观澜知源

Section 1. 

Chinese Culture: To put upright its foundation and purify its source

道，初意为道路，后延伸为本源或者途径。道，先于开天辟地之始、万物竞生之端。道，不可言说，只可意会。老子以道为天地万物之本源；孔子指出儒者应该“志于道，据于德，依于仁，游于艺”。作为中华传统文化最崇高的精神坐标，道体现了中国人特有的世界观和人生观，体现了中国人对于从宇宙到社会，从自然规律到生命秩序的基本解读和认知。

The earliest meaning of the Chinese character道 (‘dao’) was ‘pathway’. Its meaning was later expanded to include ‘source’ or ‘path’. The Dao came before the beginning during which the heavens were opened up and the earth laid down, and prior to the struggle for survival of all living things. The Dao cannot be spoken of; it can only be experienced. Laozi attributed to the Dao the origin of all things in the universe. Confucius pointed out that the Confucian should ‘set [his] ideal upon the Dao, abide by morality, rely on benevolence, and seek gratification in the arts’. As the most esteemed spiritual coordinates of Chinese traditional culture, the Dao exteriorizes a view of the world and an outlook of life unique to the Chinese. In it is embodied the Chinese fundamental understanding and awareness - from the universe to society, and from the laws of nature to the order of life.

“泰山在这里崛起，黄河在这里入海，孔子在这里诞生”，在“一 山一水一圣人”的背景下，齐鲁大地，人才辈出，繁花似锦。以前，人们走在齐鲁大地上，就可以路遇圣贤，所以说“三人行必有我师”。

‘This is where Mount Tai is found erect, the Yellow River flows into the ocean, and Confucius was born here.’ Against this backdrop of ‘mountains, rivers, and sages’, Shandong – the great land of the former states of Qi and Lu – has become a place which has produced many talented individuals, like a piece of silk embroidery filled with a multitude of colourful flowers. If one were to walk along the streets of Shandong in the olden days, one would be able to meet the sagely and the virtuous. That is why is said ‘If I walk together with two others, there must be one of them who can be my teacher.’

今天，我们汇聚于山东，汇聚于这块历史长度超过七千年的文化土壤，重新探讨祖先文化，探索文化之源的话题，不同的时代具有不同的社会意义。

We are gathered here today in Shandong - on this land the civilization of which has spanned more than 7,000 years - to rediscover the culture of our forefathers, and explore the theme of the source of this culture and its meaning in different eras.

济南又称泉城，群山环抱，泉脉汇聚，是风水宝地，但进入20世纪后，特别近几十年，废气，二氧化碳排放超量，过去的藏风纳气之地，在今天变成了一个温室效应之地。

Jinan is also known as the City of Springs. Surrounded by mountain ranges, and with a concentration of clusters of springs here, it is a precious location in terms of fengshui. However, as we entered the 20th Century and especially within the last few decades, there has been excessive emission of exhaust gases and carbon dioxide. What used to be ideal land in terms of fengshui has become a land of the greenhouse effect.

春风吹来，百花盛开，当我们还没来得及领略春之盎然，还没有享受到春光之明媚时，就直接进入了夏天，春天已不再是记忆里的感觉。同样的道理，首都北京也是如此，极为优越的地理位置，西北东都是山，南接渤海，就像太师椅，藏风纳气，是最好的风水宝地。一旦居住了几千万人，没有风的时候，聚集的多是雾霾；有风，常会出现沙尘暴。现在北京的雾霾，成为城市病的一个重要隐患。

As the spring breeze arrives, there is a blooming of a hundred flowers. Before we even have the chance to experience the freshness of spring and the lustre of the spring sun, summer is already upon us. Spring is no longer how we used to experience it in the past. In the same vein, Beijing is also like that. It is in an excellent geographical location, with mountains to the west, north, and east. To its south is the Bohai Gulf. It is shaped like the chair of a senior minister of state – a place where ‘winds can be harnessed and energies stored’, the best of the choicest locations according to fengshui. Once it has been inhabited by scores of millions of people, it is mostly smog that forms when there is no wind. When it is windy, there are often sandstorms. The Beijing smog has now become a major hidden menace to cause urban diseases.

济南趵突泉，天下第一泉。古农耕文明时代，没有化学，没有污染。水在山则清，潜于地，涌入泉城还是清的，饮之还是美的。但进入 21 世纪之后，污染源多了，现在很多地表水已经不能直接饮用了，地下水的污染也已越来越深。所以这个时代，“水”也发生了变化。

Baotu Spring in Jinan is the number one spring in the world. In ancient agricultural civilization, there were neither chemicals nor pollution. Water found in the mountains was clear. Hidden underground, it was still clear even when it got to the city. When one drank it, it still tasted good. However, as we step into the 21st Century, there become more sources of pollution. Now, much surface water cannot be directly consumed any longer. The pollution of ground water has also gotten much deeper. As such, water in the modern era has also been transformed.

