Talking at the dinner table(China's traditional culture)

At dinner time, my father sometimes helps me string together bits and pieces of knowledge I learned at school and from my reading and learning into complete knowledge, such as Chinese traditional culture. I have united several conversations in this article.

Traditional Chinese culture consists of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. The core of Confucianism is benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, and faith. The representative figures are Confucius, etc. The books include "Confucian Analects", etc. Confucianism began to gain value during the Han Dynasty (Liu Bang proclaims himself emperor in 202 BC) in China. Liu Bang was not a scholar. He even often laughed at Confucianism. The most outrageous thing is that he once peed in the hat of a Confucian scholar. He said "I won the country by fighting on the horse", which means that I won the world by force. One of his aides, Lu Jia, said to Liu Bang, "Can a country be governed by fighting on the horse?" Liu Bang didn't pay attention to it. The most troublesome thing for Liu Bang was his brothers, who helped him have the country. They were drinking, swearing, and fighting at the banquet held by the court. He could not manage these brothers. One of his staff members called Shusun Tong to help him with ideas, saying that some court rules needed to be established, and Liu Bang asked him to organize some Confucian scholars who understand etiquette to formulate the rules and let courtiers and generals drill them. One day these courtiers and generals went to court, and they kowtowed and worshiped Liu Bang three times, which was very neat. Liu Bang said, "I just tasted what it is like to be an emperor today." Since then, Confucianism has been valued. Later, Confucianism underwent many evolutions, but the concept of hierarchy never changed. I studied and recited some words from Confucius in the textbook at school. The teacher didn't teach the origin and history of Confucianism. I figured out why Confucianism is valued, which is very helpful for me to see the essence of Confucianism. Like a chef, even if he can sculpt a potato into an apple, I can recognize it as a potato because I saw its original appearance before. Confucianism was publicly criticized and abandoned by China’s advanced intellectuals in the 1920s. They saw that after the European Renaissance, Europe and the United States liberated the shackles of thought, and various inventions and creations could enrich the country and the people.

The core of Taoist thought is the alternation of Yin and Yang (similar to good and bad, etc., the cycle of contradiction), and it advocates inaction. Representative figures are Laozi and Zhuangzi. Representative works include "Dao De Jing". Taoism advocates personal cultivation to return to the original state of nature and opposes reputations and interests. The reason for its opposition is that reputation and wealth are rare resources. To obtain them, people can only obtain them through competition. In this way, the relationship between people or groups is antagonistic, and it even needs to achieve its purpose through war. I like how my father told me the stories of Zhuangzi; for example, the story of "useful and useless" is like this: Zhuangzi and the woodcutter went to the forest to cut trees. After searching for a few days, they found a very thick tree. The woodcutter did not cut it down; the woodcutter said that the tree was empty inside and could not be used to make doors and windows. If it were used to light a fire, it would emit a foul smell, and no one would use it to light a fire. Zhuangzi thought that those valuable hardwoods could be used to make furniture and had been chopped when they were little trees. Useless trees live longer instead. Once, Zhuangzi went to his friend's house as a guest. His friend raised two geese, and the friend asked his son to kill one to treat the guests. His son said that one goose can squawk but the other can't, so which one should he kill? Zhuangzi's friend said to kill the goose that couldn't crow. Zhuangzi thought that because the goose could call, it could guard the house, protect the house, and save its life. The goose that didn’t know how to call was killed. Zhuangzi said he would be a person between useful and useless. Taoism attaches great importance to preventing extreme phenomena. "Dao De Jing" said that "things must be reversed when they are extreme", just like the moon will move towards a crescent after it is full. President Washington's pursuit of life has a taste of Chinese Taoism. He is useful; he helped build America. He is not obsessed with power and money and is content to live a leisurely life in his small manor, which is seemingly useless.

The core of Buddhist thought is "emptiness", and the representative figure is Gautama Buddha (Indian). The work "Prajna Paramita" is the most famous in China; it advocates that "ears, eyes, nose, tongue, body, and mind" are close to "emptiness" as the best state. Many people practice yoga, which is a school, and its purpose is to get rid of the unhappiness caused by indulging in sensory stimulation and fantasy in daily life and make the body and mind peaceful and happy. Buddhism opposes reputation and interests, as well as all personal desires. The reason why Buddhism opposes this is that once people have desires, there will be satisfaction or dissatisfaction, which will cause joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. The contradictory emotions will make people struggle with their troubles. I also practice yoga in my daily life, but I can't achieve the state of "emptiness", even if I can recite "Prajna Paramita" (lol). There are very few people who can achieve "emptiness", and most people just talk about it. For example, one of my experiences Once, a classmate and I were riding in the car of her mother, who is a Buddhist, and her mother said that her Buddhist realm has been cultivated to the point that everything she sees is "emptiness". I was terrified because she was driving with her eyes on the road ahead. I don't know where the car will go. (lol)

In short, Confucianism and Taoism originated in China, and Buddhism came from India. Although Buddhism is better than Confucianism and Taoism at explaining the logic of causality, it honors the Buddha as the most honored rather than the emperor. Buddhism was considered exclusive by some local scholars to maintain the dignity of the emperor and local culture. Chinese traditional culture, into which the three cultures are integrated, has influenced China for more than 2,000 years, and some ideas have become common norms in people's lives. Both advantages and disadvantages. It still plays a role in social life today. Knowing 10,000 truths, it is better to practice once. My father told me not to be a walking bookshelf with two legs but to practice the advantages of traditional Chinese culture in life. Chinese traditional culture I mainly heard at the dinner table, not studying at school.