Beijing, April 4 -- The 22 solar terms are an excellent representative and classic symbol of China's excellent traditional culture. The book "Twenty-four Solar Terms and Seventy-Two Seasons: The Poetic Life Aesthetics of Chinese" by Xu Lijing and painted by Xu Dongdong was recently published by CITIC Publishing Group, deeply exploring the philosophical beauty of the <> solar terms and <> seasons. In the preface to the book, Wang Meng, a famous contemporary writer and scholar, gives an understanding of the roots of traditional Chinese culture of the <> solar terms and <> seasons, leading readers to appreciate the "desirable realm of heaven and earth".

The preamble reads as follows:

Xu Lijing: Your research and thinking on Chinese culture has reached a considerable breadth, height and depth. From the perspective of contemporary writers and scholars, how do you see the significance and role of the 24 solar terms and 72 seasons in traditional Chinese culture?

Wang Meng: I have long had a soft spot for the Chinese calendar. When I learned that its English translation was Lunar Calendar, I didn't quite agree. Because the Chinese calendar is not a calendar based purely on the relative motion of the moon and the earth, as in the Islamic calendar. The Chinese calendar is definitely not just a lunar and lunar calendar, but a great attention to and clear reflection of the relative position relationship between the sun and the earth. The twenty-four solar terms are completely solar calendar elements. The Chinese calendar is actually a lunisolar calendar - combining lunar (moon's) and solar (sun's) together, while referring to the movement of the sun and moon, it is a lunisolar calendar.

So, in fact, it is most appropriate to call it "Chinese Calendar", which is the Chinese calendar. The Chinese nation is a multi-ethnic family, in addition to the summer calendar (lunar calendar) of the Han nationality, there are also the own calendars of ethnic minorities, such as the Yi calendar, Dai calendar, Qiang calendar, Tibetan calendar, etc., are all in use to this day.

For thousands of years, the development, adjustment and perfection of the Chinese calendar has been a great contribution of the Chinese nation to human civilization. According to experts, the Chinese calendar not only takes into account the sun and the moon, but also the seven dawn calendar, that is, in addition to the sun and moon, it also takes into account the position relationship between the five planets of water, fire, wood, metal and earth and the earth. I saw this analysis on the Internet: "According to the two key indicators of the evaluation calendar, comparing the Chinese life calendar with the Gregorian calendar, in terms of accuracy with celestial phenomena, the life calendar is at least the same as the Gregorian calendar; In terms of the connotation of the calendar, the Gregorian calendar can only reflect the influence of the sun on the human body, while the life calendar can reflect the impact of the sun, moon, water, metal, fire, wood and earth on the human body. "I agree with that.

Xu Lijing: You mentioned a very important point, that is, the Chinese calendar does not observe the universe from a single perspective. People often refer to the Chinese calendar as the "lunar calendar", and "lunar" is relative to "yang", which is easily classified as the lunar calendar. Observing the changes in the phases of the moon is of course an important way for our ancestors to understand the cosmic world, but it is by no means limited to that. On the contrary, the twenty-four solar terms are more formed in the process of observing changes in the movement of the sun.

China's "2016 solar terms" were officially inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on November 11, 30, and are summarized as "the time knowledge system formed by Chinese observing the annual movement of the sun". You further mentioned that in addition to the sun and moon, the Chinese calendar also contains observations on the relationship between the five planetary movements of water, fire, wood, metal and earth and the earth, which reflects that Chinese culture's understanding of the cosmic world is multi-angle, three-dimensional and systematic.

Wang Meng: Yes, an important feature of Chinese culture's understanding of the cosmic world is to start from the system, start from the whole, and find out the most essential connection between everything from the all-encompassing cosmic world. For this reason, talking about the twenty-four solar terms and seventy-two seasons of the Chinese calendar is inseparable from the Chinese cultural tradition, and the twenty-four solar terms and seventy-two seasons are inseparable from the relationship between ancient astronomy, meteorology, geography, biology, traditional Chinese medicine, Yixue, divination, yin and yang five elements of gossip, philosophy, folklore, religion, morality and ethics, which have affected all aspects of Chinese social life for thousands of years, not only playing an important role in guiding people's production and life in the agricultural era, but also subtly affecting the life of Chinese today. Become the most well-known and loved part of our culture's blood.

