Opinion: Confucianist Warriorship Standpoint: My Serving as a Role Model Benefiting the Countless Under the Heaven

In August 2021, I — a Confucianist warrior — visited some families who were guests of the Trump Hotel in Washington D. C. Initially, based on what I know and believe in, I refused to enter the hotel. I was later told that my younger family members who have not reunited with me face-to-face for three years found it difficult to leave the hotel for reasons such as the hot weather. At the time, I responded that I would be willing to enter the hotel after carrying out a counteract on the street facing to the hotel. Nevertheless, when my family members saw me carrying out this act, they firmly refused that I cross the sidewalk to the street where the hotel is, or to enter the hotel — I was repeatedly screaming “Black Lives Matter” at the hotel. On January 10th, 2021, at Lincoln Square in Gettysburg, I stood firmly, facing a group of Trump supporters, while separating myself from them with a driveway, and screamed “Black Lives Matter” for around an hour and ten minutes but kept quiet at moments such as when the anthem of the political entity (The Star-Spangled Banner) was played. On January 11th, I raised the sign of “Black Lives Matter” for around an hour on the same square without Trump supporters. My motivations have been what I have known as an outsider of cultural-spiritual America, as well as my Confucianist warriorship standpoint: the righteous duties of magnitude between teachers and students, as well as my position as a role model benefiting the countless under the Heaven. On the date, I reunited with all families visiting Washington D. C. at a place other than the hotel. When discussing the incident with some of my families, I said: “Long live Confucianist warriorship; long live China the hallowed land, the light and the blossom!”

Huang Li-Zhou the Venerable Warrior has pointed out that Confucianism is the learning of “the well-governance of the cosmos.”[1] As a Confucianist warrior, I must participate in such a “well-governance of the cosmos.” In this historical era, an African American man who has previously worked at Gettysburg College purchased a television at a store, and was asked by an employee of the store to show his receipt upon his leaving; he paused and observed at the gate to the store, and discovered that none of the white customers were asked to show their receipts. He suspected but was not absolutely certain that he was unreasonably discriminated against solely for being an African American man. In everyday life, many parents of African American sons teach their sons a series of cautious ways to act when being stopped by a police officer. At least the vast majority of parents of European American daughters have never experienced the necessity of teaching their daughters these serial ways to act with the same caution level in the same scenario. Based on what I know as an outsider of cultural-spiritual America, my aforementioned acts in support of Black Lives Matter are a grandeur combat benefiting the countless under the Heaven.

One of the important sources of these behaviors of mine in support of Black Lives Matter has also been the righteous duties of magnitude between teachers and students. The crucial teacher-student relationship of the Confucianist spiritual lineage has an important overlap with the American educational culture, while many parts significantly differ from it. The ideals of the former suggest that death for the Way is martyrdom, and teachers “spread the Way” (On Teaching by Han Changli / Han Yu, 768-824)[2] — the “Way” hereby refers to the holy natural laws that the cosmos and everything within it operate — for example, students revere and love their teachers, serving their teachers with proper etiquette and the rituals they are supposed to observe. In Liu Sifen’s historical novel, The Weeping Willows at the White Gate, Huang Li-Zhou the Venerable Warrior (Huang Zongxi, 1610-1695) shows his attitude toward Dr. Liu Nian-Tai (Liu Zongzhou, 1578-1645) as “lofty reverence” and “fervent love”.[3] Historically, after Huang bowed before Dr. Liu as a recognition of their educator-student relationship, during a conflict between Dr. Liu and other intellectuals, Huang “made an appointment with more than sixty students of high academic performances from Wu and Yue areas to service the lectures together”, therefore “offensive, bad languages did not reach their ears”.[4] By such Confucianist righteous duties and logics, I believe that my aforementioned supportive acts of Black Lives Matter constitute a glorious combat which is a loyal service to my educators within the universal basic social and interpersonal framework — those I have been serving from my position as a student mandated by my Confucianist civility-morality and creeds have carried out countless acts in support of Black Lives Matter. For instance, when I studied at Abington Friends School in Philadelphia, an educational poster opposing discrimination against young African American women was publicly posted, and an official gathering discussing The Hate U Give was hosted. Dr. Scott Hancock, who has been teaching at Gettysburg College since 2001, has been a long-term passionate advocate for Black Lives Matter; he held a sign as he actively participated in the assembly at the Gettysburg battlefield on July 4th, 2020; his contribution to Black Lives Matter has been reported by The Washington Post [5] and New York Times.[6] The office building of Brad Lancaster, one of my supervisors at Gettysburg College, also posts the sign of Black Lives Matter.

