Chapter 13 Difficulty and unbelief

China's "foolish people" - uneducated inferior people, have always been afraid of being noticed.If you ask him for no reason how old he is, what his opinion is, how many brothers he has, and what his family background is like, he always hesitates and hides away.The learned big men are not happy with their temper.However, this temper is not easy to change, because they really come from experience. If someone notices you, if you are not careful, at least you will be fooled a little bit. For example, China has been reformed, and the children have of course learned the lessons of "Meng Zong crying bamboo" and "Wang Xiang lying on the ice"[2] Unexpectedly, a brand new "Childhood Year" [3] has come, patriots, so they think of "little friends", either with a pen or with a tongue, and they are not afraid of hard work to teach them lessons.One said to work hard, and in ancient times there were people with lofty ideals who "read according to Nang Yingying" and "chiseled the wall to steal light"[4]; Odd boy.These stories are not very bad to listen to as gossip, but if anyone believes it and does it, it will become a quixote[5].Do you think it is easy to catch a bag of fireflies that can see the type four every day?But it’s just not easy. If you go to dig a wall, the matter will be even worse. No matter where you are, at least after being scolded, your parents will immediately apologize and hire someone to repair it.

Asking for help and killing the enemy are even more important things. In foreign countries, they are all done by people in their 30s and 40s.The children there focus on eating, playing, recognizing characters, and listening to some very common and very important common sense.Children in China are especially respected by everyone, which is of course very good, but the problems they come up with are often difficult problems, like flying swords.In the 20th century, the submarines and flying machines dreamed up by the ancients were actually successful, but the exemplary stories in "Longwenbianying" or "Children Learning Qionglin"[7] were still somewhat difficult to learn.

I think that even the preachers may not believe it themselves. So those who listened did not believe it.We have heard about swordsmen and knights for thousands of years. Last year, only three people went to Wudang Mountains, accounting for only 1/500 trillion of the total population.In ancient times, there might have been more, but now that we have experience, we don't really believe it, so fewer people follow suit. — But this is my own speculation. Those who are irresponsible, there are many lessons that cannot be followed, and fewer people will believe it; there are many lessons that are self-serving and harming others, and fewer people will believe it. "Disbelief" is a far-reaching trench for "foolish people" and a poison that turns them into loose sand.However, it is not only "foolish people" who have this temper. Even if they are preaching scholar-bureaucrats, there may not be many who believe in themselves and others.For example, a person who both respects Confucius and worships Living Buddha[8] is like trying to buy various stocks with his money and depositing it in many banks. In fact, neither side believes it.

July 1st. CC [1] This article was originally published in the second issue of the fortnightly "New Language" magazine on July 20, 1934, signed by Gong Khan. [2] "Meng Zong Crying Bamboo" According to "Bai Shi Liu Tie" compiled by Bai Juyi in the Tang Dynasty: During the Three Kingdoms period, the Wu people "Meng Zong's stepmother loved bamboo shoots, so Zong Dongyue asked for them. Zong went into the bamboo forest and wept, and the bamboo shoots came out." Wang Xiang lying on the ice", according to "Book of Jin·Wang Xiang Biography": Wang Xiang's stepmother "often wanted to give birth to fish, and when it was cold and freezing, Xiang undressed and cut the ice to find it. return".These two stories were later included in the book "Twenty-Four Filial Piety".

〔3〕 "Children's Year" In October 1933, the Shanghai Children's Happiness Committee recommended that the Kuomintang Shanghai Municipal Government designate 1934 as the Children's Year.In March 1935, the Kuomintang government, based on the petition of the Chinese Salesian Association, designated the year beginning on August 1, 1935, as the National Year of Children. 〔4〕 "Nangying according to the reading" see "Book of Jin·Che Yin Biography": "Che Yin...'s family is poor, and he doesn't often get oil. Yan." "Chiseling the wall to steal the light", see "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" Volume 2: "Kuang Heng...studies hard but has no candle, and neighbors have candles but don't catch them. Heng uses the wall to attract the light, and reads it with the book reflecting the light. "

[5] Quixote The protagonist in the novel "Don Quixote" published by the Spanish writer Cervantes in 1605 and 1615. 〔6〕 Wudang Mountain is located in the north of Junxian County, Hubei Province. There are Taoist temples such as Zixiao Palace and Yuxu Palace on the mountain. Volume 43 of "Taiping Yulan" quotes "Nanyongzhou Ji" written by Guo Zhongchan of the Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty, saying: "Wudang Mountain is three or four hundred miles wide... There are often hundreds of Taoists, and they continue to follow." 〔7〕 "Longwenbianying" was compiled by Xiao Liangyou in the Ming Dynasty. The content is to extract some historical allusions from ancient books and compile them into four-character rhymes. "Youth Learning Qionglin", compiled by Cheng Yunsheng in the Qing Dynasty, is a miscellaneous collection of idioms and allusions about astronomy, human relations, utensils, skills, etc., written in parallel prose.Both books are primary reading materials in old schools.

〔8〕Those who both respect Confucius and worship living Buddha refer to the Kuomintang politician Dai Jitao and his like.Dai Jitao donated money to build Wuxing Confucian Temple in 1934.In the same year, he and Duan Qirui, a Beiyang warlord who had resigned at that time, initiated a proposal to invite the Ninth Panchen Lama to hold a "Kalachakra Dharma Conference" at Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou to promote "Buddhism."