Chinese must-read classics

"The Book of Changes", "Laozi", "The Book of Songs", "The Analects of Confucius", "Zhuangzi", "Mencius", "Historical Records", "Sixth Patriarch Altar Sutra", "Modern Thoughts" and "Chuanxi Lu".

This list is the most streamlined, most general and minimal about Chinese culture, so it is completely a must-read. Each of them is worthy of our lifetime study and understanding, but you first need to know their main content and what they mean to Chinese culture and the spirit of the Chinese people.

Read "The Book of Changes" and learn the most brilliant thinking

The greatest thing about the book "The Book of Changes" is that it perfectly solves the problem of the integration of Confucianism and Taoism. Confucianism and Taoism are the two pillars of Chinese culture. The Book of Changes uses the way of heaven to explain human affairs, covering both broad and subtle aspects. It truly leads Chinese culture to the general direction and ultimate height of "the unity of nature and man".

"The Book of Changes" is the classic that best represents the Chinese people's way of thinking and the height, breadth and depth of thinking. It has profound philosophical concepts such as the rotation of yin and yang, the cycle of things, the extremes of things, and the interdependence of life and death. Born out of this book. Reading "The Book of Changes" is to understand and master one of the most brilliant ways of thinking in the world.

One point that needs special emphasis is that in the past, when people studied the Yi, they mostly focused on the philosophical and personnel interpretation of the hexagrams and lines, Xiang Tuan Zhuan, Xici Zhuan and other texts, but ignored it. I found those symbols and thought they were only for divination. In fact, the greatest thing about Zhouyi is its Tai Chi, Yin and Yang, Four Symbols, Bagua, and sixty-four hexagrams symbol systems.

“The Tao can be Tao, but it is not Tao.” The system of the way of heaven is difficult to express perfectly in words, but it can be perfectly simulated with a system of symbols. The system of hexagrams and lines of the Book of Changes is a perfect simulation of the system of the way of heaven. The essence of it is endlessly studied and used. There are schools in Chinese culture that attach great importance to this symbol system, but most of them focus on divination, feng shui and other magics, which really underestimates the ease of use.

Those words in the Book of Changes are just a very limited crackdown on this symbol system. To focus on it is simply to ignore the essentials. Based on this understanding, by studying the position, relationship, transformation, etc. in the hexagram-yao talisman system, we can understand and understand the brilliant philosophy and human affairs principles in it. Only then can we truly appreciate its profoundness, mysteries, and why this book is a masterpiece of Chinese culture. total source.

Read "The Book of Songs" and be inspired by the purest poetry

China is a country with poetry flowing in its bones and thousands of years of poetic tradition, and the "Book of Songs" is the ancient Chinese The Beginning of Poetry, China's first poetry collection.

Confucius said: "Three hundred poems can be summed up in one sentence: thinking without evil." Thinking without evil is the essence of poetry. The Master also said: "If you don't study poetry, you won't be able to speak." Without reading the Book of Songs, language cannot change from crude to elegant, and culture cannot rise from crude to civilized. It also speaks of the nourishment of poetry on people's hearts and its influence on people. For educational purposes.

The opposite of these two sentences is also the disease of this era. The moving poems in the Book of Songs are just the prescription.

Read "Laozi", understand the way of heaven, and understand the virtues of people

"The Book of Changes" is the source of hundreds of schools of Chinese culture, and Taoism is the highest endorsement of its part of the way of heaven. .

Some people say that Lao Tzu's teachings are not systematic, so they are not philosophical and upscale enough. This kind of thinking is truly not up to standard. Such people have no hope of enlightenment - the infinite road, how can it be systematic? "System" is a limited concept with a set scope, and it is not up to the Tao. The so-called philosophy is more of a thinking game, free from the surface of the avenue.

The reason why Lao Tzu's five thousand words are able to describe the way of heaven and create a profound and profound system of heaven is that his mode of speaking is not to seek a system, but only to keep every word from the Tao, so that it can present a kind of A system without a system is the real system of heaven. The so-called elephant is invisible and the loud sound is invisible.

The Tao Te Ching is divided into two parts. The first part talks about Tao, and the second part talks about virtue. It marks out for us the only clear feature of this system - the harmony of heaven and the harmony of human beings; the way of heaven is manifested in human beings. This is virtue. Human virtue is in line with heaven and that is the way. Reading "Laozi" is to read the realm of the unity of nature and man where Tao and morality are one.

Read "The Analects", be a good person, and be a good person

"The Analects" mainly records the words and deeds of Confucius and his disciples, and was compiled by Confucius's disciples and his subsequent disciples. Although this book contains endless wisdom about life, we must also admit that this book is not deep - and this is where its preciousness and greatness lie.

This is not only because the content in the book is closely related to our lives and lives, but also because what the book tells us is mostly based on common sense based on human nature, and common sense is often the scarcest and most important thing. The most valuable thing. Because we are most likely to forget the simplicity, truth and correct common sense in the chaos and complexity of people's hearts and society, and then lose our original intention and direction.

The final point that these common sense points to is just two words - being a human being. Know etiquette, justice, integrity, and be a humble gentleman; be a good person and be a good person; this is the most important and important thing that Confucius wants to teach us. And this is the greatest value of reading "The Analects of Confucius".

Read "Zhuangzi", detach yourself from things, and settle your body and mind

As two great Taoists who go hand in hand, what is the difference between Laozi and Zhuangzi? My expression would be like this: Laozi told us what the supreme virtue of heaven is, and Zhuangzi told us what it would be like to internalize this supreme virtue of heaven into one's own spirit and become a part of one's soul - what What is the state of thinking?

This kind of thinking is "equalizing things" - life and death are the same, all things are together; heaven and earth live together with me, all things are one with me; this state is "Xiaoyao" - carefree in nothingness How could there be a hometown, a vast wilderness? Riding on the clouds, flying dragons, and traveling across the four seas. Feng Youlan, a master of philosophy, summed up Zhuangzi's thoughts: "Wandering in freedom, discussing the equality of things; transcending the outside of the image, and getting within the circle." Going beyond the outside of the image is the key to unlock everything.

In this way, human body and mind can finally settle down.

Read "Mencius" to become a masculine person and nourish your righteousness

Mencius is the best successor to Confucius' orthodoxy, and his theory encompasses and develops the essence of Confucian thought. What I want to emphasize in particular is the temperament of Mencius, or to be precise, his spirit.

He is the most masculine and pure man among the pre-Qin scholars.

“Wealth cannot be lascivious, poverty cannot be moved, power cannot yield, this is called a true man.” It hurts one's ambition...so one can be tempted to endure and gain what one cannot." "The people are the most valuable, the country is second, and the king is the least."... We can easily feel the kind of love for others from these words of Mencius. Generosity and fearlessness. This is the most unique and precious thing about Mencius.