Criticized "The Book of Songs—The Lamb"

At the beginning of this time, let's review a scene from the movie "Young and Dangerous".

In an office, Chen Haonan and his rival Sangkun were sitting face to face.

Chen Haonan asked Sangkun: You have been around for so long, do you understand what "righteousness" is?

Sang Kun stood up and wrote the traditional Chinese word "yi" on the whiteboard.

Then he said to Chen Haonan: Yi, after taking it apart, it means "I am a lamb." .

But in the end, the unloyal Brother Kun was forced into an alley by Chen Haonan and was shot to death by the police.

Although the interpretation of this word in the movie is a bit cynical, it is not wrong. First of all, "righteousness" starts with the word sheep. In terms of the formation of the word's meaning, the radical "sheep" means "gentle, obedient", such as the word "kind".

So how do you explain the "I" under "meaning"? Imagine, usually when people worship in Jianghu, sacrifices such as cattle and sheep have to be placed in front of the statue of Guan Erye, and then the sworn brothers kneel under the altar table, including "I". Kowtow and burn incense. The traditional Chinese character "righteousness" can be regarded as a symbol of the ceremony of righteousness.

However, since "righteousness" is understood by people like Sang Kun as: I am a lamb. Let’s just follow his words and talk about the song “Lamb” in the Book of Songs.

Many famous writers believe that this poem was written in the author’s leisure time after finishing his official duties. Express a relaxed and cheerful mood. But from the poetry and prose, I smelled a sense of loss of "loyalty".

"Lamb" is still a regular three paragraphs and six sentences. There's just too much repetition in the words. But let’s change the approach this time. I’ll write the three paragraphs of this poem first. Then we will analyze why I feel disappointed.

‘Lamb’s skin, five pieces of plain silk. If you retreat from food, you will be selfish, and you will trust others. ’

‘Lamb’s leather, five strips of plain silk. If you give in to the snake, you will give up your food. ’

‘Lamb’s seam, five pieces of plain silk. If you give in to others, you will be selfish. ’

First of all, the last word in the first half sentence of each paragraph is different. How should we interpret the words "skin", "leather" and "seam"?

There is a saying that it is fur, fur coat, and fur robe. If we say it this way, the word "zhi" should be interpreted as "what is it made of".

However, if we explain it word for word, it will obviously be somewhat different.

‘Leather’ means that the leather has not yet been transformed into a clothing material. ‘Leather’ means that it has been processed into material. ‘Sewing’ means that the garment has been made. So the word ‘zhi’ here means ‘of’.

Looking at the second half of the sentence, "plain silk" is actually undyed silk thread. That is white silk thread.

The three characters ‘罽’ (the second tone of tuo), ‘玷’ (the fourth tone of yu) and ‘general’ are quantifiers. In ancient times, one thread was called silk, and five threads were called one zun. And twenty silks are one piece. Although the word "total" does not have a fixed quantitative explanation, "Shuowen Jiezi" talks about clustering as total. It means to form a knot.

The words in the second sentence of the three paragraphs are all the same, just in different order.

The words "retreating food from the public" were also used by people in later generations. It mainly means to retire from public service and go into seclusion.

But I found that such a sentence cannot be explained so simply. If we look at the four words separately, we can see the clues.

‘Retreat’, no need to explain, means to withdraw, to retreat. So since there is "retreat", it must have been "advanced" before retreating.

‘Food’ can simply be understood as food. In ancient times, grain was not just used as food. It also means food, and even officials’ salaries. After extension, it can be understood as the reward after doing something.

‘Zi’ can be taken as oneself, or it means ‘from…place’. If I tell myself, it doesn't seem to make sense here. So choose the latter.

The word "public" is broad. You have to say that he is an official, a government, or a public servant. That's fine with me. But the most fundamental meaning of "public" is collective.

Then "retreating food from public service" can be understood as retirement in the temple. But in the arena, it can also be understood as - pulling incense (that is, breaking up the gang, breaking up with the brothers who worshiped the boss.

)

Coincidentally, how to understand this sentence depends on the sentence "the snake is the snake, the snake is the snake".

Everyone discovered that in the first paragraph, this half sentence comes last, and in the next two paragraphs, this half sentence comes first.

"Weiyi" (weiyi) means taking a leisurely stroll and walking slowly. If you understand it this way, retiring from the public service can be said to be a thing of the past.

