Chapter 19 Feng Youlan: Sometimes Straight to the Top of a Lonely Peak

Feng Youlan (1895.12.4—1990.11.26), courtesy name Zhisheng, was born in Tanghe, Nanyang, Henan Province. He was a famous philosopher. He received a Ph.D. He is also the dean of the Department of Philosophy, a professor of the Department of Philosophy of Southwest Associated University and the dean of the Faculty of Arts, the chairman of the Tsinghua University Council, and a professor of the Department of Philosophy of Peking University. Modern Neo-Confucianism". There are many inconsistencies and contradictions between Feng Youlan's morality and realm theory and his "unrealistic" logical analysis method.On this point, he is also conscious.Therefore, in the book "Xin Zhi Yan", he pointed out two fundamental methods of metaphysics: one is the "positive" method, which is the logical analysis method of "pure thinking" in the book "New Neo-Confucianism"; The "negative" method is the intuitive method in traditional philosophy.As Feng Youlan himself realized, among the four concepts in his "New Neo-Confucianism" system, "Qi", "Taoism" and "Comprehension" are inconceivable and unspeakable, but only after clarifying can he keep silent. "Speak clearly" and "silence" are exactly the application of the two different methods of "positive" and "negative".In the last chapter of "Xin Zhi Yan", Feng Youlan regards "poetics" as the final conclusion of his metaphysical method, which has his profoundness.

A passage from Feng Youlan in "Xinyuanren": "It quotes the words of the ancients, but it is confirmed by what I see today. The so-called Six Classics annotates me, and I do not annotate the Six Classics." "I annotate the Six Classics" is for me. The six classics serve me, and "the six classics note me" means that the six classics serve me. Feng Youlan divided Chinese philosophical research before World War II into two camps: Peking University focused on the study of historical development, while Tsinghua University emphasized the logical analysis of philosophical issues.Feng Youlan is a representative of the Tsinghua School. He claimed that "the method I used in "New Neo-Confucianism" is completely analytical."This so-called "complete analysis" method is to "dissect" some concepts in Chinese philosophy, such as "reason", "qi", "benevolence", "righteousness", etc., as an "object" for understanding.

Feng Youlan pointed out the fundamental difference between religion and philosophy in Chapter 7 "Heaven and Earth" of "Xinyuanren".He said: "Religion makes people believe, philosophy makes people know." In Feng Youlan's philosophical system, he sticks to the distinction between "knowledge" and "faith".From his "Six Books of Zhenyuan", it can be clearly seen that Feng Youlan's interest lies in "knowledge", not "belief".When ordinary people study philosophical issues, because they cannot consciously distinguish between the two categories of "knowledge" and "faith", they change from "deep knowledge" to "firm faith" unconsciously.Of course, some people often mistake "firmness of faith" for "deep knowledge".

After the summer vacation in 1934, Feng Youlan visited Europe, visited Britain, Germany, France and other countries, and was later allowed to visit the Soviet Union.At that time, the situation after the Soviet Revolution was described as paradise by some, and hell on earth by others.By reading the English tabloids published in the Soviet Union, Feng Youlan witnessed the daily life and work of the Soviet people with his own eyes. He concluded: "The Soviet Union is neither a hell on earth nor a paradise. It is just a changing human society. This kind of society It may lead to Paradise, but it's not here." This assessment is true and unbiased.He also said: "The news reported in newspapers in capitalist countries every day is mostly about politics and political figures, and sometimes they even describe their clothes in detail. And the newspapers in the Soviet Union reported almost nothing. It was entirely about industrial and agricultural production conditions and the deeds of advanced figures such as labor models. At that time, I thought, this is probably the difference between the new Soviet society and the old society.”

