lines 145 – 152
Consider: There is a collection of sayings of Master Kong called the
Lu Lun,
or, Analects of Confucius.
It is the only works
of the Master which has come down to us today. But ever since
the Master's time, his ideas have been diligently studied. And so it is
that a scholar of the Song Dynasty, a high official named
Zhao Pu, even after ascending to his high status continued his study so
as to make himself ever more useful to the first two emperors of the
Song Dynasty, Tai Zu and Tai Zong. Think: even as an adult, an official
and even prime minister, he continued his studies. Can we who have so
far yet to go do anything less?
Indeed:
145. The great statesman
Zhao Pu
studied the Analects of Confucius . . .
146. . .
. and studied them diligently, even though he was already an
official.
Consider: In earlier days, books were not easy to come by. Today books
are available everywhere and some are quite inexpensive. But this was
not so in earlier times. Then books were expensive and rare to find.
Today our houses all have much that is printed in them. In the old
days, only a few houses contained books, and what could students do?
If you cannot buy a book, you can copy it out yourself. But copy it
onto what? Paper and silk were used, but they were also hugely
expensive, and poor scholars could not afford those basic materials.
But they were clever and could think of ways of creating books for
study out of the materials that they had to hand.
In fact, you have seen one of the tricks they used. The very mat were
are sitting on was made by your grandmother from reeds she collected
alongside the family fields. You have seen her slit the reeds and dry
them and weave them into mats. Just think, the mats could be made
book-size and that is exactly what poor scholars of long ago did. Some
wove
small mats on which they could write the books they could not afford.
The first one to do this was a shepherd named Lu
Wen Shu who lived at the
time of the Western Han Dynasty. He made a such a book from reeds and
copied
onto it the Book of History. He eventually became a high official and
is remembered even today.
In other places where bamboo was abundant, they split the bamboo and
wrote their lessons on the surfaces. This was first done by a man named
Gong
Sunhong, also at the time of the Han Dynasty. He was 50 years
when he did this! Even at his age he knew he needed to
learn and borrowed a copy of The Annals of Spring and Autumn to copy
onto bamboo strips. He also became a high official of that
Dynasty.
Imagine the amount of work it took to do what these men did. Imagine
just the task of writing out a book by hand, and add to it the labor
needed to create the surfaces on which the books were written! That
they went to this trouble tells you how important learning is and shows
you that you can achieve much in these days when you do not have to go
to this trouble, if only you show the same spirit and attitude towards
your education as did they. If you do not, what will become of you?
Indeed:
148. Splitting cattails
and
weaving the strips or cutting bamboo into slips, . . .
149. . .
. those are ways people of old who had no books made their own; they
knew how to sacrifice to learn.
Consider: Many times when it comes time for me to teach you, you
complain that you are tired and that you need to rest, or that you have
worked hard already and that you need to relax. Do you think you
are the first person to feel that way when confronted with the need to
study? Sleep is easy and study is hard.
In the old days, young scholars knew that they had to overcome their
desire to sleep and they did not depend on others to keep them at their
task. They knew learning was their duty so they invented ways to
make sure that they did not sleep when they should be studying.
In those days men wore their hair long and so one way to keep from
falling asleep was to tie their hair to a wooden beam overhead, so that
when their heads nodded as they began to sleep, their hair would be
jerked painfully and so they would wake up and return to their task.
This is just what Sun Jing of the Jin Dynasty is known for
doing.
Others used needles to prick themselves awake. In the Warring States
period there was an official named Su Qin
who failed to be promoted to
a high position. This told him that he had not been sufficiently
diligent in his studies and redoubled his efforts, and when his
attention began to fail, he would prick himself with an awl to help him
focus of his task.
They did not enjoy doing these things, but they understood the need to
keep themselves awake to continue their studies and master the
materials they were given. They had no one to tell them to
act like this. They solved the problem of their inattention to their
studies in their own original ways. How much easier it is for students
today, especially if they show the same degree of devotion to their
work.
Indeed:
149. To stay
awake they tied
their hair to the roof beams or used an awl to prick their thighs; . . .
150. . .
. they were not taught these tricks; they invented them on their own
out of their need to study well and diligently.
Consider: In the old days, not only were books rare, but also there was
no cheap way of lighting the house when it was dark. There was no
electricity. In much of China, much of the country has many hours of
darkness during the winter season. There are only a few hours of
daytime with natural light to read. Candles were hugely expensive and
even oil for lamps cost too much for many families to be able to
provide more than just a short time of burning every night.
But a scholar must study for more than just the daylight hours, even in
the summertime. What could they do? The needed light to read at night,
light
that was free. In the summertime they could collect fireflies and put
them in a cage and use their light to study by. In the winter they
could open a window to admit moonlight reflected from the snow. These
things were done by Che
Yin and Sun Kang during the Jin Dynasty.Yes,
they were uncomfortable, letting in the light also let in the cold, but
that did not matter, they knew they needed to diligently pursue their
studies and the ignored the extra work and the extra discomfort and did
all they could to proceed with their educations. How much more can
students, like you, of today achieve when they have the convenience of
electric lights to study by, if only they display the same attitude
towards their education?
Indeed:
151. Some,
needing light to
study, used bags of fireflies, others used light reflected from snow; .
. .
152. . .
. even though their families were poor, they knew they needed
to study unceasingly.