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In fact, relatively speaking, Ling Wuji is much more familiar with Zhuangzi than Analects. In addition, there is a sentence in the book “The Art of Preserving Life” about the distinction between good and evil in Zhuangzi: “Do good without seeking fame, do evil without seeking punishment.” There are many interpretations of this sentence, but from Ling Wuji’s point of view, Zhuangzi’s doctrine has always been to treat life and death equally, good and evil equally. He does not agree with the secular understanding of good and evil. The chapter “The Box Breaking” also says: “As long as the saints are alive, the thieves will not stop.” Therefore, Zhuangzi’s words are basically just a mockery.
Do good deeds without seeking fame, and do bad deeds without seeking punishment; this way you can protect yourself for a long time.
However, in Ling Wuji's opinion, Zhuangzi's doctrine is essentially just to make everyone in the world become detached and self-sufficient. From then on, they will no longer be related to others. The distinction between good and evil will naturally only be meaningful to themselves as individuals and will have nothing to do with others.
Although Ling Wuji also found this statement very interesting, he had not yet become like that. In his heart now, there were indeed some things that were completely beyond him as an individual and worth his life for.
Therefore, he agrees more with the view of good and evil in The Analects of Confucius.
Therefore, "Zigong redeeming a man" is self-satisfaction, while "Zilu accepting the cow" is the real kindness. To achieve the so-called kindness is to establish a standardized concept of right and wrong, although this concept of right and wrong may only be useful to some people, just like Confucius' definition of people does not necessarily include barbarians and wild people, or even common people, but as long as this established concept of right and wrong allows those people to help each other and drive out "evil", it is enough to be called kindness.
"It's just that class, ethnicity, country, race..."
Ling Wuji shook his head.
Although we are all human beings, there are so many different perspectives that people in this world can be divided into.
The principle of "his hero is my enemy" is applicable everywhere.
Kamisaki Kaori didn't know that Ling Wuji's thoughts had drifted so far. For someone like her who joined the Holy Church after graduating from high school, the classical Chinese that Ling Wuji spoke in pure Chinese instead of Japanese onyomi was a little too difficult, so she was a little confused. Ling Wuji sighed and explained.
When Kamisaki Kaori heard him say that, she felt a little embarrassed for a moment, but she still said, "Sorry..."
"Why are you apologizing?"
Ling Wuji felt that her intentions were somewhat inexplicable.
"You're not trying to convince me..."
"No, I just speak my mind. I'm not trying to convince anyone."
"But why..."
"It may sound strange to say this, but I am just using others to help me understand myself. I have no intention of making any comments on other people's way of life, nor do I want others to change their way of life."
Kamiya Kaori was silent for a moment, but finally said, "Thank you."
"Why thank you?"
Kamiya Kaori did not continue the topic, but just said: "So, now you can recognize yourself clearly?"
"Not even close."
"A little bit more?"
"Rather than asking whether I can recognize myself clearly, it is better to say that the most fundamental problem lies somewhere else." Ling Wuji shook his head and said.
"Somewhere else?"
"To put it simply, the truth that I understood clearly was not consistent with my actions."
Ling Wuji has actually roughly understood that the so-called enlightenment is not about what kind of person you should be, but what kind of person you want to be. Although Ling Wuji likes himself now, he always feels that he is lacking something, but he does not want to make any changes, so he keeps procrastinating.
"Can you be more specific?"
Ling Wuji frowned, but still reluctantly explained to Kamiya Kaoru: "Just like the question just now, I clearly understand my own views on good and evil, but I can't act according to that view of good and evil."
"But I think there are a lot of helpless things in this world, right? It's not necessary to do everything perfectly, right?"
"Indeed, there are many things in this world that even I cannot do. But what if there are things that I can clearly do but I hesitate and don't do them?" Ling Wuji shook his head and said, "But, that is ultimately my personal problem. Thank you for answering my question."
Kamiya Kaori looked at the boy's departing figure hesitantly.
She was keenly aware that once the young man made up his mind, the entire mysterious side of Japan would be plunged into a bloody storm.
Because according to his "truth", the reason why the mysterious side of Japan is so chaotic is that there is no organization or force that can weave a strong enough framework of order. If he is determined to implement his order, rather than just gaining the right to manage the geomantic energy within Japan, I am afraid that countless people will bleed in the process of unifying the entire mysterious side of Japan.
So she held the boy's hand.
"what happened?"
"Isn't it... bad now?"
"Do you really think this is a good thing?"
Ling Wu Ji turned around and asked her.
Kamiya Kaori was speechless.
"However, I haven't made up my mind yet. Like I said before, I have no intention of judging other people's way of life, nor do I intend to interfere in anything," Ling Wuji just said softly, "Perhaps I don't need to make up my mind, but to abandon this secular moral cognition."
Then, he can truly "wander freely".
In this way, he doesn't have to care about "outsiders" at all. All his joy can be satisfied through his own individual, rather than basing his joy and satisfaction on connections with outsiders. He even guessed that the real person in the north of China was actually like this. That person no longer cared about external honor and disgrace, or worldly involvement, and would do everything according to his own nature.
The reason why that immortal could become the "white jade pillar supporting the sky and purple gold beam spanning the sea" in the north was purely because it was his human nature to take on those affairs for self-satisfaction. Otherwise, he would have abandoned everything long ago and continued to hide in the mountains, concentrating on practicing towards the realm of immortals, hoping that one day he could listen to the voice of heaven.
"But do you have to make a choice?"
But somewhere in the dark, there was a voice asking him questions.
