Description:

  In the last year of the 20th century, with the help of Phoenix Satellite Television in Hong Kong, I traveled tens of thousands of kilometers to explore almost all major ancient civilizations in human history. Among them were Egyptian civilization, Babylonian civilization, Cretan civilization, Hebrew civilization, Persian civilization, Indian civilization and Arab civilization. As a humanities scholar, I made an overall traverse of the sites of so many civilizations, which was unprecedented at home and abroad before me.

  I wrote notes every day during the inspection process, and it was extremely difficult to write due to the many dangers along the way. In the end, they were compiled into a book called "A Sigh for a Thousand Years". The final destination of the inspection was the southern foot of the Himalayas in Nepal, where I stayed for several days, making a preliminary sorting, thinking and summarizing of the impressions from the inspection.

  This trip is a natural continuation of my many years of exploring the sites of Chinese civilization. From this, a series of grand contrasts have been formed, allowing me to gain a deeper understanding of Chinese civilization through these contrasts, and also to gain a deeper understanding of other civilizations from Chinese civilization. It's precisely for this reason that I included my notes on Nepal in the new edition of "Cultural Travels".

  Later, I spent a great deal of effort to examine ninety-six cities in Europe and wrote the book "Traveler Without Borders". At the end of this examination, there was also a reflection and summary, which was again through other civilizations to re-recognize Chinese civilization. Therefore, another article "Polar Night" appeared.

  One

  From Kathmandu, heading northwest for two hundred kilometers on mountain roads, you arrive at a place called Pokhara.

  A place.

  We took a cable-pulled raft across a crystal-clear snow-fed river and checked into the Fish Tail Lodge at the foot of the mountain.

  I stared blankly at the scenery around me. Majestic, majestic to the point of being unable to be more majestic; gentle, and gentle to the point of being unable to be more gentle. How did they naturally blend together like this? After hastily eating dinner, I came back to look again, and the sky had already darkened. The first to retreat was the gentleness, leaving only the majesty that was somber under the slanting light. Soon, the majesty also retreated. Immediately, a chill ran down my spine, and I hugged my shoulders as I returned to the house.

  There is a stove in the room, I lit it and watched the flames. I found candles on the table next to the stove and also lit them. Suddenly, I felt that there was no need for electric lights in this house, so I turned them off. The room immediately returned to ancient times, quietly listening to the flickering of the fire and candlelight, and instead felt warm and safe. But then I patted my head and stood up, thinking that this small ancient-style house was actually at the foot of the Himalayas, and I was hiding alone inside, contemplating and writing! This situation would make even Qu Yuan, Li Bai, and Su Dongpo stare in amazement - how luxurious I am.

  Look out of the window, nothing can be seen. Back to the desk and sit down, just want to write a few words and suddenly stop writing. I have always believed that it is difficult to write in a beautiful place, tonight is another evidence. Since the outside of the window is dark, the pen is white, and also tired from the journey, I fell asleep quickly.

  As soon as I woke up in the morning, I got up and pushed open the door. When I looked up, I saw that the Himalayas were right in front of me under the dawn clouds. However, the scene of the sun's rays dyeing the peak red was blocked by other mountains. After careful observation, I realized that as long as I crossed the snow-water river in front to the other side, I would be able to see it. So, I immediately rushed to the riverbank, where early-rising raft workers were already busy.

  I got on the raft and pulled the rope with the workers, but I let go after one pull. The rope had been soaked in the river water overnight and was very cold. The raft worker laughed and said: "I can pull it alone. You are really lucky, this mountain peak has been shrouded in clouds for five days and only showed its face today."

  After seeing the crystal-clear and reddish snow-capped peaks, I took a raft back and returned to my hotel room. At this moment, I realized that Yu Wei Shan Fang was where I wanted to sort out my feelings along the way.

  Two

  The Himalayas above my head, with its extreme geographical height, gave me a kind of thinking height. It made me move again and again, imagining its cold gaze overlooking the world. In its gaze, the emergence of human beings and the formation of civilization are all small things that have happened in a very short time recently. Its memory is boundless and endless, with the vast majority having nothing to do with humanity.

  With it, we talk about worldly things and our mood can relax.

