If my answer is not the best, I will not answer your questions in the future

Zigong asked: What does Confucius call Wen? Confucius said: He is quick and eager to learn, and he is not ashamed to ask questions. This is why he is called literary.

This section begins with Confucius’s comments on the people of that time and those around him. This character's comments include how to conduct knowledge and the overall cultural spirit. Now let’s introduce a person here. He was Kong Wenzi, whose surname was Kong and whose name was Yuan. He was a senior official in Weiguo. The source of "Wen" in Wenzi is the posthumous method in ancient China, which has been handed down since the Zhou Dynasty. Since the Republic of China, because of decades of war and many troubles in the country, this point in our culture has not yet been recover.

What is a posthumous title? In a simple word, it is the final conclusion after a person's death. This is a very prudent matter that is unique to Chinese history and culture. Even the emperor cannot escape the praise and criticism of the posthumous title. We must know that this is the spirit of the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese culture, and at the same time, the next generation should remember this profound feature. Emperors and officials in ancient China were most afraid of this posthumous title, fearing that after their death they would be infamy for all generations, and even make their descendants unable to hold their heads high. Therefore, when they do things for the country, they want to win a reputation for eternity. They do not want to leave a bad name for their descendants after their death, let alone an infamy in history. This is called the posthumous method - that is, the one-word judgment after death. When the emperor dies, ministers will gather for discussion, or historians will make comments. For example, Emperor Wen and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty were called "Wen" and "Wu", which were all "posthumous titles" given to them by the posthumous law. The "Ai Emperor" was miserable. The last emperor of the Han Dynasty was the "Xian" Emperor, which also contained the sadness of giving to others and sending them up. It can be seen that this posthumous title is very powerful. Wang Yangming was his own nickname, and his posthumous title was later added to "Wencheng". Zeng Guofan, later generations called him Zeng Wenzhenggong, and the word "Wenzheng" was the posthumous title given to him by the Qing Dynasty. Posthumous comments are worthy of being called "Wencheng" or "Wenzheng". It has a history of five thousand years and spans a land of 100,000 miles. Although there are hundreds of millions of people, there are only a few people among them, at most ten or twenty. That’s all. This is the strictness of posthumous titles in Chinese culture. Therefore, whether a Chinese is an official or works, his spiritual goal is to be responsible for future generations; not only must he be responsible for this life, but he must still be responsible for future generations. For example, Zhao Ming, a famous official in the Song Dynasty and a Neo-Confucian scholar, was once sent to Sichuan as the "provincial chairman"-compared to a modern official position. He rode a lame mule and took an old servant, a harp and a crane with him to take office. When he arrived in the provincial capital, all the civil and military officials in the city came out to pick up the new chairman, but no one was in sight. Who knew who was sitting in the teahouse? Inside, the bad old man accompanying him with a piano and a crane is the newly appointed chairman. Of course, he not only served as chairman, but also served as an admonishment official. He was a very famous minister - it was not easy to become a famous minister in history. There are so-called ministers, famous ministers, distinguished ministers, loyal ministers, meritorious ministers, treacherous ministers, sycophants and so on. The so-called loyal ministers and treacherous ministers are all known from reading novels, so there is no need to elaborate. It is not easy to become a famous minister, and it is even harder to become a minister. A minister may not necessarily be famous in history, but he must have made achievements in stabilizing the world for future generations. We don’t want to see treacherous ministers, nor do we want to see loyal ministers. How can we say this?

