智慧：怂恿，非激辩 Wisdom: Invitational, Not Argumentative

有人说，中国哲学是智慧的著述，意思是指它主要由故事与语录所组成，指引其读者采用某种生活方式，或肯定其所采用的生活方式。人们从对事物的观察来学习，而不是学习基本原理。智慧的价值是由它对日常生活的功能来形成的。
所以，在儒学来说，道德不是在教导中学到的，而是体验领悟到的。你先观察人，然后学会基本原则，包括观察情境，形势，关系网与涉及的人，等等。就如孔子所说：‘三人行，必有我师焉。择其善者而从之，其不善者而改之。’
子贡问曰：‘有一言而可以终生行之者乎？’子曰：‘其恕乎。己所不欲，勿施于人。’
在华人的传统中，贤者的角色特别重要。贤者的尊重不是来自训示的，信任不是来自指示的，激励是不必加固的，敬畏不是来自震怒的。
就如黑格尔所说，东方的曙光不是理性的曙光。看起来，孔子和老子两人都宁愿让真知模棱两可，不大愿意断言。孔子就说过：‘民可使由之，不可使知之。’老子也说：‘我不知其名，字之曰道。’
.
It is said that the Chinese philosophy is ‘wisdom’ literature, composed primarily of stories and sayings designed to move the audience to adopt a way of life or to confirm its adoption of that way of life. One learns from observing the world rather than first principles. The value of wisdom consists in its usefulness for everyday life
Therefore, in Confucianism you pick up ethics rather than are taught it; you watch people and learn various ground rules, including looking at the context, the situation, the relationships, the people involved, etc. As Confucius says, 'I learn from both the good and the bad. The good I imitate, the bad I try to distance myself from.'
Zigong asked Confucius to give a single word which should guide one’s actions throughout one’s life. Confucius answered, ‘the principle of sympathy; to not ever do something to someone else that you have personally experienced to be unjust.’
In Chinese tradition the role of the sage is therefore of special importance. The sage does not have to instruct to be respected; he does not have to speak to be believed, he does not have to reinforce to be encouraging and he does not have to become angry to be feared.
As Hegel puts it, the light of the orient is not the light of reason. Both Confucius and Laozi seem to prefer to leave truth ambivalent, appear almost unwilling to pronounce it. Confucius said, 'The people may be made to follow a path of action, but they may not be made to understand it.' And Laozi said, ‘I do not know it, therefore I call it Dao.’

成龙失控，还是港台失控？ Is Jackie Out of ‘Control’?

美联社于4月18日报道了有关成龙的‘中国人需要被管’的言论和港台的反弹。
知动作片电影巨星成龙星期六的讲演中质疑中国人需要自由，引起了港台立法议员的迅速反弹。这些人指责他侮辱了他自己的种族。
这位55岁的《尖峰时刻》电影演员星期六在中国南部岛屿海南省的一个商业论坛上说，一个自由的社会对专制的中国大陆可能没有好处。
成龙在博鳌论坛上说，‘我不敢肯定有自由是好还是不好。太自由了，就会像现在的香港一样，变得很混乱。台湾也很混乱。’他进一步说，‘我开始慢慢觉得，我们中国人是需要被管的。如果我们没有被管制，我们就会为所欲为。’
在星期六，成龙在海南的言论被论坛的出席者大加赞许。这些观众多数是商界领袖。可是却引起台湾和家乡香港的立法议员强烈的批评。
于1949年中国内战分裂出来的台湾，现在是个民主自治的岛屿。前英国殖民地的香港，在中国管制下，享有西方式的自由民主和一些民主选举。有60名议员的立法议会，有一半是被选举的，另一半则是由组织团体推举的。可是香港的首长是由一批忠于北京的委员会推选的。
香港立法会议员梁国雄接受美联社电话访问时批说：‘他侮辱了中国人民。中国人民不是宠物。中国社会需要一个能保障人权和法制的民主制度。’
另一名香港立法会议员何俊仁说：‘他的言论是种族主义。世界各国的人民都能当家做主。为什么中国人就不能？’
台湾的立法委员黄伟哲则说：‘他本身享有自由民主，并且在资本主义制度下获得了经济利益。但是他并不了解自由民主的真谛。’
虽然港台的新闻媒体都对成龙的言论作了报道，可是中国大陆的媒体对这项新闻没有报道。　　
.
The American Associated Press filed the following reports on 18 April 2009 on Jackie Chan’s comment that ‘we Chinese need to be controlled’ and on responses from Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Action movie star Jackie Chan questioned the need for freedom for Chinese people during a speech Saturday, prompting outrage from lawmakers in Taiwan and Hong Kong, who accused him of insulting his own race.
The 55-year-old star of "Rush Hour" said at a business forum in the southern Chinese island province Hainan on Saturday that a free society may not be beneficial for authoritarian mainland China.
"I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not," Chan said at the Boao Forum. "If you're too free, you're like the way Hong Kong is now. It's very chaotic. Taiwan is also chaotic."
Chan added, "I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want."
Chan's comments drew applause from his audience of mainly business leaders in Hainan on Saturday, but prompted fierce criticism from lawmakers in Taiwan and his hometown Hong Kong on Sunday.
Taiwan, which split with mainland China amid civil war in 1949, is a democratically self-ruled island.
Former British colony Hong Kong enjoys Western-style civil liberties and some democratic elections under Chinese rule. Half of its 60-member legislature is elected, with the other half picked by special interest groups. But Hong Kong's leader is chosen by a panel stacked with Beijing loyalists.
"He's insulted the Chinese people. Chinese people aren't pets," pro-democracy Hong Kong legislator Leung Kwok-hung told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "Chinese society needs a democratic system to protect human rights and rule of law."
"His comments are racist. People around the world are running their own countries. Why can't Chinese do the same?" another Hong Kong lawmaker, Albert Ho, told the AP.
"He himself has enjoyed freedom and democracy and has reaped the economic benefits of capitalism. But he has yet to grasp the true meaning of freedom and democracy," Taiwanese legislator Huang Wei-che said.
While Chan's comments were reported by the Hong Kong and Taiwanese news outlets, they were ignored by the mainland Chinese press.

