Look at his four solutions.

The first one is, 'So let go of one's body and mind, indulge in debauchery and loss, and after a long time, realize one's troubles, and seek the path of peace and determination.'.

Everything is empty, resulting in everything being done. Sometimes, studying philosophy has a benefit of establishing some faith. If everything is empty, what I say sounds good is doing everything, and bad is doing all sorts of evil. If there is no concept of cause and effect, no concept of ontology, this is very bad. I often see people on the internet who have some provocative comments, saying that if you die tomorrow, what are you doing today? What would you do if 2012 was the end of the world?

This is how Xiong Shili was at the age of 13, which many people may not experience at times. Let me borrow the name of Kundera's novel "The Unbearable Lightness of Life". You all know that the unbearable weight in life is very troublesome, but don't throw it all away. After throwing it all away, you will find that you cannot bear the unbearable lightness in life, and the weight is even more unbearable. ?

I think people who study philosophy will easily understand this point, so their first approach is not feasible. Looking back, I need to find a way to live with peace of mind.

Then the second way of thinking came out, because the realization of illusions does not exist, it must rely on reality. If there is no truth, who is the illusion? Without this perception, how can there be any illusion? With perception, illusions arise. This awakened being is the true self. At that time, the love vessel became a bubble, and Suo Zhenzai died in silence. One thought did not arise, and the void shattered. This is the ultimate path.

Let me briefly explain to you. If your classmates are interested, you can go and take a look. He said that illusions do not exist, and the true self is also emptiness from the perspective of the emptiness sect of Buddhism. Therefore, in the end, the emptiness is shattered, which is the emptiness essence of Buddhism. The second approach is the big empty space approach.

But this one is also dissatisfied with the third kind, and suddenly there is a saying, 'Fruit illusion is a complex phenomenon, why do clouds rely on reality to create illusions?'? If we rely on reality to create illusions, how can we break away from illusions and seek truth? Illusions that can be broken should not arise, and those that can already be broken must be broken again. Those who abandon illusions and have truth are irrelevant to reality and illusion. Why seek truth?

All kinds of doubts cannot be resolved properly, so there is no control over the body and mind, and no peace. I suddenly read the "Book of Wang Chuanshan's Legacy" and gained a profound understanding of the Tao and a profound insight into things. The whole path and all instruments are sincere and without illusions; It's both serene and clear. What's the point of breaking away from the original consistency? Heaven belongs to people, and does not leave others with the same heaven; The Dao is with me, relying on me to condense the Dao. Si Nai is the precious raft of Hengyang, and Zhu Si's legacy.

This is the authentic Confucianism. Since there are illusions, there must be truth, and truth and illusion must be one, this is the orthodox Confucianism. ?

If it were to end here, by the time he reaches his later years, his ideological system would have basically come to an end. This conclusion is one he agrees with. He was sentenced to convert to Yogacara for the rest of his life, but at that time, he quickly regressed. This is a regression from the perspective of Confucianism. At that time, he felt that he had another way of thinking that was better than this. What kind of thinking was it?

Yu Nanzhi was quite good at studying Chuanshan. After reading Mr. Yu Hangzhang's "On the Establishment of Religion" recently, he learned about the three natures and three asexual meanings, and gained insight into the poetry of Zhufen. It was then that he realized Chuanshan was very shallow.

This is the fourth approach, which is to have people like Zhang Taiyan and Liang Shuming pull the whole thing into the framework of Buddhism and Yogacara. When you read New Confucianism, it does seem to be weak in theory, with not much, just a few words, but it is based on all your life experiences and your understanding of philosophy. Just reading dry quotes, you won't believe that you understand that truth.

Therefore, when Xiong Shili was 34 years old, he had already believed in Buddhist only knowledge learning. He thought that only knowledge learning was good. At that time, Chinese people liked only knowledge learning because it was exquisite and scientific in reasoning logic. He felt that what Confucianism said was too profound, that is, the use of the body and the machine cannot be recognized, so he returned to Buddhist Yogacara.

Let's take a look at these four ways of thinking. The first one is called the theory of phenomena being abstract and intangible, which leads to the principle of benefiting everything. The second one is to return to the School of Emptiness, the third one is to return to Confucianism, and the fourth one is actually the least philosophical, which is phenomenological causality determinism and Yogacara. However, at the age of 34, Xiong Shili was very fond of it and found it very convincing. I still think it is quite convincing today. I still lack a bit of Confucianism's theory of using it as it is.

Of course, for those of you in your 20s, you just need to listen. He thinks that Yogacara is a good subject, but he believed in it when he was 34 years old. In 1920, he went to Nanjing to study for a college for two years. In 2022, Xiong Shili went to Peking University to teach as a full-time lecturer in Yogacara. He didn't become a professor, but rather a full-time lecturer, like a substitute teacher. After several years of speaking, he completely lost faith. So, what is the reason for this disbelief?