You see, the division of the four seasons and the shorthand ballad of the twenty-four solar terms are so "can't put down"! As soon as I came into contact with it as a child, I liked it, I thought it was very interesting, and I memorized it well, "Spring rain shocks spring clear valley days, summer is full of mangs and summer and summer are connected, autumn dew and autumn frost falls, winter snow snow and winter small big cold".

If we just look at the year, month and day of Arabic numerals, we will not have such a strong natural reaction and rich association with the changes of the seasons in an instant, but when we read the twenty-four solar terms, it is different, and we immediately have the most intuitive and vivid feeling of the change of seasons. The 24 solar terms are a summary of the four seasons in the Chinese calendar, and it is also a concise, innocent, cordial and full of life atmosphere for heaven and earth, for Shenzhou, for the Chinese nation, for the ancestors, for the ancestors and for the ancestors who are heavy farmers and pro-peasants. Its use of Chinese characters has reached the ultimate of beauty and simplicity, and ease of access, revealing the philosophical and social ideals of the unity of heaven and man, Taoism and nature, cultivation and labor, and peace under heaven, and its peace, phonology, overlapping characters, battle, maneuver, and care are also natural, "Spring Rain Shocks Spring Qinggu Tian", which is a heavenly poem and a good poem popularized throughout China.

Seventy-two waits, richer, more cheerful, more vigorous, more "powerful". What "the wild geese come, the cold cicada chirps, the earthworms come out", what "Tao Shihua, Ping Shisheng, He Naideng", what "water begins to ice, Lei Nai sounds, soil moist and summer", what "Wang melon is born, bitter vegetable show, grass dies", what "the tongue is silent, the jackal is a sacrificial beast, and the bird is fiercely sick"... Large and small plants, animals, all kinds of natural phenomena of high heaven and thick soil, what we have never seen, what we have heard of, what we know and what we don't know, the summary description of the seventy-two phenology is so vivid, so detailed, so unique, sometimes unexpected, and often make people smile.

Of course, as a chart of zoology, botany and meteorology, the seventy-two seasons may be flawed, but as your new book says, the seventy-two seasons are astronomical views, geographical views based on the Yellow River Basin, time views of seasons and climates, agricultural production, agricultural civilization views, but also Chinese views of life, natural views, world views, cosmological views, nostalgia and nostalgia that have remained since ancient times, praise and closeness to the land of Shenzhou, and attention, interest, curiosity, and various life phenomena. Imaginary and virtuous values.

Xu Lijing: Thank you for affirming my thinking. Compared with the popularity of the twenty-four solar terms, the public's awareness of the seventy-two solar terms is much less. In the past few years, after carefully studying, observing and understanding the 72 Hou, I feel that this cultural system is really wonderful and interesting, and I am deeply shocked by the meticulousness and subtlety of our ancients' observation of the universe.

In the seventy-two seasons, there are very grand generalizations, such as the second period of the summer season in Mengqiu "the beginning of heaven and earth", the second period of light snow in Mengdong "the weather rises, the earth gas falls", but more is the capture of some very small things, such as the second period of spring "stinging worm first vibration", the spring equinox early waiting "yuan bird solstice", the summer solstice third waiting "half summer birth" and so on. In the eyes of our ancestors, small insects, birds, flowers and grasses are so cute and sensitive, and they can represent the changes of all things in heaven and earth. This made me sigh and move, on the one hand, for the ancient body to observe the meticulousness of the world, the so-called Chinese wisdom of seeing the subtleties; On the other hand, more ancients look at the world's view of life, no matter how big or small, regardless of strength or weakness, strong tigers, tiny earthworms, gorgeous peach blossoms, simple bitter vegetables, are all important members of the universe world, can represent the four times of heaven and earth, such a view of life, I think is extremely precious, for the world today and the future of mankind, is of great value and significance.

Wang Meng: Yes, thanks to this book, it has suddenly rediscovered the spiritual pearl that has long been asleep but seems to have been forgotten for thousands of years, and made it radiant, heartwarming and full of vitality again. The Chinese Dream has opened up another cultural barrier, and we, who are striding on the road of socialist modernization, have connected the Chinese calendar culture that has lasted for thousands of years.