  This time, I have visited all the major ancient civilizations outside of China. This is something that no one has ever done before. Along the way, I indeed encountered many dangers, but miraculously overcame them all and finally made it through safely today. The reason for this, to put it bluntly, is that I was "born lucky"; to put it more elegantly, is that this journey was in accordance with "heaven's will".

  Looking back at the many ancient civilizations I've seen, without exception, they have all declined. In comparison, those particularly developed regions in today's world are not even considered old. Yet their age has become a blemish on the map of modern civilization. The older they get, the deeper the blemish, and the more trouble they bring.

  In this case, there is no need to be sentimental. All living things will decline, especially those that have had a strong and vigorous life, will decline more thoroughly. This confirms the Chinese ancient philosophy of "prosperity must decline", which I don't find difficult to understand. However, when I come from books to reality, seeing the terrible split between familiar place names and real scenery, seeing the magnificent ruins and the desolate present, my heart is still filled with inexplicable terror. Humanity, why are you so great yet so helpless? Civilization, why are you so brilliant yet so fragile? History, why are you so intricate yet so simple?...

  This time, the first Greek civilization site I arrived at showed the perfection and beauty of human ancient civilization from the very beginning, almost to an unattainable height. Under the Parthenon Temple, the ancient Greek tragedies, Aristotle, Venus, and Olympia in the distance have almost perfectly cast the most complete way of life for humanity. It's already a great fortune to see these traces, but unexpectedly, I also saw the Minoan civilization on Crete Island and Mycenae from over a thousand years earlier than all this! If ancient Greek tragedies are contemporary with China's Laozi and Confucius, then Crete and Mycenae are connected to the legendary era of Flame Emperor, Yellow Emperor, Yao, Shun, and Yu. The difference is that their legends have such complete physical evidence.

  Honestly, I can imagine a mountain castle like Mycenae, but what makes me feel incredulous is the life on Crete. Equal, transparent, comfortable and magical, everything seems quite "modern". Among them, the advanced and fashionable drainage system and bathroom system make people feel that time has stood still, and we can step into it at once. However, they were destroyed thousands of years ago. Without considering the process of destruction, they have at least shown that they did not perish because they were "outdated". If we can step into them at once, then destruction can also step into us at once.

  The island of Crete was a trading center in ancient Mediterranean, eloquently proving the level of human communication at that time. Until now, there are still many scholars internationally who deny its qualification as one of the major ancient civilizations of humanity, on the grounds that it absorbed many elements from Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations, and thus cannot be considered an independent original civilization. However, in my view, it has a fundamentally different nature from those two great civilizations, which is "originality in communication". If it does not qualify as one of the major ancient civilizations of humanity, there is only one reason: it was destroyed too early and too thoroughly. By the time the cultural heyday of Athens arrived more than a thousand years later, it had no connection with Crete anymore. And those heydays have already entered into the era after BC, which cannot be considered as "ancient civilization" in the strict sense.

  The ancient civilization on Crete, the cause of its destruction is still inconclusive, but I tend to believe it was due to volcanic eruption, which I have explained in my previous articles. In any case, this was a sudden crisis for a highly mature civilization, and it's hard to say whether its final state was solemn and tragic or chaotic and desperate. No civilization can fantasize about being immortal, but they can choose their tone in their last days. Some might say, when you're already on the verge of extinction, what's the point of having a tone? I'd say, precisely because it's going to be extinct, all that's left is the tone.

  The most impressive physical legacy of ancient civilizations is undoubtedly the Egyptian pyramids. The pyramids hide countless secrets, yet their simple and straightforward shape confronts future generations directly. This makes us realize that everything simple is profound; human ancient civilization is far more complex than people imagine. The Egyptian civilization relied on the Nile River, which was surrounded by deserts. Being surrounded by deserts seemed like a bad thing, but it gave them a vast "natural barrier", making their situation relatively safer and ensuring the political continuity of each dynasty. This was much more stable compared to the Mesopotamian civilization, which was plagued by frequent wars. However, long-term stability also made Egypt increasingly conservative and maintained its autocratic power due to this conservatism. Due to this autocracy, it could concentrate incredible power to build magnificent architecture, but seemingly without any conflicts, there was no need for a "Code of Hammurabi" like the Mesopotamian civilization; due to this autocracy, it took care of the lives of all its subjects, but did not need to establish mechanisms for rational communication with them, making the entire civilization lack sufficient intelligibility. At that time, it was already difficult to understand, let alone later generations. Living in the magnificent atmosphere of autocracy without seeking understanding would inevitably bring a kind of self-sufficient optimism, so the laughter heard by the Nile River at that time must have been much more than that of the Tigris, Euphrates, and Jordan rivers. And on those riverbanks, even songs were sorrowful.