After returning to China, Feng Youlan gave two speeches, one was about the Soviet Union, and the other was "Philosophy of History in the Qin and Han Dynasties".The last speech was an excuse to introduce the principles of historical materialism he understood and accepted in the name of studying Qin and Han historical philosophy.In his speech, he focused on the viewpoint that social existence determines social consciousness, and social consciousness reacts to social existence.The speech was later included in his Supplement to the History of Chinese Philosophy published in 1936.At this time, what Feng Youlan said and did aroused the dissatisfaction of the reactionary Kuomintang government, so the Kuomintang government ordered his arrest.Later, under the pressure of democratic forces across the country, the Kuomintang failed to further harm Feng Youlan and immediately released him.Lu Xun said in his letter to Yang Jiyun on December 18 of this year: "Be as safe as Feng Youlan, and if you are about to be arrested, you can infer other things." At this time, Feng Youlan seemed to have reached a crossroads. The Nanking government broke up and made a big fuss, joining the ranks of the revolutionary ranks led by the Communist Party, or continued as it had been in the past, more cautiously, to avoid the attention of the secret agents. "...If I take the former path, I will get the support of the whole society, and I can do a lot of work. But I don't have that kind of courage, so I still take the latter path." Feng Youlan wrote in the first volume of "The Complete Works of Sansongtang" Dao: “Shortly after the Faculty of Liberal Arts moved back to Kunming from Mengzi, one day, Jiang Menglin invited five of our deans to his home for a conversation. He said: ‘There is an order from the Ministry of Education in Chongqing that all people above the dean of the university must be Members of the Kuomintang. If you are not yet, you can invite to join. If you agree to join, you don’t need to complete the formalities. I will send you the party card in two days.’ At that time, only the dean of the law school, Chen Xujing, disagreed. The rest did not speak out. I went home to discuss and thought that I had already been arrested. If I opposed Jiang Menglin’s proposal, I am afraid that the Chongqing government would say that it would not cooperate, so I had no choice but to acquiesce. After a few days, Jiang Menglin really Party card was sent.” In this book, Feng Youlan also wrote that Chiang Kai-shek set up a central training group in Chongqing, and asked his subordinates to take turns to receive intensive training every six months.The purpose of the training is to cultivate their feelings of personality worship and blind obedience to Chiang Kai-shek. Feng Youlan feels that she is a certain type of dog.In the training group, some knowledge courses were also offered, and professors from various universities were hired as lecturers.Feng Youlan was also hired as a teacher to teach a course titled "Inherent Chinese Morality", and the time to teach it varied from two to three weeks.

Feng Youlan once said in "Xin Shi Lun": We often hear many jokes about city people and country people. According to these jokes, not only the people in the city are more knowledgeable, talented, and enjoy better than the people in the country. Dogs in the city are also more knowledgeable, capable, and enjoy better than dogs in the country.Although these are jokes, they are not necessarily untrue.We can even say that not only are dogs in the city more knowledgeable, talented, and enjoyable than dogs in the country... In China, at least 90 out of 100 country people have never eaten a dog like a rich dog in the city. The meals eaten.

In 1946, Feng Youlan accepted the invitation of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia to serve as a visiting professor for one year. On the one hand, he taught the history of Chinese philosophy, and on the other hand, he translated his "History of Chinese Philosophy" together with Bu De.At this time, he has obtained permanent residency in the United States.Because of teaching students, Feng Youlan wrote a lecture on the history of Chinese philosophy in English.When Feng Youlan left the United States in 1947, Feng Youlan gave this speech to a publishing house in New York for publication, entitled "A Brief History of Chinese Philosophy".The book is available in French and Italian translations, as well as a Yugoslav translation. In 1985, a Chinese version translated by Tu Youguang was published.At about the same time, Feng Youlan's "Xin Yuan Dao" was also translated into English by a British friend and published in London under the title "The Spirit of Chinese Philosophy".

In 1947, the situation in China took a turn for the worse. The People's Liberation Army was victorious, and national liberation was in sight.To return or to stay?The situation is pressing, and the Chinese in the United States are required to make a choice.Some friends advised Feng Youlan to settle in the United States, but Feng Youlan said: "The more victorious the PLA is, the more I have to go back as soon as possible. I am afraid that the whole of China will be liberated and the communication between China and the United States will be cut off." So he declined invitations from some places at that time, and only returned to China. On the way, he stayed at the University of Hawaii for one semester and returned to Tsinghua University in February 1948.In December of that year, Tsinghua University was liberated before Beijing.On the eve of the liberation of Tsinghua University, the Nanjing Kuomintang government appointed Youth Minister Chen Xueping (formerly the dean of the Southwest Associated University) to Tsinghua University.During the dinner, Chen Xueping announced that Nanjing is preparing a special plane to welcome you gentlemen.Feng Youlan resolutely refused. He said: "Since then, although I have had ups and downs in personnel affairs, I am comforted in my heart. After all, I am attached to the land of the motherland and never leave the motherland for a moment."

Feng Youlan reached a state of ecstasy in his studies, and in his later years he devoted all his energy to writing books and speaking.Daughter Zong Pu has a memoir, which describes Feng Youlan's spirit of "the spring silkworms will not be exhausted until the silkworms die". To be honest, my father has been dead for 10 years.Time removes grief and reduces longing.In the past, in terms of living arrangement, the elderly were always considered first, but now it has completely changed, or even forgotten.Under the threat of blindness, my father did not forget me.Or rather, I thought of him again because I needed him.

