First: Pops
Pops is not my real dad, the reason why I call him that is purely to distinguish him from my real dad.
Dad is to do the bar scale. The calluses on his hands show that he is very skillful. That's right, Pops has been a master for forty years.
The first thing I heard was that the family that made the scales was a Hu family. Originally, it was not open to the public, but in this generation there is suddenly no one to take over, so they had to accept the old man and Uncle Jiang. The two of them have completely different personalities, the old man is dull and even a little pedantic, while Uncle Jiang is a smile and welcome.
After their training, they each opened a scale store on both sides of the road. At the beginning of the two are red-hot, but the days are long, the old man's store is getting thin, cold and a little bleak, the faded signboard even blocking the road no one asks.
One day, the old man could not look at such a cold store, they closed the door, walked to Uncle Jiang's store. Entering the store, it can be said that the popularity is booming ah! The new and bright signboard, but also let the old man heart a pull, both doubt and envy.
Pops stayed at Uncle Jiang's house until it was very late in the day, when Uncle Jiang's store calmed down. The two of them set up a table of small wine in the backyard, eating and chatting. The two of them set up a small table in the backyard and chatted over a meal. Pops asked a little shyly, "Senior, why do you think my store is so cold and quiet, looking to close its doors. Your store, how come it's so busy?" Sighing, he lit a cigarette and gave it a wring out.
Uncle Jiang smiled and said, "How can you be so stupid? The customer is God, God told you to give him one or two less scales, you can not give him more money. You can't give him a dollar more. You listen to him, just do it. I remember, a big businessman asked me to pay for 50 scales that lacked two taels, why don't I share half of the business with you?"
After hearing this, Mr. Lao said nothing, finished his drink in silence, and waved his hand at Uncle Jiang: "You'll have to do it yourself!"
The old man's store was still so cold. Until one day, when he heard that Uncle Jiang's store had been lifted, he ran over to take a look. Uncle Jiang was stuck in the store, down and out like a dog. Pop asked, "How much does it take to remedy the situation?" Uncle Jiang said it was forty scales. Pops went back and rushed around for several days, finally helping Uncle Jiang to pay off the money. Later, Uncle Jiang's store closed down, and he left one night, never to return.
The store of the old man, however, has become more and more popular. Now, whenever someone suspects that there is a problem with the catty, the vendors always drop a line, "This is Lao Chen's scale!" And the person would stop.
Yes, the old man is old Chen, named Chen Shi. People respect the word "real".
The second part: the situation is born from the heart
Wisdom is a mirror of the heart, the situation is born from the heart.
The heart based on the absorption of wisdom, square inches of all the sea and sky never end; heart if there is wisdom, it is like a long sky and the sun to the end of the realm of the spirit.
There is a passage in the textbook of the Republic of China: "Three cows eat grass, a sheep also eat grass, a sheep does not eat grass, it looks at the flowers.
I think the sheep that looks at the flowers on the vast green plains is the wisdom, and the sight of it looking at the flowers is the unique sight of wisdom. As the Ordinary World says, the meaning of life is not as simple as eating, but should also have a higher pursuit.
Indeed, the most basic requirement of wisdom for human beings is to have a spiritual pursuit beyond the material level. Only those who are not blinded by the glamor of materialism are qualified to be called wise.
Further, a person with great wisdom not only has the spiritual pursuit, but also has the courage to be a maverick and transcendental.
I once marveled at Zhu Da's Inkfish. What kind of wisdom does the fish with rolled eyes say? It is self-evident! I very much respect the Ming Dynasty, the old man, high on the table of the eight wastelands, the heart of a thousand autumns between ......
If Zhu Da's wisdom is a kind of meteorology, then, Zhuang Zi, "beyond the elephant, to get the ring in the wisdom is a kind of mirror to the mirror. The ethereal state that is beyond the nature of life is the perfect match between Zen and Tao.
Li Shutong, a clear sky to reflect things, a clear mirror to stop the water sigh clear mind, clear moon and light wind to treat people, then Zen general interpretation of Zhu Da's meteorological and Zhuang Zhou's to the state; beyond life itself, the origin of all things in heaven and earth, and therefore can be in the silence before the sigh of a sentence, "Hua Zhi spring, the heart of the sky and the moon is full".
There is no shortcut to the ethereal realm of wisdom, and it requires a wholehearted realization. The realization of the life of the sinking and floating, realize the realm of nirvana. If necessary, you can learn from Liu Zongyuan's "fishing alone in the cold river snow", in nature, to appreciate the melting in the world between heaven and earth, look at the silver world of the lone gallery and gravity.
