If You Feel Troubled, Read More Books
My whole life I have hated lecturing and disliked acting the expert, because I know I am neither deep nor noble enough to be anyone’s teacher, so I mostly prefer to hide my limitations. But now my profession requires me to counsel many people, which inevitably calls for constant exchange of ideas and hearts.
I have had exactly one spiritual mentor in my life: my beloved teacher Li Lixin. What I most admire is his way of educating; he practiced “teaching without words”—at least with me. Though he was a teacher by profession, I never saw him act the expert; he hated lecturing and preferred silently handing people books, letting students grasp truth through reading.
When I studied with him, he continuously supplied me with all kinds of extracurricular books—carefully chosen, fine books from his own collection. He gave me different books according to my state at different stages, and every one he chose I loved. My character comes from my parents’ genes and upbringing; my soul was shaped by my mentor.
His method was truly effective: it not only raised my cognition but also formed excellent reading habits. Influenced by him, I read widely across many fields. Because my reading is broad, I am not easily narrow or dogmatic, and flexible people tend to be happier. In how I conduct myself I also bear my mentor’s imprint: I dislike rushing to conclusions, acting the expert, or arguing with people. The world is complex, and what we know and have learned is limited; humility is no fault, and much awaits our exploration.
I have seen many people who, having learned a little, think themselves great and believe they hold the truth. They do not realize they have merely scooped a few drops from the ocean of knowledge; that little learning has not broadened their hearts but plunged them into what Buddhism calls the “obstruction of consciousness” and the “obstruction of views”—a single leaf before the eye hides the great mountain. Preconception and narrow prejudice make us intolerant, prone to opposition, slow to accept the new, and unable to form a complete picture.
The more rational a person is, the less they suffer vexation. Vexation is a complex, unpleasant emotion that damages quality of life. Reason is the best weapon for controlling emotion and reducing vexation. How do we become more rational? Only through experience and reading. We can learn much from life, but it is far from enough; we must read many books to make our minds increasingly rational.
Many things we cannot yet see through or let go of; at such times, try reading more books. Open a book and it profits you; no need to ask what to read or ask someone for a list—just wander into a bookstore or library, and whatever most attracts you at that moment will catch your eye. Most of my reading now is driven by a current problem, and reading to solve a problem is highly efficient. Read across genres; keep what you love, drop what you don’t. As you read and read, what was unclear becomes clear, what you could not see through gradually opens, and what you could not let go of gradually releases.
Read enough, and you find that people and things in this world are not so impressive, nor is scholarship. Everything we experience becomes natural—we understand the reasons behind it, and when things are natural everything feels right, and the heart is still. That stillness of heart is the state.
From age 19 I spent much time in the National Library, and often went also to the Xidan Book Building, Wangfujing Book Building, Haidian Book City, Zhongguancun Book Building, the PUMC Medical Science Press shop, and the Renwen Kaogu bookstore. I still set aside time to hunt for books in these places, and nowadays on apps like WeChat Read.
I choose books with no professional restriction: history, humanities, social science, philosophy, religion, archaeology, psychology, medicine, and popular science of natural science—whatever feels fresh and interesting I flip through, and if it grabs me I buy it home. After so many years I have shed all sectarian prejudice; I no longer think any field is superior or any subject worthless.
In my own experience, reading is the best route to emotional stability. It steadies our moods and cures foolishness. Middle-aged and elderly people who read the newest popular science gain much in improving later life, raising quality of life, and lengthening life. Society changes fast and the middle-aged gradually cannot keep up, but that need not stop us learning new things.
If Chinese educators did not make middle-school textbooks so dull, I would advise older people to read them. Much knowledge has been updated; what the middle-aged learned in youth now looks dated, and refreshing one’s cognition helps.
I myself prefer popular-science books written by European and American authors; from them one can roughly see why our education lags. Their books read simply and clearly—especially suited to a reader of modest IQ like me—and they are lively and engaging. A few pages in and you cannot put the book down; they seem to care greatly that patients and readers can understand and enjoy. Some of our own scholars write so dryly they make readers drowsy.
This is the result-level difference between interest-driven education and exam-driven education. Graduates of interest education write with delight; products of exam education write without any charm. I suspect they force themselves to write just to pad word count, and the result is tasteless. Reading resembles romance: we mostly like dating a humorous person, few like a stiff one. If an author’s article or book is enjoyable, it is far more approachable.
Enjoyable popular science sparks readers’ interest to explore a field deeply; dull books breed boredom. We always preach hard study, but hard study produces neither high achievement nor anything else—it may even breed depression. Only the joy of learning yields breakthrough achievement. Confucius long ago said: “They who know it are not equal to those who love it, and those who love it are not equal to those who delight in it.” How true; from antiquity to today the principles of learning are the same.