Confucius' famous saying is based on poetry. What does happiness mean?

At the time of Confucius, poetry constantly rebuilt its authority and classic status in the repeated quotation, chanting and chanting of the intellectual class. Poetry, as an important part of the culture of rites and music, is "an exquisite and euphemistic cultural form to show self-cultivation, identity and convey information in aristocratic communication activities" [xv]. It can also be said that poetry has become an expression and way of life in the same body of etiquette culture at that time. From the response of people to poetry to the diplomatic rhetoric between countries, it is inseparable from the off-the-shelf random use of poetry.

"Expressing ambition by poetry", "Poetry is like a family" [xvi] and "Poetry is taken out of context, and the rest is as you wish" [xvii] show the poetic atmosphere of "Six Classics Note Me" at that time. This kind of atmosphere makes the meaning that the poet wants to express quite different from the original intention of the poem. This requires that, on the one hand, participants in communication activities must learn poetry, and without learning poetry, they will not be able to speak. Confucius said that "if you don't learn poetry, you have nothing to say" [xviii] is for this reason; On the other hand, learning "poetry" can't stop at learning, but learning and using it. Therefore, this kind of knowledge is manifested as "being very familiar with hundreds of poems in The Book of Songs, not only being able to blurt them out, but also being able to quickly understand the source and meaning of the poems donated by the other party", and also being "having a high grasp of the art taken out of context, being able to respond to changes and express wishes with poems according to various complicated situations". [XIX]

In the Analects of Confucius, there are two records in which Confucius discussed the Book of Songs with his disciples in combination with specific chapters. Let's look at these two dialogues:

Zi Gong said, "Poor but not flattering, rich but not arrogant?" Confucius said, "Yes. If you are not poor, you will be happy, and those who are rich and courteous will also be. " Zi Gong said, "The Book of Songs says,' If it is incisive, if it is cut, if it is ground', what does it mean?" Confucius said, "If you give it, you can only talk about poetry." . Tell people who know the past. "(Learning)

Xia Zi asked, "I am smart and smiling. I look forward to my beautiful eyes. I always thought it was gorgeous. " What is it? Confucius said, "Draw hindsight." Say, "After the ceremony?" Confucius said, "Giving is also business! I can only say Poetry. " (Bashu)

"It's enough to start talking about poetry" means that learning poetry and speaking poetry must be "reasonable and know who will come", that is to say, learning poetry should be comprehensive. In view of the phenomenon of learning poetry without learning, without learning without understanding, Confucius criticized: "reciting poetry for 300 times and giving it to politics is not up to standard;" Make it everywhere, not just right; Although it is a lot, I also think. " [xx] In addition, Confucius emphasized that poetry should be "told to people who knew it from the past", which shows that his interpretation of poetry has obvious moral orientation, which can be explained from the above two dialogues [xxi]. It is in this sense that Confucius appreciates Zi Gong and Xia Zi very much. This can also be said that Confucius took it out of context and "noted me in the Six Classics". Only under the principle explained by Confucius can we correctly understand and comprehend "Xing".

Regarding the "Xing" of "Xing in Poetry", Zhu's explanation is "Xing," [xxii]. In the second example above, Confucius said that "Qi" means "Xing", although Zhu's explanation here is only "Qi can still make a fortune". However, when Kong Anguo explained the "Xing" that Confucius said "poetry can be complicated, observable, collective and resentful", he only annotated it as "Bi Xing", while Zhu interpreted it as "Feeling the Will". Therefore, prosperity means rising, developing or inspiring. As we have pointed out before, Confucius said that learning poetry requires us not only to learn from it, but also to understand the moral significance. The rise of poetry can also inspire us in the above two aspects. It not only allows us to learn metaphors and produce associations, but more importantly, poetry "can arouse and inspire our feelings and feelings through concrete metaphors and vivid associations, so that we can rise from the perceptual experience of' beauty' to the rational consciousness of' goodness'. This is the primary stage of Lide's self-cultivation "[xxiii]. But Kong Anguo's explanation obviously ignores Confucius' ultimate moralization or ethicalization orientation.

The moral orientation of poetry was * * * knowledge in the era of Confucius, such as "teaching poetry, guiding it to show its virtue and ambition" [xxiv]. Confucius attached great importance to the teaching of poetry. Historical records of Confucius' aristocratic family say that "Confucius teaches with poetry, calligraphy, ceremony and music", in which "poetry" refers to "300 poems" repeatedly mentioned by Confucius in The Analects of Confucius. Confucius clearly combined the teaching of poetry with the achievements of gentlemen. "When you enter his country, your teaching can be known. Loyal, poetry teaches ","loyal but not stupid, deeper than poetry ". [xxv] Poetry teaching is to make people infiltrate poetry and eventually become a gentle, gentle, honest and upright gentleman. Poetry can be virtuous because, in Confucius' view, "there are 300 poems, which, in a word, say,' think innocently'" (XXVI). Naivety is purity, which transcends all boundaries. It is precisely because poetry (thought) is naive that people can rise and prosper. Of course, there is a premise for Confucius to delete poems to supplement them [xxvii], but Confucius' deletion of poems itself is an ethical interpretation process of the Book of Songs.

