little city

We met again in the traditional culture class in the second week.

In the past two days, I was lying in the dormitory alone. Apart from sleeping, I just watched movies and watched "Friends".

If loneliness is a normal state of life, enjoying loneliness is certainly a life attitude towards life and self-compromise, but it should never be an ideal or hobby.Getting rid of loneliness and pursuing love should be a positive outlook on life.

I don't want to say anything, I don't want to do anything, sometimes excited, sometimes quiet, immersed in the scene of unrequited love and unable to extricate myself.

I drew a beautiful circle for myself, put myself in it first, and then put Jingshu in it, and the two danced in the circle, feeling like love.

I couldn't take it anymore, thinking of Jingshu in my heart, I was on the verge of collapse, but I didn't know how to go on.

Does Jingshu love me?

She must love me, otherwise why would she go out to eat with me and let me hold hands, how could she look at me and smile sweetly?

Does she not love me?

She is constantly switching between a real world and a spiritual world.She seems to have seen through life and death in the world, will she like me, a poor boy with a blank sheet of paper?

I fell into deep anxiety.

The book says that to love someone is to make her happy, so should I make Jing Shu happy, and if I am with her, she will fall in love with me?

Finally came the day to meet, I was still sitting in the last row of the classroom, and Jing Shu was still in the front row.My gaze never left Jingshu, not even for a second.I found that Jingshu looked back, wondering if she was looking for me, I believe it was a looking for someone.

That day, Professor Du put chalk on the blackboard again, and with just a few pens, the image of an old man appeared on the blackboard.Professor Du looked at the audience with his iconic kind eyes and asked, "Everyone should know who this is?"

"Taishang Laojun." A classmate below shouted.

The classroom was instantly filled with laughter.

Professor Du was also happy. "This student has a rich imagination, and this character is the author of this great book." As he spoke, Professor Du showed everyone a thread-bound "Tao Te Ching".

"The "Tao Te Ching" has more than 1 words, discussing Chinese people's knowledge of self-cultivation, life, and governance. Dao can be Dao, very Dao, and Dao here is the way of natural law. Virtue is the development and expression of Dao in the field of ethics... ..."

After one class, Professor Du spoke vividly, and the students listened with great interest. The time passed before they knew it. Professor Du asked everyone to go back and write an article about their own feelings.

After class, everyone gathered around Professor Du, asking for advice on various life issues, as if they had found a life mentor.Jing Shu and I couldn't avoid the vulgarity either, we stayed among the crowd, wishing we could stick to Professor Du's fairy spirit.

After class, I went back to the dormitory with Jing Shu, but Jing Shu didn't refuse.

"Did you gain a lot from today's class? Do you have any insights?" Jing Shu asked.

"It's quite big, and it's very touching. It feels like you can find the answer to everything in life, and there's a feeling of enlightenment. You said such a classic book, why haven't you learned it before?"

"I'm also thinking, maybe it's too esoteric. Some things, it's not a good thing to understand too early, as it is often said: young people don't read Water Margin, and old people don't read Three Kingdoms."

"Is that also because we are afraid that we will see society clearly too early?"

"I think it's mainly because Confucian classics are the foundation of scholarship. You can see that there is no "Tao Te Ching" in the Four Books and Five Classics."

"I think the rulers of past dynasties were afraid that the people would see through the current situation, so they deliberately didn't want everyone to learn from it."

"It's not like that, and it's not a banned book. But now there are all kinds of weird certificates, certificates and certificates of various names, and there are indeed too many rules and regulations for all walks of life. If you let everyone study the "Tao Te Ching", maybe the number of corrupt officials can be reduced. .”

"When you go back, you have to think about it carefully, and you have to do homework after class."

Early on Saturday morning, I went to the bookstore near the school to buy two copies of "Tao Te Ching" and give one to Jing Shu, but I didn't expect that there was only the last one left.The clerk was also very curious and said: "From last night to this morning, dozens of copies of this book have been sold. Before the door opened in the morning, some people came to buy "Tao Te Ching". Sutra, everyone has morality?"

I was speechless.

In the morning, I spent a long time in the library and wrote an eloquent article about the "Tao Te Ching" and the moral quality of Chinese people.I have listed many shortcomings of Chinese people, ranging from spitting everywhere, crowded public transport, to social corruption and government management.I moved the "Tao Te Ching" and made some evaluations.

In the afternoon, we met to find Professor Du to hand in homework together.After meeting, I gave Jing Shu the only copy of "Tao Te Ching".

Jingshu asked curiously: "Where did you buy it? I went to buy it in the morning, and the bookstore was out of stock."

"Lucky for me, this is the last one."

Professor Du's office is on the third floor of the Faculty of Arts building.When we walked to the door of the office, the door was open, and there were two other students in the room, and Professor Du was talking eloquently.When Professor Du saw us, he motioned for us to come in, and asked me what was my biggest feeling after the class, and I stammered, "It's a mess."

"Why do you say that?"

"It's the original cognition. After going through the class, I have to overturn it and start over again. Now it is very confusing and I haven't figured it out yet."

Professor Du told me that this is also a necessary stage in life, just like the theory of looking at mountains. When I was young, I looked at mountains as mountains. When I grew up, I looked at mountains and they were not mountains. Later, I looked at mountains as mountains.

I seem to have realized something.

