Chapter 34 Jin Yong's talk about art

The movie is high and the sun is shining. Yesterday at dusk, the hero Jin Yong came to Baodao again.Old friends and bosom friends who love Jin Yong's novels especially took the opportunity to meet and talk with him.The night in early autumn is cool, with flickering lamps and shadows, which is a bit like cutting candles by the west window.I haven't seen him for a year, but he still looks like a hero and is still talkative.The house is full of friends, but the topic always revolves around him, because his talents, knowledge and learning can never be revealed. The topic starts with a play he watched last year.Because of the talk about the play, a question that everyone was very curious about was raised; "It is also a partial reflection of ancient society. Did folk opera provide some materials or books for martial arts novels?"

"The creation of martial arts novels is indeed trying to approach the ancient society." Mr. Jin Yong said slowly: "From the historical materials, I try to include as much as possible the aspects of life I have come into contact with, which may include the literati's piano and chess. The feelings of calligraphy, painting, poetry and poetry are in terms of life. However, in terms of artistic modeling, there are obvious differences between traditional operas and modern novels." "Peking opera is the richest and most difficult stage art in the world. In terms of performance skills, there are singing, speaking, martial arts and acrobatics-of course this is a very rough statement. There is no other stage in the world. Art can be so comprehensive, opera sopranos are often bloated and fat; ballet stars do not have the talent or opportunity to sing. However, from the perspective of development form, Peking Opera may have a certain deficiency, but it is exactly the same as the novel. Difficult to fit." As he said that, he smiled impressively, as if he was sorry for why: "In the past, the lighting equipment on the stage was not perfect, and the acoustics were not necessarily good, so facial makeup often became the most important condition for character modeling. As soon as an actor comes on stage, he can distinguish between good and evil, and reveal his loyalty and villainy—and it is often difficult to present a person's more complex personality, only a typical division. This is relatively rough for reflecting life. Generally speaking, The purpose of Peking Opera or other folk operas is not necessarily to express life through a dramatic story, perhaps its focus lies on the achievements of singing, dancing and performing arts itself. This is not the case with novels. But I still want to emphasize: from folk art Even if I haven’t absorbed anything directly, indirect inspiration and influence are inevitable for me.”

Mr. Jin Yong’s insights are so cautious and gentle, even in the judgment: “Chinese arts are generally interlinked. Many masters of Chinese painting like to watch Peking Opera, and they can learn from dancing. To grasp the inspiration of painting, it may be a line, or a general outline, but the impression of "beauty" is vivid and smooth. Sometimes I have a similar realization in the process of creation. Take martial arts as an example, when it When you reach the realm of transformation, it will naturally become a kind of art, so it is not surprising that I have used the way of calligraphy and painting to explain some moves."

"I like to make everything smooth and smooth. Is this the national character of the Chinese people? Even incorporating the philosophy of life into art or martial arts, this is a very unique interpretation." When it comes to human nature and national character, Mr. Jin Yong's expression lifted, and he narrated his works and its protagonist Wei Xiaobao. "When writing this book, I often think of the Chinese spiritual victory method emphasized in Lu Xun's "The True Story of Ah Q". The idea of ​​spiritual victory is indeed quite long and common in China, but it is not unique to China. Sometimes when I visit foreign countries, I often find that people in almost every place have their own way of spiritual victory. So I try to explore the unique character of the Chinese from another angle.”

"In traditional sayings, morality is always emphasized: loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, propriety, righteousness and shame. I don't want to deliberately isolate good or evil from human nature, and then use pure German to tie them one by one. As far as the facts are concerned, China has a large population and limited land. The Chinese people have always been engaged in an abnormal competition for survival in a difficult environment. In order to survive and reproduce, they will use all possible means, which are often at odds with moral lessons. The character Wei Xiaobao accommodates The Chinese character with a strong sense of history, on the one hand, he places great emphasis on loyalty, which may also be related to the hardship of the living environment; on the other hand, he eats, drinks, whores, and gambles, and plays tricks from time to time. Such things can also be regarded as Chinese A particular type of man who is an 'anti-hero', but also quite real and universal."

A person in the audience asked whether the strange talents described in the novel were mostly due to the difficult living environment? "I think so, as you said: Can centipedes in the snow be eaten? This kind of scene has appeared in biographical novels. On the one hand, it also reflects how this ancient nation struggled in a land with poor living conditions. Therefore, cooking has finally developed into an art." Mr. Jin Yong said: "So we can also taste that the joys and sorrows of Chinese people are often intertwined with bewilderment." The night wind blows outside the window, but the ancient China is still approaching from the martial arts, from the opera, from all the mysteries that are lightly shaking like the rain of lanterns.In the midst of history, some attitudes towards life are stretching their tentacles from a forgotten corner to happy or miserable people in the real world.How much memory or influence does it evoke?

