Chapter 82 From "Book of Changes" to "Dream of Red Mansions"

The cultural thought of the Chinese nation contains a concept of "three talents".It is reflected in "Yi Shuo Gua II", which says: "The "Yi" written by the sages in the past is also based on the principle of obeying nature and fate: to establish the way of heaven, it is called Yin and Yang; to establish the way of the earth, it is called softness and rigidity; There are three talents and two of them, so the six paintings in "Yi" form the hexagram..." This shows that the cosmology of the Chinese ancestors is the theory of "the unity of heaven, earth and man", and all three are named "talent", which is the importance of "talent".In other words, if heaven, earth and man do not call it the "three ways" but call it the "three talents", the meaning is conceivable.Those who build the Tao, in terms of their qualitative implication, and those who are talented, in terms of their functional performance.The original meaning of "cai" in Chinese characters is to mark the germination of plants, and the infinite power of life is beginning to develop.

The "three talents" include all things in the universe, all things in life and society, activities, performances, and achievements.The masterpiece "Sancai Tuhui" compiled by the Ming Dynasty is a concrete understanding and record of this meaning. The Chinese ancestors believed that the heavens have talents, such as wind, cloud, rain, snow, cold and heat.The land has the talents of the land, such as mountains, rivers, animals and plants, gold, silver and jade, all of them are also.And man alone is the spirit of all things, that is, the highest expression of the essence conceived by genius and earth.

Only when the Chinese ancestors reached this understanding can such works be produced. Human values, missions, functions, aspirations... all start here, and continue to develop the wisdom activities of in-depth thinking and repeated exploration of this understanding. Therefore, I once titled this concept "Three Talents Principle" (see "Chinese Culture" No. 8). From the understanding of the "three talents", the ancients naturally reached the next-step understanding, which is that "people must make the best use of their talents, things should be used to the best of their abilities, and the land should be used to its best advantage."This must be the case, in order to be able to make the best of the talent of heaven.Otherwise, it is not "obedience to life", but a "violent waste of things", -- things including people.

From here, the problem of the fate and fate of talents arises.This question is perhaps the greatest fundamental question that human culture has ever struggled with. Therefore, Chinese literature, history, and philosophy are also studies that pay special attention to this biggest problem. Classics, history, sons, and collections are all crystallized records of talents' thoughts, words and deeds.This is true of Yu Shu, Yu Mo, "Tai Shi Gong Shu", Confucius, Mencius, Lao, and Zhuang, and Li, Du, Ou, and Su.After the above is clear, it can be attributed to the subject of fiction.Of course, the so-called novels refer to Chinese novels, especially the chapter novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The basic common sense of literature, the definition of novels in the West is different from our cultural traditions.For us, novels are a branch of history. The so-called barnyard history, unofficial history, foreign history, different history, external biographies, and other biographies... are all manifestations of this concept. "Telling history" is the first sub-specialty in "talking (storytelling)" market entertainment.Existing historical novels from "Kai Kai" to the Qing Dynasty and the Li Dynasty of the Republic of China are all complete, and other novels always "affiliate" with a certain historical figure or event of a certain dynasty, even, always No exceptions.If it is not called "History", it is called "Biography". ..."Shanghai Flower" is also a "biography"...).

What is the purpose of talking about "history"?Of course, it can be said that it is for the rise and fall of chaos, reviewing the past and learning from the present; but after a little further, ask why the rise and fall of chaos is caused?So the answer fell to the sages, virtuous ministers, civil and military talents who governed the country and the people-the question was immediately obvious: it turns out that telling history is about people, characters, and talents.This is the most important point. Good monarchs and generals are outstanding talents. If these talents are used (able to display their talents), they will lead to a prosperous situation in the world;Therefore, the most popular "telling three points" (story of the Three Kingdoms) in history telling is to praise the outstanding civil and military talents of Wei, Shu, and Wu.

Here, it includes the issue of their encounter and destiny."Later generations have poems sighing and saying..." in the novel is a good proof. Li Yishan (Shang Yin), a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote a sentence about children admiring the characters of the Three Kingdoms, and he sighed: "It's really not shameful to be talented in Guan Yue (referring to Prime Minister Zhuge), but Guan Zhang has no life and desire!" This is completely true. It is his painful sigh of talent.Su Dongpo (Shi), a great poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote that "the great river goes east, the waves wash away, and the romantic figures of the ages... the mountains and rivers are picturesque, and there are so many heroes at one time!" Zhou Lang of Soochow, his "feather fan and scarf" Confucian demeanor, and his "majestic appearance and heroic hair" are what he admired very much.