The Chinese calendar culture reflects the love of life and the world of the ancient sages. If you look at the observations, examples and feelings of the changes in heaven and earth in the twenty-four solar terms and seventy-two seasons, there are nothing more than two angles, one is to see the small from the big, and the other is to see the big with the small. The twenty-four solar terms are a big view of the small, is a big summary of the changes of the four times of heaven and earth, reflected in the determination and division of specific solar terms, the ancients looked at the heavenly phase, season, agriculture, biology, customs and other levels, from the perspective of the great changes of heaven and earth to understand these specific things and phenomena. In the endless "things" and "phases" of the world, the ancients carefully selected those objects that they thought were the most vivid, most distinct, and most representative of the grand changes, and summarized the phenology that reflected the evolution of solar terms, which ran through the wisdom of "one leaf knows autumn", and deeply understood the essence of "one flower and one world".

No matter from which angle you observe and understand the universe, the most wise and virtuous ancestors of the Chinese nation are full of love and gratitude for heaven and earth and life. Confucius said, Heaven is what he says, and when he is in four hours, he will be born of a hundred things. Lao Tzu said that the Tao is natural, and goodness is like water. Zhuangzi language, heaven and earth have great beauty without speaking. In the cultural structure of the 24 solar terms and 72 seasons, we carefully savor the replacement and naming of each solar term and phenology, and follow the course and different states of life "spring, summer, long autumn, harvest and winter storage" in the changing seasons, and we will find that each season has irreplaceable beauty and connotation, and each season should be regarded as the best arrangement. Including the cold and summer, it also reveals the world's inspiration and inspiration for our heroism and awe, strength and fighting spirit.

However, for each of us, the heaven and earth way that "every season should be regarded as the best arrangement" does not necessarily become a reality. Why? The great beauty of heaven and earth, heaven and earth themselves are self-spoken, the protection of all things at four times, how can they say it at four o'clock? It's up to us to understand all this. The philosopher Feng Youlan divided the realm of life into four types: the realm of nature, the realm of utilitarianism, the realm of morality, and the realm of heaven and earth. The natural state lacks consciousness and follows instinct to do things according to habits. You look at the animals and plants in the seventy-two seasons, they are all like this, the rain is waiting for the geese to the north, Meng Spring season, the weather begins to become warmer, the wild geese begin to fly north, and when it comes to a warmer first waiting for the "peach first flower", the peach blossoms bloom... When the time comes, all beings follow the natural instincts and natural desires, vivid, changing, beautiful, and difficult as they pass. This is called "the deceased is like Sifu, who does not give up day and night". Isn't the twenty-four solar terms and seventy-two seasons reluctant to change day and night, and the cycle continues over and over again?

Conscious people are divided into three realms: the utilitarian realm, the moral realm, and the heaven and earth realm. For all sentient beings, the moral realm is already a very high realm, and it is difficult for many people to reach it. But is this the highest realm? No. The highest realm is the realm of heaven and earth. In my opinion, the realm of heaven and earth may be expressed in today's language: the affinity and understanding of the objective world of nature, the understanding and perception of the unity and wholeness of heaven and earth, yin and yang and the five elements, heaven and earth and life, material ontology and social history. It is a high degree of integration and unity of the Dao of Heaven, the Mandate of Heaven, the Heart of Heaven, Human Nature, Humanities, and the Essence of Man (this "transformation" is Marx's favorite one), in the words of Zhuangzi, it is the unity of the Tao and me, and the words of Confucius are "Death can be done at the end of the day."

The essence of Chinese culture is to reach the realm of heaven and earth, paying attention to the unity of heaven and man, the creation of teachers and methods, harmony and difference, beauty and harmony, in the twenty-four solar terms and seventy-two weather, our ancients' eyes saw all things in the universe, and the life of each phenology is precious, and the universe world is a whole, a system. Therefore, the 24 solar terms and 72 weather terms are the intangible cultural heritage of mankind, and the cosmology and life view it contains are very remarkable, modern and even postmodern, and are of great significance today and in the future, and in the world.

Xu Lijing: In other words, the transformation of the four seasons is not only natural, it does not shift according to human intentions, but also is cultural, and every day, every season, every solar term, and every phenology can become completely different because of our consciousness and our realm. Following the footsteps of the four seasons and feeling life in the alternation of the 24 solar terms and 72 seasons is actually a process of enlightenment. This enlightenment, embodied in art, is a large number of literary works. In the Tang poetry and Song poems, there are many works related to solar terms, and the poets we are familiar with Du Fu, Lu You, etc., wrote a lot of poems born from solar terms, and the Tang Dynasty poet Yuan Shu wrote all twenty-four solar terms poems. As a literary scholar, what do you think of these poetic works related to solar terms?

