How Traditional Culture Comes to Life

It has long been the expectation of those who study history and culture that traditional Chinese culture will enter modern life. However, traditional culture is a complicated category, which was not labeled in such a general way before, but was labeled with the connotation of which part of it was studied. For example, economic history, political history, legal history, religious history, philosophical history, art history, literary history, etc. are all specific fields or aspects of history and culture. To single out traditional culture is to make a distinction between tradition and modernity. China's transition from tradition to modernity has been a long historical process. The "five modes of production theory", which was once used as a theoretical model for the stages of social development, is no longer used by academics. The reason is that there has never been a capitalist social stage in Chinese history, and the stage known as "feudal society", which stretches over 2,000 years, does not correspond to the reality of Chinese history. So what kind of description and distinction should be made between social forms in the course of China's historical development? In the absence of a precise conceptual identification of the division, it is reasonable to make a dichotomy between tradition and modernity, even though, seriously speaking, such a great separation of social forms would leave much to be desired in the doctrine, and is not the most desirable method of academic research.

Only in terms of traditional culture, its content is as vast as the sea of smoke, broad and boundless. A large number of textual canons are a very prominent part of traditional culture. According to the traditional categorization of the canonical books, the four categories of the classics, history, the son, and the collection, each of which has so many books that it is hard to tell how many books there are, is not enough to describe the sweat of the ox. The number of cultural relics above and below the ground is even more numerous. Not to mention the series of intangible cultural heritage. However, the so-called traditional culture is in fact the culture of traditional societies, which is the part of the wisdom of our ancestors that can be seen and touched. But traditional culture and cultural tradition are not the same concept; it is that chain of spiritual connections behind traditional culture that is cultural tradition. Cultural tradition is invisible, but it is overflowing in the spiritual blood of people of different nationalities from ancient to modern times. After scholars' research and analysis, and summarized through the lens of academic concepts, it can be found that it contains the rules, concepts, values and beliefs that enable traditional culture to be constituted and reproduced. Due to the vastness of China, its long history and developed civil society, not only did Confucianism become the representative of the major tradition of culture after the Han Dynasty, but at the same time, due to the different living conditions of different regions and ethnic groups, small traditions of culture have been formed with deep roots. The minor traditions of culture mainly refer to folk culture, folk art, folk rituals and folk beliefs. If Confucianism is the ideological form in the imperial court, Taoism and Taoist and Buddhist thought are the ideological form in the wilderness. The three schools of thought, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, form the backbone of traditional Chinese culture, and the new quality of thought that they personify has become the constant and unrelenting supporting force of the spiritual network of traditional society.

Tradition is not a solidified sediment, but a loose and relatively stable structure. It is a natural character that carries the inertia of history and does not bend with the times. However, when the water of heterogeneous culture quietly enters this river, as a result of the accumulation of time, through the process of meeting and getting acquainted with each other and absorbing and dissolving each other, the inherent traditions will increase or decrease, until they mutate. At this point, the historical moment of tradition renewal arrives. But the renewal is not the abandonment of the self-subject, but in the old tradition to add new nutrients and new resources. That is why Mr. Chen Yinke, a great cultural historian, said that even if one absorbs Western ideas, one should not forget the historical position of one's own nation. The great tradition of Chinese culture represented by Confucianism, due to the integration of Buddhist culture, especially Zen thought, from the Wei, Jin, North and South Dynasties to the Sui and Tang dynasties, gave rise to the Song and Ming philosophies, which were different from the Confucianism of the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, and were called Neo-Confucianism by historians of thought. Chen Yinke highly valued this phenomenon of cultural integration and ideological merging as "a major cause" of Chinese history and culture. Confucianism absorbed the ideas of Taoism, as well as Taoism absorbed the ideas of Confucianism and Buddhism, after the Tang Dynasty is more obvious, and finally formed the Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism "three religions in one" of the historical wonders. The main reason for this is the inclusiveness of Confucianism, which is also the inclusiveness of Chinese culture. According to the Book of Rites - Medievalism, there are "nine scriptures" that need to be followed in order to govern a country, one of which is "soft and distant", and the implementation of this policy can reap the benefits of "the return of the four directions". The implementation of this policy could reap the effect of "the four directions returning to it". The spread of Buddhism to the east in the Eastern Han Dynasty and the arrival of Yekkaism in China in the Ming Dynasty are witnesses to this character of Chinese culture; and the prosperity of the Han and Tang dynasties provides a historical example of this spiritual character of Chinese culture. Therefore, Wang Guowei's "Winged History" reminded us of the openness and prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, and wrote two lines of poetry: "People from afar are as happy as they are to return to their homes, and this is the time when the Tang family was in full bloom." The history of the Qing Dynasty after the Daoguang and Xianfeng Dynasties provides historical testimony to the reversal of this spiritual interest. Tradition is a vibrant and tense cultural synthesis, and the fact that tradition is not cut off and the world is not detached from it should be the legal track that we constantly follow.