One reason is due to individual life, he cannot believe in this cycle of reincarnation. The determinism of Alaya consciousness does not have the right of individual freedom to create. I can only gradually cultivate it, and I also need to learn from others, saints, and classics. Our traditional philosophy always likes to self verify and self understand, and develop our own conscience. When Xiong Shili was young, he wrote a book in the form of quotations, which students helped him write down called "Zunwen Lu". ?

He once discussed a problem, which is that Alaya consciousness of dependent origination is based on the cycle of cause and effect. Without the cycle of cause and effect, Alaya consciousness of dependent origination would be interrupted. He said he encountered a problem and after thinking about it, he no longer believed in the principle of Alaya consciousness, but this thought was quite funny.

He said, is all living things self generated or determined by other things? Self generation is the realm of phenomena, determined by Alaya consciousness, or is there another kind of cosmic creation, that is, the creation of ontology? In fact, it is the Confucian theory of bodily use and the causal determinism of Alaya consciousness. The two ideas are contradictory in his mind, and one day he has a question.

He said that according to Buddhism, all sentient life has no beginning or end, and each has a spiritual consciousness that transcends form and skeleton. The meaning of reincarnation is established based on this. If we are sincere, will plants and lower animals have spiritual consciousness? How to explain the phenomenon of resurrection if there is a possibility? ——Zunwen Lu

So, how to explain the phenomenon of resurrection?

Another phenomenon is that when you were young, geckos would lie on walls and some children would like to split them in half, saying that if geckos could still grow, they would become two. I don't know about this, but I have played with earthworms since I was young and split them in half, but they can still live and become two earthworms.

If we use the Alaya consciousness to explain, it's troublesome here. If an earthworm has everything in two, one is the subject of cause and effect reincarnation. You say it is very scientific, has universal consciousness, and is also the seed of reality protection. If an earthworm also has Alaya consciousness, you cut it in half and it becomes two subjects. Who will be responsible for the next reincarnation retribution?

He said that as a result, I completely lost faith in Alaya Shi. He was quite strange as a person. In fact, he may have lost faith subjectively for a long time, but he couldn't find a reason. He thought about this question and said that if an earthworm is divided into two halves, which Alaya Shi belongs to, if Alaya Shi were to split, the rules of the game of cause and effect cycle would be broken. ?

This is very troublesome. He said that I will no longer believe in this cycle of cause and effect. For example, if I do not believe in the cycle of cause and effect, what will happen to good and evil?

The reason why we say there are good and evil, and we should practice all good deeds is because we are afraid of reincarnation and retribution. Xiong Shili also used the approach of Song and Ming Confucianism to say that there is also reincarnation, but what is the true morality?

Our self nature is pure, with constant sand and merit, and all good deeds are solemn, truly flowing out of our own nature.

What does it mean? That is to say, true goodness is not in a causal relationship. If the result is good, it is not true morality. This goes back to the Confucian concept of self-discipline morality. If one does good for the sake of retribution, it is not true goodness. This is called heteronomy morality, which goes back to tradition.

So, he doesn't believe in Alaya consciousness. I speculate that he believed it when he was young, but later didn't. One reason is that individual life seeks individual freedom, because he feels the need for a creative self. He cannot tolerate being constantly influenced by cause and effect; Another reason is not only due to Xiong Shili, but also to the entire modern and contemporary China.

The impact of the reflection on why China has stagnated from individual freedom on Xiong Shili's thinking on causality and practical issues.

If it is Alaya consciousness, causal determinism, and you personally rely on cultivation, then where is the driving force for a country or a nation to revitalize itself?

According to this concept of 'nurturing', it can only be done gradually.

But Xiong Shili saw China at that time. In 2022, Xiong Shili went to teach at Peking University. What he saw was the warlord chaos, the struggle between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. There was not a day without war, and not a day without death. He saw that China at that time was poor and weak, and the quality of people was very low.

Today, some people are still lamenting that we are implementing democracy now and are afraid that our quality may not keep up. What do you think it was like 100 years ago?

I used to have the impression that when I was young, I heard people criticize Hu Shi, saying that he was very bad. Hu Shi despised Chinese people and scolded them as if they were a very low nationality. Later, I discovered that this sentence was spoken by Xiong Shili. I found Xiong Shili and wrote a letter to Hu Shi. He wrote a letter to Hu Shi on November 21, 1935.

At this point in the world, it is not a question of national subjugation, but whether the Chinese people can survive... The Chinese people are so cheap, if they do not die, there is no reason. I can't understand why Chinese people are totally unpopular. Mr. Xiang will never accept such observations based on force. ——To Hu Shi

Xiong Shili was particularly patriotic and participated in the early activities of the Xinhai Revolution. Throughout his life, he seemed particularly anxious during the Anti Japanese War. Why did he say this? "Love is deep, hate is intense." It's like a metaphor: "I only know how to go home and beat my children. You see, I am very gentle. If my children don't study well at home, some may even beat them, but I can't go and beat other people's children. Why do I care about their quality.