I raised the question of whether the "Tao Te Ching" and Buddhism are interlinked.Professor Du disagrees, the two are completely different in essence.To put it simply, Buddhism talks about being out of the world, and the Tao Te Ching seems to be about being out of the world, but in essence he thinks it is about entering into the world.

Professor Du asked Jing Shu how she felt.

Jing Shu said hesitantly: "I have gained a lot. In fact, I have always been depressed in my thoughts before, and I was full of doubts and puzzles about life and society. But through the teacher's class, I found a little peace in my heart, at least I found a sense of peace." A way to make peace with your inner demons."

Hearing Jing Shu's discussion, Professor Du was obviously more excited.He firstly praised Jing Shu for applying what she has learned and her spirit of self-exploration. He also said that the greatest enemy of a person is himself, not others. If you overcome your own demons and let go of your obsessions, you will gain the whole world.

Then, Professor Du gave a two-hour lecture on Buddhism, Tao Te Ching, and the meaning of life.The core point of view is that people should be kind, content, inaction, non-competitive, goodness is like water, and let nature take its course.

In the end, Professor Du recommended us to join the school's Zen club. There is a group of like-minded friends, and we can practice Zen together and make progress together.

I seem to understand, thoughtfully, in the past year, I have come into contact with success books, such as "Carnegie's Way to Success", "The Weakness of Human Nature", "The Greatest Salesman in the World", "Sheepskin Scroll" " and so on are nothing more than requiring a positive attitude.It is difficult for me to understand the pure-hearted and ascetic state of Buddha and Tao.

Jing Shu is not the case. Every word of Professor Du, Jing Shu feels that it fits her state of mind very well.She looked devout and full of joy, as if she had found the support of her soul.

Before leaving, I mustered up the courage to ask Professor Du my questions.

Professor Du answered me earnestly: "In fact, positive and negative are like two contradictory attributes, and they are also a unity of opposites. Therefore, existence and non-existence are mutually reinforcing, difficulty and easy are mutually reinforcing, long and short are mutually complementary, high and low are mutually incline, voices and voices are harmonious, and front and back are mutually compatible. With, close connection, in a unity. Then under certain conditions, they will also transform each other, the curve will be complete, the vain will be straight, the depression will be full, the hole will be new, the less will gain, and the more will confuse. Therefore, it must be in Look at this problem in a unified organism. Lao Tzu also said that Tao produces one, one produces two, two produces three, three produces all things, and all things are attached to yin and embrace yang. All these tell us to deal with things with a calm and peaceful attitude, and at the same time be positive and optimistic There is no conflict in itself between the ground and life.”

After leaving Professor Du's house, we were silent all the way, immersed in thinking.

We had dinner together at a Sichuan restaurant near the school. Jing Shu liked spicy food, so she ordered a pickled fish, a Kung Pao chicken and a hot and sour soup.Everyone ate separately, and the atmosphere seemed very quiet.

I wanted to ease the atmosphere, and remembered Jiang Tao's joke before, so I asked Jing Shu: "Do you know how people can be big or small?" After I finished speaking, I regretted it, and was afraid that Jing Shu would get angry.

"Mouth!"

"Ah, why?" I was surprised by Jing Shu's answering speed.

"Because I have a big mouth when I eat and a small mouth when I drink water. My dad said that to me since I was a child."

This explanation is completely reasonable, and I can't help but laugh when I think of my reaction when I was with Jiang Tao and Liu Shuang.

"What's wrong? What's the standard answer?" Jing Shu saw me smiling and asked back.

"It's the eyes. I have big eyes during the day and small eyes when I sleep at night."

I suddenly discovered that there is more than one answer to this question, there can be countless answers, but why did everyone think in that direction at that time?Is it because if you are close to vermilion, you will be red, and if you are close to ink, you will be black?Or is it because being together with Jingshu has opened up his mind?

After dinner, we walked back to school and went to the evening English salon together.The activities of the day were moved to the lecture hall of the main building, and the student union invited a Chinese-American professor to give a lecture.After we came, the classroom was full of people, people were sitting in the aisle, and the back row was full of students.We stood at the back of the room, trying to squeeze out a spot where we could see the professor's face.At the beginning, the professor gave a speech in English and made two jokes, which eased the atmosphere a lot.He holds an English book in his left hand, about American education, and often reads a long paragraph.The professor's English was really difficult to understand, and everyone wanted to know what he was talking about. I don't know who suggested it first, so the lecture was changed to Chinese to introduce the cultural differences between China and the United States.

The professor started with the advanced nature of American culture, talked about the inclusiveness and cultural diversity of the United States, and then talked about the differences between American education and Chinese education, interspersed with his hard work and persistence in studying in the United States, and finally successfully obtained the Green card, it's all God bless.The professor spoke with enthusiasm.

Then, the professor began to say that people must have faith, and those without faith have no bottom line.He took out a "Bible" from his pocket casually: Thank the Lord, God created human beings.

The more I listened, the more confused I became. Is it because our culture is not advanced, or there is something wrong with people.I can't find an answer, it just feels weird.

In the evening, Jing Shu and I wandered around the campus together, both of us thoughtful.After listening to Buddhism, Taoism, and God for a day, which one is right?Which is greater?

At this moment, a full moon hangs on the treetops, and the silver light spills from the gaps in the branches on the main road of the campus, intertwined with the orange street lights, the light and shadow are blurred, like a different scene.On the head of willow branches on the moon, people make an appointment after dusk.Looking at the beautiful Jingshu beside me, I am also lost in the light and shadow of love.