  The Egyptian civilization was interrupted, a magnificent interruption. The reason for the interruption is still to be explored, in my opinion, the main reason may be: the extremely autocratic dynasty will inevitably accumulate hereditary bureaucratic groups, and the agricultural economy that relies on the long Nile River for survival will also inevitably make local governments have capital to confront the extreme autocracy of the pharaohs; The mysterious halo of the pharaoh's "half-god half-human" status will also inevitably make them lack the ability to deal with local government resistance, so splits occur frequently, and foreign invasions also have opportunities... I have been experiencing this judgment all the way from Cairo to Luxor, along the Nile River through seven agricultural provinces.

  The extent of the demise of Egyptian civilization is quite thorough. Not only have the hieroglyphics on the pillars of Luxor Temple been isolated from the world for a long time, making it difficult for people to read and understand ancient Egypt from texts, but more seriously, due to the prolonged rule after foreign invasions, people have retained very little of the Egyptian pulse from blood to faith. Therefore, although the pyramids will continue to stand tall, the civilizational foundation that supports them has long disappeared in the scorching sun and night winds of the Sahara Desert, unable to be found.

  Is this disappearance necessarily a bad thing? Not necessarily. Because time has really been too long.

  Three

  Our "Exodus" route was roughly the same as that of the ancient Israelites, namely to traverse the incredible Sinai Desert. But this holy sentiment was soon replaced by worry and terror. The Middle East, from the banks of the Jordan River to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and then from the Iranian Plateau to the borders of South Asia in Pakistan and Afghanistan, is just too troubled.

  However, it was in this very place that several particularly brilliant ancient civilizations of humanity were crowded. The Babylonian civilization, the Persian civilization, the Indian civilization, the Hebrew civilization, the Arab civilization... The dense layers of horseshoes beat against the empty earth of ancient times. They all thought that the fate of the world depended on the reins in their hands. Indeed, they all made great contributions to humanity. Now, the civilizations that emerged later in the world, no matter how proud they are, no matter how many inventions they have, cannot be compared with them in terms of grand and original significance. But this time I really saw it, a land so long and glorious, completely exhausted and devastated by extremist conflicts.

  Each side of the conflict has a poignant and ringing reason, and the appeal of extremism lies in its poignancy and ring. This makes it impossible for either side to back down. When this collective extreme emotion is mixed with each side's religion, history, and culture, the conflict immediately becomes an unshakeable belief. Everyone rejects rationality and reflection, sometimes appearing to be rational and reflective, but actually just using them as a struggle strategy. As a result, each side is bound by their own "spiritual armor", seemingly strong and brave on the surface, but in reality narrow-minded and suffocating. What's more troublesome is that people who have been in this state for a long time are unable to take care of their daily lives and social order, ultimately losing their true individual dignity due to ecological decline. People who lose their individual dignity have a very low evaluation of the value of life, both for themselves and others. Terrorist activities, suicide bombings, and kidnapping threats can be carried out without hesitation, even with enthusiasm.

  Extremism, in the end, is just extreme emotions plus extreme behavior. Therefore, on this land that was once very sacred, people are raising their heads to look up at one world-class "king" after another, and at the same time, they cannot help but lower their heads to gaze at one baffling fierce battle after another, it's really heartbreaking.

  If we trace back to the source, the emergence of extremism is also related to the transnational expeditions of those "kings". In ancient times, wars between different civilizations were extremely cruel. Because they were all in awe, jealous and fearful of each other, once conquered, they had to erase all traces of the opponent's civilization. For example, there have been repeated instances of occupying Jerusalem and burning it down, then digging three feet underground to eliminate memories; There have been instances of occupying Baghdad and opening the gates to let the waters of the Tigris River wash away the ruins of civilization; Even instances of sowing salt and thistle seeds on occupied land, leaving it desolate for thousands of years. It was this kind of transnational expedition and mutual destruction between civilizations that buried the seeds of extremism. As a result, the areas with the highest concentration of civilization became the areas with the highest concentration of hatred.

