Top Scholar

Chapter 324 Rainbow

The stars are as vast as the sea, and their light shines on Longchang Post Station.

A few rays of warm yellow light shone through the paper windows of the inn, and the chirping of insects drifted from the corner of the courtyard.

Wang Shouren leaned back in his bamboo chair, gazing up at the starry sky, lost in reminiscence:

"When I was fifteen or sixteen, I aspired to follow the way of the sages, but I had no clue about the theories of investigation and extension of knowledge proposed by the ancient Confucian scholars, so I put it aside. One day, I suddenly came across a sentence in Zhu Xi's commentary on Cheng Yi's work: 'All things have an exterior and an interior, a refined and a coarse; every blade of grass and every tree contains profound principles.'"

"My eyes lit up, recalling Lou Yizhai's words, 'Sagehood can be attained through learning,' the method being the investigation of things. Now, seeing Zhu Xi's words again, I realized: 'It seems this 'principle' is indeed 'investigated'!' Wang Shouren still felt somewhat excited when recalling his 'great discovery' in his youth:
"I excitedly told a classmate surnamed Qian about this discovery, and he was also very excited, saying that we might become saints now! At that time, there were a few bamboo trees in the backyard of the study, so we decided to start by studying the bamboo..."

"And the result?" Su Lu asked.

"As a result, we worked on the bamboo for three days and three nights in a row, and Qian Sheng fell ill from exhaustion..." Wang Yangming said somewhat embarrassedly, "At that time, I was young and impetuous, and I thought it was because Qian Sheng lacked energy, so I continued to work on the bamboo by myself for seven days. As a result, I also fell into the same predicament of 'not being able to work properly day and night,' and in the end, I almost fell ill and died from excessive thinking..."

"Good heavens." Su Lu was dumbfounded.

"Lying in the hospital bed, I couldn't help but sigh, 'I can't become a sage, I have no great strength to investigate things...'" Wang Shouren said with a bitter smile, "But later I still didn't give up, and tried to investigate many other things, such as daily utensils, flowers, trees, pigs, horses, cattle, sheep, and even people... but it was all in vain, and I couldn't understand the reason."

He sighed deeply and said, "Sometimes I can't help but wonder if Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi were wrong? Could it be that 'principle' is not found in things? Or even if it is found in things, can't be found by simply forcing it out?"

Wang Shouren then looked at Su Lu and said, "Let's try your 'hypothetical-deductive method' and see if we can come up with anything to prove that Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi were right and that my doubts were wrong..."

“Of course.” Su Lu nodded and asked, “But could you tell me first how you analyze bamboo?”

"My method of studying bamboo is mainly through quiet observation, trying to understand all aspects of bamboo in order to comprehend the ultimate truth of the Way of Heaven," Wang Shouren replied.

"Forgive my bluntness, but Master's attempt to achieve enlightenment through meditation and deep thought, to suddenly comprehend the 'great principle that governs all things in the universe,' seems more like Zen meditation than the Confucian approach of investigating things to acquire knowledge," Su Lu said softly.

“Indeed,” Wang Shouren nodded. “But I tried other things later, and the result was the same.”

"Is it possible that the teacher's method of investigating things is wrong?" Su Lu asked cautiously. Based on his understanding of Wang Shouren, he believed that his teacher would not be annoyed by his questioning.

"Oh?" Wang Shouren was not angry at all. Instead, he said with great interest, "Since you have put forward a hypothesis, why don't you use your method to verify whether it is right or wrong?"

“Okay.” Su Lu nodded and said, “Zhu Xi said, ‘The principle is in things.’ We are human beings, not things. Even if we rack our brains over bamboo, we can’t possibly understand the principle contained in bamboo.”

"Then what do you think should be done?" Wang Shouren asked.

"The students believe that thinking should be based on 'learning, observation, analysis, and practice,'" Su Lu said. "Therefore, the investigation of things cannot be separated from these four steps."

"Is it true that 'thinking without learning leads to danger'?" Wang Shouren said, "But I have searched through all the classics and found no knowledge that I can learn from."

“That might be because no one before us has studied it,” Su Lu said. “But even if we can’t learn from the experience of our predecessors, we still have the three steps of ‘observation, analysis, and practice’—because without investigation we have no right to speak, and practice is the sole criterion for testing truth!”

"Without investigation, there is no right to speak; practice is the sole criterion for testing truth..." Wang Shouren murmured these two sentences from Su Lu, and unconsciously sat up cross-legged.

"For example, when studying bamboo, you need to observe how its roots, stems, and leaves grow, see its changes in spring, summer, autumn, and winter, try planting it, record the observations, and so on... Only then can you observe all sorts of phenomena, and then try to deduce the 'principle' from these specific phenomena." Su Lu became increasingly bold in his speech:
"But the teacher simply used his brain to think, trying to understand the 'principle of bamboo' through thinking alone. This kind of meditation, which is detached from reality, essentially turned 'investigating things' into 'meditation,' which is completely disconnected from Zhu Xi's advocacy of 'empirical investigation.' Naturally, he could not get any results and instead fell ill due to excessive mental exertion."

"..." Wang Shouren listened carefully, pondered for a long time, and slowly nodded, saying, "What you said makes some sense, but we can't rule out the possibility that you are just daydreaming."

“That’s right. According to the hypothetical-deductive method, we should now conduct experiments to verify the hypothesis.” Su Lu smiled and said, “My hypothesis is that ‘thinking alone cannot lead to knowledge,’ so all I need to do is prove that ‘some principles cannot be conceived in a vacuum, but can be explored through empirical evidence.’”

