Chapter 28 hold on to a problem for life

my life experience According to my personal observation, a scholar often concentrates for a period of time, delving into a problem, collecting extremely diligently, and writing extremely hard.However, once the article is written, turn your attention to another topic, and the article that has been written and published is no longer paid attention to, and even gradually forgotten.I have relatively few problems like this. I often grasp a topic, draw a conclusion, and write an article; but I don't put it in the back of my mind, but never forget it.I will give a few examples. I wrote a paper in 1947, "The Buddha and the Buddha", which was published in Chinese and English.However, due to the conditions at the time, including the level of foreign research and materials, several problems in the article were barely resolved, and I was not satisfied with it, and those who have been brooding about it have lasted for more than forty years.Until 1989, I got new materials and wrote another article "Re-discussing "Buddha" and "Buddha"", which solved the unresolved problem, and I was very happy.What makes me most gratified is that the seemingly bold hypothesis has been confirmed. I am quite complacent and have more confidence in my own research.I feel that my "hypotheses" are indeed "bold", but "proving" is extremely "cautious".

The second example is several articles about -am > o and u in Buddhist Sanskrit. In 1944 I wrote a paper in Göttingen, Germany, on this issue, which attracted the attention of some international scholars.Some people, such as F. Edgerton mentioned this phenomenon of sound change many times in his masterpiece "Mixed Sanskrit Grammar".At first I firmly opposed it, and put forward many hypotheses, but they were inconsistent and unable to justify themselves. In the end, I was forced to admit it halfway, but it was not clean and tidy, and I was embarrassed; therefore, I despised this person.After returning to China, I wrote several articles in succession to refute Edgerton.But on my part, I never forgot to look further for evidence, to explore further.I have already mentioned these situations in the above description.Due to the lack of data, it was not until 1990, 46 years after 1944, that I wrote another important paper "The Phenomenon of Suffixes-am>u in Ancient Ethnic Languages ​​of Xinjiang".Here, I use a lot of new materials to prove that the conclusion of my first paper is completely correct and unassailable.

I can give some more examples, but I think these two will suffice.The reason why I talk about this issue tirelessly is because I have seen that some scholars concentrate their energy on researching a problem in a certain period, and stop immediately as soon as the results come out.I don't think this is the right way to do it.Academic issues are sometimes difficult to draw conclusions for a while, and you must persevere and work hard for a lifetime to get more accurate and reliable conclusions.Sometimes, even the doctrines that the whole world recognizes as truth have changed over time, and some people have raised objections.I heard that foreign scholars have put forward different views on Darwin's "evolution theory".In my opinion, this is not a bad thing, but a good thing. The long river of truth flows forever.

1997