子曰：齐之以礼 Confucius Said: Regulate People by Rules of Li

子曰：‘道之以政，齐之以刑，民免而无耻。道之以德，齐之以礼，有耻且格。’
当孔子在两千五百多年前谈到上面的话时，好像他已经看到我们目前所面对的问题，并以仪式化的‘礼’来作为答案。礼是孔子思想里最重要的概念。
礼的最早用法应指中国早期仪式中的神圣的献祭仪式。孔子把这个祭神的特别活动扩展到所有被认为是神圣的日常活动。但是，我们应该注意的是，这里主要的目的是对渗透生活事务的祭拜仪式采取适当的态度，而不是太过相信神灵之类的东西。孔子本身就说过：‘务民之义，敬鬼神而远之，可谓知矣。’
孔子的看法已经假设影响的方向应该是由上而下。就是说，由政府首长到平民百姓。如果领袖可以改变，人民自然也会改变。正所谓：上梁不正下梁歪。
.
Confucius said, 'Lead the people with legal measures and regulate them by punishment, and they will avoid wrongdoing but will have no sense of honour and shame. Lead them with the power of virtuous example and regulate them by rules of li, and they will have a sense shame and will thus rectify themselves.'
When Confucius said the above more than two thousand five hundred years ago, it is as though he had already seen the problems we faced today and found the answer in the ritualisation of li. Li is the most important term in Confucius’ thought.
The word li encompassed a number of ideas convey in English by separate words, such as ritual, custom, propriety, and manners.
The oldest meaning of li referred to the scared rites of sacrifice, the heart of early Chinese ceremonial practices. Confucius took this idea of activity specifically pertaining to sacred things and enlarged it so that all daily activities could be viewed as sacred. However, one should note that the main goal here is to make the attitudes appropriate to sacrificial rites pervade all the affairs of life rather than to get close to the spiritual things. As Confucius himself put it: 'To give one's self earnestly to the duties due to men, and, while respecting spiritual beings, to keep aloof from them, may be called wisdom.'
The assumed direction of influence in the Confucian view was from the top down – that is, from the head of government down to the common people. If the leaders can be changed, then the people would be changed also. As the saying goes, fish begins to stink at the head.

杜牧: 清明 Du Mu: Qingming

华人的清明节是一个到先人墓前怀念与祭拜的日子。由于还是春天，扫墓完毕后，全家人就可以趁这个机会到郊外去游玩。当天郊游的习俗可以追溯到千多年前的唐朝(618-907) 。
中国文学里也时常提到清明。其中最出名的可能是杜牧的‘清明’诗了。
杜牧(803—852)是唐朝著名诗人，他的抒情与浪漫绝句诗最为人所称道。828年通过科举考试而中进士，只做过不少小官。他就以诗来发泄他的挫折感。和其他的文人官吏一样，杜牧精通书法，绘画，文章与诗词。
这首诗里，诗人单独一个人步行在春雨连绵不绝的陌生地，倍感寂寞、忧郁与失落。他的困扰与沮丧几达崩溃。但是，他不甘寂寞与苦恼，为了活动自己，他要找个酒家来接触心情开朗的人与酒。无忧无虑的儿童对他指向杏花村。这首诗以清爽与欢愉的远景来结束。
杜牧：清明
清明时节雨纷纷，
路上行人欲断魂。
借问酒家何处有，
牧童遥指杏花村。
.
For the Chinese, Qinming, the Chinese All Souls Day, is a day to remember and honour one's ancestors at grave sites. Since it is still springtime, people also take the opportunity to enjoy themselves in the countryside after finished sweeping and weeding the ancestral graves with the entire family. This habit of taking an excursion on this day can be traced back to Tang (618-907) Dynasty, which is more than a thousand years ago.
Qingming is frequently mentioned in Chinese literature. Among these, the most famous one is probably Du Mu’s poem ‘Qingming’.
Du Mu (803—852) was a famous poet of the Tang dynasty and is best remembered for his lyrical and romantic quatrains. After passing the imperial examination and obtained Jinshi in 828, he only held a series of minor official posts. His frustration is reflected in his poetry. Like most scholar-officials, he was adept in the art of calligraphy and painting as well as essays and poetry.
In the poem, the poet was walking alone in the ceaseless spring drizzles in a strange place, feels all the more lonely, melancholy and dismayed. He is so troubled and disheartened that he is on the brink of breaking down. However, he won’t lie down under loneliness and distress. Stirring himself up, he hurries along to find a tavern for a drink so that he can mix with cheerful people and wine. So the carefree boy points to the apricot woods. The poem ends on a broad vision graced with freshness and delight.
Du Mu: Qingming
The ceaseless drizzles drips all the dismal day,
So broken-hearted fares the traveller on the way.

When asked where could be found a tavern bower,

A cowboy points to yonder village of the apricot flower.