"So I regretted myself and felt ashamed, and wailed and felt ashamed day and night." The original meaning is "So I regretted and felt ashamed of myself, and mourned and wailed day and night, feeling endlessly ashamed." This is not only a lament that Baoyu has a great talent that cannot be put to good use, but also Cao Xueqin's own opinion. In the so-called prosperous age, Xueqin lived a life with thatched rafters and a rope bed and a tile stove. Her life's talents and learning could only be "passed down from the boudoir, which can break the boredom of a moment and awaken the eyes of colleagues". The so-called "no talent can go away" To mend the sky, you have spent so many years in the world of mortals."
Analysis:
The first chapter of the novel "Dream of Red Mansions" reads:
It turns out that Nuwa's family was refining. When the stone was used to mend the sky, thirty-six thousand five hundred and one stubborn stones were made at Wuji Cliff in Dahuang Mountain with a height of 12 feet and a square of 24 feet. The Wahuang family only spent 36,500 yuan, and only one piece was left unused, so they abandoned it under the Qinggeng Peak of this mountain. Unexpectedly, after being tempered, this stone has become spiritually enlightened. Seeing that all the stones can mend the sky, it alone has no talent and cannot be selected, so it blames itself and feels ashamed, wailing and feeling ashamed day and night.
This "stone" story originates from the myth of Nuwa refining five-color stones to mend the sky. It is a displacement, deformation and bold reconstruction of the myth of Nuwa. A piece of spiritually enlightened stone left by Nuwa to mend the sky. Because she had no material to mend the sky, she "fell guilty and ashamed, and was sad day and night." Then a monk (Master Mang Mang, Master Miao Miao) appeared and took him to the "prosperous land of flowers and willows" and the "gentle and wealthy land". After experiencing joys and sorrows, and the desolation of the world, he returned to the foot of Qinggeng Peak in Dahuang Mountain. This is the concept of color and emptiness embodied by the author in the article. "Desolate, meaningless, boundless, misty" all imply absurdity and emptiness. The author also repeatedly emphasizes the words "dream" and "phantom" in the book, which goes far beyond the myth itself and sets a tragic tone for the story.
The "stone myth" also has a symbolic function. The stone that cannot mend the sky can be said to be the incarnation of the author himself. Lu Xun said: "Cao Xueqin was born in glory, and finally died. Half his life was like a stone." The Cao family had a prominent family background and was a "century-old prominent family" in Jiangnan at that time. In the fifth year of Yongzheng's reign, the Cao family began to decline after their homes were confiscated. Cao Xueqin experienced the rise and decline of the Cao family, and connected the decline of his family with his own sense of responsibility for the resurgence. The author felt guilty and self-blame. In the Jiaxu version of the Zhi Ping, a comment on the side of the sentence "Without materials to mend the sky, and a deformed form to enter the world" says: "The eight characters are the author's lifelong regret." In the verse "I have spent so many years in the mortal world in vain", there is also a comment on the side of the sentence "I am ashamed of myself." Cao Xueqin believed that he had "received the kindness of his parents' education and the advice of his teachers and friends." This vaguely implies that the family had high hopes for him. Cao Xueqin may have worked for the rejuvenation of the family for a while, but The Cao family did not prosper after the Yongzheng raid. It can be seen that his efforts did not bring about a good turn. Facing the decline of the family, he could not get rid of self-blame and regret. He finally wrote this book with blood and tears to show himself to the world. "The crime of failing to achieve anything is to spend half your life in poverty." In the myth of "Stone", he expressed through the mouth of a stubborn stone that he "pityed himself and felt ashamed, and was sad day and night" because he "had no materials to mend the sky, and wasted so many years in the world of mortals." This contained the self-condemnation of the author's failure.
As a symbolic fable, "The Myth of Stone" also implies a deeper and abstract philosophical meaning. The author expresses his own philosophical understanding of life and life through the story of a stone that "had no material to mend the sky and transformed into the world" and then "restored its essence" after experiencing all the karma in the world. The life course of "Stone" becoming a human being, going through tribulations in this world, and returning to the wilderness is "seeing color due to emptiness, generating emotion from color, conveying emotion into color, and realizing emptiness from color". It starts from "empty" and finally returns to "empty". This is An "empty" philosophical circle connected from end to end. Cao Xueqin embodies this "circle" through Jia Baoyu's life. In this life experience, life activities are interpreted as "a dream in the end, and all realms return to nothingness", which is full of sentimentality and emptiness.