October 13, 2008

莊子說(1) -- 知識也是限制 The sayings of Zhuang Zi (1) -- Knowledge can restrict man

高中時 我最喜歡的書 是莊子說  不是古文版的 是蔡志忠先生將"莊子"畫成漫畫版的 "莊子說 -- 自然的簫聲"  從此"莊子"成為我最崇拜的中國人 在我心中 他的地位就如同 愛因斯坦 在物理學上貢獻出他發現的"相對論"  而莊子的學說 是哲學上的"相對論"
When I was a high school student, my favorite book was "The sayings of Zhuang Zi".  It is a comic book which was illustrated "Zhuang Zi" by Mr. Tsai Chih Chung.  ( 'Zhuang Zi' was a famous philosopher  in China history.  His great book was also titled "Zhuang Zi".)  To me, Zhuang Zi was as great as Albert Einstein.  Just like Einstein contributed his Relativity to physical science, the theory of Zhuang Zi is also a kind of "Relativity' to philosphy.  

中華文化的主流是"儒家思想" 大部份的人只知道"孔子"  因為自古中國政治上 中央政權為方便管理 都是尊崇"儒家思想"  孔子是春秋時代的人 當時正是中國歷史上開始要建立龐大的"封建制度" 及社會秩序 當然需要教育人民遵守"倫理道德"  而莊子出生於戰國時代 在戰亂的年代 講仁義道德 並非就能確保生存  套用現代的話來說  就是"子彈是不長眼的 它會打中壞人 也會打到好人"  在這樣的生活背景下 莊子對人生有另一種 獨特的見解
The theory of Zhuang Zi was usually categorized to "Taoism" which is not like "Confucianism" as the mainstream of Chinese Culture.  That is because Confucian was born in 'The Spring and Autumn Period' (552 B.C. - 479 B.C.) which was the great time that China started to build up a huge social system.  The centrical thought of Confucianism is ethic, moral and harmonic society.  No wonder, for managing the huge empire easily, the afterward autorities all followed Confucianism and educated people with Confucianism for thousand years.  Not like Confucian, Zhuang Zi was born in "Warring States Period" (369B.C. - 286B.C.).  In warring time, 'ethic and moral' did not guarantee survive.  Like a nowadays saying, "bullet has no eye, it could kill bad guy, also good guy."   From this kind of background, Zhuang Zi developed an unique perception of the life.   

其實很多中國人自己也不知道 我們日常生活中一些常用的成語是來自於" 莊子"   像"螳臂擋車" "盜亦有道" "井底之蛙" "朝三暮四"....我今天就先來說說 大家都知道的"井底之蛙"的故事 用以說明這故事背後 莊子真正所要表達的 "知識亦可是限制"的思想
 Most people, even Chinese, do not know that many idioms that Chinese people use a lot nowaday originated from "Zhuang Zi", such as 'The mantis holds himself up against the cartwheel'; 'There is Tao in robbers'; 'A frog in a well'; and 'Three in the morning, four in the evening'...etc.  Today, I feel like to use the well-known story of "A frog in a well' to explain why Zhuang Zi thought that 'knowledge restricts man'.

一天 從東海來的一隻大海龜經過一口小井  小井裡住著一隻小青蛙 
"你在井裡過得好嗎?", 海龜問
"當然好啦" 小青蛙驕傲的回答 "這口井是屬於我一個人的 我就像國王一樣"  "看看那些小魚 小蝦 小蝌蚪 在我的腳下游來游去 並不如我快活"  "你要不要進來我的井裡參觀阿?"
"你的井太小了 我進不去!" 海龜說
"甚麼! 我的井那麼大 你竟然說小" 小青蛙 第一次聽人抱怨他的井小 
海龜接著説:"說到大 東海才是真正的大"  然後大海龜用盡各種方法來形容東海的大 小青蛙還是不能理解  最後 大海龜只好放棄  走之前 他說:"比起東海 你的井根本 不算甚麼"  
小青蛙聽了生氣的說 "你騙人!"
One day, a big tortoise from the Eastern Sea passed by a well where lived a small frog. 
'Are you comfortable living there?', the tortoise asked.
'Sure, why not? I have the whole well to myself, I am like a king.', said the frog proudly, 'Those little fish, crabs and tappoles living under my feet do not seem to be as joyful as I am.  Would you like to come in and have a look?'
'I would like, but your well is too small, I can not get in.', the tortoise replied. 
'Such a big well!  How can it be small?', The frog was surprised to hear someone was complaining the well was small. 
The tortoise then said, 'Talking of big, the Eastern Sea is really big."   The frog could not comprehended how big the Eastern Sea is, even the tortoise tried many ways to explain the big. 
Finally, the tortoise gave it up and said, 'This Eastern Sea is the real thing.  Your well is nothing in comparison!'
The frog could only say, 'Lair!' for seeing off the tortoise. 

