More than half a century ago, after studying four unavoidable names in the history of human thought, the philosopher Jaspers wrote this passage:
"The spiritual foundations of humanity began to be laid simultaneously or independently in China, India, Persia, Palestine and ancient Greece, and to this day humanity remains attached to this foundation."
Between about 800 BC and 200 BC, Socrates, Buddha, Confucius, and Jesus, the creators of the four paradigms of thought, overlapped in the world. As a result, the territory of human spiritual civilization has made an explosive breakthrough and has become an important resource that future generations have reviewed again and again.
-1-
Socrates
The founder of Western philosophy
If philosophy is about the happiness, wisdom and value of life, then Socrates is the giant of the Trinity in the history of Western philosophy.
As the German historian of philosophy Zelier put it: "Socrates gave philosophy such a powerful impetus that until the end of the entire ancient world, philosophy never left the path he had guided." ”
In fact, Socrates' influence extends far beyond the confines of philosophy. He profoundly influenced the entire Western culture with his thoughts, words, life, and death, and was known as the "Mentor of Western Civilization".
His sense of crisis of social sinking, his willingness to serve as a cow to wake up the masses, and his behavior of saving social morality have all become models of personality for Western intellectuals, and his death, together with the crucifixion of Jesus, has given the entire Western culture a profound tragic color. It can be said that the life of Socrates is a philosophy. He inaugurated the entire era of Western civilization.
It is precisely for this reason that it is not enough to understand the life and thought of Socrates in order to understand the whole of Western civilization.
And since Socrates did not leave any writings during his lifetime, the easiest and most effective way to understand his life and thoughts is to read his biography.
In A · E·Taylor's "Biography of Socrates" is a very detailed account of Socrates' life and thoughts. The book divides the life of Socrates into two periods, the beginning of the Peloponnesian War (about 40 years in the first period and about 30 years in the later period). Socrates was already a celebrity in the early stage, and the deity of the temple of Delphi was a spiritual crisis for him, which began his later turn, and began to focus firmly on the human soul until he died.
Taylor's Socrates is not a literary image, but a restoration of history, intended to restore the current society, a "great and glorious era" that has passed.
-2-
Buddha Shakyamuni
Founder of "Buddhism".
Buddhism was born around the 5th century B.C. by the Buddha, the pure rice prince of the kingdom of Tianzhu Kapila. Founded by Gautama, Buddhism respectfully calls him Shakyamuni.
The Buddhism founded by Shakyamuni has had an immeasurable impact on Chinese culture. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the Eastern Han Dynasty was introduced to China, and after the study and transformation of the local Chinese culture, it was absorbed and formed into a Sinicized Buddhism, and the ideas and thinking methods in Buddhism were gradually absorbed by Confucianism and Taoism, and gradually integrated into the Song and Ming Dynasty's scientific thought system.
Not only that, but the influence of Buddhism on Chinese culture is also reflected in many aspects:
◎ Influence on the construction aspect
In Chinese history, there are countless cultural heritages related to Buddhism, the most famous of which are the most preserved Buddhist pagodas; The existing brick tower of Songyue Temple in Songshan, Henan, the wooden buildings of the Tang Dynasty in Nanchan Temple and Foguang Temple in Wutai Mountain, Shanxi, the big wooden tower in Yingxian County, and the stone east and west towers of Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou, Fujian, are all valuable objects for studying the ancient architectural history of the mainland.
◎ Influence on literature
Buddhism also brought a new artistic conception, a new style, and a new method of diction to Chinese culture. Thousands of volumes of Buddhist texts translated from Sanskrit are great and magnificent works of literature in their own right. Ma Ming's "Praise of the Buddha" brings a model of long narrative poetry; The scriptures of "Fahua", "Vimo" and "Hundred Parables" inspired the creation of novels in the Jin and Tang dynasties; Prajna and Zen thought influenced the poetry of Wang Wei, Bai Juyi, and Su Shi. The style of quotations of Zen masters, such as the changing texts, the colloquial sayings, and the quotations of Zen masters, also have a deep relationship with Chinese popular literature.
◎ Influence on the art aspect
Like Western art, the moving stories in Buddhist scriptures have often become the subject of Chinese artists' paintings, and famous painters such as Cao Buxing, Gu Kaizhi, Zhang Sengji, Zhan Ziqian, Yan Liben, and Wu Daozi have all been passed down for their expertise in Buddhist paintings. In Chinese painting, the development of literati painting from Wang Wei's school to the prevalent freehand painting after the Song and Yuan dynasties is related to Zen Buddhism. In terms of music, in the 3rd century AD, there was already a popularity of Fanbei in China. The music of the Tang Dynasty also absorbed music from Buddhist countries such as Tianzhu music, Qiuzi music, and Anguo music.
Buddhism has left an eternal mark in the history of Chinese culture, and the Buddha Shakyamuni, as the founder of Buddhism, first understands his life and thoughts, which is the beginning of understanding Buddhism.
Nhat Hanh Zen Master's "Biography of the Buddha" is the most influential biography of the Buddha in the world. It is also the most complete book on the history of the Buddha to date, and in addition to telling the story of the Buddha's life from birth, growth, ordination, practice, enlightenment, propagation of the Dharma, and his extinction, it also includes some stories that are not mentioned enough, such as: Rahudha tried to arrange for Rahula to ride a buffalo, and the past life relationship between the Buddha and Yajandhara.
