Chapter 30 Chapter 30: The Difficulty of Color

It must be admitted that Dr. Gilles' "Chinese Celebrities" (52) is indeed a work that took a lot of effort.But here, too, it shows the author's lack of common sense.In a book like this one always hopes to find some notes from even real celebrities. Here are some who were wounded fighting for their country, and some priests who were holy while alive, some of them were pious poets who sang lines no less than Febus, and some were creative artists, They have enriched the lives of the people, and some have left memorable achievements. We find that in his "big family tree" he mixes ancient sages with mythical figures.In his opinion, the only difference between General Chen Jitong (53), Mr. Gu Hongming, Governor Zhang Zhidong and Captain Liu Bu was that the latter used to entertain foreigners with countless champagne.

Finally, these recent "notes" by Dr. Gillis, I cautiously believe, will not enhance Dr. Gillis' reputation as a judge and discerning scholar.Most of the themes selected in it have no practical or humanitarian significance.This gives the impression that Dr. Gilles took the trouble to write the book, not trying to tell anything about the Chinese and Chinese literature, but just to show the world that Dr. Gilles knows better than anyone else and understand China.And, here, as on other occasions, Dr. Gilles exhibits an unphilosophizing, distasteful assertiveness that does not befit a scholar.It is precisely because of these characteristics of Sinologists like Dr. Gillis that, as Mr. Hopkins said, those foreigners who actually live far away from the Far East have left a mockery of their own and are ridiculed as fool. (z-61)

I will select two recent articles published by Dr. Gillis, in order to try to explain whether so far, if the writings of foreign scholars on Chinese culture and Chinese literature lack humane or practical significance, whether the fault lies in Chinese culture and Chinese literature. literature itself. The name of the first article is "What is filial piety" (54).The views of this article mainly focus on the understanding of two Chinese characters.One of Confucius' disciples asked him "what is filial piety?" Dr. Galis said: "The question is, after more than two thousand years, what do these two Chinese characters mean?" After citing and excluding the explanations and translations of relevant scholars at home and abroad, Dr. its true meaning.In order to bring into view Dr. Gillis's distinctive brusqueness and assertiveness, I shall quote from the words in which he announced his discovery.He said:

"After the above statement, it is perhaps somewhat arbitrary to declare that its meaning is on the surface. But what you must do, as the poem says: When you bend over, it's there, But when it was time to pick it up, there was no sign of it. "When Zixia asked Confucius what filial piety is, Confucius simply answered: Color is difficult (55). Color is to describe it, that is, it is very difficult to describe it. What a smart and appropriate answer." Here, I do not want to use precise Chinese grammar to point out where Dr. Gilles is wrong.What I just want to say is that if Dr. Gillis conceives that Chinese character as a verb, then in smooth Chinese, this sentence will not be read as "color difficult", but "the dimension of color is difficult".If the word "se" is used as a verb here, then the impersonal pronoun "zhi" is indispensable.

Even if the grammatical accuracy is not mentioned, the answer of Confucius translated by Dr. Galis does not grasp its essential points at all if viewed in context. Zixia asked: "What is filial piety?" Confucius replied: "It's difficult to look at. (The difficulty is the way) When there is something to do, the disciple will do his job, have wine and food, and the teacher will eat. Do you ever think of filial piety?" (When there is something to do, the young People should work hard, and when there is wine and food, the elders should enjoy it first.--Do you really think this is filial piety?) Well, all the above points have been presented here--The important thing is not that you should deal with your parents What obligation to fulfill depends on how and in what spirit you fulfill this obligation.

What I want to point out here is that Dr. Gillis mistakenly thinks that moral obligations are only performed in name, but the greatness and real effectiveness of Confucius' moral teachings lie precisely in this.In fact, what Confucius advocated is not what to do, but how to do it.The difference between the two, which is called ethics and religion, is the difference between the maxims of the mere moralists and the teachings of the great true religious teachers.What a moralist tells you is what is moral and what is immoral.But, for a true religious teacher, he doesn't just tell you that.As a true religious teacher, he not only wants to teach people how to behave, but also pays more attention to the inner part of behavior, that is, the attitude of behavior.True religious teachers tell us that the difference between moral and immoral behavior is not what we do, but how we do it.