Chapter 10 Eight self-knowledge

The last chapter talked about subtle issues.There must be a standard to distinguish the fine from the rough, and the standard is often involved with personal hobbies, or even completely derived from hobbies, so it is inevitable to be subjective and one-sided.But we have to distinguish, because it is a fact that there are essences, and we should not swallow them all when we talk about them.A more feasible way is to be more cautious and not to talk nonsense based on impressions;This chapter wants to go a step further, expanding from a selected one to a large number of unselected readings, that is to say, when talking about the exposition, how to use your own eyes to choose the good ones and ignore them among the plethora of classical Chinese works. Go to the poor, absorb the good and discard what is not worth absorbing.This will involve two parts: method (how to choose) and result (what to choose). Of course, the "result" cannot but be subjective. Even if it may not be wrong, it is always difficult to get everyone to agree; if so, then focus on the "method" and provide reference for those who learn classical Chinese.

Learning classical Chinese is like learning other things. Over time, you will gradually become proficient and improve; on the basis of improvement, you will continue to improve.If you want to improve, you need to read more, that is, gradually increase the composition of extensive reading in intensive reading.For exposition, what to read, you can naturally ask teachers, literary history, review articles, etc., but you can’t walk forever with a cane, because: 1, the teacher, literary history, etc. are limited in the end; 2, what is more important is what others say It may not be completely credible; 3. Even if it is completely credible, it must be measured by your own scale before you know it is credible, that is, true knowledge is true knowledge when you are cold or warm; to select.There is a mutual causal relationship between improvement and self-awareness: if you don’t improve, you can’t develop the vision to distinguish good from bad; if you can’t distinguish between good and bad, you can’t choose properly and absorb correctly, so it is difficult to improve.Naturally, self-assessment may be wrong, but it is not appropriate to give up eating because of choking, not to mention that after making a mistake, you will gradually realize it and correct it quickly, which is exactly a greater improvement.

Selection, intensive reading, exposure, improvement, and ultimately mastery.In the old days, mastery generally included two aspects: one was able to absorb, that is, to be familiar with other people's writing, and more or less put in one's mind what one thought was good and important; , And write a thousand words, every sentence has its origin, and even none of the words has no origin.Because of this purpose, you must have an evaluative eye; otherwise, you will have a lot of nonsensical things in your mind, and when you pick up the pen, you will be awkward and clumsy, and even the paper will be full of tribalism.The purpose of learning classical Chinese now is of course different from that of the old days.The biggest difference is that it is not required to be able to write; the second is to put it in the mind, and it does not require as many and complicated things as in the past.But the principle of applying what you have learned is still the same.This purpose, roughly speaking, includes the following items: 1. To be able to learn classical Chinese so as to read classical Chinese classics more widely; 2. To be able to understand past history and culture in general; 3. To be able to learn from old culture (especially ideas) Positive and useful elements; 4. Be able to appreciate a large number of excellent classical Chinese works from the perspective of literature and art;Obviously, if you want to achieve the above items, you don't have the vision of evaluation. Even if you don't achieve nothing, you can't avoid getting twice the result with half the effort.

The vision of evaluation is gradually cultivated. Unlike machines, which cannot be used at all before the parts are fully equipped, they will work immediately after they are fully equipped.Children read Tang poems: "The old man left the Yellow Crane Tower in the west, and the fireworks went down to Yangzhou in March. The lonely sail is far away, the blue sky is gone, and the Yangtze River is flowing in the sky." After reading it, they said, "It's so good."It's good to ask why, but I can't say it, because I already know what it is, but I can't name it. Although I can't name it, I still have a preliminary evaluation perspective.This preliminary self-knowledge of temperature and temperature is more emotional. Although it is scattered, it is very valuable, because it is the basis of rational self-knowledge of temperature and temperature.

