Lin Yutang
[1] In modern life, a philosopher is about the most honored and most unnoticed person in the world, if indeed such a person exists.“Philosopher” has become merely a term of social compliment.Anyone who is abstruse and unintelligible is called “a philosopher”.Anyone who is unconcerned with the present is also called “a philosopher”.And yet there is some truth in the latter meaning.When Shakespeare made Touchstone say in As You Like It, “Hast any philosophy in thee, shepherd?” he was using it in the second meaning.In this sense, philosophy is but a common, rough and ready outlook on things or on life in general, and every person has more or less of it.Anyone who refuses to take the entire panorama of reality on its surface value, or refuses to believe every word that appears in a newspaper, is more or less a philosopher.He is the fellow who refuses to be taken in.
[2] There is always a flavor of disenchantment about philosophy.The philosopher looks at life as an artist looks at a landscape through a veil or a haze.The raw details of reality are softened a little to permit us to see its meaning.At least that is what a Chinese artist or a Chinese philosopher thinks.The philosopher is therefore the direct opposite of the complete realist who, busily occupied in his daily business, believes that his successes and failures, his losses and gains, are absolute and real.There is nothing to be done about such a person because he does not even doubt and there is nothing in him to start with.Confucius said, “If a person does not say to himself ‘What to do? What to do?’ indeed I do not know what to do with such a person!” one of the few conscious witticisms I have found in Confucius.
[3] I hope to present in this chapter some opinions of Chinese philosophers on a design for living.The more these philosophers differ, the more they agree that man must be wise and unafraid to live a happy life.The more positive Mencian outlook and the more roguishly pacifist Laotsean outlook merge together in the Philosophy of the Half-and-Half, which I may describe as the average Chinaman’s religion.The conflict between action and inaction ends in a compromise, or contentment with a very imperfect heaven on earth.This gives rise to a wise and merry philosophy of living, eventually typified in the life of T’ao Yuanming in my opinion China’s greatest poet and most harmonious personality.
[4] The only problem unconsciously assumed by all Chinese philosophers to be of any importance is: how shall we enjoy life, and who can best enjoy life? No perfectionism, no straining after the unattainable, no postulating of the unknowable; but taking poor, mortal human nature as it is, how shall we organize our life that we can work peacefully, endure nobly and live happily?
[5] Who are we? That is the first question.It is a question almost impossible to answer.But we all agree that the busy self occupied in our daily activities is not quite the real self.We are quite sure we have lost something in the mere pursuit of living.When we watch a person running about looking for something in a field, the wise man can set a puzzle for all the spectators to solve: what has that person lost? Someone thinks it is a watch; another thinks it is a diamond brooch; and others will essay other guesses.After all these guesses have failed, the wise man who really doesn’t know what the person is seeking after tells the company: “I’ll tell you.He has lost some breath.” And no one can deny that he is right.So we often forget our true self in the pursuit of living, like a bird forgetting its own danger in pursuit of a mantis, which again forgets its own danger in pursuit of another prey, as is so beautifully expressed in a parable by Chuangtse:
When Chuangtse was wandering in the park at Tiao-ling, he saw a strange bird which came from the south.Its wings were seven feet across.Its eyes were an inch in circumference.And it flew close past Chuangtse’s head to alight in a chestnut grove.
“What manner of bird is this?” cried Chuangtse.“With strong wings it does not fly away.With large eyes it does not see.”
So he picked up his skirts and strode towards it with his crossbow, anxious to get a shot.Just then he saw a cicada enjoying itself in the shade, forgetful of all else.And he saw a mantis spring and seize it, forgetting in the act its own body, which the strange bird immediately pounced upon and made its prey.And this it was which had caused the bird to forget its own nature.
“Alas!” cried Chuangtse with a sigh, “how creatures injure one another.Loss follows the pursuit of gain.”
So he laid aside his bow and went home, driven away by the park-keeper who wanted to know what business he had there.
For three months after this, Chuangtse did not leave the house; and at length Lin Chu asked him, saying, “Master, how is it that you have not been out for so long?”