"People often ask me about the various aspects of playing Go. In terms of direct influence and relationship, the reasoning process of playing Go is very close to the organization and structure of creating martial arts novels. Between scrutiny, there are too many changes and time-consuming. After a long time, this kind of art has gradually become out of fashion. How can people have time to play these games now? It takes more than ten minutes to drop a single particle, and a game of chess can last for several days. So when I went to Japan, I discovered that Mahjong is more popular than Go!"

"However, the training of Go has other inspirations for me. One is 'change'. Mr. Shen Junshan once told me: the current computer cannot handle the vast number of variables contained in Go. This reminds me of Buddhism and Taoism. It has been revealed: the world is full of changes, and the flow is endless. The second is "slowness", which is in conflict with the attitude towards life in the current Western civilized society. The beauty of slowness lies in contemplation and savoring. If Go can Become common entertainment in Western society, and may help many people to appreciate life more deeply."

He calmly lit his cigarette, not in a hurry, and then a long piece of ash rolled down.He answered some questions about personal study of Buddhism. "Perhaps just like literature, there are many genres, romantic and classical, according to people's interests, choose what they like. The same is true for Buddhism, which has 84,000 methods, and can be studied differently according to people's personalities. way." "In the most basic theory, Buddhists often talk about 'change'. The so-called instant is faster than one second, and it is impossible to measure. It is a change in an instant. This is of course a symbolic statement. Through "change", Buddhism does not believe that life is one-way perfect in any aspect. Sadness is not always sad, but not limited to sadness; joy is not always happy, not limited to joy. The same reason can be explained Fleeing from the law of nature, one is destined to grow old. This is the so-called impermanence, the so-called bewilderment. The sense of bewilderment may convey the message of life more appropriately. I often think: what kind of feeling will Fade away in time, faded into a daze."

Is this a brush with oriental mysterious colors?Once literature and art approach this ambiguity, will conflicts or setbacks or struggles or victories disappear?So how can the tragic feelings of the East be conveyed and infected through the form of literature and art? Mr. Jin Yong started from the beginning: "Simply put, Greek classical tragedies always emphasize 'fate', people are subject to it, fight against it, and then suffer eternal defeat. In traditional Chinese or Indian thinking, there is no No, tragedies are caused by people themselves, and they develop according to their personality. The world is full of changes, and people are always faced with various choices. The choices may also be based on misunderstandings, but is the misunderstanding right or wrong? !Even if people can understand their own choices, can they be sure that understanding is correct? Is correctness certain? Can the choice really be attributed to fate? Or is it still in the hands of people? From the point of view of personality determination, I personally think it’s more practical.”