Wang Meng: The realm of heaven and earth in the Chinese calendar is comparable to the "Qing Yun Song" in the "Shangshu Dabiography", and it is intertextual. "Qing Yun is rotten, and the stubborn is long... The sun and the moon are gorgeous, and the sun and the moon are beautiful", which makes people love and worship. The well-known "rain in the Qingming season, pedestrians on the road want to break their souls", which is a literary manifestation of the solar terms and seasons.

"One year old in the sound of firecrackers, the spring breeze sends warmth into Tu Su", "Alone in a foreign land as a stranger, every festival thinks of family", "Thousands of trees bloom on the night of the east wind, and the stars fall like rain", "On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival of Yulu, the golden wave of Bi falls"... Although these poems are not directly written about the solar terms and seasons, they all come from the sense of time order and the sense of time, heaven and earth of the Chinese calendar. What is more interesting is Du Fu's famous phrase "Dew is white from tonight, the moon is the hometown Ming", which makes people think of the white dew solar term in early September of the solar calendar and the Mid-Autumn Festival in October, and Su Dongpo's "When is the bright moon, ask the wine to the green sky", although it is not specifically written about the Mid-Autumn Festival, it has become the best choice for Mid-Autumn Festival poetry.

Many sayings of solar terms and phenology - shock, valley rain, Xiaoman, cold dew, wild geese, cold cicadas, are all poetry, can be directly into poetry, and all traditional festivals, from the New Year's Day of "one yuan and all renewal", to Shangyuan, Qingming, Dragon Boat Festival, Qixi, Mid-Autumn Festival, Chongyang... All of them are immersed in traditional Chinese culture, the deep affection and deep thinking of the Chinese calendar for heaven and earth, and soaked in the poetic rhyme of Chinese characters.

Xu Lijing: Yes, walking through the time tunnel of 24 solar terms and 72 seasons is like passing through a cultural channel that exudes poetic brilliance, and those well-known poems are the ancients' perception of nature, heaven and earth, years, and life, giving the four seasons eternal cultural meaning. We chant, sing, and before we know it, life is soaked with poetry. I think this is a particularly valuable gift given to us by traditional Chinese culture.

Wang Meng: There are two types of works typical in the cultural system of the 24 solar terms and 72 seasons, one is the poetry and song talent of the literati, which is gorgeous and beautiful; The other category is agricultural proverbs, which can be said to be extremely colorful and vivid folk literature. There are many agricultural proverbs for each season, and the list is endless, we will briefly list four proverbs with the word "Li" for solar terms:

Lichun - "At the end of the year, the planting is calculated early", "People are not lazy to be diligent, and the granary is full after autumn", "People mistake the land for a day, and the land mistakes people for a year" ...

Lixia - "Spring fights for the day, summer fights for time" "Lixia wheat teeth, it will be pulled out in January" "Lixia wheat grinning, can not lack water" ...

Liqiu - "Liqiu buckwheat white dew flowers, cold dew buckwheat received home" "Liqiu has rain like harvest, Liqiu no rain everyone is worried" "Liqiu cotton pipe is good, the whole branch is indispensable" ...

Lidong - "There is heavy fog since the beginning of winter, and there are some radishes in the winter paddy fields", "Lidong light snow is closely connected, and the land preparation before winter is the first", "Lidong planted peas, one bucket for another" ...

What do we see from these agricultural proverbs? Seeing the "man" in the "heaven and earth people", the hardworking Chinese, he looked at the sky, guarded the field, calculated the cultivation of every season, every day of the month and even every hour, rice sorghum, melons and fruits, cotton beans, carefully cared for, worked without stopping, he did not feel hard, but felt joy, ordinary ingredients were changed by him to make various seasonal health dishes, coarse tea and light rice was passed by him to celebrate the ritual sense of the festival, in the hard work of every day from spring to winter, He gave life a poetic sense of smoke.

Among all the agricultural proverbs, I think these two sentences are the most representative: "The plan of the year lies in the spring, the plan of the life lies in diligence" and "Reading does not leave the desk, and farming does not leave the field". This is the Chinese that stands between heaven and earth, cultivating the heirloom and thrifty. This is the traditional virtue of the Chinese nation and one of the best outlook on life and values in Chinese culture. Whether it is present or in the future, it should be passed on and carried forward. (End)

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