子曰：‘予欲无言。”子贡曰：“子如不言，则小子何述焉？”子曰：‘天何言哉？四时行焉，百物生焉，天何言哉？’
孔子说：“我不想讲话了。”子贡说：“老师如果不讲话，那么弟子们又传述什么呢？”孔子说：“天讲了什么呢？春夏秋冬照样运行，天下百物照样生长，天讲了什么呢？”
我们可以从孔子“予欲无言”这四个字里看到孔子内心的一种无奈。孔子为什么不想讲话呢？除了因为言易行难，更重要的是言不尽意呵。
关于第一点，孔子说了不少：‘巧言令色，鲜矣仁’、‘古者言之不出，恥躬之不逮也’、‘君子欲訥於言，而敏於行’ 。
关于第二点，孔子在易经中就指出：‘书不尽言，言不尽意。’所以，‘圣人立象以尽意，设卦以尽情伪，系辞焉以尽其言。’
就这样，重象轻言的说法后来就成了中国美学里最重要的审美概念。比较起来，西方则重‘文字’（罗各斯）而轻‘影像’。
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Confucius said, 'I would prefer not speaking.' Zi-gong said, 'If you, the Master, do not speak, what shall we, your disciples, have to record and pass on?' Confucius said, 'Does Heaven speak? The four seasons pursue their courses, and all things are continually being produced, but does Heaven say anything?'
One can sense the Master’s inner feeling of lack of choices when he said he would prefer not speaking. Why didn’t he prefer speaking? This is due to the difficulty in applying his teachings in our daily lives and more importantly, the difficulty in using words to transmit completely his teachings.
On the first point, Confucius has a lot to say about it:
- Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with virtue.
- The ancients were hesitant to speak, fearing that their actions would not do justice to their words.
- The Superior Man desires to be hesitant in speech, but sharp in action.
On the second point, Confucius said in Yijing: “Writing cannot fully express spoken words, and spoken words cannot fully express ideas.” As such, he continued: “A Sage establishes images/symbols to fully express his ideas, and he designs the hexagrams to plumb true and false feelings. He appends text to them to express his words.”
Now, his preference of ‘images/symbols’ over ‘words’ was later evolved into the most important aesthetic concept in the traditional Chinese aesthetics, as compared to the Western preference of ‘words’ (logos) over appearances.
孔子说：“我不想讲话了。”子贡说：“老师如果不讲话，那么弟子们又传述什么呢？”孔子说：“天讲了什么呢？春夏秋冬照样运行，天下百物照样生长，天讲了什么呢？”
我们可以从孔子“予欲无言”这四个字里看到孔子内心的一种无奈。孔子为什么不想讲话呢？除了因为言易行难，更重要的是言不尽意呵。
关于第一点，孔子说了不少：‘巧言令色，鲜矣仁’、‘古者言之不出，恥躬之不逮也’、‘君子欲訥於言，而敏於行’ 。
关于第二点，孔子在易经中就指出：‘书不尽言，言不尽意。’所以，‘圣人立象以尽意，设卦以尽情伪，系辞焉以尽其言。’
就这样，重象轻言的说法后来就成了中国美学里最重要的审美概念。比较起来，西方则重‘文字’（罗各斯）而轻‘影像’。
.
Confucius said, 'I would prefer not speaking.' Zi-gong said, 'If you, the Master, do not speak, what shall we, your disciples, have to record and pass on?' Confucius said, 'Does Heaven speak? The four seasons pursue their courses, and all things are continually being produced, but does Heaven say anything?'
One can sense the Master’s inner feeling of lack of choices when he said he would prefer not speaking. Why didn’t he prefer speaking? This is due to the difficulty in applying his teachings in our daily lives and more importantly, the difficulty in using words to transmit completely his teachings.
On the first point, Confucius has a lot to say about it:
- Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with virtue.
- The ancients were hesitant to speak, fearing that their actions would not do justice to their words.
- The Superior Man desires to be hesitant in speech, but sharp in action.
On the second point, Confucius said in Yijing: “Writing cannot fully express spoken words, and spoken words cannot fully express ideas.” As such, he continued: “A Sage establishes images/symbols to fully express his ideas, and he designs the hexagrams to plumb true and false feelings. He appends text to them to express his words.”
Now, his preference of ‘images/symbols’ over ‘words’ was later evolved into the most important aesthetic concept in the traditional Chinese aesthetics, as compared to the Western preference of ‘words’ (logos) over appearances.
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1 comment:
this is a very interesting concept on actions speak better than words. A lot of misunderstandings occur in daily life because we fail to articulate our ideas well in words or in writing. Sometimes the best way to communicate our thoughts is through our actions. Thanks for the reminder through this article joon tai.
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