The daily life of the Analects and Tao Te Ching

April 6

cloudy weather

As it turns out, casual travel doesn't lead to good results.

Kong Lun said he didn't look forward to it, but he woke me up early in the morning to wash up.

Fortunately, we just caught up with the legendary "morning rush hour". There were huge crowds everywhere, and we couldn't control our own direction at all, so we could only keep going along with the flow of people.

Kong Lun had never seen such a grand event before, so he was stunned and held my hand tightly, for fear of being scattered by the crowd.

"Why so many people? Did something happen?" he asked nervously.

"Don't be afraid, this is normal." I comforted, "Just follow the crowd."

In other words, I seem to know more about the morning peak than Kong Lun, after all, the news often broadcasts the grand occasion of the morning peak.

The road is full of cars, the cars are full of people, everyone is running around for their livelihood...

I don't know if this is the society advocated by Confucianism, but it is definitely not the harmonious society in the traditional Taoist concept.

Everyone is so busy, how can we have time to stop and enjoy life?

How can this society be stable if the people lose their love for life?

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but sigh.

According to Kong Luncha's route, the easiest and quickest way for us to get to Confucius Temple is to take the subway.

I thought that there would be very few people on this kind of underground transportation, but I didn't expect it to be more crowded than the ground.

"What should we do next?" Kong Lun asked.

Everyone walked in a hurry, pushing the two of us forward.

But apart from the familiar elevator at the door, everything in the subway is unfamiliar to us.

It reminds me of my first day here.

At that time, we were as dazed as we are now, completely at a loss.

"Don't get in the way, go quickly." The people behind urged.

We had no choice but to bite the bullet and move on.

There is a machine in front, and everyone has to stop there and put their backpacks on one end of the machine.

The machine senses the presence of the backpack, swallows it, and ejects it through another port.

Although this description is a bit strange, I can't think of a better way to say it.

"Those who don't have a bag go directly." The person standing next to the machine said.

In this way, I passed the machine smoothly.

But before I could breathe a sigh of relief, a man suddenly swung a stick at me.

I subconsciously reached out to block it, but the stick didn't touch me, it just shook me twice, and then let me go on.

I took two steps forward and suddenly felt that something was not quite right.

Looking back, it turned out that Kong Lun hadn't followed.

He was carrying a backpack. He didn't know what was in the bag, but was stopped there by the person next to the machine.

"Is there any liquid in the bag?" the man asked.

Kong Lun probably didn't expect to be stopped, and his expression was a little dazed.

"Is there any water in the bag?" the man asked again.

"Yes." Kong Lun replied.

"Take it out and have a sip." The man said.

Kong Lun was a little hesitant, probably because he didn't understand why the other party made such a request, but he still complied.

"Hurry up, don't delay the people behind." The man said impatiently.

"I'm sorry." Kong Lun whispered, his eyes were slightly red.

When I saw him like this, I was inexplicably distressed.

It would be great if I started planning a few days earlier, at least to figure out all these things that I might encounter on the road...

Kong Lun took out a bottle of water from his bag and handed it to the person next to the machine.

"What are you doing for me? Open it and take a sip." The man said.

I know that China is short of water now, but I didn't expect it to be so short of water!

Did they not even let go of this small bottle of water?

Kong Lun opened the bottle cap, handed the water to the person next to the machine again, and said, "Drink."

"It's not me, it's you!" The man laughed, "It's your first time taking the subway, right?"

"Sorry, it's really my first time taking the subway." Kong Lun said.

He took a sip of the water in his hand, and it was convenient for him to pass the checkpoint.

"I'm so sorry that I caused you to wait for me here for so long." He said.

"It's not exactly waiting for you... I'm studying how to pass the checkpoint over there." I said.

There is also a machine blocking people ahead, but the people passing by are too fast, I can only see them shaking something in front of the machine.

"I know this!" Kong Lun excitedly said.

He took a blue card from his backpack.

"What is this?" I asked.

"All-in-one card." Kong Lun said with a smile, "I passed by the place where the card was issued that day, thinking that I might be able to use it someday, so I applied for two."

I silently applaud him in my heart.

This is the legendary preparedness!

When Kong Lun heard my compliment, he smiled and said, "Actually, I only planned to apply for a card at the beginning. After all, you stay at home every day and don't even want to go out."

"What happened to two of them later?" I asked.

"Because you can send card stickers if you get two." Kong Lun said and took out two more cards from his bag, but they were thinner than the blue one before.

"The card looks the same, but it's different after the sticker is attached." He laughed.

The two card stickers look similar, one is blue and the other is red.

"Which do you want?" he asked.

I thought about it and chose the blue one.

This guy is always full of enthusiasm and feels that red suits him very well.

"I also think blue is very suitable for you." He smiled, "It feels like water is as good as water."

Kong Lun had already charged money in the card before, so the two of us passed the level easily.

The next step is to take the train. There are trains on the left and right sides. It took us a long time to figure out which side of the train we should get on.

There were a lot of people in the car, and almost everyone stuck together.

"Sorry, I didn't expect there to be so many people in the subway." Kong Lun whispered.

"It's all up, what's the use of talking about it?" I said.

As the train pulled out of the platform, he staggered and nearly fell, and I quickly helped him up.

"I don't know how to support if I can't stand still." I muttered, "If there is no place to support, why not support me?"

