On March 26, 2022, Duan Qing, a famous historical linguist and professor at the School of Foreign Chinese of Peking University, died of illness at the age of 68. Professor Duan Qing has devoted his life to the teaching and research of Medieval Iranian, Sanskrit, Pali, Gandhara and other related fields, and has made outstanding achievements in the fields of Indian studies, Buddhist teaching, Silk Road literature and Sanskrit Bayeux Sutra, and is well-known in the international academic community. On the occasion of the Qingming Dynasty, in memory of the deceased, the surging news (www.thepaper.cn) special issue a group of commemorative articles to share with readers.
Getting the news in the morning, Duan Qing left in the hospital in the early morning. The message is not sudden. A few days ago, I went to the hospital to see her, and she was lying in a hospital bed, in a very critical condition. She was critically ill, and I knew it before I went to the hospital, but actually seeing her like that was still unexpected. That look is really sad: once so full of vitality, although not young, but never old, cheerful, fast talking, never speak old Duan Qing, found that there is a disease, but just a little more than half a year, how did it happen? Coming out of the hospital, my heart is very heavy, and I think to myself, will it be a few days? But I dare not say this, and even try not to think so, because there is still a little hope in my heart, a little luck, modern medical technology, the conditions are good, her own son as her doctor, maybe she can still return to heaven, right?
For the treatment of diseases, Duan Qing is actually confident. In August last year, she was diagnosed with the disease, and at that time she was admitted to the hospital as quickly as possible, underwent surgery, and then chemotherapy, although she suffered a little, but there was a clear therapeutic effect. One day in October, when the weather was nice, she also came to the school and gathered her project team to discuss the manuscript. At the beginning of December, a postdoctoral fellow from the teaching and research department and two doctoral students began the topic, starting at 2 p.m. and ending at 5 o'clock. She was in therapy at the time, at home. She kept going through the video, heard the end, and spoke. As you can see from the video, she is lying on the bed when she speaks. A few days later, the teaching and research department scheduled the next semester's class, considering that she was going to be treated, did not schedule a class for her, and she also asked on WeChat to arrange a class for her. Although she has not come back to school since then, a young colleague in the teaching and research department told me that at the New Year this year, she was still saying that after she recovered from her illness, she would continue to work hard. Unexpectedly, all the treatments were finally powerless to return to heaven, and after only half a year, she still left. Life is impermanent, and the heavens are so sad!
On August 6, 1997, Mr. Ji Xianlin's birthday, Duan Qing, Wang Bangwei and Mr. Ji took a group photo
The first time I saw Duan Qing was 43 years ago. At the beginning of the new semester, Mr. Ji Xianlin summoned four of our graduate students at the Institute of South Asian Studies, the youngest of us. At that time, Duan Qing, combing a pair of thin braids, was young, his face was very beautiful, and he was very spiritual. The first time we met, we met, but we barely spoke.
This is followed by classes together. Twice a week, Sanskrit lessons are attended by Teacher Jiang Zhongxin. This has been going on for more than two years. Under the guidance of Teacher Jiang, six or seven students read sentences and some Sanskrit chapters together. During recess, we'll say something. Moreover, when Mr. Ji talked about some special topics, we were all present. Slowly, we talked more.
In November 1980, Mr. Ji visited Germany and took her with him. At that time, going abroad was still a relatively rare thing, and she was very excited. After returning to China, she wrote an article about her visit to Germany with Mr. Ji, which was published in a literary magazine called The Ugly Duckling. After publishing it, she gave me a copy and told me that she gave the article to Mr. Ji, who said that it was better than Qin Mu's. She was so happy about that.
