Reading | classics are a piece of matte paper of human nature - read Li Xuetao's "Thought Sketches"

"Thought Sketches"

By Li Xuetao

Published by Guangxi Normal University Press

The world is changing rapidly, the word "fast" is the first, and the people of the world who are racing against the clock to "hurry" seem to have no time to review the classics. The classics that have become "classics" because of their integrity seem to be difficult to navigate for the world who are "rushing", after all, the times have changed, and the real life produced by the classics has long been changed than the current. So why do we still stubbornly preserve the classics and read them tirelessly? Recently, after studying Professor Li Xuetao's new book "Thought Sketches", the author Mao Sai suddenly opened up, in fact, in the desire of the heart, we are getting closer and closer to the classics. Classics are like a piece of scrub paper, which is always focused on the subtleties and gently polishes the reader's humanity. But who can say that the renewal of personality does not begin with the meticulous removal of stains? Between the classics and the details of human nature, the "sand grain" that refracts the light in "Thought Sketches" is worth playing repeatedly, and the wisdom of the three words of "quiet", "pure" and "exhausted" contained in it is especially worth the reader's reflection.

A "quiet" word, how bland, how rare. Li Xuetao encouraged his book friends to find idleness, which in no way means that he advocates negativity, and the "Thought Sketch" clearly explains: "The so-called 'idleness' is not external, but more of an inner idyllic life." The inner tranquility of the human heart, first of all, is not to fall into the trap of "often being dissatisfied and calculating in every way.". In this regard, Li Xuetao pulled out a classic in the Ming Dynasty's "Cai Gen Tan": "Sleep eight feet at night, two liters a day, why bother?" This sentence five hundred years ago was concise and concise, and people still feel ashamed to read it today. Since our material needs are destined to be "endless", why did the ancients more than five hundred years ago and we more than five hundred years later waste the soul of "endless" in a surprisingly similar way? Li Xuetao is wary of the "tight curse" imposed by modern technology on the pure human soul, criticizing "mobile phones that make the boundary between public and private people more and more blurred." People are looking forward to getting things done quickly and then having fun and having fun. But as a result, we are entangled in more matters." Mechanized, materialized, it is time for us to "loosen" ourselves. From the words of "Thought Sketches", it can be seen that Li Xuetao is a loyal believer in natural aesthetics. Therefore, he whispered to readers, the Spring River Flower Moon in the Chinese piano song, and walden Lake depicted in the Western pen, all of which lead us back to the "quietness" of life, and we need and should be able to see ourselves, find ourselves, and return to ourselves.

What deeply resonates with the author is the confrontation between Li Xuetao and Tao Yuanming. After reading Tao's poems, he sighed that "what is contained is the aesthetic life." Indeed, the thriving autumn chrysanthemums under the leisurely South Mountain, the harmony of holding a cup of spring wine and an old friend to promote a long conversation with old friends, is the comfort of our hearts that truly return to "quiet". After reading the classic "Famous Gate" by the British sinologist Xie Fuyun, Li Xuetao tried to distill the two keywords of Chinese "aesthetic life": "implicit" and "calm". Implicit is inward, inviting Tao Yuanming's breeze, Su Dongpo's kyaukyue, and Li Kasawong's light and true taste to soar together, injecting the beauty of all things into a pure meditation. Calm is extroverted, is approachable, does not sit in disorder, does not panic, is "out of the mud without staining, clean and clear without demon" self-knowledge and self-adaptation. I have to say that such a calm and real state of life can only come from the classic world that abandons the complexity. In this regard, our relationship with the scriptures is not a respectful consultation, but a sympathetic divine friendship.

Classics are also polishing the "purity" of our lives, that is, a clean and refreshing attitude to life, a clear and clear interpersonal relationship. "Be a clean person" is the main line that runs through "Thought Sketches". A "clean person" must first let go of the burden of intellectual overload and narrow-mindedness. Li Xuetao quoted the Indian thinker Krishnamurti's proverb that "you have to rely on yourself to discover new things, so when you first embark on the road, you must let go of all the burdens, especially knowledge", and exhort readers not to be besieged by a network of knowledge that knows a little bit, and to use a clean "blank" to seek the unknown, only in this way can you turn into wisdom and build a bridge between the mind and true knowledge instead of building a wall. "Clean people" need to abandon prejudice, respect others with sincerity, and care for the weak with encouragement. Li Xuetao recalled that he was a tour guide for the German tour group to China, although even he felt that the explanation effect was not ideal, but the German guests all "looked at me with kind eyes and listened carefully to me after every introduction." The story of the son of the head of the German National Library who went to work as a cook in the later part of "Thought Sketches" echoes this.

When it comes to the spirit of German craftsmanship, the finishing touch is a "exhaustion" word, which is also a classic to polish the fundamentals of our human nature. The so-called "exhaustion" refers to the heart, the second must be as detailed as possible, and the third must be "stopped at the end". It is not difficult to understand that it is responsible for things, not scrupulous, not perfunctory. In the Collected Records of the Three Treasures, Yao Xing was willing to wait for seven years to obtain a good translation until the translator was proficient in Chinese. This is dedication, which comes from a high sense of responsibility and the wholeheartedness of "prudence and independence" consciousness. In detail, details are difficult to directly determine success or failure, but success or failure is destined to start with inconspicuous details. Li Xuetao presents the classic Latin aphorism "If you ignore a single syllable, you ignore the meaning of the whole text" to advise the reader that "no matter what era, 'perusal' is the key to reading." Let's look at "the end of the end". In "Thought Sketches", Li Xuetao cried and laughed and recounted the miracle of his son's undergraduate classmates who "pre-learned" Italian language non-stop during the summer vacation after learning that they would enter the Italian major. Can such an advanced and overloaded learning in the inner volume really help children realize the value of life? Li Xuetao quoted the aphorism of "hunger to eat, sleep to sleep" in the "Jingde Chuan Lantern Record" to guide those who are bored to clear their minds and "live in the present".

Classic is a piece of sandpaper that ponders human nature, but whether this sandpaper polishes human nature or grinds life into a blur of flesh and blood depends entirely on us who hold the classics by hand. The ancients said, "Books are medicines, and good reading can cure stupidity." "Thought Sketches" "stimulates the reader's enthusiasm for thinking on his own", thinks about the ins and outs of the wisdom of the three words of "quiet", "pure" and "exhausted" in life, thinks about how to see through and straighten out the "heart of the person that needs to be constantly restrained", and thinks about how to help "the scattered and rushing thoughts quiet down" in a fast-paced era.

Author: Zou Zhaotao

Editor: Jiang Chuting

Editor-in-Charge: Zhu Zifen

*Wenhui exclusive manuscript, please indicate the source when reprinting.