Be polite

In the Analects of Confucius, the same expressions as "establishing ceremony" include "no ceremony, no standing" [xxviii] and "no ceremony, no standing" [xxix]. These are enough to illustrate the importance of learning and understanding etiquette, but the question is: in what sense should we understand etiquette?

Intuitively, Confucius' touching face, positive color and outgoing tone echoed in his ears. Confucius' see no evil, don't listen to evil, don't say evil, and don't move until evil. Our question follows: Don't Confucius' words and deeds just want to shape people into ritual vessels of advance and retreat? Isn't Confucius depicted in The Analects of Confucius and The Chapter of the Rural Party a mechanical and inflexible image? Even if we admit that the description in this article is vivid, isn't that "dancing in chains" "Killing people with courtesy" suppresses human nature and fetters freedom, and "courtesy" is always misunderstood by us to the greatest extent. Even if we were born in the world of rites and music, it is easy for us to read the word "cannibalism" from the tradition of the so-called "state of etiquette".

However, it must be pointed out that the works here are not a praise of "ceremony", but an effort to face the phenomenon itself, that is, what kind of ceremony Confucius advocates. Judging from the narration of his disciple viscount and many examples recorded in The Analects of Confucius, Confucius was not a stubborn man. For example, on the issue of treating ceremony, Confucius did not stick to this ceremony, but noticed the principle of gain and loss of ceremony [xxx]. At the time of Confucius, there were gains and losses in ceremony, and the crisis of ceremony made "the distinction between' ceremony' and' ceremony' more and more important in the late Spring and Autumn Period" [xxxi]. Rites and utensils are also the "foundation of ceremony" (meaning of ceremony) and "text of ceremony" (etiquette) mentioned in the Book of Rites. Compared with etiquette, Confucius paid more attention to the spirit of etiquette [xxxii]:

Confucius said, "Ma Mian, courtesy. Today is also pure and frugal, I follow the crowd. Goodbye, Ye Li. Thank you today, Taiya. Although it is aimed at the public, I am from the bottom. " ("Zi Han")

From the comparison between Confucius's "I follow the crowd" and "I follow the crowd", it can be seen that the ceremony does not mean hemp or jade at first, so Confucius thinks that some gains and losses in the ceremony are feasible, but such gains and losses should be reasonable and moderate. If we ignore the spirit of the ceremony, or can't understand true love, then all we care about is the change of the form of the ceremony, and the ceremony will fall into formalization. On this basis, Confucius clearly pointed out that "if people are ruthless", there is no way to talk about rites and music. As we said before, if filial piety is disrespectful, it can only show that it is impolite to cultivate formal ceremonies. Here, it seems that benevolence is the basis of rites and music, but let's take a look at the following dialogue first:

Yan Yuan asked Ren. Confucius said, "Self-denial and courtesy are benevolence. A day of self-denial and self-denial, the world will return to benevolence. For benevolence, for yourself, for people? " Yan Yuan said, "What's the purpose?" Confucius said, "see no evil, don't listen to evil, don't say evil, and don't move if you are evil." Yan Yuan said, "Although I am not sensitive, please talk to me." (Yan Yuan)

Although Confucius's "self-denial and courtesy" here is only a repetition of Historical Records [xxxiii], from its following explanation, Confucius still quite recognizes this sentence. The question is, if benevolence lays the foundation for rites and music, how can "self-denial and self-defense" be benevolence? Because the latter seems to show the meaning of laying the foundation for benevolence.

In fact, Confucius used a method similar to Heidegger's hermeneutic cycle here. Our previous work has highlighted that benevolence is an existing phenomenon based on truth, and truth is a true understanding of the real existence relationship of human beings. Etiquette is just an ethical construction based on this real understanding, which is further embodied in the combination of etiquette and law, but etiquette is relatively flexible. Therefore, the real ceremony is "the concrete humanized form of the dynamic relationship between people" [xxxiv], and only in this dynamic relationship can good feelings be produced. There is a cloud in the Book of Rites: "The classics of propriety and righteousness are not from heaven or earth, but from human feelings." [xxxv] He also said: "The owner is reasonable." [xxxvi] This is "reason". Therefore, "self-denial and courtesy" does not mean that propriety and music have laid the foundation for benevolence, but that only by returning to the real phenomenon of existence can we understand benevolence well and embark on the road of benevolence. Otherwise, it is difficult to indulge rude behavior blindly, so Confucius said, "Being polite and rude is tiring, being cautious and rude is embarrassing, being brave and rude is chaotic, and being straight and rude is twisted." [37]

If we don't simply regard ceremony as a framework, but fully realize the "human feelings" flavor of the real ceremony of survival, then we will understand that ceremony and music only constitute people's daily life world, such as loyalty to the monarch, filial piety to the father, respect for brothers, loyalty to friends, and so on. "Acting according to the' ceremony' is completely open to others; Because etiquette is open, exclusive and transparent; It is hidden, ambiguous, evil, or simply arbitrary oppression to act without' courtesy' [xxxviii].