The air conditioner in the carriage was fully turned on, but Kong Lun's hands were very hot.

The heat from his palm spread to me, and even my face felt warm.

"Why is your face so red?" Kong Lun asked.

"I'm hot...are you hot?"

His hands are so hot, they should be hot too, right?

"I feel fine, it's quite cool in the carriage." He said.

The two of us fell into silence, staring at the stop sign above the door, silently counting how many stops we had left.

After an unknown amount of time, Kong Lun suddenly laughed.

"What are you laughing at?" I asked.

"I think the sound of the train starting is so interesting." He said, "It feels like traveling through time and space."

I listened carefully, and I always felt that I had heard this voice somewhere before.

"It's a bit like the sound of the wind blowing over the spire, but there is no ringing of bells." I said.

This feeling is really amazing, the same sound can be heard in high and low places.

"By the way, is this your first visit to the Confucius Temple?" Kong Lun asked suddenly.

"Yes." I said.

I am the spirit of the "Tao Te Ching", and I do not belong to the Confucian system of thought. Wouldn't it be strange to visit a Confucian temple?

"Actually... I haven't been to the Confucius Temple either." Kong Lun murmured, "I'm obviously going back to my own home, but I was treated as a guest."

So Confucianism doesn't actually like going to Confucian temples?

Then why did he agree to my invitation?

"Because you're with me this time." He smiled, his eyes bent into the shape of crescent moons, "It's like I'm going home to meet my parents."

I always felt that his description was a bit subtle, and before he had time to ask, he hurriedly explained: "Well... I want him to know that I have become friends with the Tao Te Ching... After all, Confucius and Lao Tzu are also friends. "

The more he spoke, the lower his voice became, until finally it was barely audible.

"What's the embarrassment of saying this? If you have friendship, you have friendship." I said, "Confucius once asked Laozi for advice."

"It's a discussion." Kong Lun corrected, "Two people discuss the problem together."

I don't know what this guy saw, but his expression suddenly became a little strange, as if he was trying to hold back a smile.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He glanced at me, couldn't hold back his smile, and whispered, "You didn't take off the label on your clothes."

Label?

I didn't quite understand what he meant.

He supported me with one hand, and with the other hand pulled the small piece of paper tied to my trousers, saying: "This thing needs to be taken off."

Look at his expression... Am I making a joke again?

"You didn't tell me to take it off." I whined under my breath. "I thought it was part of my trousers."

"Okay, okay, blame me." He said.

After several twists and turns, we finally arrived at the Confucius Temple.

Kong Lun looked very happy, but when he was about to go in, the people at the door stopped him.

"Please buy tickets first," said the other party.

Looking in the direction of his finger, there is indeed a small ticket booth there.

I bought two adult tickets.

One ticket is 30 yuan, and two tickets are 60 yuan.

Although the price is not very expensive, I always feel that the money is spent a little delicately.

"The Analects of Confucius" brought friends home to play, but they had to pay money to unrelated people to be eligible to enter... What kind of logic is this? !

The Confucian Temple is crowded with people everywhere, but the place where we stopped for the longest time was the forest of steles of the "Thirteen Classics" that few people visited.

"Look, these are the Three Spring and Autumn Brothers." Kong Lun walked up to several stone tablets and said.

Although both are called "Chunqiu", "Chunqiu Zuoshi Zhuan" has become far more famous in recent years than "Chunqiu Gongyang Zhuan" and "Chunqiu Guliang Biography".

This is the benefit of being included in textbooks...

Moving forward, we saw several other "Thirteen Classics" works.

"Book of Songs"... "Book of Changes"... "Book of Rites"...

This feeling is very subtle, and I haven't seen everyone's "true colors" in this form for a long time.

Kong Lun seemed to have opened up a chatterbox, and kept talking non-stop.

"Shishi seems to be getting very close to Xiao Chu recently. The two of them didn't have any friendship before. I don't know why they suddenly got together recently."

I have heard about this incident, and it is said that it is because when people write lyrics, they often mix the content of the two of them together, and sparks are sparked over time.

However, one of them is realism and the other is romanticism, and they don't know how long this harmony can last.

"Recently, it seems that many people regard "Book of Changes" as a book of your Taoist system."

"Book of Changes"... the existence of this guy is really subtle.

Since he is older than us, it seems that all the theoretical systems can be explained.

This guy is always mysterious, coming and going without a trace, even I haven't seen him a few times.

It is said that they were originally three brothers, but "Lianshan" and "Guizang" were lost in the long river of history, and now he is left alone.

He is always reluctant to deal with us, maybe because in his heart, those two books are his real family members?

After an unknown amount of time, Kong Lun suddenly stopped, staring at a stone tablet and fell into deep thought.

I looked up and saw that the stone tablet was engraved with "The Analects of Confucius".

"What's the matter? I don't think the engraving of you is good enough?" I laughed.

Kong Lun shook his head, stretched out his hand to slowly caress the notch on the stele, and said, "The rulers of all ages have elevated me to the altar, but I often reflect on whether I am really worthy of such a height."

After a pause, he said again: "There are so many books that are more advanced, interesting, and more in line with people's sentiments than me. Why am I the one who stands at this height?"

"The rulers are not stupid. Naturally, they have their reasons for doing this." I said, "You just need to be yourself."

The reason why "The Analects of Confucius" can last for a long time must have its unique charm.

I have always believed in this...