Reading is bitter and enjoyable.

Of course you have to study hard. You probably have to study hard to take exams, write papers and get a degree. Tao Yuanming likes reading. If he was born in today's world, it is very difficult to go to college, graduate school and TOEFL. I'm just worried that he can't pass the political economy, not because he "doesn't want to know too much."

I was hit with a stick several times, saying that I was "pursuing spiritual enjoyment" in reading. I have to bow my head and confess. I also admit that I am not really studying hard. However, "having fun" does not mean pursuing enjoyment. This person who knows can talk, but others can't.

I think reading is like visiting-"invisible" visiting. If you want to meet an admired teacher or a famous scholar, you don't have to say hello in advance, and you are not afraid to disturb the host. Open the book, break into the house, turn a few pages and enter the room; And you can always go, always go, and you can't get to the point. You can leave without saying goodbye, or you can find another smart person and confront him. Don't ask whether the host we want to visit lives at home or abroad, whether it belongs to modern ancient times, what major it is, whether it is serious talking or joking, we can get close enough. We can listen respectfully to Confucius' disciples recall Confucius' last words, or we might as well ask "Mencius, his words will be called' benevolence and righteousness'" with a naughty smile. If he was born in our same era, would he be an old Marxist-Leninist gentleman? We can stay with Socrates before he dies and listen to him talking to a friend. You can also think about the good words of Stoic epiktetos. We can listen to the anecdotes of the past dynasties, or learn the most mysterious innovative theories of our time or pretend to be amazing. Anyway, lovers or ears, might as well unplug, or even fall on the door-that is, pat the ground and close the pen-no one will lightly blame. This is a rare freedom in the outside world!

There is no sky, earth, sun and moon in a jar hanging in Gong Hu. Every book-whether it's a novel, a drama, a biography, a travel note, a diary or even a prose poem-has a different world, different stars, different people living in it. We don't have to go somewhere in a hurry and spend money on tickets to see some fake products or "lifelike" human body double. As long as we turn over a page, walk into the real world and meet real people, we can enjoy it seriously.

Say, "but you can broaden your horizons by walking up a flight of stairs for 300 miles"! We can even see the side of the earth under our feet and reach it in an instant. Although the ancients described books as "vast", the world of books is really "adjacent to the sky", which is by no means an idealized comparison. No matter how big the world is, there is no gap. The Buddha said "three thousand worlds", which is extremely large. As for the situation in the book, the combination of "the present world" with "the past world" and "the future world" is really all-encompassing and runs through the three realms. But we can stay at home, experience here at will and ask for advice at any time. Who says scholars are short-sighted, unreasonable and indifferent to the world? You can get rich experiences here and meet all kinds of people at any time and any place. Frequent "dropping in" in the book can at least get rid of some ignorance and get more attention. When we see those respectable adults who are full of rhetoric, we don't have to be discouraged and timid, because although their own homes are closed and no one is allowed to break in, we have been to their relatives and friends' homes, and we will know the true face behind their empty shelves. Once I drove across the bridge over the Seine River in Paris, and I saw the poor people living under the bridge. They made a living by collecting garbage and covering newspapers to keep warm. It's not that I can roll my eyes, it's just that I've been to that area to go through the door.

Unfortunately, the "body" that we "hide" when we "visit" is just an ordinary bone after all. We don't have the insight of the Tathagata, and we can take in everything in a glance the wisdom accumulated in the world for thousands of years, so we have to always remember Zhuangzi's famous saying that "life is limited and knowledge is limited". We are just short-lived insects (not just insects turned by Sun's hair). We climb into the world of books, climb here and stop there. Sometimes we meet the right person, hear nice words, or occasionally get something from the problems on our minds, just as we are stubborn and willing to forget words. This "happiness" and "pursuit of enjoyment" are not the same thing, are they?

1989