  Is this the turning point of "prosperity must decline"?

  The sense of injury I have derived from this is unparalleled. Because this is equivalent to telling people that the goals they strive for all their lives are extremely unsteady, and the outcome of their struggles may be completely unexpected.

  Every land has its own expression. The Hebrew civilization is pious and melancholic, tenacious but lacking in space. It has suffered from the very beginning, forced to wander abroad for a long time, permeating and being rejected everywhere, forever trapped in the tension of self-defense. The Hebrew civilization is full of wisdom, today's ecological reality is unparalleled among various ethnic groups in the Middle East, but this tension still lingers, scattered among so many people's clothes and eyes. Sitting down to drink coffee on the streets of Jerusalem can feel this tension all around. A civilization in such a state is very worthy of sympathy, but its momentum is ultimately not great, or rather, it cannot be great no matter how hard it tries.

  According to my academic standards, the Arab civilization is far from being considered an "ancient civilization" of humanity. However, after the 7th century AD, it conquered several "ancient civilizations" with unprecedented momentum, and still maintains a huge spatial volume and solemn worship rituals today, becoming a particularly important member of modern world civilizations. Its entanglements with other civilizations have been extremely severe from ancient times to the present. Its internal conflicts are also very intense. On this journey, starting from Egypt, I had few opportunities to completely bypass Arab civilization, so I paid special attention to it. I found that it is a strong ecological desert traveler, which is very different in nature from agricultural civilizations, grassland civilizations, and oceanic civilizations, but ultimately merged with other civilizations. It has the ability to unfold magnificent scenes, engage in intense battles, establish vast kingdoms, yet always maintain a comprehensive defense and persistence. Its long-standing confrontation with other civilizations must have buried a series of misunderstandings, but these misunderstandings seem to be impossible to completely eliminate. This is its tragedy, as well as the tragedy of all humanity.

  Baghdad, Iraq was once the capital of the Arab Empire, a place of extreme luxury that ruled over a vast territory. In fact, everyone knows that more than twenty centuries ago, the powerful Babylonian Empire had already been established here. From the Babylonian Empire and further back, more than five or six thousand years ago, the Sumerians in this region created cuneiform writing, developed astronomy and mathematics. All of these achievements were almost ahead of other civilizations, so later many scholars believed that this was the common starting point for all civilizations. This idea has long been proven to be wrong, as several other civilizations had their own starting points, but this land is still one of the earliest places in human civilization history. Unfortunately, early maturity brought attention from far and near, and this place was located in a vast open area, making it easy to invade. The invaders became the masters, and the masters could not escape the cycle of rise and fall. For example, after Baghdad became the capital of the Arab Empire, it finally went bankrupt, gradually weakened, and was attacked from the north, south, and east... In short, the most magnificent civilization brought about the densest wars, and this place became a permanent battlefield through repeated tug-of-war, until today.

  I think that scholars who study human civilization history, if some of them are like me, not satisfied with just studying texts and instead seeking on-site inspiration, then when the safety situation improves, they should try to visit the ancient land of Babylon. Although there aren't many relics left, even standing at the edge of those hills and grasslands, watching the sunset sink silently into the desert once again, and thinking about the stories of "One Thousand and One Nights" by the Tigris River, one can gain a deep understanding of the mysteries of civilization's rise and fall.

  What I think most about in that land is the repeated wars, whether it's fighting others or being fought by others. Over time, this will inevitably bring people a numbness to cruelty and a blurring of the lines between good and evil. Generation after generation lacks memories of normal life, disasters can happen at any moment, and one has no control over their fate, unable to discern the cause, as if everything is predetermined, so they can only turn to religious extremism. The participants in religious extremism have actually given up thinking, simply using the simplest way to shift their own disaster onto others and expand it into a catastrophe for others, while gaining an annihilating blind pleasure in the process. In that great civilization's homeland, almost everyone from top to bottom is shrouded in this spiritual gloom.