“While keeping my physical frame,” replied Chuangtse, “I lost sight of my real self. Gazing at muddy water, I lost sight of the clear abyss.Besides, I have learnt from the Master as follows: ‘When you go into the world, follow its customs.’ Now when I strolled into the park at Tiao-ling, I forgot my real self.That strange bird which flew close past me to the chestnut grove, forgot its nature.The keeper of the chestnut grove took me for a thief. Consequently I have not been out.”[1]
[6] Chuangtse was the eloquent follower of Laotse, as Mencius was the eloquent follower of Confucius, both separated from their masters by about a century.Chuangtse was a contemporary of Mencius, as Laotse was probably a contemporary of Confucius.But Mencius agreed with Chuangtse that we have lost something and the business of philosophy is to discover and recover that which is lost in this case, “a child’s heart,” according to Mencius.“A great man is he who has not lost the heart of a child,” says this philosopher.Mencius regards the effect of the artificial life of civilization upon the youthful heart born in man as similar to the deforestation of our hills:
[7] There was once a time when the forests of the Niu Mountain were beautiful.But can the mountain any longer be regarded as beautiful, since being situated near a big city, the woodsmen have hewed the trees down? The days and nights gave it rest, and the rains and the dew continued to nourish it, and a new life was continually springing up from the soil, but then the cattle and the sheep began to pasture upon it.That is why the Niu Mountain looks so bald, and when people see its baldness, they imagine that there was never any timber on the mountain.Is this the true nature of the mountain? And is there not a heart of love and righteousness in man, too? But how can that nature remain beautiful when it is hacked down every day, as the woodsman chops down the trees with his ax? To be sure, the nights and days do the healing and there is the nourishing air of the early dawn, which tends to keep him sound and normal, but this morning air is thin and is soon destroyed by what he does in the day.With this continuous hacking of the human spirit, the rest and recuperation obtained during the night are not sufficient to maintain its level, and when the night’s recuperation does not suffice to maintain its level, then the man degrades himself to a state not far from the beast’s.People see that he acts like a beast and imagine that there was never any true character in him.But is this the true nature of man?
[1937]
Notes
1.Text A is an excerpt from Chapter V of the book The Importance of Living by Lin Yutang.
2.Lin Yutang (1895-1976): He was a Chinese writer and inventor.His informal but polished style in both Chinese and English made him one of the most influential writers of his generation, and his compilations and translations of classic Chinese texts into English were bestsellers in the West.
3.Chuangtse (369BC-286 BC): He was a representative figure of Taoism and a great Taoist thinker after Laotse during the Warring States Period.
4.Shakespeare (1564-1616): He was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist.His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.
5.As You Like It: It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare and remains a favorite among audiences and has been adapted for radio, film, and musical theatre.
6.Confucius (551BC-479 BC): He was a Chinese teacher, editor, politician and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese history.
7.Tao Yuanming (about 365-427): He was a Chinese poet of the Six Dynasties period and is generally regarded as the greatest poet during the centuries between the Han and Tang dynasties.He is also the foremost of the “recluse” poets.
8.Laotse (about 571BC-471 BC): He was a philosopher of ancient China, best known as the author of the Tao Te Ching.He is considered the founder of philosophical Taoism and is also revered as a deity in most religious forms of Taoist philosophy, which often refers to Laotse as Taishang Laojun, or “One of the Three Pure Ones”.
9.Mencius (372BC-289 BC): He was a Chinese thinker whose importance in the Confucian tradition is second only to that of Confucius himself.
After You Read
Knowledge Focus
1.Discuss the following questions with your partner.
1) What is philosophy according to Lin Yutang? Do you agree with Lin Yutang’s definition of a philosopher? Why or why not?
2) How does Lin Yutang describe a realist? What is your understanding of a realist?
3) What moral lesson can you learn from Chuangtse’s story about the bird?
4) How are Confucius, Laotse, Mencius and Chuangtse associated with each other?
5) What has happened to the Niu Mountain? What lesson can you draw from it?
2.Share with your partner your understandings on the following statements by the Masters.
1) Confucius said: “If a person does not say to himself ‘What to do? What to do?’indeed I do not know what to do with such a person!”
2) “While keeping my physical frame,” replied Chuangtse, “I lost sight of my real self.”
3) “A great man is he who has not lost the heart of a child,” says this philosopher[Mencius].
3.Discuss the following topic with your partner.
In Lin Yutang’s opinion, Tao Yuanming is China’s greatest poet and most harmonious personality.Refer to the context and the material provided below and figure out why.
Tao Chien (Tao Yuanming) is well educated in the classics of Confucianism and Taoism, and later in life he may have befriended a local Buddhist figure long before Buddhism was significant in China.But Tao Chien is chiefly remembered not for his breadth of knowledge but for his unique voice as a poet of transition and reclusion.
Tao’s career as a “scholar-gentleman” or government official, clashed with his propensity for solitude, and he became a recluse in the Chinese manner, in a rural area with his family.As a poet he projects warmth, humanity, and personal vulnerability.Unlike most of his contemporaries and predecessors, Tao Chien neither wrote in a lofty manner nor exaggerated the virtues of reclusion.He is at once loyal to friends and family, skeptical philosophically, a realist about daily life and its hardships, but also rueful and wistfully romantic in his struggle to be worthy of the hermits and sages of the past.
