——Yang Zhu: A Mountain That Chinese Literati Cannot Bypass (9)
Yang Zhu is a marginal intellectual in a turbulent era, a scholar who has absorbed the blood of China's ancient culture and has realized something and is trying to open up a new realm, a typical representative of a frustrated and unambitious person who hopes to enter the political mainstream but is spurned by Wang, and to a large extent outlines the spiritual trajectory of Thousands of years of Chinese fallen readers.
Yang Zhu was so calm about death: and sang and cried - "The death of Ji Liang, Yang Zhu looked at his door and sang." With Wu's death, Yang Zhu caressed his corpse and wept. The life of the subordinate, the death of the subordinate, the song of the multitude, the crying of the multitude. (Liezi Jonny)
Whether the song is crying or not, the focus is not on Ji Liang, not Suiwu, nor on death itself, but on the perception of the present.
When Confucianism regards "benevolence" as the highest state of life, whether it is "loving the posthumous name", or "killing oneself to become famous", or "having a full body name", people are not controlled by themselves, but are captive and famous slaves. Under the banner of "benevolence", what does the individual really want? A reward in a population born in a past life? The praise of others after death? What is the value of a pile of rotten bones?
In an era of fierce clash of ideas, when Confucianism constructed the narrative of "benevolence" and urgently needed an opponent, under mencius's careful planning, a selfish and reactionary Yang Zhu stood out. This is the Confucian construction of Yang Zhu, whether just or not, which has run through the interpretation of Yang Zhu's thought.
What do you want to do when others make you your worst enemy and attack you according to their own interpretation?
Yang Zhu, who was kidnapped by Confucianism, was dismissive of this: Yang Zhu did not need an opponent.
Yang Zhu is alive and has been living in turbulent times. What Yang Zhu thought was concerned about was destined to be an uneasy soul in a chaotic world.
Whether it was approval or cursing, Yang Zhu was there. Whenever war rises, the country is in turmoil, and the people are ruined, Yang Zhu will emerge and use his calm wisdom and a sad and hot heart to soothe the fragile and sensitive souls of Chinese readers who are seriously thinking about the future and destiny of the country, society, and individuals.
From Yang Zhu, some learned the art of saving one's life, and some learned to break the shackles and break through the net. And Yang Zhu, who can make mainstream society pay attention to and let readers talk about it openly, is of course the latter: Yang Zhu, who can break the shackles and break through the net, or is a ruthless criticism of Yang Zhu, who is selfish and indifferent to death.
In the era of peace, no one deliberately paid attention to Yang Zhu, not because his thoughts were chaotic, not because they were out of date, but because Yang Zhu's thoughts had dissolved into the blood of Chinese readers.
As a loser, although he once occupied a place in academia, he was submerged in the dust of history under the crowd. Only occasionally being pulled out and hiding in a dark corner to feast. The so-called essence of its transformation has long been immersed in the soul of Chinese.
Criticism of fierceness and faith. If the body is skinny, the parents dare not damage it, this is just the words of Confucianism and Guisheng under the mask of "benevolence", and Confucianism is the real Yang Zhu. When Yang Zhu threw away all his masks to face the world, the reward of the world was that everyone's face was covered with armor. Because of this, the reader hid in his own shadow, realized Yang Zhu according to the framework he conceived, and was proud of it, but he was 100,000 miles away.
In everyone's heart, there is a Yang Zhu of his own, guiding himself to joyfully embark on his own path - whether it is a chaotic world or a peaceful era, in the heart of every reader, there is a Yang Zhu who lives for his whole life as his spiritual teacher, for more than 2,000 years, he has never stopped. To use today's popular words on the Internet to express it - tonight, we are all Yang Zhu. Of course, in broad daylight, few people dare to admit it. To this day, it is still the case.