Generally speaking, the idea of this book is very coherent. As the saying goes, "My Tao is consistent" focuses on noumenon, because philosophy is to explore the essence, while its own science is to explore phenomena. And "Confucianism" is the center of a hundred schools of thought, because Confucianism is the most in line with the mean. Confucianism is called "original Confucianism" because it needs to be restored because of the cover-up and smearing of predecessors. In fact, Confucianism is dominant, and other theories are also discussed. They refer to each other and critically analyze. Because Xiong Shili has made great efforts in Buddhism, these criticisms and analyses are particularly valuable and pertinent.
I'm going to read this book, too. When I was young, I liked classical culture and read one book after another. Later, I searched for the destination of my soul, dabbled in Buddhist scriptures and even India's Bhagavad-gita, met some Taoist friends and introduced some Taoist books to read. In recent years, the upsurge of Chinese studies has risen again, so Mongolian friends gave books and reviewed some "Thirteen Classics" annotated by modern people. After all this, I admire Chinese studies very much, but there are also many doubts, but I haven't thought about it carefully yet. Teacher Wang's book only made me reflect on what I had learned before and set a tone for the weight of traditional culture in life.
The style of this book is so profound. Although there are only three chapters: the original learning system, the foreign original king and the inner original saint, it is actually all-encompassing. Where does this book begin? And talk about why the author recently abandoned Buddhism and converted to Confucianism.
Between life and death, the Buddha observed its impermanence and finally converted to nirvana. The Book of Changes also discusses life and death, but in the end, it says "endless life means easy". It can be seen that the essence of Buddhism is to produce world-weariness in the process of change and want to destroy all "self-existence" My teenagers feel this way when they read Buddhist books. But after the so-called soul dies, there may be a new realm, which I have not reached, so I dare not talk nonsense. After listening to Mr. Wang's explanation, I was suddenly enlightened. Although there are many Buddhist analyses, which are close to contemporary physical science, among them, contemporary science lacks psychological analysis. Therefore, it is particularly profound. However, this analytical knowledge is only a part of ancient Indian culture. Since Buddhists have been arguing for a long time, it is impossible to be unfamiliar. Then the real essence of Buddhism, different from the so-called heretical wisdom, lies in the idea of transcending the cycle of life and death after nirvana. However, I can still understand the realm of nirvana, but I can't understand how to get rid of the cycle of life and death after nirvana. Therefore, I have to make up another western paradise to lure it. Not as thorough as Resurrection from the Dead and New Heaven and New Earth. Religion should not be debated more. Let's talk about our own experience according to Mr. Wang's theory. I hope that the later sages will not be suspicious. )
So the essence of Buddhism, similar to Taoism, belongs to emptiness. If everyone does this, everything in the world will no longer run. The world is uneven, who will take revenge? So Buddhists can feel at ease, but not for long. The truly great Buddhist philosophers have always cared for the world and advised the world to do good through Buddhism. It's not that Buddhism is brilliant.
The difference between Taoism and Buddhism lies in attaching importance to human nature and making people free. Xiong Shili believes that Taoism is not as decisive as Buddhism. In fact, Buddhism wants to destroy all the nature of "having me", while Taoism just wants to preserve the "naturalness" of human beings, so it has become a "half child". However, this naturalness is indeed very precious, and hermits of all ages have regained their freedom in nature. Taoism advocates this freedom, so it is very resistant to the restrictions under various cultures. In fact, where is life not the limit? Just like the story about Robinson, what can Robinson do without the tools given to him by human civilization? Even if Thoreau was in Walden Lake, didn't he use tools invented by human beings? It's just that he said, just bring some necessities. In this way, according to Taoism, people will return to the animal age. However, animals have the blessing of animals and need to worry about being eaten by other animals at any time. How can they be as handsome as they think? Moreover, people and animals are really different, and this needs to be clearly distinguished.
Why didn't Confucianism have transcendental thought? If you can't do it, you can float on the sea with a fork. But don't indulge in it. Born as a man, you should do your duty as a man for a day, so Confucianism is magnanimous. "Life and death" is unknown, but Confucianism pays more attention to "life", so it doesn't feel "impermanence". The story of Gong Yu's moving mountains can well illustrate this endless desire to transform nature. However, transforming nature is not destroying nature, as Confucianism has long said. Cultural attributes are not bad. My teenager likes Zhuangzi, but because of his literary talent, he acted recklessly in Wang Yang. Confucius said: Prosperity lies in poetry, standing in ceremony and being happy. Good culture can make people happy physically and mentally and sublimate their spirit. Otherwise, why study? As Lao Tzu said, abandoning wisdom is godless. Where do we get so many rich and splendid cultures?