Life is an exercise, wisdom is the ultimate sublimation. The first thing you need to do is to cultivate a heart of wisdom and become a state of wisdom, so that you have no regrets in your life and no shame in your heart.
Third: the wisdom of wrinkles
The wheel of the years rolled over the road of life, the deep wrinkles tell the grandfather's life, embodied in the wisdom of the pure and simple.
First, oxen plowing
"Yo drink, yo drink ......" Grandpa's hoarse cry in the open ground seems particularly clear. Dark clouds began to converge in the sky, it was going to rain, I was busy running to the edge of the ridge. "Grandpa, come back!" "Got it, this is the only piece, go back after plowing." After the words were spoken, the sound of yo-yoing was eaten up again. The sky was really drizzling. Grandpa came back soaked to the skin and his feet were covered with mud. "Grandpa, sell the oxen, these oxen are old, plowing is too laborious, now there are machines, it's very convenient." I looked at grandpa and said what was in my heart. "Little girl, although this ox plowing is slow, it's also a method left behind by our old ancestors, it applies. While Grandpa is still strong, he can plow more land, which is finer than the machine, and it won't hurt the land." Nowadays, there is only one ox left in the village, and he is the only one who still plows the land with the ox. Looking at the rain outside the house, I realized: "Wisdom is a kind of experience that lasts for a long time. In the smoke and rain, one person and one cow, how harmonious, how natural.
Second, bead counting
"Tak-dong, Tak-dong ......" Grandpa propped up his old glasses, fiddled with the abacus, and from time to time in a small notebook to write down something. "Grandpa, you're counting ah, let me help you." "Little girl, what can you help me with, can you use this old abacus?" Grandpa smiled and raised an eyebrow at me. "I'll use my cell phone to help you count, just report the numbers, it's not faster than this, and it's accurate." "Hey, you don't understand, I can't learn your new game at my age. This old abacus is good, grandpa will teach you how to count." "Don't, I'll get dizzy just looking at it." Grandpa lowered his head, his eyebrows wrinkled kun, and opened the dial again by himself. I secretly used my cell phone to calculate, and found Grandpa's results so precise and well-organized. I realized: wisdom is an ability that comes from familiarity. A person sitting quietly, fingers fiddling, that calm, so steady.
Third, opera
Quiet night, cool breeze, faint starlight accompanied by bright moon, wine under the clear light. Grandpa in front of the door under the old acacia tree, smoking a dry cigarette. "Grandpa, the night sky cool into the house to sleep." "Girl, sit here, it's cool enough for grandpa." "Then tell me a story." "I've told you all the stories, no more, Grandpa sing." Grandpa cleared the noise: "I was originally Wolonggang on the scattered people, with the yin and yang such as the reversal of the Paulding Qiankun ......" Grandpa's song is not beautiful, but with inexplicable heart trembling, sadness. Looking at the grandfather wrinkles between the infinite seriousness, I understand: wisdom is a purified realm. One person and one song, that kind of devotion, so harmonious, in the moonlit night extraordinarily coordinated.
Fourth: the fragrance of noodles in the alley
Deep in the alley is a noodle store, the owner is an old man.
The old man has white hair and is thin. When he sat leisurely on the front steps to smoke, through the indistinct smoke, I clearly from his cloudy but deep eyes, see the vicissitudes of life.
The noodle store has no signboard. Whenever early in the morning, the people of the alley have not yet risen, the door of the noodle store is open. The fragrance of the noodles comes out of the small door and spreads to the window sill of each house. So, people are scented from sleep drag also, into the store, sitting at the table, waiting for their own bowl of fragrance. At this point, I realized: this store if there is a signboard, it is vulgar.
The small noodle store people less, it will be greeted by the old man's son. The first time I saw this was when I was a kid, and the second time I saw it was when I was a teenager. Every law office workers and students party in a hurry to leave, the old man will be not busy people arch, apologize, that person will be quick to promise to wait a little longer. I naturally belonged to the student party that was in a hurry, so soon after I sat down, I was able to obtain a bowl of clear flavor. When you're done eating, say thank you to those around you and walk out with the kind eyes of the crowd. Welcome to the day of schooling. Ah, with this old man, the busy little store is always uncluttered, overflowing at times with three points of rhyme and seven points of poetry.
Whenever someone praises, the old man will not be cheap and modest, always enthusiastically respond, and show off their soup noodles - noodles are handmade, Lu is to the countryside of fishing to ask for wild fish, and even the water is picked from the well of their own yard. Someone joked, "Old man, you've revealed all your secrets, not afraid of being robbed of your business?" The old man, however, smiled: "Where is what secret yo, who all know, but who like me so insist on decades?"