I also invoke the soul of Confucianist-warriorship China the hallowed land through my aforementioned acts in support of Black Lives Matter (I consider the heroism of Huang Li-Zhou the Venerable Warrior to be the heart of China). Over the course of history, countless Chinese intellectuals have been influenced by the Chinese heritage of warriorship. Even when temporarily putting books down and only examining me from the perspective of the popular culture, it is easily observed that I have listened to many Chinese songs themed on warriorship and can sing many; in at least some cases, I swiftly point out which book or other works influence a Chinese song of this category. For instance, the lyrics of Romantic Blossoms by Dong Zhen include: “Romances resemble fierce liquor — in archaic vaults of love and enmities, how beautiful are these wounds and agonies of romantic blossoms.” I detect the influences from the characters, Lin Zhaoying and Li Mochou, in Return of the Condor Heroes sat in early modern [7] southern Sung era (mid-early 12th to late 13th centuries) by Jin Yong. The former spent much time in a vault where she diligently polished combating skills while living with her romantic passion imprinted in the deep of her heart.[8] The way the latter interacted with the world was enormously changed by her romantic wounds; Dr. Chen An-Feng who studies Jin Yong literature has pointed out that she “committed many evils,”[9] for instance, after her former partner’s natural passing, her killings of the younger brother, sister-in-law, and multiple servants at the family of her former partner. She was also viewed as “having committed many evils”[10] by Yang Guo the character. During an intense battle, she was besieged, poisoned by a plant known as romantic blossoms and encircled in an ocean of flames, yet she was still conscious; she therefore sang a poem on romantic love while being burnt to death in a “sorrowful and impassionate” voice.[11] While being imperfect and constantly correcting my mistakes, I try my best to live out the “full-bloodedness” and “warriorship” that are parts of the Chinese heritage,[12] as well as the “righteous hot-bloodedness, courage, and indomitability” that were frequently-observed among many “uprisers in the east of Zhejiang”[13] at the time mentioned by Li Jie-Fei in one of his biographies of Huang Li-Zhou the Venerable Warrior — as a Confucianist warrior, I now attempt to serve the countless under the Heaven as a role model of these qualities.

Citations:

[7] Naito Konan (內藤湖南). Zhongguo Shi Tonglun 中國史通論 (An Overview Discourse on the Chinese History). Translation by Xia Ying-Yuan (夏應元), Qian Wan-Yue (錢婉約), Liu Wen-Zhu (劉文柱), Zheng Xian-Wen (鄭顯文), Xu Shi-Hong (徐世虹), Xu Jian-Xin (徐建新), Zhang Jian (張鍵). Bejing: Jiuzhou Press, 2018.

辛丑七月（2021年8月），在下以儒俠之身，探親華府；這些親人下榻特朗普客棧。在下先因在下所知及在下所信，拒入此客棧；後受告知，有年較在下幼，且三年未與在下面對面重聚之親，因天暑等由，難離客棧。其時在下答，俟於客棧對街，行一策補救，即願入客棧。但在下有親，睹在下行此補救策，而堅拒在下過人行橫道、至客棧所在之街，更堅拒在下入客棧——在下所行，乃向客棧反覆高呼「黑人之命要緊」。庚子年十一月二十七日（2021年1月10日），在下已於格思鎮林公（林肯）廣場，面朝一群特朗普支持者站定，而與彼等間隔一條馬路，高呼「黑人之命要緊」約半時辰（一小時）十分鐘，但在播政治實體頌（<星條旗>）等時安靜；十一月二十八日（1月11日）又在並無特朗普支持者之林公廣場，舉牌「黑人之命要緊」約半時辰（一小時）。在下動機，是在下作為美利堅文化與精神源流之局外人之所知，與在下儒俠立場：師徒大義、垂範萬民、造福天下。在下當日在客棧以外他處，與訪華府諸親重聚，與部分親人論及此事時，曰：「儒俠精神萬歲，神州華夏萬歲！」