The big and small traditions of culture are mutually influential. The big traditions have to increase their radiance by combining with the small traditions, while the small traditions have to rely on the ideological cohesion of the big traditions and the quality improvement. Tradition is a spiritual river flowing from the past to the present, and everyone unconsciously stands on the extension line of tradition. However, at a certain time in history, the elite figures of the society come out together to oppose the tradition and form the trend of the society, and the tradition will be broken because of this. However, as time passes, people will reflect on themselves and change from being anti-traditional to consciously continuing the tradition. This is how China has come to be in the last hundred years. Now we have come to a time in history when we need to consciously continue the tradition and how to make it a useful nutrient for the construction of contemporary culture and society. Tradition is carried and passed on through the cultural paradigms created in various historical periods. Textual classics and exemplary cultural relics contain the codes of traditional culture and cultural traditions, and the recitation of textual classics and the inculcation of cultural relics are effective ways for modern people to accept and connect with traditions. The great cultural figures who are closely connected with the traditional factors, including great artists, great literary figures, great philosophers, and great scholars, with their virtues and styles, as well as their talented and original artistic and literary masterpieces, can serve as spiritual models for the young people. But not all artistic and literary figures and their creations can reach this level, and those who do not have the roots of traditional culture and rely only on curiosity and the pursuit of fashionable authors are not enough to say so.

The concepts of traditional culture and nationalism must also be analyzed here. These two concepts are different and should not be confused. Traditional culture, as mentioned earlier, is an extremely broad category with multiple meanings. That is why Zhang Taiyan called it "national history" and Hu Shizhi interpreted it as all history and culture. What is involved in national studies is the academic study of traditional culture. In the 1920s, Hu Shih said that "national studies" was the provincial name for "national history". However, Hu Shi's definition of "national studies" was not adopted by the academic world, and even the term "national history" was left unattended. At that time, the academic community **** knowledge, is that the national science is China's inherent academic. The so-called inherent academic, refers to the pre-Qin's plurality of schools of thought, the two Han's Confucianism, Wei and Jin's Xuanxue, North and South Dynasties to Sui and Tang's Buddhism, the Song Dynasty's rationale, the Ming Dynasty's psychology, the Qing Dynasty's Park (centered on the evidence of the study) and so on. In this way, the National Studies are equated with the academics of different historical periods. Obviously, after such a definition of Chinese studies, it is only a field to which some professionals devote themselves, and has nothing to do with the general public, or even much to do with other professionals outside this field of specialization. Moreover, traditional academics have taken on different forms in different periods of history, so if one considers Chinese studies to be inherent academics, then which period of history does one refer to? Traditional scholarship, in terms of its main lineage, includes Confucianism, Taoism and Daoism, as well as Buddhism, so which one is being referred to? To equate inherent scholarship with nationalism is too broad in connotation and extension. And when the connotation of a concept is too broad, the established connotation of the concept itself will be lost.