Language Focus
1.Find out the roots or relevant forms of the following words and guess their meanings in the text.
e.g.unattainable (attain) that cannot be attained
1) contentment ( )_____________________________
2) typify ( )_____________________________
3) disenchantment ( )_____________________________
4) witticism ( )_____________________________
5) deforestation ( )_____________________________
6) pacifist ( )_____________________________
7) roguish ( )_____________________________
8) righteousness ( )_____________________________
2.Consider the following questions and pay attention to the italicized words or expressions.
1) Do you agree that Lu Xun’s works are very abstruse?
2) Do you believe that artificial intelligence might be out of control some day?
3) What consequences do you think could rivalries give rise to?
4) What suggestions can you offer to an insomnia patient eager for recuperation?
5) Why do you think old ladies are more likely to be taken in?
6) What do you think a contemporary realist is straining after?
7) Do you agree humans are also beasts of prey to some extent?
8) What do you think could help make an eloquent speaker?
3.Identify the errors and correct them.
4.Grammar: Degree of Comparison (I).
In English grammar, the degree of comparison of an adjective or adverb describes the relational value of one thing with something in another clause of a sentence.An adjective may simply describe a quality; it may compare the quality with that of another of its kind; and it may compare the quality with many or all others.
a.Read the following sentences and analyze the grammatical function of the italicized parts.
1) The more these philosophers differ, the more they agree that man must be wise and unafraid to live a happy life.
2) This gives rise to a wise and merry philosophy of living, eventually typified in the life of T’ao Yuanming in my opinion China’s greatest poet and most harmonious personality.
3) John is no less hard-working than his sister, but he still failed in the exam.
4) It is easier to make a plan than to carry it out.
5) Young readers, more often than not, find the novels of Dickens far more exciting than Thackeray’s.
6) He is happier than any other man would be in his situation.
b.Underline the faulty part in the sentence and correct it.
1) The examination was more easier than we had expected.______
2) That was the worst exciting football game I’ve ever watched.______
3) Africa is the second larger continent.______
4) Mr.Johnson and his oldest daughter do not always understand each other.______
5) He can play tennis better than any boy in his class.______
Comprehensive Work
1.Read the following passage and then share your ideas on the differences between Taoism and Confucianism with your partner.
Nor can it be said truly that a pure-blooded Chinese could ever quite disagree with Chuangtse’s ideas.Taoism is not a school of thought in China.It is a deep, fundamental trait of Chinese thinking, and of the Chinese attitude toward life and toward society.It has depth, while Confucianism has only a practical sense of proportions; it enriches Chinese poetry and imagination in an immeasurable manner, and it gives a philosophic sanction to whatever is in the idle, freedom-loving, poetic, vagabond Chinese soul.It provides the only safe, romantic release from the severe Confucian classic restraint, and humanizes the very humanists themselves; therefore when a Chinese succeeds, he is always a Confucianist, and when he fails, he is always a Taoist.As more people fail than succeed in this world, and as all who succeed know that they succeed but in a lame and halting manner when they examine themselves in the dark hours of the night, I believe Taoist ideas are more often at work than Confucianism.Even a Confucianist succeeds only when he knows he never really succeeds, that is, by following Taoist wisdom.Tseng Kuofan, the great Confucian general who suppressed the Taiping Rebellion, had failed in his early campaign and began to succeed only one morning when he realized with true Taoist humility that he was “no good”, and gave power to his assistant generals.
— Lin Yutang
2.Translate the following Chinese story into English.
Chuangtse’s story in the text reveals the origin of the idiom “The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind (螳螂捕蝉，黄雀在后) .”Read the following story about Chuangtse and translate it into English.
庄周梦蝶
战国时，著名哲学家庄周在大白天做了一个梦。他梦见自己变成一只色彩斑斓的大蝴蝶，在开满鲜花的草地上翩翩飞舞，一会儿停在黄色的花朵上，一会儿停在白色的花朵上，一会儿又停在紫色的花朵上，多么轻松，多么愉快啊！此时此刻，他根本不知道自己就是庄周，完全深深沉浸在一片欢乐之中。忽然间，庄周一觉醒来，睁开眼睛，不禁大吃一惊：咦，我怎么是庄周呢？刚才还是一只蝴蝶！他摇了摇头，认真地思索着这样一个问题：就我个人来讲，不知道是做梦化为蝴蝶，还是蝴蝶做梦化为庄周？不管怎样变化，万物的一生始终处在梦境之中。
——《庄子·齐物论》
3.Write an essay on the following topic.
What Is the Importance of Living?
You are to write in three parts.In the first part state your opinion.In the second part, support your view with one or two reasons.In the last part, bring what you have written to a natural conclusion or summary.
Read More