在下這些支持黑人之命要緊風潮之行，重要來源之一，亦是師徒大義。儒門關鍵師徒關係，與美利堅當代師徒關係，有重要契合處，亦有頗異處。前者理想中，「殉道」則為烈士，而師「傳道（韓昌黎<師說>語）」[2]；道，在此指天地萬物運行之神聖自然法則；門人敬愛其師，執弟子禮事師。劉公斯奮在青史小說《白門柳》中，以「崇敬」「熱愛」[3]，描摹聖俠黃梨洲（1610-1695）於劉進士念臺（宗周，1578-1645）態度。青史上，梨洲拜師念臺後，在後者與其他讀書人一次衝突期間，梨洲「約吳、越中高材生六十餘人，共侍講席」，是故，「惡言不及於耳」。[4] 依此儒門義理，在下認為：在下前述支持黑人之命要緊風潮諸行，是舉世通行之處世基本框架內，盡忠事師之光榮戰鬥——在下依禮法與信仰師事者，支持黑人之命要緊風潮諸行，數不勝數，如：在下就學費城安彬書院（Abington Friends School）時，書院公開張貼反對歧視黑人少女之教育宣傳畫，亦由官方開會深議《汝加之仇》（The Hate U Give）；自2001年執教書院之進士韓公思浩（Dr. Scott Hancock），長期熱切宣傳並參與黑人之命要緊風潮，2020年7月4日，持錘舉牌，活躍於格思戰場黑人之命要緊集會，韓公這方面貢獻，已為《華府郵報》（《華盛頓郵報》）[5]與《紐約時報》[6]報導；於格思書院，主管在下者之一藍公（Brad Lancaster），所在辦公樓長期張貼「黑人之命要緊」首字母縮寫口號。

在下亦藉前述支持黑人之命要緊諸行，招儒俠神州之魂（在下認為，聖俠梨洲偉績，即是華夏丹心）。青史上，九州無數傑出讀書人受俠這源流影響，而縱然暫時放下書卷，僅從流行文化角度，檢視在下，亦輕易可知：在下聽過並能唱大量以俠為主題之華文歌，且至少在部分情況下，能很快指出某以俠為主題之華文歌，受哪部書或他類作品影響。如董貞<情花>有詞：「情如烈酒，古墓恩仇，多麼美麗，情花的傷痛」；在下認為此曲，受金庸設背景於近代[7]南宋之《神鵰俠侶》中，林朝英、李莫愁二角色影響。前者長居墓室，精研武學而懷刻骨情思，[8]後者情傷致其與世互動之法劇變，研究金庸諸作之陳進士岸峰，指其「作惡多端」，[9]如在其前情人自然去世後，殺害其前情人弟弟、弟媳、彼等家中多名下人；其亦為角色楊過視為「作惡多端」，[10]在激戰中，受圍攻並為情花所毒，又陷火海，但神智清醒，於是以「淒厲」之聲，[12]唱情詞被焚死。華夏源流固有之「血氣」、「俠氣」[12]，和李公潔非在立聖俠梨洲其中一傳時，所及之常見於當年許多「浙東起義者」處之「熱血與勇毅」[13]，由在下這不完美，且不斷修正自身之儒俠，盡力以垂範天下之法演繹。

據：

[1] 徐定寶，《黃宗羲評傳》（南京：南京大學出版社，2011。）

[2] 韓昌黎、馬通伯，《韓昌黎文集校注》（臺北：世界書局，2013。）

[3] 劉斯奮，《白門柳》，第二冊（廣州：廣東人民出版社，2009。）

[4] 李潔非，《天崩地解》（北京：作家出版社，2014。）

[5] Jamison, Peter. “In Gettysburg, Trump supporters clash with Black Lives Matter protesters as election nears.” The Washington Post, October 30th, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/10/26/gettysburg-trump-black-lives-matter-clashes/

[6] Schuessler, Jennifer. “Amid the Monument Wars, a Rally for ‘More History’.” New York Times, September 28th, 2020. 
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/28/arts/civil-war-monuments.html

[7] 內藤湖南，《中國史通論》（北京：九州出版社，2018。）

[8] 金庸，《神鵰俠侶》（臺北：遠流出版社，2005。）

[9] 陳岸峰，《鏡花水月：金庸武俠小說的思想與結構》（香港：中華書局，2017。）

[10] 金庸，《神鵰俠侶》（臺北：遠流出版社，2005。）

[11] 金庸，《神鵰俠侶》（臺北：遠流出版社，2005。）

[12] 黃勇軍，《儒家政治思維傳統及其現代轉化》（長沙：岳麓書社，2010。）

[13] 李潔非，《野哭：弘光列傳》（北京：人民文學出版社，2013。）