So in May 1938, when Mr. Ma Yifu, a first-rate Confucian scholar of the twentieth century, held a lecture on nationalism at Zhejiang University, he gave a completely new definition of nationalism that was different from the previous one. He said: "Today, the first regularization of the name of national education. Cite this one, the regulate all kinds of learning, only six arts is enough to be. Six arts, that is, "poetry", "book", "ritual", "music", "Yi", "Spring and Autumn" also. This is the teachings of Confucius, our country more than two thousand years generally recognized that the original of all the academic are from this, the rest are tributaries of the six arts. Therefore, the six arts can be taken up by the school, the school can not be taken up by the six arts. The scholar of the state in the present Kaijia Ding, that is, the study of the six arts, uses this to represent all the inherent scholarship, vast and subtle, all-embracing." ("Taihe Huiyin") Ma Yifu also said, "six scriptures" is the highest special form of Chinese culture. There are two systems in the "Six Classics": a system of learning and a system of values. The system of learning is very difficult, so it is not easy to treat the scriptures, and only a few experts spend their whole life immersed in it. It is not only a matter of the text itself, but also of the foundation of elementary school. From elementary school into the study of scripture is the ancient way to treat the scriptures. That is why the mantra of the Qing Confucian scholars was "reading must be preceded by literacy". However, the value system of the "Six Classics" is for all people. It can be said that the basic and core values of Chinese culture are all in the Six Classics. In particular, the I Ching, the earliest book of Chinese culture, is undeniably a book of divination, but it is also the abode of Chinese culture's theoretical values.

In recent years, I have extracted five sets of values from the Six Classics represented by the I Ching, and also from the Analects of Confucius, Mencius, and the Book of Filial Piety, which later became part of the Thirteen Classics: integrity, love and respect, loyalty and forgiveness, knowledge of shame, and harmony. The last group, "harmony and unity", is what Confucius called "harmony and difference". "Honor" is the solemnity of one's own nature, i.e., self-respect, self-esteem, and inalienable will. Confucius said, "Three armies can take away the marshal, but a man can't take away his will", the "will" is "respect", is not easy, can't be taken away from the solemnity of the human spirit of the self. I think "respect" is an ultimate value that has entered the dimension of faith in Chinese culture. "Forgiveness" means "Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you", that is, to put oneself in another's shoes, to think differently, and not to impose on others what one does not like or want. "Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you" has now become a golden rule of morality recognized around the world. Knowing Shame" is a phrase from "The Book of Rites - The Medieval Times", which reads, "Good learning is close to knowledge, vigorous action is close to benevolence, and knowing shame is close to courage", and says that if one knows these three things, one will know what it means to "cultivate one's moral character". It also says that if one knows these three things, one will know what "cultivating oneself" means. Shame is an indispensable part of being a human being, from the psychological to the physiological feeling. So if you do something wrong, say something inappropriate, or behave rudely, you will feel embarrassed. The "sense of shame" in the "Four Principles" mentioned by Mencius is "knowing shame". According to Mencius, if one does not have the "heart of shame", one is not a human being. Similarly, if any of the other three "ends" - compassion, right and wrong, and resignation - are missing, in Mencius' view, one is not qualified to be a human being. Therefore, I suggest that "cultivating one's moral character" should begin with "knowing shame".

"Harmony" means "harmony with others". In the world, the differences between people are not as great as people think. Therefore, different people can communicate with each other, and different cultures can have dialogues and cross-cultural communication. The two lines of the I Ching's "Departmental Remarks" read: "The world is in harmony with the people, and they have different paths; they are united in a hundred considerations." This summarizes the idea of "being in harmony with others". The hexagram "Tongren" of the I Ching is an all-encompassing interpretation of the idea of "being in harmony with others". In the final analysis, the main reason for the introduction of traditional culture into modern life is the spiritual values of traditional culture that have eternal significance. There are two sentences in the "Wenyan" of Zhouyi: "A gentleman advances in virtue and repairs his career; loyalty and faith are the reasons for advancing in virtue; rhetoric and sincerity are the reasons for living in a career." Imagine, what do you want in life? The only thing is to make oneself better, and hope to have a successful career, so that the sense of achievement will bring happiness and honor to oneself. Then the four words "advance in virtue and cultivate one's career" can be said to summarize all the essentials of life's ambition. While "advancing virtue" relies on "loyalty and faith", "establishing sincerity" is the key to success in one's career. Getting along with others depends on "harmony", that is, "gentleman and different", even if different, can be **** in a unity. So I think, one is "do not do unto others as you would not have them do unto you", and the other is "harmony and difference", which is the great wisdom of Chinese culture, and in fact gives the solution to human troubles.

