Liang Qichao's Worship and Imitation of Zeng Guofan
-Excerpted from the best-selling book "The Wisdom of China People"
Liang Qichao (1873 ~ 1929) was greatly inspired by his teacher Kang Youwei's thoughts during his early years of study. But after the Reform Movement of 1898, he fled to Japan and eventually died in Beijing. Zeng Guofan played a vital role in it. In other words, after the failure of Kang Liang's political reform, he fled overseas and parted ways, and Zeng Guofan's letters became a must-read book for Liang Qichao every day. Zeng Guofan's self-denial and self-restraint in virtue cultivation accompanied Liang Qichao for a long time, which made Liang Qichao recover his composure after several major setbacks and emotional anger. In this respect, Zeng Guofan's intangible influence on Liang Qichao is better than that of his teacher Kang Youwei.
In the spring and summer of Guangxu's 26th year, Liang Qichao lived in Honolulu, USA, and was going to attend the royalist meeting. On March 26th, he wrote to Kang Youwei, his mentor, and mentioned the feeling of reading Zeng Guofan's letters and the guilt of introspection: "Disciple accidentally read Zeng's letters during the day, and suddenly he was introspective and felt inferior to others. They feel that although they have a little higher knowledge in recent years, they are too shallow in Taoism to cope with any major events. Due to the pursuit of Mr. Shang's books in 10 and10 last year, all kinds of embarrassing, introspection, introspection, ignorance and extreme research are always inherently disrespectful. ……"
On April 2 1 day of the same year, he wrote letters to friends such as Ye Xiangnan and Mai Rubo. Liang Qichao also mentioned that Zeng Guofan was his model of self-cultivation, and he intended to take it as his lifelong goal: "My brother is quite self-destructive, because he accidentally read Ceng Wenzheng's letters and suddenly introspected, feeling that people who don't learn Taoism are not important enough. Since I took care of myself for several years, I have made great progress in studying abroad, but I have gone further and further. Compared with Ceng Wenzheng, I feel far from it! Nowadays, teenagers like to slander their predecessors and feel that they are very capable. In fact, they are all hypocritical and unsuitable for use. This is really terrible. The way to cultivate one's mind and establish a career must be broken. Last year, my elders came to the book and accused the book of insincerity and went straight to the point, but my brother not only didn't blame himself, but even disobeyed the rules, which made him very angry. Looking back so far, I really feel that dogs are not as good as dogs, and I am ashamed of my promise. My serious illness is that I can't be cautious, avoid bullying, and I can't control my temper. So my brother recently taught himself five things: self-denial, sincerity, respect, hard work and perseverance. These five things are all related to those who are targeted by my brother's nature, and I have been reflecting on them. I've been doing it for five days, and I want to make this my life goal. I wonder if it's possible. But the habit of dyeing is very deep, and it is very laborious to wash it today. What a pity! In recent years, my brother became famous when he was poor, and everyone liked him. He thinks he doesn't know his depravity, even so! Keep a diary and remember everything you do, say or want to express in Ceng Wenzheng's way ... "
The "five things" that Mr. Liang Qichao once "taught himself": self-denial, sincerity, respect, diligence and perseverance. These are the cultivation points that Zeng Guofan tirelessly taught his brothers and sons and nephews in his family letters.
In November of the 31st year of Guangxu, Liang Qichao completed the book "Mirror of Moral Education", which is divided into three parts: first, distinguishing skills; second, making up your mind; third, knowing the basics; fourth, saving money; sixth, applying.
It is worth noting that this book quotes a lot of Zeng Guofan's words. In his book, Liang Qichao praised Zeng Guofan's way: "That is, after being born in Yong Gan, the country's ethos is extremely bad. However, with the people of Luoluoshan, we can only talk about things that the world has not talked about, and we have taken the lead in our career and made great achievements, but our enthusiasm has not diminished so far. Today, the numbers are embarrassing. Therefore, Ceng Wenzheng's so-called immigration and Tao Zhu I must be an unattainable industry. Although it is the extreme of chaos in the world, its effect is not impressive at the beginning, and it is only the extreme of chaos in the world. People with lofty ideals will certainly benefit from Li Zhuo when they stand in this whirlpool. "
In these words, the admiration for Zeng Guofan is beyond words!
