Chapter 3 touch - smoke - rabbit

This is a chat, no specific topic. A friend knew that I was writing a column that had something to do with old history, so he mistakenly thought that I really understood history, and asked: At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the refugees rebelled and the world was bleeding, or it could be explained by the brutal Ming government and the accumulation of hatred; the Tang government was not so Oops, why was the massacre in the riots at the end of the Tang Dynasty so miserable?How can I know the answer, so I can only vaguely say that maybe all generations were killed in such a random way, but some records are more, and some are missing.

The most important means for people to perceive the world are vision and touch (people in our country may also think that taste is the most important, another discussion), which is the so-called visible and tangible.Invisible and intangible, easy to be ignored, such as human feelings.There is a saying called "being in a mood", and the word "being troubled" seems to mean that the other party is playing with a childish temper, buy a popsicle to coax them, or don't need to coax them, and it will be fine after a while.Just imagine that emotions are luminous, and once stirred up, they never disappear in vain.Then when we stand on a high place, we can see the emotional map of the city, where is bright, where is dark, where the emotion is pink, and where is yellow - emotions will change, dissatisfaction will accumulate into anger, anger Without a way out, it will turn into hatred.What color is hatred?Assuming it was blue, Emperor Chongzhen climbed to a high place and saw the sky was blue. He knew it was not good, and it was not known if it changed, but it would probably be too late by then.Hate does not have a claim like anger does. Hate is a state, a state of being angry at anything.No matter what Chongzhen did at this time, no one was satisfied. Maybe he was planning for himself, and he should be the same as before, because if he fell in anger, he would definitely be called a faint king, and the country would perish in hatred without a clear goal. Everyone Busy fighting, it's not really coming for him.

That friend of mine was reading the articles of some of the most outstanding adherents of the Ming Dynasty.He said, these people are all excellent minds, and they criticize the ills of the old government well and soundly. Why did they go back to it once they tried to "establish a universal law"?I said, I don't know why, but I know a story, I might as well tell you. It was a true story, which was published in newspapers more than twenty years ago.A family spilled pesticides on the noodle pockets, and was reluctant to throw them away. They dusted off the upper layer of flour that had stuck to the pesticides, and made a pot of steamed buns with the remaining "good noodles".As a result, the whole family went to the hospital, and the man in charge died.After the peasant woman made up her mind, she thought that steamed buns use too much flour, so it is dangerous. If they are used to make dumplings, it must be fine.After eating dumplings, the whole family went to the hospital again, where a daughter died.The peasant woman dared not eat the flour any more, so she fed it to the cows.Needless to say, the cow was poisoned again.

The story is both tragic and funny.Instead of criticizing the stupidity of the peasant woman, it is better to pity her poverty.The same is true for the poverty of thought. No matter how outstanding the mind is, it is impossible to go beyond experience (including the experience of others known to itself) and come up with something out of thin air.Every time there was a change of dynasty in ancient times, there was a large-scale "reflection". My friend said happily, now it's all right, there are all human experiences available for use, if Wang, Gu, and Huang are put in the ground, they must be excellent teachers.I said maybe, but using other people's experience will not be so smooth. It's hard to say what you said, Wang Fuzhi and Gu Yanwu will do. Huang Zongxi may not like it, maybe he will be entangled in the distinction between body and function.My friend said, I don’t agree with your words. When people see something good, they know it is good. Even ordinary people can do this, not to mention those extremely smart people?I shook my head and said, if it was that easy, it would have been done long ago.A while ago commemorating the centenary of 1911, a lot of articles and books were published. I also read a little bit, and read some fierce people. After a few years, I changed to another idea, started to talk about the national conditions, distinguish the times, I don't know if today is not yesterday, or if today is not yesterday.I thought, people's opinions are mostly fixed in the early years, and they will learn new knowledge later, rejoicing, but whenever they have the opportunity, they will go back; , The words I said startled you. To borrow an analogy drawn by Lu Xun, a small corner of the leather robe is exposed, so you can know that the mandarin jacket is always worn close to the body, and sooner or later it will return to its true colors.

My friend said, your remarks are too harsh. Of course, one cannot completely abandon what one has learned in one's early years, but there are many examples of old ones and new ones. How can one generalize them?I said, yes, I just remembered something, so I have this theory. In fact, to choose the good and do it, and to stick to the middle, you don’t have to think about the old and the new. It’s just that people need to know what they are advocating. It’s unexpected. Difficult, this has happened to me myself, so I know.My friend said, speaking of this, I thought of a story and told you. My friend said that there was a teacher who always pronounced the word "free" as "rabbit" for rabbit.This day I was teaching pinyin, and when I encountered the word "free", I spelled it to the students: "Touch—smoke—rabbit."

Yes, still a rabbit.