To cultivate rational self-knowledge of coldness and warmth, that is, a systematic and in-depth evaluation perspective, we must pay attention to the following steps. (1) Explore, hone, and accumulate in reading.This is like eating food, taste more, compare more, the feeling will become more and more obvious and fixed, thus forming a clear evaluation.The same is true of classical Chinese works. A poem or an article, we will have a feeling after reading it. Roughly speaking, it is "good", "bad", "like" and "dislike", and more precisely, how about "subject matter" , How about "structure", how about "thoughts and feelings", how about "rhetoric", and so on.This kind of evaluation can come from the impression of a poem or an article, or from the comparison with other articles.In any case, the experience of this kind of feeling is more, and when accumulated, you will gradually develop the vision of distinguishing good from bad and weighing the seriousness.

(2) Refer to other people's comments, especially the opposite opinions in various comments.Almost all famous books and chapters in history have been commented on.This kind of commentary is often included in various literary histories and literary criticism histories; those scattered in various books, some of which have been collected and sorted by later generations, are collected in the original works (or they are always listed before the chapters, or scattered under the chapters) ); In addition, there are papers that specifically review and introduce a certain book, which is more convenient for reference.Most of the comments made by the predecessors come from the hands of experts. We have seen a lot and talked deeply. We should not only pay attention to it, but also regard it as a textbook for cultivating our eyesight. We should not stop at memorizing the conclusions, but go forward and learn from the predecessors. So the theory and method of making such a conclusion.Some of the predecessors' comments are not specific but general, such as many narratives in the book and Sikong Tu's "Poetry", which are also very important, or even more important, and of course they must be referred to.In the comments of the predecessors, sometimes A and B have different emphasis and depth, which is worth noting; but it is especially worth noting that A and B have conflicting opinions.Fighting can't be right. In the balance of gains and losses, it is easier for us to improve our ability to distinguish.For example, when we read Su Dongpo's poems, the following three types of comments are of great reference value (all quoted in Liang Lingxian's "Selected Cis of Yihengguan").

(1) Lu Fang Weng Yun: At the end of Dongpo's lyrics and songs, he feels the wind, sea and rain are overwhelming. Hu Zhitang said: When the lyrics and music reach Dongpo, they will wash away the state of Qiluo Xiangze, get rid of the degree of melancholy, and make people climb high and look far away, raise their head and sing, with great spirit and detachment from dust and dirt. It is a platform for public opinion. (2) Chao Wujiu said: Dongpo's Ci, people say that there are many dissonant rhythms, but they are outstanding horizontally, and they are naturally unrestrained in the melody.

"Blowing Sword Continued Records" says: Dongpo has a musher who is good at singing, because he asked, "How is my Ci like Liu Qi?" He said to him: "Liu Lang's Ci, so seventeen or eighteen girls had to clap their red teeth and sing "Yangliu Anxiao" The wind and the moon'; the bachelor's Ci must be held by a big man in Kansai holding an iron board, playing a copper pipa, and singing 'The Great River is Going East'." The public was absolutely overwhelmed. (3) Li Yi'an's theory of Ci: to Yan Chengxiang, Ouyang Yongshu, Su Zizhan, inter-academic heaven and man, as a small lyrics, it is like drinking Lishui in the sea, but they are all poems that cannot be read.

Chen Wuji said: Dongpo uses poetry as his lyrics, just like Ambassador Lei's dance in Jiaofang. (1) The group said it was good, (2) the group said it was good and bad, and (3) the group said it was bad. Group (2) is centrist, and groups (1) and (3) have opposite opinions.Which view is right?When encountering such a situation, we need to think more about it. Although we may not be able to resolve the dispute, we can follow the thinking of the predecessors.To walk, of course you have to use your own feet, so you actually listen and think while listening, which is very good for sharpening your eyesight.

(3) The vision of evaluation starts from sensibility, but it cannot stay in sensibility for a long time.Sensibility has two sides, reliable and unreliable.Because it is my real feeling, the real thing, this is the reliable side.But sensibility tends to change with time and situation, especially when the object of evaluation is in the middle of an ambiguity. At one time, it may be considered desirable, and at another time, it may be considered worthless. This is an unreliable side.In order to be reliable, one must accumulate sensibility, tailor and revise it again and again to make it systematic and theoretical; Be aware.These numbers, in a small sense, are justifiable principles, and in a large sense, they are the foothold of literary criticism.This is naturally not easy, so as far as beginners are concerned, it is not required to be as deep and as broad as what literary critics say; Say why you like it and why you don't like it.This superficial principle is necessary and of great value.Because using it as a basis, we can build a tower of system theory, or a keen and accurate vision.With such a vision, many discrimination and selection problems in learning classical Chinese can be easily solved.