During the period of Xuan Tong, Liang Qichao followed Zeng Guofan's method of self-cultivation and physical exercise, which was reflected in many letters. For example, in a letter sent to my brother Liang Kai on July 24 of the first year, it was mentioned that Zeng Guofan practiced calligraphy every day, so that his brother Jing couldn't recognize his handwriting, thinking that someone was trying to catch a knife and said, "Meng Ge is not in Japan. It's strange. How can he write for his brother? How can he write a book for his brother?" Brother, since March, Ceng Wenzheng has to learn two papers every day, which is very effective, so Yidi can't recognize my ink anymore. "
In February of the following year, Liang Qichao wrote a letter to his good friend Mr. Xu, which revealed that the peace he was able to maintain under extreme hardship was really due to Zeng Guofan's cultivation and exercise methods: "Today, the average daily composition is 5,000 words, so I don't feel bitter ... Wen wrote at night, posted a little homework during the day, and read Buddhist scriptures during the day. Those who haven't had a rest since the first day of July last year (since that day, they have kept a diary every day, fortunately, they have never stopped). Although they have repeatedly encountered setbacks (although my brother tried his best to cope with life and tried his best, he did nothing but let it go. If he is sad, his brother will never do anything stupid for it. Besides, he has never tried to pat my chest. He is very energetic and too advanced. ……"
Mr. Liang Qichao attends classes regularly every day, and he can persist in practicing until his later years. A student who had heard Ren Gong give lectures in Nanjing recalled: "He studied hard and even had a certain day shift (work plan) on Sundays, without rest. He is full of energy to an amazing extent-his right hand writes articles, but his left hand keeps waving, sometimes while writing, he is answering questions from his classmates. When he finished writing one, he knocked on the bed and asked his assistant to take it to another room. Yin Gao hasn't finished typing a Chinese article when the second draft is on the table. No wonder Liang Qichao is a prolific writer. In fact, that's not all. He reads Beijing-Shanghai Daily and a magazine as thick as New Youth every day, and extracts the necessary materials. I read books in Japanese and Chinese every day, and I am not lazy even in my busy schedule. "
19 18 May 10, I wrote a letter to my friend Qi Xiuchang, mentioning the laws of daily life. It can be seen that I am still very self-disciplined in my later years. If I hadn't followed the example of Ceng Wenzheng in Guangxu period, how could I be like this? His book wrote: "My brother has developed a new habit of getting up early in the morning, and the rules of daily life are extremely strict. However, eating wine has become a habit with it, and I know it very well. If I don't control myself, writing more than 2,000 words a day is already huge, and I can enjoy it for several days when I am on a business trip. " Parts of speech have been greatly reduced. "
Liang Qichao's knowledge and wisdom reached maturity and harmony in his later years. In his letter to his children, he talked about the introduction of learning, and said objectively and calmly that his life has been greatly helped by Ceng Wenzheng: "In my life, the most convincing thing is Ceng Wenzheng's two words,' Mo Wen gained something, but asked about cultivation'. What will I achieve in the future? Now I miss him very much, but I am worried about him. " On the one hand, we should not be arrogant and slow, on the other hand, we should not be cowardly and complacent. We should work hard to get there, so that we can get into the exam without being complacent, and we will always make a lot of contributions to society. This is what I have learned all my life, and I hope you can all. "Mo Wen harvests, but requires cultivation" is exactly what Zeng Guofan taught his younger brothers in his family letters.
1On August 29th, 927, Liang Qichao said in a letter to his family: "The sages of our country taught people how to learn, and the most important thing is to swim well, drink well and be careful." This sentence is based on decades of experience, and the more I read it, the more intimate and tasteful I feel. There are always two kinds of work in learning, namely' strong fire cooking' and' slow fire stewing', which are used alternately. When stewing slowly, the cooked food can be digested, harmonious and practical. "
This is almost a copy of Zeng Guofan's letter to his brothers that "you must cook with strong fire first, then use slow fire". It can be seen that Mr. Liang Qichao's imitation of Zeng Guofan is not only in virtue cultivation, that is, in learning methods, but also in order to achieve the realm of going hand in hand and perfect body and mind!