The old man's son is also a chef. So, when you order noodles, you always have to add a sentence: "the old man's noodles," or "the young man's noodles." As for me, I prefer the old man's noodles. The old man's noodle is taut, the uncle's noodle is soft; the old man's noodle is light in flavor, the uncle's noodle is heavy. Someone said: "young man's noodles is wine, it is appropriate to enjoy while hot; the old man's noodles like tea, it is appropriate to slowly aftertaste." Indeed, uncle's noodles will be drizzled with a spoonful of shrimp oil, while the old man likes to put two or three cilantro, a few drops of lard. When eating the old man's noodles, you can't smell the aroma, but only when you bite the noodles, the aroma will come out from the cracks and gaps in the noodles. The noodle is smooth and sinewy, the lard stirs up the fish soup, and the fish soup stimulates your tastebuds. The old man's wisdom may be the special soul left in the noodles.
Finally, one day, the alley was demolished, the small noodle shop also moved to another alley. Before leaving, the old man asked his son to give everyone a bowl of noodles, the surface is clearly three three cilantro and a few drops of lard. The old man picked a few noodles, took a sip of the soup, nodded and said, "There are three-three meaning."
Later, I went to eat noodles once more. The old man is no longer there, but the uncle's noodles are clearly a few moments of his father's shadow. As for the guests in the guests between the familiar readily greeted, but it is a young man about the same age as me ......
Fifth: the soul under the drastic changes
America's greatest columnist Lippmann believes that "If you want to know about a country, then go to college. a country, then go to a university and talk to journalism students." I would like to introduce you to China, and in the process I can test the credibility of this conclusion.
The survey shows that you are interested in the keywords "square dance" and "Beijing opera". Coincidentally, they are both related to culture. But in a land of dazzling change, their fates are very different: one is an emergent derivative of that change, the other is in jeopardy because it doesn't fit in.
The leisure of middle-aged and older women gathering in public ****ing places to sing and dance to music has become a popular form of recreation in China. They have also gone abroad, jumping into train cars, onto Red Square in Moscow and the Louvre in Paris. It's probably nothing like the old people you know around you.
On the Chinese web, the main group of people involved in square dancing is called "big moms". It's a name you'll be familiar with, since they're the ones who show up on your Wall Street and save the French discount season. But you may not realize that it's slightly pejorative.
From ancient China's Dream of the Red Chamber, Jia Baoyu favored young girls and found older women "repulsive," and in Beijing, he used the term "matter mother" to describe those who meddled in the affairs of others; and criticism of the image of young women: Criticism of the image of young women is also: "You're so young, how to dress up like a big mom". The attitude of the people towards the "big moms" is not friendly.
In China, a woman's value lies in her family and children, and the word "self" is vague. And by the age of "big mom" is often the "empty nest" of the children left home, suddenly lost the pillar of life. Psychologists call it the "mid-life crisis". However, the emergence of square dancing makes me happy that it can solve the "mid-life crisis".
Square dancing makes them less lonely, she will make many friends, and no longer always bound by the trivialities of children, they will be closer and closer to their "true selves". I've seen a lot of "big moms" become lively, happy, and have a personality because of their integration into the group. I believe that a few more years of square dancing, will be divided into more small collectives, collective reading, collective public welfare, collective travel, collective singing ...... then, everyone will become better and better.
I think everyone, including myself, is learning to embrace the enthusiasm and vigor of this "exploration of the self", because we do not want our own mockery, so that they return to the dead, self-blurred state of life.
A country is made up of individual people, and making each person a better version of themselves is what we really want to achieve as a nation after the change.
Under the great changes, some are born, some are dying. For example, you care about "Beijing opera". This kind of babbling singing, and this pursuit of everything "fast" times more and more out of tune. However, as an outsider, I am not in a position to tell the future fate of this art form, but I would like to share its beauty with you.
Listen to Cheng Yanqiu's "Dream of the Spring Boudoir": "The flowers on the street were like brocade, and today the willows at the top of the building are green. The poor woman in the boudoir and so on, begonias bloom day to now", sung by the people of the broken hearted.
You go to listen to, "Farewell at the Sandy Bridge" in the Tang Taizong sent the words of the Tang Monk: "across the bridge is the end of the world", forgotten in the vastness of the rivers and lakes.
You go to listen to, "take Chengdu", Chengdu King Liu Zhang sang "Xichuan Wenwu knife cut all", sad and desolate, full of indignation.
Peking Opera, unlike Chinese poetry and lyrics, is written in the vernacular, but it is still meaningful and moving. The words of Peking Opera have to be accompanied by a singing voice, and I believe that even if you don't understand the words well enough, you will still have your own realization when you hear that voice, which is simple, simple, strong, soft, and delicate.