It has been shown here: what impresses poets and poets is not just "inclination" to which side of the Three Kingdoms, but people, characters, and talents!It's the fate and destiny of those talents! Only after this meaning is understood, can we understand why after the story of "Three Kingdoms", there came out the story of the heroes of the Water Margin, which was also enthusiastically told by the people. Dongpo was from the Northern Song Dynasty, before Huizong, so he was still a romantic figure in the Three Kingdoms in his mind.By the time of Yuan and Ming Dynasties, writers and craftsmen turned to praise Song Jiang and other thirty-six heroes (such as Gong Sheng's "Zan" and Chen Laolian's painting).

What is a "hero"?Must it refer to the samurai who "wield the knife and move the axe"?No.Ying is the highest crystalline representation of plants; male is the highest physical representation of animals—the two together represent the essence of "earth talents" and are used to praise outstanding talents. "Majestic and heroic", the two characters have been separated and co-appeared. "Yingcai" and "Xiongcai" are also commonly used praise words in Chinese. So, how can "Water Margin" be compared with "Three Kingdoms"?Where is its unique value?

The answer is: "Three Kingdoms" has talented people, and there are no emperors and generals; but the author of "Water Margin" [Note] did not write about those people anymore. He dared to write about a large group of "robbers" who were despised by others. Criminals who despise, hostile, and vicious! The author thinks: I want to write about them. They are not born bad people, evil people and sluts. On the contrary, they are first-class talents, that is, heroes. Subdued and framed, the family is ruined and the family is destroyed, without a foothold. "Forcing to the Liangshan", this idiom has been used as an "allusion".

