beaten or burned. But a person’s spiritual conscience becomes stronger the more he is tempered. Confucius emphasized self-cultivation and also pointed out the way to self-cultivation. To exercise the spiritual conscience, the body must have appropriate methods. If the body's needs - food, drink, men and women - are not satisfied, people will die of illness; if strong emotions cannot be vented, people will go crazy. The tolerance of the spiritual conscience in regulating itself allows the harmony of body and mind. Control yourself appropriately. The so-called "equalize with rituals and harmonize with music" means to use rituals and music to regulate, restrain, and channel. This statement makes sense. If you want to become a gentleman, you must go through tempering and have a lot of self-control. Without these two points, it is impossible for human virtue to be raised to a high level.
"Coming to the Edge of Life" is Mr. Yang Jiang's concentrated thinking on many issues in his later years. Many of the issues in the book are issues that people must think about and face and cannot be avoided. I cannot fully understand a book of wisdom like this in a day or two. I will have to read it frequently in the future to keep looking for the secrets of life.
Three thoughts after reading Yang Jiang's "Coming to the Edge of Life":
I have always respected Mr. Yang Jiang. The old gentleman has a very good personality. However, we know that in the world of words, "Writing is not as good as its people" is more valid than "Writing is like its people": People who write good works may not be good, and being a good person may not necessarily write good works. Mr. Yang It belongs to the latter; in fact, people and works should not be confused in the first place. Moreover, the standards of good and bad are different in everyone's mind. To be honest, Mr. Yang’s book disappointed me. I happened to read Mr. Zhou Guoping's high praise in his recommendation before, so I was eager to buy it. Mr. Zhou's comments appear to be exaggerated. The book is actually average. To be honest, the thinking part is not very ideological. I did not get any inspiration. In my opinion, they are all very ordinary opinions (of course, it does not rule out that I have low understanding and cannot understand Mr. Yang’s deep intention. ); The annotations at the back are actually ordinary and boring. When I think about it, in fact, many literati of that era wrote prose with a pretentious style. There is nothing surprising, just self-centered pity and joy, which is real. Those who start to "play" with words (this type of literati generally have a solid economic foundation, so they can start to develop), such as Lin Yutang, Zhou Zuoren, Su Xuelin, and Ling Shuhua; while Xiao Hong, Lu Xun, etc. are another type; Zhang Ai is (the only example), although Mr. Yang's book was published at that time, its writing style still follows the characteristics of that era. Everyone's ideological foundation is different, and their evaluation of the same thing varies widely. I just feel that there are fewer and fewer good and readable books?
On the edge of life? My thoughts after reading the questions and answers, from a netizen on Dangdang.com: Due to the persecution of the Cultural Revolution, Mr. Yang Jiang It was almost like a woman suffered a lot during her best period, and when she was able to enjoy her old age, she had to "I miss the three of us alone". Despite this, she never complained about the unfairness she suffered in the book. Even if I write a reminiscence article, I only record everything I have experienced in an objective and almost spectatorial perspective. This kind of indifference and detachment makes people feel pitiful? How tough a heart is needed to withstand the collision? The madness of the times? This book was first published in 2007. She is 97 years old this year. In the main article, he displays his thoughts on fundamental issues such as fate, life, life and death, spirit and flesh, ghosts and gods, etc., and confesses his inner confusion. Yang mentioned personal experiences that were naturally incomprehensible. It must be pointed out that this is different from superstition. This can be seen from the impact of education. The book records that his father was able to avoid inviting the Kitchen God back in the traditional Republic of China family at that time: "After eating other people's sugar melons, you would say good things about them. This kind of snitching God just sent him away and picked him up again." Well? Yang gave this example to show that her family was very safe without the so-called Kitchen God for decades. But what is very different from her father's staunch disbelief is that she can admit that she does not understand the unnatural phenomena she has witnessed, and she herself is not interested in these things: The above are all weird and powerful. I didn’t want to talk about things like chaos, chaos, gods, etc. I came from the old society. This is a polite term for old gentleman. In fact, I am senile. It is inevitable for old people to have backward thinking. I am still an old man from the last generation of the late Qing Dynasty! But at the age of 96, she had to say: "I have reached the edge of life. If I go forward, I will be "gone", "gone", "no longer there" No more, no more. I can’t understand. I tend to put aside my thoughts on things that I don't understand. But I have come to the edge of life. I can't figure it out, so I want to ask people, but the people I can ask have already left. I think there is no way to know what happened behind me. My questions and answers are limited to This life and this life. ?The subtitle of the book's title is "Questions and Answers to Yourself." Her husband died and her daughter also passed away. She lived for too long. This situation should have been so lonely and desolate. However, this old lady still tried her best to solve some riddles. I think this is also a mystery. kind of courage. In fact, these are some collections from the early years. The real focus is on the preface, which took Yang two and a half years to finalize. The most touching thing is what comes after the main chapter?
Four thoughts after reading Yang Jiang's "Coming to the Edge of Life":
After reading "The End of Life" written by the ninety-six-year-old Ms. Yang Jiang "Coming to the Edge of Life", in addition to bursts of admiration, there is also deep thinking!!
At the age of ninety-six, many people are already bedridden and have no interest in learning, and there are also many people who have reached the age of ninety-six. Enjoy happiness in another world.
And this old man who has experienced almost a century is still committed to learning, working tirelessly and writing without stopping. What makes her live such a long life, and what makes her live such a full and rich life at such an old age? After reading this book, it seems that I understand what?
People, in this world There are two ways of existence, one is physical existence, which is a visible form of existence, and the other is existence in the form of soul. These two ways exist in the same individual, fighting and uniting with each other. The struggle is because there are seven evils in human nature, including laziness, greed, sex, and gambling. These seven evils are contrary to people's spiritual conscience. When these two meet in real life, people will have all kinds of troubles and contradictions. , if these are not resolved, psychological problems may even occur. On the other hand, if people consciously temper their bodies through life, thereby tempering their souls, and form a certain will to control their own physical behaviors, they can thus form a harmonious state of unity of spirit and body. There is no denying that this process is long and requires a lot of physical and mental suffering. However, for us young people, in order to make our lives more meaningful, shouldn’t we actively accept the training of suffering and make our souls nobler and stronger? Then, when we reach old age, we can also be like Ms. Yang Jiang Still not defeated by the body, persisting in the yearning of the soul!
As the sun goes down, it is inevitable to recall the past journey, and it is inevitable to abstract some philosophical propositions such as destiny and human existence. Think. For thousands of years, this proposition has been popular, and different people have different conclusions, but there is always no conclusion. People always say: "Life has its destiny". Is a person's fate destined by nature? Ms. Yang Jiang did not give a clear answer, but she said: "The value of a person lies in the person himself." No matter what the fortune teller says or what the horoscopes say, everything is your own choice. What does it matter if you make the wrong choice? Life is inherently a live broadcast without rehearsal. Sometimes, a blessing in disguise is a blessing in disguise. Just do your best, and then everything will be fine! As Voltaire said: There is no such thing as fate, everything is nothing but test, punishment or compensation. ?
In my glorious years of twenty, I have never experienced many things, I have never understood many truths, and I still don’t know how to deal with many people and things. Many are unknown? But live in the present and accept the training bravely! Grow in the training! In this way, maybe when I come to the edge of life, I can say that I have tried my best. Then, turn the memories of that life into wisps of smoke?