The process of learning classical Chinese is compared with the upper school stage, which is different from elementary school, middle school, and university.The level and depth of the evaluation vision will naturally vary with the stage.But the fact is that as long as you come into contact with classical Chinese works, you will comment at any time; you also need to comment at any time, in order to be able to discern the direction by yourself, and get twice the result with half the effort.Reading, using eyesight, and exercising eyesight, there are three points to pay attention to. (1) Believe in yourself and be bolder.This can be said in different senses.One, you should pay attention to your own feelings.For example, when we read a poem or an article, we feel that it describes the scenery very well and can lead us into another realm, or expresses emotions so sincerely that we almost cry. , so the most valuable.Second, we must dare to set aside traditions and popular customs.When commenting on anything, traditional and popular opinions are powerful, sometimes so powerful that what you believe in becomes a matter of course and cannot be doubted, and often even makes you think of doubting it."Zi Yue" and "Shi Yun" in the old days belong to this category. Since it is what Zi said and what poetry said, is there any problem with its correctness?We must have the spirit and courage of Wang Jinggong when he said that "Spring and Autumn" is a "report to the dead court".After self-evaluation, if you feel that this is not the case, you must dare to put forward contrary opinions.Of course, contrary opinions may not be guaranteed to be correct, but if you don't believe it and follow the trend, you will not be able to cultivate your vision, and you will not be able to improve.You must have the spirit and courage of "sticking to what you believe in", and only then can you cultivate a critical eye, which will have weight and great effect.Of course, the so-called abandonment of traditions and popular customs here is not advocating deliberate reversing of the verdict; it is to cultivate a vision of evaluation and obtain reliable evaluations. It is necessary to seek truth from facts and be serious and responsible.3. Traditions and popular customs are not necessarily unreliable. For example, the articles in "Historical Records" are good, and Du Fu's poems are good. There are very few people in the past who disagree. It's just that this kind of view must be filtered with your own brain. The so-called good is not just copying what others say. It is a more reliable judgment with substantial content. (2) Be humble.It's like believing the opposite of yourself, but the two go hand in hand.Because first, any evaluation, even if there is a reasonable reason behind it, is subjective after all, and it may be wrong. Not only people who hold different opinions see it this way, but they may also see it this way after a while.Second, there are different reasons behind different opinions, and we should not dismiss them lightly without careful consideration.3. Only in the debate and comparison of different opinions can the vision of distinguishing good from bad be honed and gradually improved.4. Commenting on works is not to weigh things by weighing them. We can be sure that they are half a catty or six taels. Instead, we can see benevolence from others, and others can see wisdom from wise men. We want others to respect our opinions, so we should also respect others' opinions. (3) It is necessary to comprehensively estimate the object of the comment and discuss the matter as it stands, that is, it is improper to make demands that cannot be tolerated by objective conditions.For example, Zhang Pu's "Tombstone of Five People" is a well-thought-out article, but it contains the words "waiting for the saint to come out and cast the road". Now it seems that it is a bit disgusting to call Emperor Chongzhen a saint, but at that time How can it be called if it is not written like this?Another example is Jia Sixie's "Qi Min Yao Shu" is a very valuable book, but judging from the rhetoric, the language is flat and boring like keeping an account. It's not easy to write it out.In addition, a book or an article is often short and long; if this is the case, we should not ignore its length because of its shortness. The above generally talked about the importance of evaluation vision and its cultivation.The vision of evaluation, in addition to referring to other people's opinions, must also be cultivated in the process of use, and the cultivation is also for use, so it is also important to understand how to use it.Let's talk about how to use it. The evaluation of classical Chinese reading materials, just like other things