These values in the Six Classics are timeless values that will never go out of fashion. As Xiong Shili said, they are the basic spiritual basis for Chinese people to be human beings and to build a nation. The key is to establish an effective link between these values and modern people, so that they can become part of everyone's spiritual bloodline. This is the essence of the so-called traditional culture into the education link, the combination of Chinese studies and education. Value education is the core of Chinese education. Properly implemented, it can supplement the inadequacy of the pure knowledge education that has been practiced for centuries. Ban Gu in the "Han Shu - Arts and Letters Zhi" said clearly: "the six arts of the text: "music" to and God, the table of benevolence; "Poetry" to the right words, the use of righteousness; "Rites" to the clear body, the clearer seen, so no training; "book" to listen to a wide range of knowledge of the art; "Spring and Autumn Annals" to break the matter, the letter of the symbols. Five, cover the way of the five, necessary and ready, and the "Yi" for the original. Therefore, it is said that 'easy' is not visible, then Qiankun or almost rest', the word and heaven and earth for the end and beginning. As for the five studies, there are changes in the world, as if the five elements of the more useful things. Ancient scholars plow and raise, three years and through an art, save its body, play the scriptures only, is why the use of day less and more animal virtue, thirty and five scriptures also." The meaning of this paragraph, one is to say that benevolence, righteousness, propriety, knowledge, faith "five" of virtue, all in the "six"; two is to say that the status of the "easy" is the most unusual, "and heaven and earth for the beginning and the end", it is Secondly, it says that the I Ching has the most unusual status, "being the end and the beginning of heaven and earth", and is the "original" of the other five "arts"; and thirdly, it says that the five specialties formed by the Le, the Poetry, the Rites, the Calligraphy, the Spring and Autumn Annals are like the alternation of the five elements of Jin, Mu, Shui, Huo, and Tu (金, 木, 水, 火, 火, 土), which are presented in different ways in different generations. As to how to learn and study the Six Classics, Ban gave the three-word trick of "playing with the scriptures". The word "play" in the phrase "play with the scriptures" means to appreciate and savor, but never to play. It means reading, appreciating, and studying the texts of the Six Classics over and over again, and the result is that the meaning of the texts is self-evident after reading them a thousand times. This is also the meaning of the saying, "Therefore, a gentleman who lives in a house observes its images and plays with its words" in Yi Yi - Xiang Ri Shang. It is not necessary to memorize word by word and sentence by sentence, but it is enough to understand the spirit of the text of the "Six Classics" and to "keep the general idea". The influence of the "Six Classics" on those who recite and savor them does not lie in whether they are useful or useless in daily life, but mainly in the fact that through savoring, appreciating, and studying the text of the "Six Classics", and being cultivated by them, one can receive the effect of "accumulating virtues". The main point is that by savoring, appreciating and studying the texts of the Six Classics, we can receive the effect of "cultivating virtue". The "Six Classics" is a book of moral education, which can be proved here.

The text of the "Six Classics" is not difficult to read, but the Analects of Confucius can in fact be used as a brief reading of the "Six Classics", as Ma Yifu said, there are "six arts" in the Analects of Confucius. As Ma Yifu said, there are "six arts" in the Analects of Confucius, and the Analects of Confucius is a direct reference to the "six arts". The truths taught by Confucius are in fact the basic truths of the Six Classics, only that through the words and teachings of Confucius, they have been transformed into daily practice and have become more intimate, close to people, and easy to enter. This is the "Four Books" in addition to the "Medievalism", "University", "Mencius", but can not be compared with it. The Analects of Confucius is the first representative of the Chinese cultural treasures, and it can be called the sacred text of "Thought Without Evil". If traditional culture is to be introduced into education, the first thing to do is to make the Analects of Confucius a textbook at all levels of schooling, with optional reading first, then full reading, graded by level, step by step, from shallow to deep. And it should be recited mainly in the white text (the text without annotation), praying that after decades or centuries, it will become a cultural identifier for the children of China. In the same way, I think the right way to learn Chinese studies should begin with the recitation of the Analects of Confucius. Of course, tradition enters into modern life in order to establish the blood ties between modern people and tradition, rather than aiming to replace today's social life with the specifics of traditional culture. The construction of modern culture needs to be created by ourselves, but all creation and innovation can not be separated from the transformation and inheritance of traditional resources.