“Not bad,” Wang Shouren nodded.

“Since the students don’t understand the principles of bamboo, I’ll use the principles of other things to prove it. Is that alright?” Su Lu asked.

“Of course, no problem. Bamboo or monkey, it makes no difference,” Wang Shouren said with a smile.

“Alright, then may I ask you, sir, what color is sunlight?” Su Lu asked with a smile.

“It has no color,” Wang Shouren replied without hesitation.

“Wrong,” Su Lu said, shaking his head decisively.

"Then what color do you think it is?" Wang Shouren chuckled. "There's no sun now, so even if I answer, you won't believe me," Su Lu said with a smile. "Let's wait until the sun comes out tomorrow before revealing the correct answer."

"Please meditate all night with the spirit of investigating bamboo, and see if you can arrive at the correct answer." He stood up and smiled at Wang Shouren.
Goodnight, teacher.

"You're deliberately trying to keep me from sleeping, and you even say goodnight..." Wang Shouren said irritably.

"We're doing an experiment, so please cooperate, teacher." Su Lu waved with a smile and went back to her room to sleep.

~~
The next morning, Su Lu waited until it was fully light and the sun was about to rise before finally opening the door to go outside. He saw Wang Shouren sitting listlessly in a bamboo chair with dark circles under his eyes, clearly having not only not slept all night, but also not even moved an inch.

"Teacher, you really didn't sleep all night?" Su Lu asked in surprise.

"Nonsense, that's just my temper. If you want me to die sooner, just keep doing this a few more times." Wang Shouren said with a resentful look, "Hurry up and reveal the answer, I want to go inside and sleep."

"Alright." Su Lu nodded, poured a glass of cool water from the kettle, took a sip to moisten his throat, and said slowly, "It's a beautiful day today. Let me first show you the rainbow, Master."

"Hurry up, hurry up, the sun's already up," Wang Shouren urged. Even he, after a sleepless night, would be irritable. "It's not like it's an evening after the rain, where would a rainbow come from?"

“Sir, watch carefully.” Su Lu walked to the open space in the courtyard, stood with his back to the rising sun, and was enveloped in its golden light.

Then he picked up the bamboo tube, took a large mouthful of water, and spat it out. Wang Shouren then witnessed a scene he would never forget—

The mist dispersed in the air like shattered jade, and in the instant it met the sunlight, a tiny rainbow appeared in the mist!
"Wow, there really is a rainbow!" She Yunluo and the others who came out to watch the excitement clapped and cheered, and then followed suit, spraying water back to the sun.

Small rainbows appeared one after another in Longchang Post Station, dazzling Wang Shouren.

Su Lu took out a handkerchief to wipe his face, walked to Wang Shouren's side, and asked with a smile, "I wonder what you think, teacher?"

“The sixth chapter of the Book of Rites, “The Righteous Meaning of the Monthly Ordinances, says: ‘If the clouds are thin and the sun shines through, a rainbow will be formed when the sun shines on the raindrops; if the clouds are thick and the sun is not visible, or if it rains but the sun does not shine, then there will be no rainbow.’” Wang Shouren immediately thought of the classic text in his field and exclaimed in admiration: “So rainbows really are formed when sunlight shines on raindrops.”

“Raindrops and clear water are colorless, so the rainbow must have been formed from sunlight!” Su Lu said in a deep voice.

“I only knew that ‘sunlight and raindrops create rainbows’ in the past, but I never thought that sunlight itself contains rainbows.” Wang Shouren said with a wry smile, “I’m somewhat convinced by you, but not completely convinced.”

"Is there anything else you're not satisfied with, sir?" Su Lu asked with a smile.

"You still have to prove that there is no rainbow hidden in the water." Wang Shouren truly lived up to his reputation as a philosopher; his thinking was rigorous.

“That’s simple, just replace the water with another material.” But that didn’t stump Su Lu. He smiled at She Yunluo and said, “Second sister-in-law, can I borrow your necklace?”

She Yunluo has a passion for all kinds of gemstones, and today she's wearing a transparent East China Sea crystal necklace. Ai Dai's lenses are made from this colorless, transparent crystal...

She did as she was told, took off the necklace, and handed it to Su Lu.

Su Lu showed the necklace to Wang Shouren and said, "Sir, there's no color in it, is there?"

“Of course, this is top-grade East Sea crystal,” Wang Shouren nodded.

"Teacher, watch carefully." Su Lu then held up the diamond-shaped pendant to the sunlight. He then slowly adjusted the angle so that the light refracted by the pendant fell onto the newly pasted white window paper.

"Hiss..." Wang Shouren looked at the light spots falling on the white window paper, which had actually turned into seven colors, and the order was the same as that of the water rainbow, all of which were 'red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet'!
"Wow, there really is another rainbow!" She Yunluo exclaimed with delight, giving a thumbs up. "You're really something, kid! No wonder you're your brother's brother!"

Su Lu ignored her and said to Wang Shouren, "Teacher, it's impossible for a rainbow to be hidden inside a crystal, right?"

“Indeed.” Wang Shouren nodded in agreement. “Sunlight shines on water and produces rainbows, and it also shines on crystal, and the order of the seven colors is the same, which shows that rainbows are indeed hidden in sunlight.”

He said with genuine admiration, "It seems you are right. You can't make sense just by thinking; you have to combine it with empirical research."

P.S. This is a post I'll edit later. Please vote with my monthly tickets!!!

(End of this chapter)