Chapter 19 The fourth floor "Red Mansion" Lingxiu (3)

The New Philosophy of "Two Fus" Xueqin is seriously exploring the origin and nature of "human beings" and conducting serious philosophical thinking, rather than just writing "absurd" and "nonsensical" "novels".He cited Nuwa to create human beings as an example. Some people may ask: What he wrote about Nuwa refining stones has anything to do with creating humans?This is not knowing the difference between Xueqin's bright pen and dark pen.He wrote "creating man" with dark pen: he said that men are made of mud and daughters are made of water. Is this unreasonable?

However, he still has understanding and interpretation of the original nature of "human beings" other than mythology. One of his more important new philosophical theories is the theory of "two endowments of good and evil". What are the "two Fu"?It means that the birth of a person depends not only on the tangible "water" and "soil" but also on the intangible "qi" endowed with it, which determines its essential temperament.This is the so-called "qi endowment" theory.Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, writers and scholars have all proclaimed this theory. It was not created by Xueqin. But there is a very important difference with the predecessors.Roughly speaking, three ends can be listed:

First, the past qi disposition theory seems to be called the "organizational classification method": those born with righteous qi are sages, loyal, filial, kind, and wise; Ignorance (please refer to Chapter 11 of my book "A Biography of Cao Xueqin", which will not be cited here).However, Xueqin’s meaning is not the same. He believes that in addition to the two pure qi of righteousness and evil, there is also a kind of "combined qi" (not synonymous with the so-called "mixed qi" of the ancients. It seems to be close to "between qi"), that is, righteousness and evil The two qi are originally incompatible, but after meeting each other, a new kind of qi was stimulated——

Heaven and earth create people, except for the great benevolence and the great evil, the rest are all the same. ...Clear, bright and beautiful, the righteousness of heaven and earth is embraced by the benevolent; cruel and eccentric, the evil spirit of heaven and earth is embraced by the wicked. ... (Evil Qi) Occasionally, the spirit of the spirit is suitable for passing, and the evil is not tolerated.Therefore, its qi must also be given to people, and it will dissipate as soon as it is exhausted. It is an exposition of the original meaning of the "two Fu" qi endowment theory (the second chapter).

Second, the predecessors had the name "miscellaneous qi", but they thought it belonged to the most humble and humble people, and even thought that even mosquitoes, midges, ants and fleas were the things born of this kind of qi.Xueqin is much different—— If a man and a woman are born with this spirit, they will not be able to be benevolent and gentlemen at the top, nor will they be vicious and evil at the bottom; if they are placed among tens of thousands of people, their smart, handsome and smart spirit will be above tens of thousands of people——its eccentricity Evil and absurd, inhuman, and under tens of thousands of people!

That is to say, in Xueqin's evaluation (by Jia Yucun's mouth), this kind of people who "come from two endowments" are extremely valuable "new types of talents", because the so-called "eccentric and absurd, not "Close to human feelings", although the language is derogatory, the meaning is praise: this new type of talent is the brilliance and handsomeness of human beings - it is the opposite view of the predecessors' "view of miscellaneous qi". Third, another misconception in the predecessors' theory of "qi endowment" is that "qi" determines a person's social status and fate, and it is to create an "innate legal theory" for the ruling class.Xueqin is quite different——

(Two Fu people) If they were born in the family of rich and noble princes, they would be infatuated; A healthy servant, who is willing to be driven and controlled by mediocre people, must be a famous and famous one. Below he listed Xu You, Tao Qian, Ji Ruan... Chen Houzhu, Tang Minghuang, Song Huizong, great poets and poets, Zhuo Wenjun, Hong Fu, Xue Tao, Cui Ying, Chao Yun... ...This shows that in Xueqin's character values, so many people with such disparities in status and status are all the same, "all the same in different places"-people's talents and qualities are not separated by political and economic conditions.So what?Because these are rare characters and talents, he (she) is opposed to vulgar ones!

From this, we can understand: It turns out that what he said is "eccentric, absurd, and unreasonable", that is, these secular mediocre people can't know and understand the new rare talents, and only use secular yardsticks to measure their "valuation." ".Those two poems that "mock" Jia Baoyu are derogatory every word and every sentence is ridiculed, but they are full of praise in their bones. This may also be attributed to Xueqin telling readers to read the book to read the "reverse side". within it. This kind of extraordinary talent is not known by people or the world - it is the author Xueqin's "shaming" all his life ("Zhipi" said "no talent makes up for the sky, and the illusion of entering the world" is the author's lifetime shame) hate", see Chapter 1).

In the history of our thought, isn't this a great theory that can be called a "revolution" that defies the world's dissatisfaction?