Therefore, all schools are inevitably biased, and only Confucianism has the so-called "golden mean." Only by being neutral can the status of heaven and everything be born. But "the movement against the Tao is also." It is also a kind of vision to examine Confucianism from the opposite or side, but it is still dominated by Confucianism. Xiong Shili pointed out that those who really study Buddhism and Taoism must also experience Confucianism. Confucianism studies the world. People must have life experience before they can finally convert. Otherwise, if they didn't pick it up, why didn't they let it go? Secondly, Xiong pointed out that China's traditional culture is dominated by Confucianism, and other families are branches and leaves, which is also very accurate. In fact, all families are interconnected around Confucianism.
Secondly, Xiong put forward an insight, which was originally created by him, but it is very kind to read, that is, "Heaven is human desire". Human desire is the embodiment of justice. Therefore, it is wrong to "preserve justice and destroy human desires." How can human desires be destroyed? But be temperate. Understand what is a just desire and what is an evil desire, and only seek to preserve the good and eliminate the evil. Man's desire for justice, as the ancients said, a gentleman loves money well, and God does not interfere.
But are legitimate desires just necessities? Otherwise, why did human society evolve to the present? Therefore, necessities are legitimate desires and need to be taken properly. It is understandable that people want to expand themselves and ask for things other than necessities, as long as they are reasonable. Here, let's take Wang Yangming's "to conscience" as the standard of distinction, and conscience will tell you what is right. There are ways to achieve it, but I don't know the creator, and my conscience is hard to justify. )
In addition, the bear also proved that "mind and matter are different" and "body and body are different", which are very profound and inspiring to people today. There is no other way to use the body. Indeed, after mastering the ontology, we still need to study its use. (The noumenon here refers to the essence and origin of the world) Otherwise, there were many enlightened people in ancient times. Shouldn't rocket ships have been developed in ancient times? However, although western science has unlimited uses, it cannot be discussed on ontology, and many of them blindly deny ontology. In fact, science should keep silent about ontology. The world of scientific research on material phenomena is generally based on quantitative analysis. Besides, science can do nothing.
It is also a fact that the mind and things are different. Not because of matter, but because the spirit is based on matter. The author thinks that the spirit already exists in the most primitive material (that is, the non-biological world), which coincides with my thinking. (Of course, my essential point of view is different, see below)
This shows that Xiong Shili's point of view is pertinent. People who are dissatisfied with me think that the Creator will be abolished, but in fact it cannot be abolished. Here I will talk about a few points for the later sages to distinguish:
The creator is unnatural. The creator is unnatural. Both Xiong and Buddhism believe that noumenon is the essence hidden behind phenomena, that is to say, there is no other creator except nature, and nature itself is both a creator and a concrete phenomenon. I can't agree to that. This has the feeling of "animism", but when human beings swallow everything, is it difficult to swallow the creator? In addition, each part has a whole ontology, which is both mysterious and mysterious. The point is, even if a grain of sand has a complete ontology, how many people in human beings can't recognize it? How is ontology hidden from us? How does it "split" into a phenomenon, but it is unified with itself? So this statement can only stay at the theoretical level, and it can't really solve our doubts. If the creator is not nature, then there are two kinds. One is that the creator is smaller than nature. That is, the so-called creator is just the heart of nature, similar to what we call the immortal buddha magic. The problem is that these things are only a part of nature after all. Even if they exist, even if they exist longer than humans, they conform to the law of life and death and will eventually die out, so they cannot become ontologies. So there is only one last possibility left:
The creator is not natural, he is bigger than nature. He created nature.
Only by understanding this, can we understand the transcendence of the creator, and also understand that the universe or so-called nature is restrictive and imperfect, but there is a perfect or ideal pure land in our hearts. Only in this way can we understand our worship behavior from generation to generation. God created nature and is still in charge of it, so we often think that everything has spirit, which is called divinity, but it doesn't mean that everything is God. The creator exists, and natural hearts and things come from his creation.
Second, the problem of evil in the world.
This problem has actually puzzled the philosophical and religious circles for a long time. Some religions seem to give answers, but they are not sufficient. For example, it is self-evident for Buddhists, so where does "ignorance" come from? Buddhists say this is a fantasy of the human heart, but the question is why? This problem cannot be explained, that is, why people are good, but there is always evil in their hearts, and ordinary people can easily become evil. There used to be an explanation that "evil" was the source of strength and goodness was only the result of reconciliation. So, is it in vain that the spirit of ancient people with lofty ideals touched us? Confucianism generally believes that human nature is good, but it is blinded by selfish desires, so where does selfish desires come from? Xunzi believes that human nature is evil, so the so-called goodness is only "false", but education must do this work. The problem is, since people can be good, people must have the seeds of good. It is not enough to admit that human nature is evil.