We know that Wen Tianxiang is a loyal minister and Yue Fei is also a loyal minister, but we do not want the country to encounter an era like theirs. What we want to see are famous ministers and ministers, like Zhao Ming, who is a famous minister and minister. He finally retired, returned home, and wrote a poem: "The gold on the waistband has been hidden, and the news in it is also ordinary. The world wants to know Mr. Gao Zhai, he is just Zhao Silang of Kecun." Don't get it wrong, say him I retired with gold and dollar bills in my pocket. This gold is not a gold dollar bill. If you watch Peking Opera, you will know that the so-called "golden seal is great, and the white jade hall is white when you are old." The seal of an ancient official is actually a large copper seal, called the "golden seal", which is like The current seal of the Central Ministries and Seals Bureau is made of copper and can also be called a gold seal. "The gold on the waistband has been withdrawn from hiding" means that the gold seal has been returned. "The information contained therein is also ordinary." A man of great influence in his life is actually very ordinary. "The world wants to know Mr. Gaozhai." The place where he lived after he came down was called Gaozhai. He said, "You think this old man living in Gaozhai is so great, but do you want to know what kind of person he is?" "It's just Zhao Silang of Kecun", but in fact it's Zhao Laosi who lived in Kecun back then! He is so plain, so ordinary. So the most extraordinary person is the most ordinary person. To be truly ordinary is to be truly extraordinary. The last posthumous title of Zhao Ming was the two characters "Qing Xian". The historical Duke Xiang of Zhao Qing was Zhao Ming. He dedicated his life to the country and was honest throughout his life. It is difficult to reach this level. There are many other famous ministers, too many to mention here.

In short, China’s past history and culture attached great importance to this posthumous title, but here we are now! There is a poem written by Lu Fangweng: "In Zhaojiazhuang, an ancient willow in the setting sun, a blind old man with a drum is playing. Who can control the affairs after death? The whole village has heard that Cai Zhonglang." Who cares! If I die, you can do it. After I die, if you want to scold me, then scold me! As long as I live comfortably now, that's fine. We must not forget that the posthumous law is the spirit of Chinese culture. When the state has its way, these things still need to be restored. Just look at Western culture and Western spirit, regardless of the literati or heroes, they are dead. Like the French, when it comes to Napoleon.

What's so great about Napoleon? He only rose to power in about twenty years and died in his fifties. Moreover, he was a failed hero. He was worse than King Chu. What a Napoleon! There are many such heroes in Chinese history, just because most of the heroes in history sympathized with the failure, so "the disciples made Shuzi famous". Today's Western culture is even more unclear about "Who cares about right and wrong after death, and we try our best to promote ourselves during our lifetime." But we Chinese must understand the truth and spirit of posthumous titles in Chinese culture.

At the same time, we must also know that one of the important figures in Japan's Meiji Restoration - Ito Hirobumi's famous saying: "If you plan for profit, you should plan for the benefit of the world, and if you seek fame, you should seek fame in the world." This is to absorb Things in Chinese culture, and the Japanese call themselves oriental culture, are actually authentic Chinese culture. The short-sightedness and indifference between justice and interests among the young people of our generation is really "unbelievable". Just now, a few of us talked about the lack of modern knowledge among modern young people. They only talked about which school to go to, how much salary they would get, and how to make a living. These were things we never considered before. What is happening now is a real decline in cultural spirit and deserves our more attention. This is an off-topic thought when talking about posthumous titles.

Now back to the original text. Kong Yu, the great official of Weiguo, was given the posthumous title of "Zuowen" after his death. Zigong asked Confucius, "What is called Wen?" How can a person be called "Wen" by doing things throughout his life? "The Master said: He is quick and eager to learn, and he is not ashamed to ask questions. This is called literature." A person is smart - smart people are not very eager to learn, and smart people often think that their knowledge is enough. Especially us modern people are prone to make mistakes. This problem is that they seem to know everything; and modern people make a bigger mistake. The higher their status, the more knowledgeable they become. This is very problematic. You must be sensitive and eager to learn. The smarter you are, the better you learn. It is good for yourself and your career. This is a great person. The second point is even more difficult: "Don't be ashamed to ask." What does it mean to ask? People who are inferior to me should also humbly ask for advice and verification from them. People must have self-knowledge, and if they can do it, they can do it. Even if they can do it, they can use what they can and can't ask as a reference. Only then can they be able to brainstorm. Confucius said that a person who is sensitive and eager to learn, coupled with the humility of not being ashamed to ask questions from others, is in line with the connotation of the word "literary". What is remarkable about Zeng Guofan is that there are many talents in the shogunate, and his think tank is large in organization, with top-notch talents participating, and everyone's wisdom becomes his wisdom. Zhuge Liang's great thing is that the shogunate has many talents. Therefore, one must be "sensitive, eager to learn, and not ashamed to ask questions" to be called "literary".