1
Every weekend "regular cloud meeting" of Hongyi Lexue Academy is held as scheduled. From the establishment of the academy in early May to yesterday, there have been nearly thirty regular meetings.
I am truly grateful to this era and to those who invented high-tech means, which allows me, who are far away, to communicate intimately online with my like-minded mentors and friends in my motherland, and my daughter in North America.
Before every meeting, I would feel some strange feelings in my heart, or even have ups and downs in my heart. I would worry that my thinking might not be clear enough, and I would also worry that my emotions would not be conducive to rational thinking. Yesterday evening, as usual, I walked to the nearby river an hour early to calm down, watch the sunset on the other side, listen to the flowing waves, and think about things inside and outside my heart...
In the eyes and mouths of others, this academy may be an insignificant, extremely small "small project", but I still feel like a mountain is weighing on my heart; it has only been more than half a year, whether online or offline. From nothing to something, from something to big, its growth rate and scale have exceeded initial predictions and expectations. I can't help but ask myself: Is it time to put on the brakes?
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the mentors and friends around me. They are consistent in their words and deeds, and do their best to provide full support and solidarity. Make progress every day!
As one of the planners and participants, facing the raging offline activities and the overwhelming praise from others for reading the classics, I still have fifteen buckets of water in my heart - ups and downs. , as if walking on thin ice, as if facing an abyss.
2
Some of the famous cultural figures in ancient legends have died at this age, and even those who are still alive call themselves "old people". For example, when Cao Cao wrote "I am an old man, my ambition is thousands of miles", he had already achieved great success; Wei Wu wielded his whip and dominated the north, which was about a year old; in comparison, we are still young, even though we have become "early". At this age, one has no special skills and has not made much achievements. If one still regards fame, fortune and other external things as his main goal options in life, it would be really sad and lamentable. His time in this world has been wasted.
I could have enjoyed my retirement life in peace and leisure, but I still refused to be lonely. With the encouragement and guidance of tutors from Normal University and other schools, I worked with my colleagues to set up reading salons, establish online academies, and organize lines. What is the purpose of studying downstream?
I have been asked many times by others. I have never given a formal answer or systematic explanation before. It is not that I don’t have a clear answer in my heart. However, after being asked again and again, the original answer seems to be unavailable. I couldn't say anything, so I had to force myself to torture myself at a deep level, why did I do this?
While working in the workplace (full-time) for decades, I persisted in reading and teaching (part-time), and gained authenticity, fulfillment, peace, and happiness. Therefore, I am willing to work equally hard and Professionals and comrades who love reading and teaching should come together to increase the frequency of communication and sharing, and strengthen the efforts to enlighten and enrich each other.
The ancients said: "My life has a limit, and my study has no limit. It is inevitable that the limit will follow the limitless." For most scholars today, although this sentence is still important, it seems that it is no longer relevant. It is too important, because the "following the limitless" approach to reading, researching and pursuing the ultimate value of life seems to be no longer universal and representative.
As the saying goes, when you press the gourd, the gourd rises. The real problem has evolved into another deviation, and it is time to label it as "almost complete" with another current imbalance and biased phenomenon and misunderstanding - the limited connotation of reading and studying savings is far from being able to cope with real life. Extension challenge!
What should I do? Where is the road?
If you give a simple and straightforward answer, it is nothing more than an old-fashioned answer: the road is at your feet! However, it is easier said than done. Although everyone has similar content and patterns of constant alternation between knowledge and action, action and knowledge in their lives, how many people can achieve the unity of knowledge and action? Therefore, it is difficult to travel, and it is difficult to know. When these two difficulties are combined, it can be said to be even more difficult.
3
The classics of Buddhist culture reveal two essential characteristics of the Saha world: one is suffering, and the other is impermanence.
This huatou at least warns all living beings that life itself is unsatisfactory and uncertain. However, although the real world is skinny, in the thousands of years of human history, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, classics have been handed down one after another. They are tips for guiding a full life, and they have also established one after another for all living beings. Example - even if it is a conservative statement like Master Meng - "it only takes five hundred years for a saint to appear", after all, there is a saint who has come to the world!
The Book of Changes, which ranks first among the "Five Classics", was evaluated by Confucius as "the upper and lower parts are impermanent, hard and soft are interchangeable, and cannot be used as a classic"; this means that everything is changeable and there is no constant. Patterns of alternating masculinity and femininity should not solidify people's thinking because of classics, but should adapt to their changes; but I feel that it is precisely here that I experience and find it - within the classics of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism represented by the Book of Changes To take a step back, if there really is a shortcut to success in life, then rushing forward, reading and thinking at the same time, just like what a great man revealed - from practice to Theory, then return to practice to verify the theory, and use correct theory to guide practice - this may be a feasible path that has been proven by countless people and things.
After decades of experience in the workplace, I feel that life is a test that has to be faced, requiring everyone to give an answer on where to go. No one can escape this problem. Even if you give up the choice, it is still subjective. Choose an answer.
As an individual, I left my family of origin, the support of my parents and family, and the guidance of school teachers. I boldly entered the adult society, and then ventured into the world alone. After experiencing ups and downs, It leads to physical and mental exhaustion, confusion and hesitation, and even depression and despair; finally, after surviving the first ups and downs of the green years, the threshold of the so-called psychological "weaning period" has been passed, and in the following years, ten years, and decades , climbing up the ladder from the bottom, maybe never reaching the ceiling of career success, maybe it is a lucky carp that jumped over the dragon's door. When everyone who comes here counts the scars left on their body and soul in their spare time, most people may not be able to do it. Before reaching the end of life - completely get rid of the confusion in your heart.
Four
I have also questioned myself - why do I think so much? How many people care about these things? Isn't this something that I can't live with?
Let your own life be happy and happy, and continue it throughout your life, and also to your descendants. This is the desire that everyone is born with, but it may be disturbed and disrupted. Depressed, but this wish should not be extinguished.
I am a person who pursues spiritual happiness, and I also believe that by reading classics, I can talk to sages, and by actively contacting good teachers and helpful friends, I can also increase my inner strength. Therefore, I am willing to stick to my beliefs and help. Share your gains with others. I was lucky enough to meet a group of like-minded people who shared my interests, so Hongyi Lexue Academy started from scratch—from offline to online, and back to offline again, with the support of all the brothers and sisters in the academy* With our joint efforts, we have gone through more than half a year smoothly.
When it comes to completing and doing something well - especially when taking responsibility for the quality and direction of other people's spiritual lives - how can it be smooth sailing? How can there be any negligence or mistakes?
Five
Not far from the beach at your feet, there are several rough, hard and simple rocks standing in the river. They appear and disappear. The size of the tide determines their appearance. , but day after day, year after year, the river roars and rushes to the sea without turning back, but these black stones have been silently holding on to their posts!
Every time I see this scene, I always feel very emotional! In the world, there is light and darkness, movement and stillness, each occupying its own place and observing its own rules. Perhaps Taoism should be interpreted this way -
Taoism is so natural in the first place. Be regular and let nature take its course, not be artificial or forced!
Every time I enter this situation, a sentence said by a great thinker and reformer always echoes in my mind: "Crossing the river by feeling for the stones."
Well, even if the sound of the waves is still there, there are always wind and waves, but the road is ahead and the road is under our feet. Let us be alone and side by side, bravely and calmly move forward hand in hand - to the other side!
Tie Tuo from Normal University wrote in Western Australia on November 29, 2020