But the real meaning of 'commit to a snake' is: perfunctory, dealing with it.

Have you ever heard of the words hypocrisy and cowardice? From "Zhuangzi. Ying Diwang". It mainly describes a person's hypocrisy and perfunctory appearance.

If we understand it this way, then the plot of this poem will be somewhat clear.

If the three words leather, leather, and sewing are interpreted according to the second interpretation, they can completely refer to the degree of a relationship. The state of plain silk changes from Wu Zong, to Wu Zong, and then to Wu Zong. This means that the relationship is getting closer and closer.

But the author pulled the fragrance! I'm so selfish! Why? Because it's just a matter of entrustment.

And this sentence is repeated in every paragraph, and it is said over and over again, "Zi Gong retreats from food", "Withdraws food from Zi Gong", "Left to the task of the snake". Doesn't his tone sound like he was drunk after being disappointed, lying there and talking drunkenly? And this is obviously because of "entrusting the snake" and being disappointed with the "gong".

Oh, what a sense of loyalty and brotherhood. We used to wear clothes made of sheepskin, and our relationship grew from loose to close, and finally became one. But now that I am better, I have forgotten my righteousness when I see the benefits. They all gave in to one another! Huh, I'm going to give up my self-esteem. The self-gong gave up his food and gave in to the snake~

It can be seen that the author really felt sad for the "gong" who had lost his loyalty.

After explaining this poem, let me tell my own story. Remember that I once told everyone about my friend Teacher Zeng? In fact, the process of how we met is a bit legendary.

I think back then I was a student with poor academic performance. When I was in junior high school, I went to a low-income middle school.

What is "collecting the bottom"? The school environment is chaotic.

In our old school, we could see several groups of students fighting almost every day. It is also common for boys and girls aged thirteen or fourteen to cuddle and fall in love in public.

Later, my mother transferred me to their school, a district key middle school, so that I could go to high school.

The learning environment is indeed good, but the problem is that I cannot keep up with the academic performance required by other schools. The classmates and teachers around me all thought I was a waste. Their attitude towards me was that as long as I didn't disturb the classroom discipline, I would be ignored.

But my friend Teacher Zeng has never disliked us. In his words, good or bad learning and good or bad human nature are not the same thing.

Before I met Teacher Zeng, I first met Lao Sun, who was in his class. This buddy, Lao Sun, is handsome and popular with girls. So I also wanted to get close to the beautiful girl next to him. Although this purpose is a bit obscene, I found Lao Sun to be quite a good person. So we became friends.

The main reason why I was able to survive in that junior school for two years was that I had practiced Sanda and Baguazhang before. When he learned that I was a Lianjiazi, Lao Sun said that there was a buddy in his class who was also a Lianjiazi. Come back and pair us up (introduce us) so that we can learn from each other.

I immediately felt that it was okay to use force to make friends. So Teacher Zeng and I made an appointment to meet in the parallel bars area of ??the playground through Lao Sun. When I first met Teacher Zeng, I thought he was not taller than me, but his appearance was elegant.

But since he has the courage to fight me, he is a master.

After meeting, we talked a lot (asked for details).

It turns out that he practices Changquan. I just suggested that we go to the sand pit to have a sweat (and discuss things)?

But he refused. It turns out that what he practiced were all martial arts performance routines, and he was not very successful in actual combat.

Although I was a little disappointed at the time, I still felt that this guy was a real person. If it works, it works. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Don't brag.

One day after school, I met Mr. Zeng playing basketball, so we started shooting hoops and bullfighting together. Have a great time.

While waiting for a break, Teacher Zeng said: "Brother, let's go have a bottle of soda together."

Since my family was poor and I was short of money when I was young, I said : "I don't have money to treat you.

”

Teacher Zeng said to me very loyally at that time: “Why don’t you invite me?” Just go and drink together! ”

Just like that, he had a Coke, I had a bottle of Fanta, and we had known each other for twenty years. To this day, the process of getting to know him is still vivid in my mind, and the loyalty between us is still there. .

"Loyalty" is often a concept that young people will recognize. After people have been beaten to a certain extent in society, loyalty becomes less important, especially when it comes to "money". , Oh, the word "loyalty" is completely like a joke. As the saying goes, there are very few friends worthy of our deep friendship.

But it is precisely because I have Teacher Zeng by my side. Only then did I understand: righteousness is actually the mutual perfection between the Lamb and me.