Life, fate and mission ｜ Tao Li Chunfeng

In the book "The Analects of Confucius", if you choose one of the most attractive, most thoughtful, and most confusing concepts, I will first push "life". Because every time I read this concept, I always think about the meaning of Confucius expressed and linked to myself, thinking about my "life", and even if I think about China's "life" and the "life" of the earth.

"Life" has appeared 21 times in the Analects, and its meaning is not exactly the same. Some are well understood, such as "for life, benefit the grass creation", which refers to the national government order, and the "accompanying ministers to resolve the country" is almost the same. "Those who have a face to learn are good, and unfortunately die," refers to life. "Seeing danger" refers to life. "Destiny! Sri Lanka and Swing disease!" It was not easy to understand. Bo Niu is a good person, but he has a difficult disease, oops! ——Life is not good! The "fate" here refers to fate.

When it comes to the word "fate", it is not easy to make it clear. In the article "On Destiny", Mr. Feng Youlan said that different fate and luck are the encounter of a person in a certain period, and life is the encounter of a person in his life. From the short -term and long -term, minority and majority ratio, Mr. Feng's good and bad or bad of "transportation" and "life" seems to have a functional relationship. This inspires me and can also talk about fate from the weight.

There is also a very famous words in "The Analects of Confucius" called "dead and life". At that time, the medical conditions were poor and the average life expectancy was short. To this day, it is said that it can be extended to extend life through manual intervention. From this perspective, human beings do have the ability to defeat destiny.

"Fifty knows the destiny", it is even more difficult to understand. Mr. Fu Peirong wrote in the "Translation of the Analects of Translation" that knowing his destiny: To understand his mission, he must try to complete it. Confucius' destiny includes three contents: one is to engage in political and religious activities to return the world to the right way; the other is to work hard to choose good and stubbornly, so that he can move to the best; the third is to understand the helplessness of destiny and can only do your best.

The philosopher's commentary gave me a lot of inspiration and confirmed a point that I formed decades ago: people are alive, that is, pursuing a little absolute in the relative.

"Heaven" appeared many times in early Chinese literature. Four hundred years ago, Western missionaries came to China. When they read these days, they were surprised. The Analects of Confucianism is translated into Latin to introduce Western readers. In this way, Chinese and Western culture have achieved surprise communication.

Reading "The Analects of Confucius", I feel that Confucius has a character that does not succumb to "destiny". Confucius said that he was "knowing it" ("Constitutional Question") This spirit moved me, reminding me of Beethoven's "Symphony of Destiny", the spirit of struggling to strangle the throat of destiny. In India's "Five Volumes Books", there is also "knock down fate, do what he should do with his own strength!" Mencius said, "Heaven is evil, it is still violated", Xunzi said, "People are better than heaven", Zhang Zai proposed "for heaven and earth Standing the heart, establish a life for the people. " These people have a sense of mission, and they are responsible for their consciousness. This is the essence of the concept of "fate" in the Analects of Confucius.

My thinking did not stop there. I thought of another problem of "fate". In the Analects of Confucius, Confucius said such a sentence when he commented on Zilu: "You must not die." In Confucius's view, Zilu had a "life" controlling himself and eventually died of misconduct. This is caused by human weaknesses. Mencius said, "People are sin, not alive," this is the most vigilant.

How many people do people have? I feel that there are three: physical sense, life in the moral sense, and the life of a political sense. In the physical sense, the life of the body must be handed over to medicine and gave it to health. The moral life is probably the historical mission of Confucius. The life of a political sense refers to the political ethics and governance achievements of people, which is very important. Different people have different lives, so as to interpret into a colorful life.

(The author is Cheng Xiang, a master -level teacher of Beijing 2010 Middle School, a master of teaching teachers in the National Council, and enjoys a special allowance of the State Council government.)

【Edit: Jinxin】

- END -