Don't be afraid, I have done what I have to do, and you will too. will i?I need his example, I search deep in my memory... It can be described as a miracle in the history of academics to complete a 1.5 million-word book by dictation. The last days of my father were difficult but also glorious.He escaped from the quagmire of the political whirlpool. Although he was tortured to pieces, he was lucky to have his head on his neck.He can think quite freely. In 1980, he began to write the book "A New History of Chinese Philosophy" from scratch.He was 85 years old at the time.Except for brief social activities, he spent every morning in his study.His mind is like a library, his eyesight is poor, and he can't see the people in front of him clearly, but the development of Chinese philosophy over the thousands of years is very clear in his mind, which is the result of his whole life of thinking.Philosophy is the basis of his life.Since 1915, he entered the Philosophy Department of Peking University, and he has never left philosophy.

The last ten years of my father's life turned into the book "A New History of Chinese Philosophy".Scholars gradually came to a consensus, believing that this book’s integration of arguments and materials surpassed the two volumes of the 1930s, and it also put forward unique insights into metaphysics, Buddhism, Taoism, Zeng Guofan and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The future of mankind is bound to be "reconciliation and reconciliation", and he said what he wanted to say, bit by bit, word by word, and wrote this 1.5 million-word book by dictation, which can be called a miracle in the history of academics .Can such a book be written by a person who is greedy for profit and greedy for profit?I can't even copy it down!Some friends came to visit and felt that the old man was very tired, so they kindly said to me: "Can you stop writing." I conveyed this kindness, and my father sighed slightly: "I am really tired, but I don't think it is hard, I am I can’t stop. This is when the silkworms will die when the silkworms die, and the wax torch will turn into ashes and tears will start drying!” Yes, he did not suffer from writing this book. He described himself as chewing the stored forage like an old cow chewing its cud.He is also chewing on the original knowledge and reserves for creation.There is a kind of fun in it.Another feature of my father's writing is that he doesn't make cards. A foreign friend once asked, "When I was in Kunming, all kinds of equipment were poor and books were rare. Where did you find materials?" My father replied: "I don't need a lot of materials when I write books. , everything is in my head." This is an important condition for him to finish the big book after he became a quasi-blind person. What's more important is his focus, his persistence, and his unchangeable affection.For the last two years of his life, he could not walk, could not stand, needed assistance with daily activities, even had difficulty chewing, and had to be fed for meals, sometimes for an hour or two.Whether he can't walk or eat, neither can stop his philosophical thinking.Once, because of a heart attack, we took him to the hospital in an ambulance. He lay on the hospital bed and said intermittently: "Now I am sick and need to be treated because the book is not finished. After the book is finished, I don't need to be treated when I am sick." gone." At that time, I was greatly mourned by these words, but now that I think about it, my tears have dried up, and even if I try to treat it, I can't support it.But the silk is not exhausted, the tears are not dry, and the final work is not completed, the aura of life will never leave.His last words were "Chinese philosophy will surely shine in the future", which he uttered with his whole life. In the 1940s, people often asked Feng Youlan to write. Feng Youlan liked to write two poems by Li Ao of Tang Dynasty the most. bottle." The other one is "Choose to live in a secluded place and enjoy the wildness, without sending or welcoming all year round, sometimes going straight to the top of a lonely peak, and under the moonlight, there will be a whistling sound from the clouds." Feng Youlan's perseverance and tenacity, the spirit of the spring silkworms dying, the wax torch turning to ashes, and the fire passing on, has a very elegant and bright side.On the one hand, he is able to bear the burden of Confucianism's "knowing what is impossible and doing it", on the other hand, he is able to see through Buddhism, Taoism, and Zen's "clouds are in the blue sky and water is in the bottle".It is precisely because of this complementarity that Chinese intellectuals can survive in an extremely harsh environment. Many years ago, Feng Youlan wrote a poem for her daughter Zong Pu, which was a poem by Gong Ding'an: "Although the great treasure is mature in his later years, Zhuo Luo relies on the weak crown to compete for it. Know more about the foreword to accumulate virtue, and don't waste your energy to trade talent." Later Feng Youlan wrote another poem, "Seven characters can be used as a motto, don't waste your energy to trade for talent. The movement reaches a rest, and silence is better than sound at this time." Feng Youlan knows that everything must be done with painstaking efforts. Teaching, don't be proud of a little fame that is easily obtained. Later, due to poor eyesight, Feng Youlan became a quasi-blind person, sitting all day long, thinking hard, but he was very persistent in learning. Before dying, Feng Youlan said the last