Only Augustine explained this problem thoroughly. Human nature originates from the creator, so it is good, but man is the masterpiece of the creator's adventure. The creator specially gives people free will. Since there is freedom, people can even oppose the creator, so they can do evil. Of course, the creator can create a completely evil world. Matter is natural, and every second is subject to the creator according to the laws of nature. But since the creator created human beings and set them free, they have committed crimes and even killed people. In this way, there must be a judgment to compensate those who have been treated unfairly in the end. Just as a little yeast can make the whole cake rise, the whole world is polluted by evil. It's like if everyone lives according to Lao Tzu's idea of a small country and few people, but as long as one person does evil, the fair society will be broken soon. As long as there are robbers, the phenomenon of repaying evil with good will exist for a long time, and human beings can only be bound by the system. And the system will give birth to the privileged class and bring new evils. In this way, the evil in this world will not end. Therefore, in order not to let all mankind perish, the creator should set up a way for mankind to atone. But if the price is not big, then atonement will have no power, just like the ancients sacrificed lambs. If only one mortal (guilty) died, how can we atone for all mankind? Only those who are holy and flawless and come from heaven can atone for mankind, and they can truly atone for mankind. In this way, the Buddha didn't do this, and even if he did, there was no record that he could rise from the dead. How many saints throughout the ages, great as they are, can enlighten people's minds, but there is no way to do so. Without solving the problem of sin, it is futile for us to restrain our desires and do good deeds in Xiu De. As someone said, since life is short, it is better to eat, drink and be merry! However, life tells us otherwise. We often feel empty in eating, drinking and having fun, because we have no hope of "eternal life" and no real "freedom". In fact, we are ruled by sin. Many philosophers have also realized this, thinking that "freedom is not something you can do if you want to, but something you can do if you don't want to".
If you don't know the creator, your conscience is hard to understand, or even if you do, it won't work. So there is a saying that "I am determined to do good, but I can't do it." Therefore, a philosopher said: a person's life is a process of finding himself and God. If he can't find himself, he is a wandering seed. If he can't find God, he can only grope in the dark.
Why did the ancients in China lose the concept of creator? In fact, the ancients had the word "god", but the emperor claimed to be the son of heaven and monopolized the right to sacrifice. In fact, they know that there is a creator. Because of the separation of church and state in the west, religion can be independent and the tradition of worship can be passed on.
The third is the relationship between man and the world. Since ancient times, human beings have a kind of thinking, that is, they want to be detached from this world, or that this world is not my home, and we are just passers-by and sojourners in this world. So there is the transcendental thought of Buddhism and Taoism. However, everyone is detached, how can the world continue? Therefore, Confucianism also wants us to love the world (benevolent people love others, and people live by things). However, those who have witnessed the indifference of the world and feel that they are blindly addicted to reality are really fools. How to understand this ambivalent mood? The world was originally created by the creator, and we often see it beautiful. Not only nature, but also people in society often let us see its brilliance. Just because human beings have committed crimes, the world has been polluted by sin, so it seems that the whole tone is dark. "Everything sighs and works together until now." That's right. However, we can't leave this world. On the contrary, we should do our duty in this world. At the same time, we realize that although the world seems to be full of evil and injustice, the creator still cares about us and there will be a "new world" in the future. The world is not a creator, but a place created by the creator, where we can operate and thrive. Accept the smallest is accept the largest, that's all.
Let's stop here. In a word, this book helps me to sort out the classics of traditional culture systematically, and also gives me a comprehensive view of traditional culture. I used to think that traditional culture was unattainable. In fact, although these classic languages are very old, and some of them are even absurd, they are actually very similar to the real problems we are facing and have the same humanity. The so-called realm is not so mysterious, it is not to fight for the high and low in the debate, but more to be sincere about your life. If there are too many false words, even if it is rhetoric, beauty is beautiful, but it is often divorced from our reality and becomes words without deeds. In the past, many comments were based on the needs of the current situation, so many lost paths were left. This is the real "simple road", but it is not easy to achieve this "simplicity". But with confidence, you will naturally come with wisdom and solve all the difficulties. Traditional culture takes Confucianism as the key to open other schools, which is not only the method of studying, but also the way of self-cultivation. However, never forget that there is a creator besides us. "I am at the top, the bright starry sky; Moral law is in my heart. " The world should fear!