After reading it, many readers commented: It is as if going back to more than 2,500 years ago, listening to the Buddha's teachings, which makes people feel a burst of emotion and joy in their hearts.
-3-
Confucius
Dacheng Most Holy Teacher
Chinese should be very familiar with Confucius. Confucius has many names, and when he was alive, he was revered as "the saint of heaven" and "the wood of heaven", and was respected by later generations as the saint of Confucius, the most holy, the most holy teacher, the first teacher of Dacheng Wenxuanwang, and the master of all ages. His ideas have had a profound impact on China and the world, and he has been listed as the first of the "Top Ten Cultural Celebrities in the World".
The main reason why Confucius became a "saint" is that his Confucian construction laid the foundation of Chinese civilization.
Confucian culture attaches great importance to education, and also respects scholars and intellectuals, as can be seen from the many disciples he accepted, and Confucius proposed that the most important point in education is to teach students according to their aptitude. Even today, millennia later, many educators have followed this path.
In addition, the basic moral concept of the Chinese is mainly reflected in Confucianism; Although it was born more than 2,000 years ago, it is still full of vitality, and its universal significance transcends ideology and can even be said to be the "humanistic gene" of the Chinese.
Liang Qichao once said: Confucian philosophy is not counted as the whole of Chinese culture, but if Confucianism is withdrawn, I am afraid that there is nothing left in Chinese culture; The Chinese nation exists because Chinese culture exists; And Chinese culture is inseparable from Confucianism.
Therefore, to understand Chinese culture, we must first understand Confucianism, and to understand Confucianism, we urgently need to understand Confucius.
Mr. Qian Mu's "The Biography of Confucius" is an excellent work based on historical materials to restore the real Confucius. Mr. Qian Mu synthesized the results of Sima Qian's following examinations and re-established the biography of Confucius. The materials used in this book are also mainly based on the Analects. In fact, it is a must-read book for everyone to discuss the life of Confucius, the thought of Confucius, and the study of China's 5,000-year-old cultural tradition.
-4-
Jesus
Founder of "Christianity".
Religious belief has always occupied a very important position in Western countries, among which Christianity, founded by Jesus, is the largest religious system. The many splendid civilizations left behind by Christianity still exert immeasurable influence on the West and the world.
◎ The impact of Christianity on life
Many of the Christian epochs, the weekly system, the Red Cross organizations in various countries around the world, the staves, and various institutions and organizations related to modern life are derived from Christianity.
◎ Christianity's contribution to the mind
In addition to the Bible, in the field of philosophy, Christianity has also established the speculative tradition of modern Western philosophy. Augustine, the most famous figure in Christian philosophy, has had a profound influence on Western philosophy with his works such as "Confessions", "On the Trinity", and "The City of God".
Politically, too, the Declaration of Independence, the most important founding document of the United States, begins with the phrase "God's will." If there had been no Christianity, perhaps there would not have been a Mayflower, and it is not known whether many countries in the world today would have appeared.
◎ Christianity's promotion of art
In the field of art, Western civilization reveals traces of Christian culture everywhere, such as · Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo, all of whom created works with Christian themes - "The Last Supper", "Sistine Madonna", "Genesis", etc.; Musically, too, the Requiem, the Mass, the Hymn, and so on; At the peak of Western art, there was a deep connection with Christianity.
It can be said that the entire history of Christianity is a history of the West, and the entire thought of Christianity is the thought that represents the West.
Therefore, Jesus, as its source, must not be ignored.
The Biography of Jesus written by David · Friedrich · Strauss is not only an ordinary biography to understand the life and thoughts of Jesus, but also a turning point in the history of the development of Western culture.
Strauss's Biography of Jesus uses ideological factors to explain the origin of religion, the life of Jesus. It is worth mentioning that Strauss once said of this book: "The Biography of Jesus is not for theologians, but for ordinary people, and I have made special efforts not to make it a sentence that any learned or thoughtful person cannot understand." ”
▌Why should we read the "Four Sages" now?
Scholar Fu Peirong once said that what the four sages taught me was more profound than the entire history of philosophy.
Socrates who "knows thyself"; the Buddha who realized that "all living beings suffer and the path to liberation"; Confucius who "loves others"; Jesus who brought the "gospel of heaven."
The core of the life of the "Four Sages" lies in living in this land with ordinary bodies, just like us. Having experienced the fundamental human condition and clarifying the mission of life in the world, they use their personal experiences and ideas to answer the following questions for us:
◎ How do they view the meaning of life?
◎ How to break the shackles of life and death, hardship, nothingness, and human limitations?
◎ How to sublimate into a noble soul that shines with divine brilliance and become the founder of the ideological paradigm of human civilization?
Not only that, but many of the wisdom and civilizations of the human world today can be said to have been laid by these "four sages"; As the "source" of human thought, many concepts and trends of thought in later generations are in fact footnotes to their wisdom.
Therefore, it is necessary to understand and understand the life and thoughts of the "Four Great Sages" in any era.