After all, there is a set of etiquette norms. Isn't the activity under this specification a constraint? Finn Gleiter once gave a quite appropriate metaphor:

A person who really studies etiquette will eventually be able to skillfully integrate or re-integrate various forms in an imaginative way to adapt to the environment. When he does this, he looks natural and elegant-creative-in a cautious way instead of blindly following. Therefore, individuals who are proficient in etiquette are similar to masters of music performance. Although they usually follow the predetermined score tune, he interprets this piece of music in a creative, artistic and forward-looking way. (Confucius: What is holiness, p. 108)

For example, when we play "Moonlit Night on a Spring River", of course, we have to play it according to the score, but a good performer can perform it incisively and vividly, and the audience will be intoxicated with it, so that "I don't know the taste of meat in March." Music score only limits beginners, but for masters, music score not only does not limit him, but also is the opportunity and stage to achieve him.

The same is true of learning etiquette. At first, it may be just a lame conformity, or even a "restriction". Once we understand the world that is truly kind and proficient in etiquette and music, we can really "stand up" and our life will fully show its richness. "When all kinds of etiquette behaviors are regarded as many successful events that constitute everyday things, these etiquette behaviors are diverse and colorful.

happy

Confucius has a good musical accomplishment. He can not only play drums, pianos and harps [xl], but also sing, "Confucius' 350 songs are all string songs" [XLI]; More importantly, Confucius' active music and music teaching also reflected his own unique music consciousness and theory.

In The Analects of Confucius, Shao He is two "models" set by Confucius, and the sharp contrast of their attitudes highlights Confucius' musical orientation. "If people are not kind, they will have fun." Confucius believed that if people were unfriendly, they would be unhappy. Therefore, Confucius emphasized that music should be "perfect" as well as "perfect". Therefore, Confucius attached great importance to the perfect Shao [xlii], and he was intoxicated with "I don't know the taste of meat in March" [xliii]. Confucius also believed that music should embody the meaning and harmony of "being happy without lewdness, being sad without hurting", and its "being happy" means being lewd and going to "being elegant". As the saying goes, "Being happy means being virtuous. ..... is the ritual and music system of the previous dynasty. It is not based on the desire of the mouth, eyes and ears, but will teach the people to set their likes and dislikes and be anti-humanity. " [xliv] Why did Confucius criticize "Zheng Sheng" more than once? [xlv] It is precisely because of "Zheng Sheng's lewdness" that he "indulged in pleasure". [xlvi] Confucius thought it was "evil" and advocated "letting Zheng Sheng go".

In learning music, Confucius can be said to set an example:

The drummer and violinist Confucius left for ten days. Shi Xiangzi said, "Yes." Confucius said, "Qiu learned his songs, but not much." Once, he said, "I learned to count, and I can benefit from it." Confucius said, "Autumn didn't succeed." Sometimes, he said, "I have learned my ambition and I can benefit from it." Confucius said, "There is no one in autumn." (Yue) Sometimes I think deeply, I have high hopes and I am ambitious. He said: "Qiu is a man, gloomy and deep, but a few days long, with eyes like sheep, like the king of the four countries." No one can do this without King Wen! " Shi Xiangzi gave up a seat, bowed again and said, "Master Gai Yunwen Wang Cao also." (Historical Records Confucius Family)

Confucius vividly interpreted the image of a studious student from "learning its songs" and "learning its numbers" to "winning its ambition" and "winning its personality" This example also shows that only "being a man" can be regarded as a real "success" in learning. This is the first meaning of "success". Moreover, the joy of success here (sound "music") is not an end. Rather, success at this time means a brand-new beginning, because only in this way can we really be happy (sound "Luo") or enjoy it.

Therefore, we should also pay full attention to the fact that in ancient times, Yue and Luo were interlinked, as the Book of Rites and Music said: "A musician cannot avoid human feelings." Music before (sound "music") and music after (sound "Luo") are all manifestations of human feelings. However, Confucius emphasized that "music" (sound "Luo") should be temperate, and the so-called "musicians are also frugal" [xlvii]. Otherwise, "having fun, having fun, having fun, having fun will be unfavorable" [xlviii]. Arrogant luxury and extravagance (sound Luo) refers to "extravagance and immorality", and feast and music (sound Luo) refers to "indulgence of villains". [xlix] does not conform to Confucius' principles of "being happy without lewdness" and "being happy without ceremony".

Whether you can "save music" (sound "Luo") is still a question of whether you can be kind. For example, Confucius said that "those who are not kind can't keep their promises for a long time and can't enjoy themselves", just as only good people can be kind and wicked [l], and only good people can enjoy themselves (sound "Yue") and enjoy themselves (sound "Luo"). This shows that music is benevolence-oriented, and "Kong Yan Yue" can also prove this well.

Success is success (Yue) and success (Luo).