sentence about philosophy: "Chinese philosophy will definitely shine in the future, and we must pay attention to the philosophy of "Book of Changes." When Feng Youlan returned to Kaifeng after graduating from Peking University, the first thing she did was to get married and start a family, taking the first step in life. Feng Youlan's marriage, like the philosopher's philosophical creation, has the color of modern enlightenment.His marriage seems to have broken the feudal system of "the order of the parents, the words of the matchmaker". In 1915, Feng Youlan met Ren Zaikun, the third daughter of Mr. Ren Zhiming, the predecessor of the 1911 Revolution, introduced by a classmate of the Shanghai Chinese Public School in 1915. Mr. Ren Zhiming was the first to advocate women's liberation in Henan, and sent three daughters including Ren Zaikun to the women at that time. The highest institution of higher learning - Beijing Women's Normal School to receive modern education.Ms. Ren was studying at the Beijing Women's Normal School at the time, and she was one year older than Feng Youlan, meeting the standard of "new knowledge, old morality" at that time.Soon Feng Youlan and Ren Zaikun got engaged.When the two got engaged, they agreed that they could not get married until Ren Zaikun graduated from Beijing Women's Normal School.At that time, Beijing Women's Normal School had undergraduate courses and special courses. Regarding marriage, there were no restrictions on special courses. The undergraduate course only accepted unmarried students. If they got married halfway, they had to drop out of school.In Beijing at that time, Peking University was the highest institution of higher learning for men, and Beijing Women's Normal School was the highest institution of higher learning for women.Such a combination can be said to be the only perfect couple in the whole country. In the summer of 1918, Feng Youlan and Ren Zaikun got married in Kaifeng.After marriage, Feng Youlan and Ren Zaikun had four sons, the eldest daughter Feng Zhonglian, the second daughter Feng Zhongpu (author Zong Pu, author of the novel "Ye Hulu Yin", etc.), the eldest son Feng Zhongliao, and the second son Feng Zhongyue. Influenced by the strong cultural atmosphere of the family.With the birth of his children, Ren Zaikun is in charge of housework.Looking back on family life, Feng Youlan’s daughter Zong Pu said: “For so many years, I feel that my parents have always believed that there are higher and more important things in life. For my father, it is his philosophy and education. For my mother, it is to help my father complete the work. his business." Yang Changchun wrote in the article "A Generation of Great Masters Preserve Style-Reminiscences of Feng Youlan by Relatives and Friends" that Feng Youlan is a "hands-off shopkeeper" at home, and he can devote all his energy and time to writing, which is due to the efforts of his wife Ren Zaikun support.Feng Youlan's brother-in-law Zhang Dainian once sighed: "No one can compare to Mr. Feng at home. Feng Youlan has never bought vegetables in his life." Zong Pu added with a smile: "It is not true to say that I have never bought vegetables in my life. When I was in Kunming, my mother was ill. No, my father also took me to the market, but my father really seldom cooks, the phrase 'a gentleman stays away from the kitchen' is perfect for him." During the period of Southwest Associated University, due to inflation, prices soared, and the food and clothing of professors became a problem.Therefore, the professor's wives crossed the sea, each showing their special abilities, trying to earn some pocket money to maintain their lives.In order for Feng Youlan to write books, preach and teach, Ren Zaikun set up an oil pan to sell twisted doughnuts to subsidize the family; while the wife of Principal Mei Yiqi, Han Yonghua, sold "Dingsheng Cake" to entrust the belief of "certain victory" in the War of Resistance. popular. When Southwest Associated University was about to leave Kunming in 1946, according to Feng Youlan’s recollection, most of the professors auctioned off the things they brought from the north on the street, and their family members sat on the street and set up street stalls, occupying a large area for several weeks. . During the "Cultural Revolution", Feng Youlan squatted in the cowshed, and his wife Ren Zaikun stood in the distance every day, looking forward to his return. Feng Youlan named that place "Wangfushi".Ren Zaikun also regularly went to the gang compound to give her husband a haircut.Husband and wife have shared joys and sorrows and passed through this extraordinary period. On October 3, 1977, Ren Zaikun let go of his hand and returned to the west, and Feng Youlan made an elegiac couplet to see his wife off: I followed each other in the past, shared adversity, shared happiness, hoped that my eyebrows will be the same, and Huangquan will go first; Breaking the sharp lock, I am worthy of pitching, and I am flying in the open sea and sky. "Qiyi" is called a hundred-year-old person. "Qi Mei" is a metaphor for a husband and wife who respect and love each other for a lifetime. "Bi Luo" refers to the sky.The first couplet writes that husband and wife love each other deeply, respect each other as guests, and remain unswerving until old age, which is admirable.The author of the second couplet is not discouraged when he loses his company when he is old, but his ambition is doubled, which is even more admirable.Quanlian's language is fluent and natural, which can be described as a masterpiece.