After all this, I don't know if you found it? In fact, the fate of the two cultures to decide, in fact, lies in you, lies in me, lies in the attitude of each person. When we know how to tolerate, know how to appreciate, know how to understand, they will present their most beautiful appearance.
The same is true for a country, which is created by a specific person. Under the huge changes, our souls and minds determine the appearance of this country.
That's pretty much it, do you think there's any truth in what Lippmann said?
Many years ago, Bai Yansong, one of China's most famous hosts, said when he spoke at Yale University, "For the past many years, Americans seem to have been looking at China through binoculars, but I suspect they may be holding them the other way around".
Why look through binoculars? You are welcome to come to China and use your own ears and eyes to understand the real us!
Sixth: Awake in the breath of the years
The years have no trace, the leaves fall without sound. What kind of pale gravity, hurtling hesitation is that!
--Title
Often walk past an ancient tree, always sigh and awe. Alone for hundreds of years of solitude, what is it waiting for? Its deep wrinkles, so that people see the merciless blade of the years; it wrinkled withered marks, so that people want to think about the cruelty of the silent leaf fall. However, the spring came, it still blossomed; summer came, it still hold open a huge green shade. No matter whether there is a road to it, no matter whether there is no one towards it, see or not see, come or do not come, it is standing there, no joy, no sorrow, no complaints, calm and amiable, like an old philosopher smiling waiting.
It is a tree that holds up a green shade, and where there is a tree there is a bright landscape. The wind has a string, the bird has a paradise, and the empty wilderness has a reliable logo. Even a small grass, but also with its humble shell, enriched with the connotation of the season; a small bird, but also with its weak wings, to enhance the sight of the earth; a rock, but also with its weak shoulders, supporting the tilted mountain. A silkworm, a piece of coal, a wildflower, are doing their heavenly duty, with their passion, humble and pious, careful and delicate, so that the infinite nature becomes rich and beautiful -------
Then, what about people?
I don't know how many times I dreamed of waking up in the middle of the night, holding the hands on the chest could not push away a kind of alarm from the unstoppable flow of broken shadows. People live, all rely on nature, all beings nourishment and protection. I found that I enjoy everything, all is the gift of nature and the dedication of compatriots.
In order for me to live civilized, history has paid the expensive price of millions of years of slash-and-burn farming and drinking blood; in order for me to think happily, the sun, the earth, the animals, the plants, the minerals, the parents, the relatives, the teachers, and all the other characters and even the entire universe are constantly operating, busy;
In order for me to breathe comfortably, the atmosphere, the rivers, the oceans, the monsoons, the forests, the clover, and the cleaner The atmosphere, the rivers, the oceans, the monsoons, the forests, the clover, and the cleaners are all working intensely to brew and guard the air that cannot be left in a moment's time. ------
This is truly a heavenly, earthly favor.
I enjoy all this, but I do not know thankful return, but often harm to my benefactors: I threw muddy water in the river, I put black smoke in the sky, I have booby-trapped the innocent birds, I have destroyed the loyal trees, I have insulted the parents who have given birth to me and raised me, I have despised the sanitation workers who have given me a fresh breath of air ------ or even, like the material recounted, ignoring the mottled paint on the hull of the ship Peeling off, let the anthill's hole from the front of the eyes casually floated past -------
In the breath of the years awake, I found that I reached out, a mouth, enjoy the nature, on the possession of the fruits of the labor of countless people. Now that I am in the exam room, this enjoyment is even more unusual: this, this paper, this test paper, attentive, caring and thoughtful. I am enjoying, enjoying the warmth and thoughtfulness, enjoying the tension and order, enjoying the joy of success, but also enjoying the peace and tranquility of the environment; and at this moment, the traffic police are sweating under the scorching sun, the medical staff is helping the dead and injured nervous and busy, guarding the border of the military are traveled through a deep river through a forbidden area ------
Enjoying. Almost day and night at all times to enjoy.
Is it possible that people live only to enjoy? If not for enjoyment, then what is the point of living?
In the breath of years awake, people understand to have a grateful heart.
In the breath of the years awake, people know to double the labor and creativity to return the grace of nature and compatriots.
Waking up in the breath of the years, one can hear clearly all kinds of heavenly music -
Silkworms say, with a lifetime of love silk, knotted a round cocoon;
Coal says, before turning into ashes, try to burn themselves;
Wildflowers say, for others to open a beautiful flower;
The big tree is the most important thing, and the most important thing is that the people who are in the world are the most important people, and they have the best chance of success.
The tree said, try to hold a green shade for the desolate years later;
So you said, just use a grateful heart to return to others and society!