At this time, he took a deep breath and said: "Greek tragedies always seem to be a series of doubts and horrors. The audience can see the people in the play stepping into the cage of fate step by step, unable to escape. However, the idea under the oriental color is not This is a simplification. Buddhism not only talks about "impermanence", but also emphasizes "cause and fate". "Cause" can be regarded as the main driving force in human affairs; Yes! I come from Hong Kong, Mr. Gao and Mrs. Gao invited me here, this is the 'cause'; you all have time to come to talk tonight - this is the 'fate', fate is destined, so everyone Then we can get together. Buddhism doesn’t talk about fate, it doesn’t talk about God, and the positive thing is that it believes that certain “fate” can be controlled by human beings. This is a testimony of Buddhism’s advocacy of “being promising.” So, how do people know fate, or know cause and condition?How does one know why and how to do something?Another gentleman in the audience raised this question: What role does "knowledge" play in Buddhist philosophy? "This involves the difference between religious and secular." Mr. Jin Yong said: "The more you talk, the more mysterious it seems?——There are two kinds of Buddhism that seem to be contradictory, but in fact they only have different levels of settlement. The so-called "eightfold path" is eight ways to implement in life, the first of which is "right view": seeking correct knowledge and insights. Unlike Christianity, Buddhism emphasizes human "sin". But they think that the mistakes people make are just out of "ignorance". People make mistakes because they can't seek correct insights. But on the other hand, Buddhism also asks people to get rid of "obstacles of knowledge". After decades of accepting various opinions and experiences, there will always be some persistence and persistence. If one wants to obtain the final truth, one must abandon all prejudices, and then knowledge may just be an obstacle.” In terms of the meaning of "right view", Socrates in the West also had a similar view in his discussion. He also appealed to the ignorance of human beings' sins, hypocrisy and mistakes to a certain extent, which is different from what Buddha said. very close.However, in the process of knowledge and development, the East and the West have led to quite different trajectories.Mr. Jin Yong made a concise and concise analysis of this issue with his words like a cloud: "Western philosophical traditions attach great importance to knowledge. Plato once believed that the pursuit of knowledge can solve life problems satisfactorily. When it developed to Kant, part of the concept is the same as the Buddhist school mentioned above to 'get rid of the obstacles' The spirit is close. Kant believes that people will never be able to touch the real wisdom and truth. It is in conflict with human language and speculative ability, and knowledge is powerless. Kant only said so, without further explanation. And in Buddhists go on to use meditation and meditation to get closer to true wisdom. Zen especially advocates this. This is a religious issue: Believe it or not. Philosophers take it for granted. Buddhists basically believe that everything Philosophical explanations are always one-sided, that is, limited. Someone asked the Buddha: Is the universe endless or infinite? No answer, this is the famous "fourteen no answers". These questions have been explained in different ways, but they can't be answered in the end. Asking is nonsense. Sakyamuni also made a metaphor: someone was hit by a poisoned arrow, At this time, it is irrelevant to study the material of the arrow body, the type of the arrow feather, and the appearance of the archer, what is important is how to pull out the poisonous arrow and save a life." "—Ah! I've 'said' too much. Personally, I am just a beginner in Buddhism, and I practice the older primitive Buddhism. In fact, everyone learns Buddhism according to their fate, and they have different 'methods'. , Some people study Buddhism for the sake of studying knowledge, and the meaning of religion has faded; some people practice Buddhism out of faith, even if they can't read many scriptures, as long as they are enlightened, they can gain something." Mr. Jin Yong obviously didn't plan to say anything more, he was speechless, and most of the people present just smiled knowingly. Then, the associations of the people in the seat suddenly appeared. From the Buddhist world to the martial arts novels, in the impression of ordinary people, it is a journey of hundreds of thousands of miles, but in retrospect, this book has leaped like a "somersault cloud". . Mr. Jin Yong leaned over and changed his sitting position, and said slowly: "In the past, it was not created by one person at a time. It was always attached with stories, presented the plot, portrayed the characters, and finally edited and edited. The source of the monkey shape can be traced back to Let’s go to the heroes in Indian epics. Buddhist scriptures also used those traditional folk tales, which were later introduced to China, and they were enriched. It is not limited to Buddhism. The flavors and ideals of Confucianism and Taoism are also It has a considerable status, which is the nature of the Chinese people to combine differences and adopt similarities." When people mentioned that Mr. Jin Yong was engaged in film work in his early years, he quickly shook his hand and said with a smile: "I was completely unsuccessful in film work! In the early years, I worked in the leftist Great Wall Film Company for more than a year. I have played two plays. They have very strict restrictions on plays. To write a script requires review and research, and the work is very restricted. It is not a suitable creative environment. I did not stay. Until now, they still seem to have not gotten rid of That many constraints. Last year, the CCP held the "Congress of Cultural and Artistic Workers", and many people also emphasized in the meeting: the restrictions on themes need to be relaxed, and creation needs freedom.Even Deng Xiaoping said at the opening ceremony: China has a vast land, rich resources and a long history, and literary and artistic creation must also be expressed in many ways.At least in terms of trends, relaxation is inevitable.I remember when I was in Hong Kong last year, I saw a Beijing opera "Xin'an Station" performed by a troupe from mainland China. It even used the traditional form of performance, depicting a pair of fake phoenixes and phoenixes. It's very different. China is big!How can the great China be driven by the will of a few people, turning the clouds into clouds and rains?The situation is naturally inspired and confirmed by the human mind.From literature and art or philosophy and metaphysics, we can see some clues of historical development. People must move towards the ideal of freedom, enlightenment, tolerance and democracy step by step.According to my personal observation over the past three years, the general psychology of the people on the mainland has the above tendency and tendency.At least three decades of Taiwan's economic achievements have been publicly acknowledged. ——In a way, this can be called the basis of progress.” Mr. Jin Yong made a conclusion with earnestness: "The Chinese nation has a great cultural tradition. This profound cultural tradition is likely to lead us into a bright future. We should pay attention to the development of cultural experience in many aspects, and then we look forward to it!" The night is cool and thick, and the lamp is like a torch. The people in the seat are separated from each other, as if something is over.But is it over?Or bid farewell to the Confucian man Jin Yong, and suddenly feel that a journey of time is about to begin?Is that the enlightenment of wisdom and inspiration?However, how can there be so many realms in one conversation?He left some topics worthy of careful consideration, which ignited the mood of returning guests, just like lights igniting the night until dawn.