"The Ugly Duckling" published an article by Duan Qing in the 5th issue of 1982, "Professor Ji and His Second Hometown- A Visit to Germany with Mr. Ji Xianlin"
In the summer of 1982, all four of us graduate students graduated at the same time. Because I graduated at the same time, a later time, I called her sister. At first, she didn't recognize it, saying that she was a year ahead of me and was a sister. I said, I replied a few days before you, we graduated at the same time, it was "the same year", "the same year" and "the same year" compared, I am older, I should be counted as a master brother, you are counted as a master sister. She said, how about counting, not counting and how, I will ignore you! I said, not very good. She said, "Forget it." I was joking. However, later when I called her that, she agreed, but sometimes she seemed to be unable to think about it, saying that she was still a sister. When she was happy, she also told people that she had two brothers, one was me, and the other was the oldest of us.
Duan Qing's personality, many times like a child, talking without covering, straight, straight. Such a personality is actually rare. She had no scheming, and in her own words, "no heart, no lungs." A long time ago, Mr. Ji's wife, whom we call Master And mother, passed away. I was at Mr. Ji's house with her, and she suddenly said to Mr. Ji: Mr. Ji, you have to find another wife. Mr. Ji replied: Forget it. After a slight pause, he added: He did not know this life, and he did not want to do this in this life!
Duan Qing dared to say this to Mr. Ji, but I didn't dare.
After graduating with a master's degree, Duan Qing went to Germany and returned to China in 1987. Shortly after returning to China, I just happened to defend my doctoral dissertation. At the defense, she was one of the secretaries and was responsible for taking notes. The notes she made were written on thin letterhead. Once last year, I sorted out old things and found that they were still there. Above it was her handwriting, beautiful and neat. At that time, the defense was also videotaped, but unfortunately, decades later, many of the magnetic powder on the tape were broken. Ask someone to recover, only a small part of it is recovered, and among the recovered images, there is Duan Qing. Seeing her image at that time, I thanked her.
When Duan Qing returned from Germany, the Institute of South Asian Studies at Peking University was still there, and we all belonged to the Institute of South Asian Studies. Soon she had a child, born in Tianjin. After giving birth, she went back to school and told me that when she gave birth in Tianjin, two pregnant women in the hospital were huddled in a bed. It is hard to believe that this is told to today's young people. At that time, the housing conditions of the school were very poor, she lived on the 17th floor, and there was a 12.5 square meter room in the tube building, which was so big that she had to live with another female worker. Later, I was finally assigned a house, on the 16th floor, which was also twelve o'clock and five square meters. Her room was on the east end of the corridor, and my room was at the west end of the hallway. We all cooked in the hallway with a stove. Once, she made noodles and knew that my house had oil chili peppers, so she came to my house to ask for them. I said it was very spicy, she said not to be afraid, asked for a full spoon, went down with a mouthful, and called out to her spicy. Two buildings, demolished more than a decade ago, were built into a new building, now known as the New Sun Student Center. Today's students, who are like the new sun, certainly will not know this.
The fate of the South Asian Institute was not good, and in May 1991, it was also demolished. Several language-related people in the History and Culture Research Department of the South Asian Institute, including Mr. Ji Xianlin and Mr. Jin Kemu, plus Zhang Baosheng, Duan Qing and me, transferred to the Eastern language department. Mr. Ji, Mr. Jin, and Zhang Baosheng were originally in the Eastern Language Department, and duan Qing and I were counted as joining.
In our profession, although there are such great scholars as Mr. Ji and Mr. Jin, they are actually very deserted. One of the things that I often encounter is that if you talk to people about "Sanskrit" and don't hear it clearly, you will often say, Ah! French. If you hear it clearly, you will ask what "Sanskrit" is, and then you have to explain, "Brahma" is a "forest" word above, an "ordinary" "mortal" word below, and then say what Sanskrit is. Now it's a little different, and more people know Sanskrit. There is such a situation, first of all, of course, because of Mr. Ji, mr. Ji is a well-known scholar. But if there are more people who know our profession now, part of the reason cannot but be said to be because of Duan Qing. Especially in the last decade, her research, her results, her enthusiasm, her circle of friends, let more people know what Sanskrit is. Not only Sanskrit, but also Pali, plus The Pyrrhu and Khotanese, which seem a little strange to the average person.