  In Iran, the legacy of ancient Persian civilization left me in awe. This once again proves that text-based knowledge and on-site experience are worlds apart, even though this site has been in ruins for two thousand five hundred years. From the 6th to the 4th century BC, the Persian Empire was established under the leadership of Cyrus and Darius, spanning from the Aegean Sea in the west to the Indus River in the east, and had several major wars with Greece. It conquered many countries, but was eventually destroyed by war too early, making it unable to become one of humanity's most important ancient civilizations. It tells us that the importance of civilization lies not only in space, but also in time.

  The Indian civilization is undoubtedly one of the most important ancient civilizations of humanity, but my feelings about it are extremely confusing. Fortunately, I tightly grasped the Buddhist rope and did not get completely lost. Five thousand years ago in the Indus Valley, Mohenjo-Daro (Mohe

  jo-da

  I passed through the place at night and didn't have time to examine it, and I also know that this has little to do with our general understanding of Indian civilization, which is too early. The generally understood Indian civilization began after the decline of Mohenjo-Daro by the invasion of the Aryans, more than 3,500 years ago. India's history is a history of continuous foreign invasions and divisions. After the Aryans, the Persians, Greeks, Parthians, Scythians, Kushans, Arabs, Mongols... successively invaded, and some good dynasties also appeared in between, but overall it was more divided than united. Indian civilization has made great contributions to humanity in terms of religion, astronomy, mathematics, etc., but its development history is really too changeable and unpredictable, making it difficult for people to understand the context. In fact, its own inheritance is also in such a state, as if there are some remaining clues, but repeated interruptions, fragmentation, mixing, and alienation have made the civilization lose its spirit. It has had too many "opponents" and "masters", too many beliefs and traditions, too many honors and humiliations, too many fractures and dispersions, resulting in a chaotic mess of civilizations.

  When I was investigating Persian civilization, Indian civilization and other South Asian civilizations, I witnessed the most concentrated terrorism in the world today. The extremism in the Middle East has already been a headache, but going further east it evolves into even larger-scale terrorism. This kind of terrorism is intertwined with drug trafficking groups and local armed forces, and it has clearly become the biggest threat to civilized society. Both civilizations that give birth to civilization and those that threaten civilization originated from the same land, isn't this a revenge that has lasted for thousands of years? If so, then this revenge is really too depressing, depressing to the point where one loses confidence in humanity.

  What else can we do but issue some faint warnings?

  Four

  I have visited so many ancient civilization sites, including the real ecology on the edge of the site, and my heart has been quietly comparing them with Chinese civilization.

  In terms of the formation time of Chinese civilization, it is not early among several major ancient civilizations. It should be more than a thousand years after the formation of Sumerian and Egyptian civilizations, and it is not much earlier than Indian and Cretan civilizations. However, among all ancient civilizations, only Chinese civilization has not been interrupted or disappeared so far.

  I was aware of this historical fact before, but after visiting all the ruins of other civilizations, I felt a deep shock. Not for them, but for Chinese civilization.

  This shock does not include pride, but more of just surprise. Such a long history, interrupted and lost is normal, while neither interrupted nor lost, it's an exception among exceptions, quite puzzling.

  The most direct sensory impact is text. Those ancient texts crawling on various relics, except for a few archaeologists who can guess, have no relationship with future generations as a whole. However, there is a kind of text in the world that should have withered away due to its old age, but it still allows hundreds of millions of people to read it easily today. What "do not do to others what you would not have them do to you", what "when three people walk together, one must be my teacher", what "reviewing the old and knowing the new", what "a gentleman helps others to achieve their goals"… From words to connotations, all are transmitted without obstacles directly from over 2,000 years ago to today's daily life, and uniformly transmitted without regional boundaries. Isn't this strange?

  As with the writing, many classical institutions, ways of thinking and ethical norms have also been largely consistent, avoiding interruptions in reading comprehension. Compared to other ancient civilizations, this is even more strange.

  To explain this series of strange phenomena, I have been using a comparative perspective all along to find the reasons why Chinese civilization has neither been interrupted nor annihilated. So far, my superficial feelings are roughly as follows:

  First of all, in the southern foothills of the Himalayas, I couldn't help but think of the geographical security of Chinese culture. Apart from the Himalayas, to the north, along the border, there are the Kunlun Mountains, Tian Shan, Altai Mountains, and then connected to the impassable deserts, while to the east and south, it is the vast ocean. This natural closed structure allowed Chinese civilization to avoid fierce wars with other major civilizations in ancient times. Those ancient major civilizations mostly perished one after another in mutual invasions.