Therefore, the theme of "Water Margin" is still people, characters, and talents, but what is added is that they have been played by a sad and indignant fate due to reasons such as time, identity, and environment.This is the true meaning of what the ancients called "angry books". Only after this meaning is clear can we talk about this important topic of understanding (in this article, one only refers to the original work of Cao Xueqin). How did Cao Xueqin get the idea to write this novel?Naturally, there is not a single factor and motivation (see my book "The New Biography of Cao Xueqin"); but one of the main ones comes from his feelings and triggers for "Water Margin". Contemporary researchers have all seen that the reason for taking a family and many women in the family as the subject is inspired by inspiration, which is not bad.But everyone still doesn't realize that it is more and more directly influenced by "Water Margin".The enlightenment of the former is mainly in the aspect of "form", while the influence of the latter is mainly in the aspect of "spirit". The consistent spirit of Xueqin's novels is "inheriting and reversing".For "Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin", he deeply understands the purpose of writing talents, so in this point he continues to follow the martial arts; however, his value lies in his refusal to repeat the old clichés of his predecessors.He believes that no matter whether it is emperors, generals or heroes, they can all be classified into the category of "men's filthy things", that is, there are no "raccoons of the same feather", and he absolutely refuses to write about this kind of "turbidity" all over his body. He wants to "flip" the characters, and concentrate on writing about female talents who have always been neglected, distorted, and practiced—that is, the heroes of fans! "Beauty powder hero" is an original literary language, and it is also a novel way of expressing human values.This phrase can be found in Chapter 11 of Qin Shu, in which Qin Keqing bids farewell to Xifeng's dream forever before his death, saying: "Auntie, you are a hero in the makeup team!..." Please see what kind of mind and vision this is!Can mediocre people (including men) understand this after seeing this? (Sister Feng was originally the heroine of the male and female protagonists in the book [the male is Baoyu]. Xueqin tried her best to write about her extraordinary talent, but Cheng Gao's sequel completely distorted this character whom Xueqin spoke highly of. See the second part of my book "A Dream of Red Mansions and Chinese Culture".) "Four Wonderful Books of Ming Dynasty Novels" written by Professor Andrew H. Plaks, an expert in comparative literature and Chinese novels of Princeton University in the United States (Chinese translations have been published), emphasizes that the famous Chinese novels of the Ming and Qing Dynasties are all written by literati, which are different from those in the market. The quality and style of She's "Pinghua" - he called it "literati novel" in the preface written in Chinese on the Chinese version. The original words are: "First of all, the core argument of this book is originally from the perspective of comparative literature, that is, the genre of Ming and Qing novels is regarded as a product belonging to the scholarly cultural circle. Therefore, the concept of 'literati novels' is always advertised." What a "scholarly cultural circle"!We Chinese scholars seem to be unwilling (not) to declare our meaning in such a wording.Xueqin really deserves the reputation of a writer in the scholarly and cultural circle. This kind of person likes to use the rhetorical and aesthetic techniques of "confrontation" from the characteristics of Chinese character culture, so he deliberately wants to form a clever confrontation theme with "Water Margin"—— green forest hero pink hero Red powder is fat powder, "Red Pink" was originally compatible with "Green Forest Heroes", but Xueqin expressed criticism and dissatisfaction with the existing "Beautiful Talents" school novels at the beginning of the book, so she slightly changed "Red Pink" , and created a wonderful new, eye-catching and heart-warming theme "manifesto" of "Faument Heroes". What is a powder hero?Today's language refers to "female talents", which is easy to understand. (Of course, there is no time to discuss the differences in style and taste in Chinese.) Therefore, it is not difficult to understand evidence from Qinshu itself, for example—— First, Xueqin said to herself, "The behavior and knowledge of those boudoirs who have seen and heard personally come from me." First, he excused himself by saying that those "strange women" were "little talents with little kindness". One, Xifeng's verdict in the pamphlet is "everyone knows that he loves the talent in this life". First, Tanchun's verdict in the booklet is "talented, wise and ambitious". So his exclamation on women's talent is: "Who will rule the country if there are thousands of gold and purple? One or two skirts and hairpins can make the family whole." There is no need for complicated words, but the purpose can be understood. As long as you are not deceived by the false theme of "Bao Dai's Tragedy" in Cheng Gao's fake version, and read the whole book carefully, it will not be difficult to grasp Xueqin's true feelings. How many characters are written in "Water Margin"?One hundred and eight green forest heroes. How many women are written in "Red Mansion"?One hundred and eight heroines.What is the basis for this statement?That is to say, at the beginning of the original book, the size of the boulder is twelve feet high, and the double-line note in the Zhipai says: "Take care of the twelve hairpins." And its "Fangjing" is twenty-four feet square, and the Zhipai also notes: "Take care of the side hairpins." Twelve hairpins." (The book is "General Ying").It can be seen that "vice" is in a broad sense, including vice, vice, and third vice....Then, 24×4 (side)=96, which is the total number of layers of secondary hairpins below the main hairpin, so—— 12 (positive) + 96 (vice) = 108 That is to say, it can be confirmed: Xueqin listed all the names of women in the "Love List" at the end of the original volume, exactly one hundred and eight. This fully shows that when I say that Xueqin wrote the book, I got its inspiration, association, and conception directly from "Water Margin"-"inherited and reversed", pushing forward new ideas and creating a new situation. This is the first time in the history of Chinese culture to put forward a brand-new and correct view of women, an ode and eulogy for female talents. How can it be a carol and a eulogy? Don't you see, (Water Margin) one hundred and eight heroes, all of them have tragic fate endings; "Red Mansion" one hundred and eight women, all of them have tragic endings——the ones who are "destined" in "Bo Ming Si" as Xueqin called it . This is also the so-called: although it is reversed, it is actually inherited.A "Red Mansion" is just like "Water Margin", which describes the fate of women talents. They are all outstanding talents, and they are all buried, subjugated, and framed. In Xueqin's book, Zhen Yinglian (Zhen Yinglian) is the first woman to appear on the stage, that is, the "representative character" of the whole book, and he made a general "examination" of "life or death, things that affect parents" ", here Zhiyan immediately commented: "Eight characters, how many heroes died! How many loyal ministers and filial sons died! How many benevolent people died! How many poets and talented people died! Now the author [Xueqin] shed this tear in the boudoir. See Qunchai What about the men in the world who have encountered such a number?" At the same place, there were several critics, who all sighed and said, "The three points of Marquis Wu, the two emperors of Wu and Mu, and the hatred of the two sages can't be exhausted today! Is today's grass worthless?!" I hope that those who study will be able to focus on this again and gather their thoughts.What is the purpose of Xueqin's book?Is it just for the "brother-sister love tragedy"?I can't help but sigh again and again for Xueqin's book of tears.With Qian Kun as the head, Yin and Yang as the veins, and the three talents (also known as "three poles") as the key link.Looking at Chinese culture, from "Book of Changes" to Qin Shu, it is a glorious record of human advanced wisdom and spiritual wisdom with different appearances and cohesive expressions. Written on the second day of the second month of Jiaxu