In August 2009, we went to Thailand together to talk about the project with The Hosung Temple in Thailand. I was with her, because she said, you must go, the monks in Thailand have many rules, I am a female stream, you have to be in front. The word "female stream", spoken by herself, is a bit of a joke. Where is she a simple "female stream", she is a woman, a strange woman, a female Haojie.
So we went to Thailand. In Thailand, I took what the monks gave her first and then gave it to her. We negotiated a collaborative project, the result of which was the later publication of "Nagabe" at the Shanghai Zhongxi Bookstore and the recently printed "Chubu". But the translated book is only one aspect of the result, and the other aspect of the result may not be noticed, is to cultivate the students, a team of students in the translation. In fact, the meaning of both is very important, the former is a ready-made fruit, the latter may be a seed. How many fruits there are, you can count. Seeds are one, and if there is an opportunity, they can be spread out and grown in the future, and they are not one or two. In the enthusiasm of the work, I admire Duan Qing.
"Chinese Translation of Pali Sanzang, Jingzang, Nagabu" and "Chinese Translation of Pali Sanzang, Jingzang, Central"
Duan Qing is a genius in learning and studying languages, and many people say this, and I think so. But I would also like to say that the wizard is a wizard, which has to do with her talent, which is only half right, and the other half is her desperate spirit. If she wants to do something, she must do it, and she will not give up until she achieves her goal. The conditions for success are, first, talent, second opportunity, and third, hard work. Duan Qing is not only talented, but also diligent. It's just that I think that over the years, she has worked too hard, and her physical strength has been spent too much after all. In the afternoon, she talked to her family Yan Ying on the phone and comforted Yan Ying, and Yan Ying also said so. The number of things she has published in the last decade or so is admirable. No matter how fast the shot is, it will take a lot of energy. And she seemed to be rushing forward with an acceleration.
Integrity, spontaneous behavior, singing when you want to sing, dancing when you want to dance, Duan Qing did it. She was happy, and I was happy for her. I thought about it, Duan Qing's life, if you want to sum up, is wonderful and complete. Especially in her last ten years or so, I saw her, living happily, freely, with strength, and never said anything sad, nor tired.
Duan Qing left, among the more than a dozen classmates in our South Asia Institute at that time, her age was not the youngest, but one of the youngest. I'm sad for her. How did our decades of interaction end like this? Closing her eyes, her voice, one would be ignore you, you, one would be dear, plus her smile, it seemed to appear in front of her again.
I can't remember where I used to read a poem in memory of the deceased, which likened the deceased to a star that crossed the sky. I can't feel it now, Duan Qing is like a star, once in the world, shining, and passing away, when crossing the last paragraph, let everyone see a dazzling light.
Many years ago, Duan Qing published an article entitled "The City of Compassion and the City of Nirvana". Seen before. Today Duan Qing died, the news came out, but in a few hours, someone on the Internet found out and published it on WeChat again. Suddenly I thought, Duan Qing is gone, where has she gone? Did he go to the "City of Compassion" and "The City of Nirvana" that she said? Duan Qing's personality, although she is strong, sometimes speaks very "rushed", but I know that her heart is actually very soft, very sympathetic to people, very compassionate. This is not just my feeling. Lao Ge lived in the same neighborhood as her. Lao Ge told me that Duan Qing was in the community and would often help people in the community who came from the countryside to do life services. A stall owner who sets up a vegetable stall and helps Lao Ge cook at the same time. The stall owner, with the help of Duan Qing, sent some dishes to thank her. She said to the stall owner, I live better than you, don't think about me. Saying this, it was really a typical Duan Qing's tone. Duan Qing himself is a "compassionate person".
In Duan Qing's own words: "The city of the compassionate ones is the city of Buddhas, specifically the city of Amitabha." Relying on the strength of the six Brahmins to enter this city, it can be free from the attack of suffering, there is neither a valley of mountains and seas, nor a four-hour alternation, never cold or hot, and the temperature is suitable. ”
I think that Duan Qing is gone, and she is going to go, maybe it is such a place! There, she should be given a permanent rest!
(Drafted on March 26, 2022, completed on March 31)