in contact, can be divided into three levels: one is to have a clear perception, the other is to express opinions and make sense, and the third is to have correct opinions.After a little thought, we can know that one of the requirements is too low, because it may be a superficial impression, and we cannot help scrutinizing; the third is too high, the object of evaluation is the work, how can we guarantee it, or even know that it must be correct?Therefore, the appropriate and reasonable requirements are two, not only to be able to clearly judge "good" or "bad", but also to be able to explain the systematic reasons for such judgments.The so-called "systematic" includes two meanings: first, the internal integrity, each part is not contradictory; second, each part has a common theoretical support.Taking Wang Guowei as an example, he commented on so many works of poets, sometimes it was a fragmentary impression of a certain sentence, such as "the afterglow of the west wind, the mausoleum of the Han Dynasty", etc., and sometimes it was a general impression of a certain poet, such as Praise Li Empress and demote Wu Wenying, etc., all of these can be run through with the more general theories of "realm" and "all literature loves those who write in blood".If we like to get to the bottom of things, let’s go further: Why is it good to have a realm and write in blood?I think he will definitely come up with a set of more profound philosophical (mainly aesthetic) theories, because he studied philosophy in his early years, and he must have thought carefully about why good is good and what makes beauty beautiful.When we study classical Chinese, we do not specialize in literary criticism, so of course we cannot ask for such high standards.However, the principle is still the same. When you come across a certain work and read it, you must have an attitude; if you have an attitude, even if you don’t say it, you should always have a reason for such a judgment in your heart. The reason is the ruler, and the evaluation is the count after measurement.Whether the size of the ruler is accurate or not, according to the analysis in the previous paragraph, if you pursue it too deeply, it will fall into the scope of philosophy, and we don't need to ask for an explanation, or even know.In this way, when we come across a piece of work, what we need to do is to comment on two things: one is to evaluate, good or bad, not very good or very bad, etc.; the other is to explain why we see it this way.Here are a few examples to show the details of the comments.Again, for reference is the "method", not the "conclusion". 1.For example, there are two articles in the Western Han Dynasty, one is "Shang Shu Admonish Hunting" by the great writer Sima Xiangru, and the other is "Book of Baosun Huizong" by Yang Yun. I have read it several times, and I always like the latter one.In the era of feudal autocracy, there is nothing wrong with being loyal to the emperor and making suggestions for the emperor, but thinking of speaking out for the safety of the ruler, I always feel a bit more snobbish.On the other hand, Yang Yun's letter directly writes about his depression and aspirations, which is noble and sincere, so the evaluation should be higher than "Shang Shu Jian Lie".The rationale for such an evaluation is: Behavior that is honest or close to honesty is good, and behavior that is snobbish or close to snobbery is bad. 2.For example, the Fu collected in "Wen Xuan" are all famous pieces, among which Wang Yanshou's "Lu Lingguang Palace Fu" and Xiang Xiu's "Reminiscing the Old Fu" are well known to everyone.The previous one was drawn with great effort, and the text was grotesque; but many people still liked to read the latter one, and Mr. Lu Xun even regretted that it was too short.The nature of the two Fu is different, one focuses on describing the scenery, the other focuses on expressing feelings, or it is not suitable to be weighed on a scale; however, if it is allowed to distinguish the value in general, I think it should be said that the level of "Si Jiu Fu" should be It is listed on the "Lu Lingguang Palace Fu".The rationale for such an evaluation is: "Lu Lingguang Palace Fu" contains a lot of exaggerated elements, while "Reminiscing the Old Fu" is true.Exaggeration, painting with heavy colors, it is also fun to look at; but if you want to touch the heart, you must have real feelings. 