Maintaining the status quo is of course also an option.
After all, there didn't seem to be any war between Medusa and Athena that could destroy the entire Tokyo.
The current situation did not seem so bad to him that he had to make a choice.
Volume 3: Between God and Man: Chapter 14: Enjoy Life While You Can
Kamiya Kaoru seemed to be able to clearly hear Ling Wuji's thoughts.
too weird.
she thinks.
This was the first time in her life that she met such a strange boy.
No, perhaps it can be said that he is the only one who can suppress the contemporary God Slayer as a mere magician at this age. It is better to say that the achievement of a magician suppressing a God Slayer is unprecedented, so no matter how weird this boy is, it is actually natural.
But she felt that this kind of boy was the most real.
If he takes a step forward, he will become erratic and become the kind of god-like figure that can only be seen in legends, high above, detached from the world, with eyes only for things related to himself and things in heaven, and he will no longer pay any attention to worldly beings; if he takes a step back, he will become a tyrant-like figure, doing things entirely according to his own means and preferences, placing his will above everyone else and transforming the entire world according to his own ideals.
But now he is somewhere in between the two.
Only this kind of him still has some sense of reality.
The only thing is that he still has some worldly ties, so he has some concerns when doing things.
This concern may be one of his few weaknesses.
But it is also the place where Kamiya Kaori feels like he is a real person.
"Having weaknesses makes them more human, but if humans must have weaknesses, then why do they yearn for immortality? Moreover, even if they have shortcomings now, perhaps after they gain immortality, the long years will polish their character and cut off all their ties and entanglements in the secular world. By then, won't they become like that?"
Ling Wuji just shook her hand off, waved it nonchalantly, and said:
"So your idea is actually a false proposition."
"But for the person who is regarded as a hindrance and a burden by the immortal, that is the real him."
Ling Wuji turned his head and looked at her seriously. Kanzaki Kaoru's cheeks flushed for a moment under the scrutiny of the boy's clear eyes, which he had never seen before. However, the boy quickly withdrew his gaze, looked up at the sky that had already darkened, and chanted softly:
“Life is less than a hundred years, yet we always worry about a thousand years.
"The days are short and the nights are long, why not go out with a candle?
"Enjoy happiness while it lasts, why wait until now?
“Fools love to save money, but they will be laughed at by future generations.
"It is hard to match the immortal Prince Qiao."
……
Yukinoshita Yukino felt that Ling Wuji seemed to have undergone some strange changes recently.
Although Ling Wuji before could be described as unbridled, there was still some strange sense of repression left in him. To outsiders, this handsome young man seemed to be bound by some invisible chains, and his whole body exuded an ascetic temperament. Although she did not think that Ling Wuji was a truly ascetic person, he really did not care much about interacting with others. It was as if he was sitting in some high place, looking down on his classmates and treating them as ants.
But recently, she felt that Ling Wu Ji had changed a little.
For example, when Hiratsuka Shizuka had brought her classmates to the club and asked them to help those people, Ling Wuji would just complain on the side. Of course, it cannot be said that his complaints were worthless. Sometimes it can even be said that his complaints could solve most problems, because at that time they would discover their real troubles under Ling Wuji's unscrupulous rhetoric.
As for whether we should continue to ask them to solve those problems, that is not necessarily the case.
But Yukinoshita Yukino also discovered that Ling Wuzhi didn't really want to help anyone at that time.
He just intervened while observing.
But in recent days, Yukinoshita Yukino was keenly aware that Ling Wu Ji's mentality seemed to have changed. He did not continue to put on that condescending attitude, but became a little gentler, and his attitude seemed to become a little friendlier, as if he had suddenly turned over a new leaf, from a cold, ruthless, faithless player who only knew how to climb the ladder to an older brother who would enthusiastically guide newbies.
She wasn't the only one who noticed this feeling.
Hikigaya Hachiman, who bickered with her on a daily basis, must have noticed it as well.
But Hikigaya Hachiman did not dare to ask Ling Wuji any questions.
So for several days, they just looked at Ling Wuzhi with strange eyes as he sat in that corner, reading a novel nonchalantly, and sometimes they could even hear him humming a few lines of a song occasionally.
Fortunately, this situation was quickly broken by Shizuka Hiratsuka.
"Hey, classmate Ling, you seem to be in a good mood recently. Did something happen?"
Hiratsuka Shizuka chose to talk to Ling Wuji without hesitation.
"If I must say something," the boy just looked up, pondered for a moment, and said, "I just found that some things are not so urgent for me now. Can you understand that feeling, teacher?"
"I understand, I understand. It's like when your superior assigns you a task that you have to complete before the deadline, but for some reason the deadline is suddenly relaxed," Hiratsuka Shizuka nodded in agreement, "so you can temporarily ignore those things."
"Teacher, if you have work to do, it's better to finish it as soon as possible, right?"
Yukinoshita Yukino is a person who pursues what is right. When she heard Hiratsuka Shizuka use this statement, she immediately frowned.
Hiratsuka Shizuka was a little overwhelmed by her words, so she said to Ling Wuji: "But, would a kid like you also encounter such a situation?"
"What do you mean by someone like me?"
"Maybe it's someone who doesn't care about anything, but has the ability to solve all the problems he encounters?"
"Teacher, are you really talking about me and not some god?" Ling Wuji said lightly.
"After all, that's the feeling you give people."
"Should I thank you?"
"Haha," Hiratsuka Shizuka just smiled, and then said, "Speaking of which, Ling, how are your grades?"
"If you are interested, you should be able to find out."