  I have repeatedly pondered during my tens of thousands of miles of travel: You see, in the Chinese Shang Dynasty, Egypt had already conquered Western Asia; In the time of Confucius, Persia had conquered Babylon and then conquered Egypt; Even in the time of Qu Yuan, Alexander of Greece was still conquering Egypt and Babylon; Moreover, whether it was Persia or Greece, they had all reached India...

  In short, on the vast land we visited this time, several ancient civilizations have been fighting day and night, back and forth, without leaving any legacy. If there is a legacy left, it is only China.

  The wars between major civilizations are both the "heterocide" and "suicide" of civilization. This is completely different from the internal wars within a single civilization. China has had many internal wars throughout its history, but all parties involved in these wars only sought to contend for dominance over the civilization, without abolishing Chinese characters or eliminating classics, so the Chinese civilization did not suffer fundamental damage. The Chinese civilization was also invaded by peripheral minority ethnic groups, but they were not world-class major civilizations and could not form a culturally equal confrontation with the Chinese civilization, let alone engulf it. In the end, they all merged into the Chinese civilization.

  This involves the issue of civilization volume. The volume of civilization includes two aspects: territorial volume and spiritual volume. The spiritual volume of Chinese civilization may not be higher than that of other ancient civilizations, but it is certainly much higher than that of the surrounding minority nationalities; The territorial volume of Chinese civilization, if we combine the Yellow River Basin and the Yangtze River Basin, is many times larger than the total territorial volume of other ancient civilizations. It is precisely because of this that in a relatively closed situation, it did not fall into desperation, and often carried out large migrations and large-scale immigration within the region, avoiding many devastating disasters.

  Different environments lead to different experiences; different experiences shape different personalities. Years of cross-border invasions, repeated collective expulsions, and endless desert wanderings inevitably led the relevant peoples to believe in the philosophy of conquest, extol the character of dead soldiers, and lean towards extremism. On the other hand, Chinese civilization, having never been conquered by other major civilizations and lacking the possibility of transnational expeditions, gradually became satisfied with defending its native soil and did not value distant travels, cultivating an agricultural ecology that was content with what it had. The internal wars within the country's borders were always guided by the cyclical theory of "unity must divide, division must unite," ultimately forging a collective personality that was conservative, moderate, and loyal to both family and state. Although Chinese history has seen periods of extreme violence and mob rule, these periods were short-lived and did not develop into complete religious extremism, thus not causing severe damage to Chinese civilization.

  When it comes to religious extremism, we encounter the problem of religion. This is a big issue that I will carefully examine in a special study later, but this time, through comparison, I have strongly felt China's particularity in this regard. Indeed, Chinese civilization lacks a grand and intense, thorough and exclusive transcendent spirit. This is a pity, especially for philosophy and art, but overall, it may not be all bad. Chinese civilization has maintained a practical rationality from the beginning, balancing, moderate, and popular, rarely being wrapped up in mysticism. The theories of ancient Chinese philosophers, even the most profound Laozi, are not mysterious. The major religions that have taken root in China have mostly become secularized and vitalized. Therefore, Chinese civilization has been dependent on and integrated with folk rationality for most of the time, making it difficult to be helpless due to mystery or lose control due to transcendence.

  Religion can make a civilization great in a short period of time. However, when religion becomes extremist, it can also bring a civilization under the shadow of violence in a short period of time. Chinese civilization has never experienced the former greatness nor been shrouded by the latter darkness. Having lost the solemn religious spirit that connects to heaven, it established a solemn social ethics structure that connects to the imperial court instead. With Confucian rationality and Legalist power tactics as the mainstay, orderly governance has continued for over two thousand years. In this process, an effective method was miraculously found to select a large number of management talents without interruption for over a thousand years - the Imperial Examination System. Since the examination always took the essence of Chinese civilization as its core, cultural heritage thrived due to the nourishment of countless scholars' lives. Therefore, the Imperial Examination System alone enabled the continuation of social governance and cultural system to advance side by side.