3.For example, Han Yu wrote a lot of sacrificial essays, among which the "Worship of the Crocodile" and "Worship of the Twelve Langs" are very famous. Between Zhou and Han", "closer to the Six Classics", "not seen since the Han Dynasty", etc., but many people have read it, and they always feel that it is not as moving as "Ji Twelve Lang Wen".Therefore, now it seems that we should put aside the traditional views and say that "The Essay on the Crocodile" is not as good as some people touted in the past, but far inferior to "The Essay on the Twelve Langs".The rationale for this assessment is: Jicrocodile is more or less showing off Taoism, so he said a lot of superficial words; while Jishilanglang is out of nature, so he can contain tears in his sentences. 4.For example, there was Gu Yanwu in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, and Gong Zizhen in the later years. They were both great writers, but their writing styles were different: Gu Pingpu narrated directly, as if speaking in classical Chinese;For example, when talking about Juyongguan, Gu Wen said: Six miles to the west is the south entrance of Juyongguan, with a city and two gates in the north and south. "Wei Shu" called it Xiakou, and "Chang Jing Zhuan": "The governor Yuan Tan lived in Yong Xiakou."... "Yuan Shi" called it Nankou.From the south entrance, there are two mountains with walls, and a track through the middle. Forty miles away, you can get flat land, and there are many mountains beside it, covering the sky. "," Birds at dawn and beasts at dusk, chills and cries in harmony, officials and wanderers, those who listen to it will hurt their thoughts." ("Changping Shanshui Ji" Volume 1) Gong Wen is: Juyongguan is also the words of the ancient Tan Shouzhe.Gong Zi said: "If you doubt, you can stay safe." Why do you doubt that you can stay safe?Said: When you come out of Changping Prefecture, the mountains face each other from far away, and suddenly come to each other, and even hug each other, and put them in the middle, as if the two mountains are the door, so it is said, "If you doubt it, you can keep it." ... Hence the saying, "If you have doubts, you can keep them safe."Xiaguan is the lowest, Zhongguan is as high as it, and Badaling overlooks the south entrance. ("Sequel to Ding'an", Volume 1 "Speaking of Juyongguan") Leaving aside the content here, we focus on the writing style. Gu Wenru is a straightforward person, so he can say what he wants;In the history of literature, Gong is a master of poetry and prose, and Gu's name mainly does not come from poetry and prose.But I always have a prejudice, thinking that no matter poetry or writing, it is always plain and less flawed; Asking for the top will fall to the bottom.This evaluation, the reasoning is: nature is better than man-made. 5.For example, there are two famous works in the late Southern and Northern Dynasties, Xu Ling's "New Odes on the Yutai" and Yan Zhitui's "Yan's Family Instructions".Both books are in order (Yan Shu titled "Preface").Xu Xu wrote in parallel style, with beautiful characters, many allusions, and sonorous rhymes, obviously using a lot of strength; Yan Xu just used the usual style of writing at that time to say some commonplace words, and seemed to have no effort in rhetoric.Take the ending of the second sequence as an example.Xu Xu is: Gu Sheng is the rich family of Western Shu, and the love is poor in the Lu Palace; in the East Chujia Pavilion, the flow of chants stops at Dongxiao.Luanbi Zhuji, chatting with each other and abandoning the sun; Yi Yitong is in charge, beautiful and fragrant. The color sequence is: I often share the enemy with my heart, and my sex and love compete with each other.Reminiscing about the fingers of the past, engraved on the flesh and bones, is not just the admonitions of ancient books, so I keep these twenty articles, thinking that you are the empress of Cao. Xu Wenjunli, Yan Wen is plain, I personally think that Yan Wen is more meaningful.The rationale for this evaluation is: using the human face as a metaphor, if the paint is too much, it is better not to apply makeup and to appear in its true colors. 6.For example, compared with Xie Lingyun's poems, Xie Lingyun's poems are very particular about the rhetoric, the content and chapters are very refined, so we can't say they are bad, but if we put them down and continue reading, we will feel that the latter is still true in context and rich in taste, so it should be listed. Enter more superior.The rationale for such an evaluation is: simplicity and innocence are more valuable than beauty and refinement, because sincerity and simplicity are the most touching, and they are more difficult to achieve. Compared with the classical Chinese works handed down from generation to generation, the above mentioned is just a drop in the ocean, and it may be inappropriate due to subjectivity.What I want to focus on here is actually just that if you want to improve in learning classical Chinese, you must cultivate your own vision.It's not easy, but since we have to, we have to do it.