趵突泉水发源于泰山山脉。俗话说，泰安有三美：白菜、豆腐、水。今天在饭店里也尝了尝，有人问上的菜是不是泰安三美，服务员不肯正面回答。大家先喝水，不是。因为喝到嘴里，是自来水的味道。

The water of Baotu Spring has its source in the ranges of Mount Tai. A popular saying goes that there are three beauties in Taian: white cabbage, tofu, and water. Earlier today, as we also ate in the hotel, someone asked whether the dishes included the three beauties. The waiter was reluctant to answer directly. So everyone began by drinking the water first and found out that they were not; because what we had in our mouth was the taste of tap water.

泰山的水清澈甘甜，泡上泰山的女儿茶，碧绿青翠之色悬于水中，特别美。若在白石老人的笔下，白纸上一勾勒，就是一幅清供图，上可供诸天善神、祖先，下可陶冶人心性情。

今天讲这些有什么价值，有什么现实意义呢？对我们社会人性有什么作用？譬如，趵突泉现在枯竭了，如果这里的地理标志消失了，它的文化、它的价值、它的社会意义何去何从？对我们济南可谓损失惨重。为了保泉，专家、学者、政府也会想尽办法。

The water of Mount Tai is clear and pleasantly sweet. When it is being used to make Mount Tai Nü Er tea, the sight of the bluish-green tea leaves immersed in water is especially beautiful.  It is as if Qi Bai-shi has just sketched a painting of flowers and fruits so exquisite that it can be offered to the deities and one’s ancestors, and also used to edify one’s temperament.

What good is there to talk about this today? What practical meaning does it offer us? What effects does it have on our society and the human character? For instance, if Baotu Spring were to have dried up, if the geographical feature of this place should disappear, what would happen to its culture, values, and meaning to society? To us, that will be a serious loss of Jinan. To protect the spring, experts, scholars and the authorities will try their best to come up with solutions.

文化同样如此。试想：三皇五帝，孔夫子的圣贤弟子，如果传承中华民族数千年文明的源头，被堵塞、被污染了，对我们中华民族的损失难以估量，对人类社会带来的损失更难以弥补，比之泉水枯竭对济南的损失，不知要大多少！所以今天我们就是讨论这个话题，怎样能了知中华民族文化之源，能把那些尘蒙在文化之源上的污染清理掉，能寻根溯源、正本清源，让我们这些子孙能够重新吃到最正宗的中华民族大餐。

It is the same with culture. Let us imagine if the source of the several thousand-year-old Chinese cultural heritage - the Three Sovereigns and the Five Emperors, and the noble disciples of Confucius – were to be clogged and polluted; the loss to the Chinese people would be inestimable, and much more irreparable for the human society. Who knows how many more times greater would this loss be than that to Jinan if its springs were to dry up. That is why we need to have a discussion on how to know and understand the source of the culture of the Chinese people, and be able to cleanse away contaminants that have settled into this source; and how to trace ourselves back to our roots, and be able to put upright this foundation and purify this source, so that our descendants are able to savour once again the most authentic feast of the Chinese people.

21 世纪，社会分工越来越细，人越来越迷失于外相，找回文化的根源，让每个人识心达本，使文化之源不离人心，这就是我们今天要讲的主题：中庸之道的人生实践。

Division of labour has gotten ever finer in the 21st Century, and more and more people are losing themselves in external phenomena. To rediscover the source of one’s culture so that one’s mind can be known and one can return to one’s origin, and that this cultural source will not take leave from the mind again – such is the theme of our talk today. It is the putting into practice the Path of the Doctrine of the Mean.

《中庸》是儒家一部非常重要的经典，战国时期孔子之孙子思所做，字里行间洋溢着对“圣人之道”的憧憬和赞美。中庸之道就是至诚至善，不违天道，随顺人道，才可参天地之化育。中庸是什么？为什么要中庸？道不远人的中庸思想，时至今日，甚至有在误读中逐渐被肢解的端倪。

The Doctrine of the Mean is a very important classic for the Confucians. It was authored by the grandson of Confucius, Zi-si, during the time of the Warring States. In it, there is plentiful of yearning for and extolment of ‘the way of the sages’. The Path of the Doctrine of the Mean is the complete actualization of sincerity and wholesomeness. It is only when one does not go against the Way of Heaven and is in harmony with the Way of Man that one can understand the transformation and the nurturing of Heaven and Earth. What is the Doctrine of the Mean? Why do we need it? The philosophy of the Doctrine of the Mean that the Dao is never separate from man has been misconstrued so much that till today, there are signs that it is torn apart when it is being misread by some.

当然，对《中庸》之思想或理学体系的研究，或许我根本不如在座的各位。理学、孔孟之学等在山大仍居执牛耳的地位，海内外的孔家学院，都要来山东取经的。所以，今天我们要讲的不是单纯的依文解字，如果仅仅依文解字的话，有时很难去体验到“道”的真谛。

Of course, I might not hold a candle to each and every one of you here today when it comes to the study of the philosophy of the Doctrine of the Mean or the study of physics. Shandong University is still the leading university for the study of physics, and the philosophies of Confucius and Mencius. Confucian centres from both within the country and overseas all learn from Shandong University. As such, what we are going to talk about is not simple literal explanation. If it were to be just that, it would be hard for us to experience the truth of the Dao.