Chapter 6 life of confucius

2.4 The Master said: "When I am ten, I am determined to learn. At thirty, I stand up. At forty, I am not confused. At fifty, I know the destiny. At sixty, my ears are compliant. At seventy, I follow my heart's desire and do not exceed the rules." This passage is very famous, and everyone uses it to talk about themselves, thinking it is the guiding principle of life.When reading it, there are two points to pay attention to. First, this is Confucius talking about himself, and the first word of the speech is "wu".Since it is "I", it can be seen that he is talking about his own life experience, not about what other people should do when they live to a certain age, nor is it a general summary about what everyone should do when they reach a certain age.Second, Confucius talked from the age of 15 to the age of 70.In his whole life, he lived a total of 73 years. We can conclude that the age of this chapter is between 482 and 479 BC.Earlier than 482 BC, impossible; later than 479 BC, also impossible.After he was 70 years old, he reviewed his life and said these few words.Every word is a piece of his life.Predecessors said that it is Confucius' "lifetime chronology" (Ming Gu Xiancheng's "Lecture Notes on the Four Books"), or "lifetime education" (Cheng Shude's "Analects of Confucius"), which makes sense. 

"I have five out of ten and my ambition is to learn." At the age of 15, the ancients called "Chengtong", which is the age for graduating from elementary school and going to university.In ancient my country, there were only primary schools and universities, but no middle schools.Confucius was young and old. At this age, he was determined to be a scholar.Today's children are different. They are 15 years old, and they are restless during puberty, and they are the most noisy.But Mao Zedong, he does not dislike it. The fire of the "Cultural Revolution" started from these children.The birthplace of the Red Guards was the Old Summer Palace, and the initiators were students from the High School Attached to Tsinghua University.Breaking the four olds, beating hooligans, making big connections, resuming classes to cause revolution, fighting, filming mothers-in-law, going to the mountains and going to the countryside, "sunny days", this is the age.This age is called teenagers in the West (generally refers to half-children and half-old girls aged 13-19), they fight, pick up girls, take drugs, listen to rock, neighbors are afraid, and family worries.American law stipulates that people over the age of 16 can drive, drink, leave their parents, and move out. This is their "adult child". 

"Stand at thirty", in ancient China, 15 years old was a big hurdle.Later than it, 20 years old is also a hurdle. At the age of 20, the ancients would hold a crown ceremony (hat wearing ceremony) for the boy, which is called the Ding ceremony, which means that he has grown up, but Confucius did not mention it.What he values ​​is 30 years old. 30 years old, why do you say "erli", Xiangfeng of the Qing Song Dynasty said that it is "strong and well-off" ("The Analects of Confucius"), that is, we often say that when you have a wife and children, you have a sense of social responsibility.But Confucius married early (according to today's standards, a little early), married a wife at the age of 19, and had a child at the age of 20. According to this, it should be "established at the age of twenty", which shows that it is wrong.Another explanation is Confucius' own statement, that is, "If you don't know the etiquette, you can't establish yourself" ("Yaoyue" 20.3). Ming Gu Xiancheng said that the key to establishing or not is to know the etiquette. Adults ("Lecture Notes on the Four Books").This statement is more reasonable.Confucius became famous early. He learned rituals from Tan Zi at the age of 27, and became famous for knowing rituals at the age of 30.Qi Jinggong and Yan Ying greeted him in this year.It can be seen that "stand at thirty" means this. 

"Forty without confusion", after Confucius became famous in Lu State, he began to travel abroad to study and find a job. At the age of 34, he went to Luoyang, the capital of the Zhou Dynasty, to greet Lao Tzu who was working in the royal library. At the age of 35, he went to Qi State to look for a job. Qi Jinggong said that it was not easy to arrange.Some people doubted the former matter, but there was no problem with the latter matter.Confucius went abroad for a short time, and after returning to Lu, he had no official position, so he had to devote himself to learning. After the age of 35 and before the age of 50, he has been studying at home, practicing etiquette, teaching and educating people. When he was in his 40s, he devoted himself to his studies, and the more he learned, the more he understood, and of course he was "not confused". 