我們現在用"井底之蛙"來形容人沒見過什麼世面  但我認為 莊子的本意 並非取笑人沒有豐富的知識 而是要提醒人們  不管有沒有豐富的知識  知識也會將人的視野給限制住  
Nowadays Chinese people always use the idiom, 'A frog in a well', to describe a person with a very  limited outlook and experience.  However, I think that Zhuang Zi's original intention was not to make fun of any person with a limited outlook or knowledge.  He might just want to remind people that, no matter more or less knowledge you have, knowledge could restrict man like the well restricted the frog.  

被知識所限制住 有時是會造成悲劇的發生 在人類歷史上 就有許多的例子
Be restricted by knowledge could cause tragedy sometimes.  There were many examples in human history. 

在十六世紀 西方有位科學家 叫布魯諾 因為堅持相信哥白尼的"日心說"  就是太陽是太陽系的中心 地球和其他行星是繞著太陽轉的 這對現代的人而言是理所當然的事 在當時卻被視為邪說 異類  他被迫過著流亡的生活  最後還是被捉起來  關了六年 他始終不願承認自己是錯的 而被判綁在木樁上 活活被燒死  哥白尼 他白天是教會裡的神父兼醫生 晚上則變成科學家及天文學家  他自己知道如果說出 "地球是繞著太陽轉的"會有可怕的後果 所以他直到知道自己快死了 才敢發表他的"日心說"   之後另一科學家 伽利略是第一個 用望遠鏡觀察天象 來證實"日心說" 但他也因此被關  最後他並不想像布魯諾一樣 被燒死 而被迫承認自己是錯的   
In the 16th century, there was a scientist named Giordano Bruno (1548 - 1600) who was burned because he refused to admit that he was wrong to support the heliocentrism.  Heliocentrism was brought out by Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 - 1543) which main idea was the sun is at the center of the solar system.  It was opposed to 'geocentrism' which placed the earth at the center.  Copernicus was a Fater and a doctor in the daytime, but a scientist and an astronomer at night.  He was too afraid to mention the idea of heliocentrism until he was going to die.  Afterward another scientist Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642) was the first one who confirmed the theory by looking throught telescope.  He was therefor arrested, but did not want to die a hero's death like Bruno, he was forced to admit that he was wrong.   

現在我們會覺得以前的人很可笑 也很野蠻 只因有人的看法或言論 與自己或大多數人不同  就要把他關起來 甚至殺害 但是 天才總是少數 從古至今 那些推動人類文明向前邁進的偉大科學家或哲學家  加起來還坐不滿一架空中巴士勒 如果所有的人當時都被有限的知識給限制住了 那就不會有人相信地球是圓的 也不會有哥倫布發現新大陸  更不會有人登陸月球  知道宇宙的存在 而人是如此的渺小  我們除了要向那些不顧性命追求真理的偉人致敬外  也要思考 我們現在所謂的'對'與'錯' 或'真理' 還是所謂的"有用的"知識   並非是那麼絕對 永恆不變的 換個時空 就不見得是對的 或 有用的了 
We now might feel it was ridiculous that ancient people thought that way and so brutal to arrest or kill people just because they thought or said differently from most of people.  Genius is always scarce.  From time immemorial till now, all great people who made human's civilization move forward still could not full an airbus.  If all people in ancient time had been restricted within the very limited knowledge, no one had broken the limit, then no one would have believed in the earth is round, there would not have been Colombo whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean led to general European awareness of the American continents, there would not have been people who stepped on the moon and we would not have awared of the universe and how small we are.  Here, I would like to give my respect to those great people who had courage to break the limit of knowledge, also remind myself to be aware of that 'right', 'wrong', 'true' or 'useful knowledge' could not be always like what we have known or believed in. 

沒錯 知識是力量 知識可以讓你偉大 知識也可以讓你渺小 我們應該超越知識 運用知識 而不是被知識所限制 
Yes, knowledge is power.  Knowledge makes you great, but it also makes you small.  Hence we must surpass knowledge.   
 

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  • 1樓

    1樓搶頭香

    知識也是限制,
    同意這個看法。

  • norarun at November 6, 2008 12:51 PM comment | prosecute
  • 很高興有人能認同 謝謝!!
    By the way, 我喜歡你的攝影作品

  • Blog Owner at November 6, 2008 05:48 PM Reply
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