"Know the destiny at fifty", what is "knowing the destiny"?It is to know how much I am, what I can do, and what I am destined to do.Confucius said, "If you don't know your destiny, you can't think of yourself as a gentleman" ("Yaoyue" 20.3).He believes that the purpose of studying is to cultivate a gentleman, and the mission of a gentleman is to be an official; studying must be an official, and there is no discussion, but when to go out of the mountain and under whom to work, it all depends on the destiny.At the time of Lu Zhaogong, the opportunity did not come, and Confucius could only bury his head in reading and entertain himself.Four years after Lu Dinggong came to the throne, Confucius was 47 years old. Yanghuo asked him to leave the mountain, but he refused.He came out to be an official at the age of 51, just after he "knew the destiny".Confucius' "knowing the destiny" is said to be related to studying "Yi".As Sima Qian said, "Confucius liked "Yi" lately, and prefaced "Yi", "Xi", "Xiang", "Shuo Gua", and "Classical Chinese". Reading "Yi", Wei compiled three must-haves. Said: "Fake me A few years, if so, I will be gentle in "Yi"" ("Historical Records? The Family of Confucius"). How old is "late"?Sima Qian didn't say it directly, but the words of Confucius he quoted came from.Confucius said, "If you add a few years to me, it will not be a big mistake to study Yi after fifty years" (Shuer 7.17).Huang Shu said that this is from 45 or 46 years old, plus a few years, to 50 years old.Xing Shu said that this is from 47 years old, plus a few years, to 50 years old.In other words, he came out to be an official because he learned "Yi" and knew that he should come out to be an official.So in the second year, he came out to be an official.This is the saying of the Han Dynasty. 〔1〕

"Sixty and ears are smooth", what is "ears are smooth"?Rather puzzling.I will state my guess.First, we must pay attention to the so-called smartness of the ancients. Cong means good hearing, and Ming means good eyesight.Although the saying goes that seeing is believing and hearing is nothing, ears are less limited by time and space than eyes. The ancients believed that ears are more important than eyes.For example, saints, saints are extremely intelligent, born intelligent.Sheng, an ancient character, has the same origin as Ting and Sheng, mainly referring to good ears, good at listening to the sufferings of the people, and good at accepting advice from sages.Second, we look at the chronology of Confucius. What was he doing around the age of 60?It turned out that from the age of 55 to 68, he was traveling around the world and looking for work in foreign countries.Confucius was bumpy all the way, very unhappy, but he was very open-minded, he could listen to all kinds of sarcasm, such as Chu Kuang Jieyu, Chang Ju, Jie Ni, He Li Zhangren, even Zheng people said that he was "tired like a homeless dog" ", he also nodded and said yes ("Historical Records? The Family of Confucius").I think, people in their 60s, who have seen the world for a long time, disregard praise and praise, and do whatever they want, this may be "sound ears"? 

"At seventy, do what you want without exceeding the rules", this is the highest state, and the most difficult thing to grasp.Children do whatever they want, but when they grow up, they are not allowed to roll around.Sun Wukong also did what he wanted when he made a big disturbance in the Heavenly Palace, but what are the rules for making a big disturbance?After being ordained to become a monk, there are rules, disobedience, and curses, but in this way, why do you want to follow your heart?It is too difficult to have the best of both worlds.When a person is alive, he is governed by rules; when he is dead, he is completely free.Confucius lived to be 73 years old, which seems nothing compared to the average life expectancy in China today (the average life expectancy is 72 years old now), but according to the standards of the past, he has already lived longer than Suo Er.From the Kingdom of Necessity to the Kingdom of Freedom is an abstract standard. When a person is about to die, he is the closest to freedom, perhaps the closest.An open-minded person, a person who understands life, not only listens to his ears, but also his heart. He forgets both things and himself, and there is nothing he can’t bear to let go of. There are two ways to read "cong": one is to read like the original character, which means to do whatever you want; The meaning is about the same. "Not breaking the rules" means that there is no way to follow the law, no matter what you do, you will be right, and you will follow the rules everywhere. Although there are rules, it will not hinder freedom.People can only live and understand until they live to the end, but many people don't understand until they die. 

Confucius' ambition is in the world, but his fate is full of troubles.In his whole life, from "willing to learn" to "standing up" to "not confused", he mainly studied;But what was the result?The evening scene is lonely and desolate.Confucius returned to the state of Lu at the age of 68, and there were sad things almost every year: at the age of 69, his son died;However, the strangest thing is that after he was 70 years old and was about to complete his life journey, he said that he had reached the goal of "doing what one wants without transgressing the rules". 

Death is the greatest liberation.  Everyone who reads this paragraph may wish to compare Wang Guowei's.Wang Guowei talked about "Three Realms", "Last night the westerly wind withered the green trees, and I went up to the tall building alone, looking at the end of the world", which is to find the goal; She: "I looked for him thousands of times in the crowd, and when I turned around, I suddenly saw that the man was there, in a place where the lights were dim", and my wish came true.  Confucius died with his ambition, not his wish.Wang Guowei was even worse and jumped into the lake. 

A few years ago, Zhonghua Book Company published a set of "Life Reference Translation Collection", which was compiled according to Confucius' words. You can take a look at how foreign celebrities feel when they are 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 years old. . (The Life of Confucius) Note: [1] The ancients, many accomplished people, only lived to be about 50 years old. Wang Guowei's death speech also said that "50 years old , I only owe one death.” Their feeling is that at the age of 50, they have almost reached the end of their lives, and it is time to consider closing their stalls, so they live very tight

At the age of 50, you have accomplished a lot. 