  So far we can make a generalization. The Chinese civilization was able to become the only ancient civilization that has not been interrupted or destroyed, roughly speaking, there are probably five reasons:

  One was relying on geographical environment's obstruction, avoiding ancient civilizations' mutual conquest and destruction.

  Secondly, relying on the volume of civilization, it avoided the mutual devouring of small-volume civilizations and also avoided its own withering.

  Three is relying on a unified and universal writing system, avoiding the fragmentation, closure and interruption of reading comprehension.

  Fourthly, relying on practical reason and the doctrine of the mean, it avoided religious extremism.

  Fifthly, relying on the imperial examination system, it avoided social disorder and cultural loss.

  The above summary of superficial feelings was written overnight by the fireside. Today, from dawn till dusk, I completed an important journey to Lumbini

  Visit the birthplace of Sakyamuni

  This road is long and arduous, but with a new scene every few steps, its beauty is beyond words.

  On one side are the emerald green cliffs, on the other is the vast and rapid river, with layer upon layer of peaks that are the remnants of the world's roof, each stroke and flourish taking one's breath away.

  Unfortunately Lumbini is too close to India, and the unpleasant scenes reappear. It's very difficult to enter the garden where Buddha was born, it should be properly managed.

  More than a hundred years ago, British archaeologists excavated an Ashoka pillar here, which was inscribed with the words "Shakyamuni Buddha was born here". Ashoka was not far from Shakyamuni's time and should be credible. Now, by the pool in the garden, there is a sign written in Nepalese and English: The famous Chinese traveler Xuanzang arrived here and recorded the location of Lumbini, as well as the Ashoka pillar and some prayer platforms and Buddhist towers he saw.

  It can be seen that Xuanzang once again became the main witness of Buddhist holy land.

  I washed my hands in the pool where the Buddha's mother is said to have bathed, and one by one looked at the ancient stone brick altars. Then I climbed up a high slope to worship the red brick Buddhist pillar. After that, I left this garden and went to visit the newly built Chinese Temple not far away. The Chinese Temple was still under construction, but it had a grand atmosphere. Next door, Japanese and Vietnamese people were also building temples.

  Up until now, my retracing pilgrimage to Buddhist holy lands has been relatively systematic.

  To visit Lavapuri, we drove back and forth for 600 kilometers. Therefore, there was ample time to think on the road. The inductive feelings written at night are the result of thinking on the road.

  Five

  Today is the last day of the 20th century and also our last day abroad.

  The convoy set off from Kathmandu towards the border town of Zhangmu.

  On the bus I thought that Nepal as our last stop of the trip abroad left me with an important topic, which must be said before the end.

  That is: Nepal with little cultural accumulation, Nepal without its own independent civilization, why can it bring us so much joy?

  Aren't we supposed to be on a cultural tour? Why are you particularly fond of this place with such low cultural density?

  Imagine if our overseas trip ended at Mohenjo-Daro in Pakistan or by the Ganges River in India, how depressing that would be!

  I've written about this issue a few days ago: Is it the retribution of civilization? In fact, this is an overall interrogation of human civilization. Moreover, it can also be said to be the interrogation of the century.

  People from all over the world come to Nepal, not to visit ancient ruins, but to immerse themselves in nature. The natural scenery here, whether it's the Himalayas or the primeval forests, is far older than any human civilization. It turns out that after thousands of years of hard work, what people like best are not their own creations.

  Foreign travelers also like the living atmosphere here, they like the simplicity, honesty and slow pace of life, they like the sparse villages, simple houses, clean environment, fresh air and clear drinking water. In fact, all these are just closer to nature, a kind of less polluted nature.

  In contrast, the metropolises of all ancient or modern civilizations, except for work necessities, people are actually unwilling to go. They are crowded with people, dense in culture, and convenient in life, but they can escape if they can, escaping to Nepal or similar places.

  Here, a profound paradox emerges. Originally, humans moved towards civilization to escape the coarseness of nature. The opposite of civilization is savagery and barbarism, which seemed to be closely linked with nature at that time. However, it was gradually discovered that things had turned upside down: crowded cities might be more savage, and dense populations might be more barbaric.

  Modern art has written off this reversal, and people have finally acknowledged that they would rather accept the savage and barbaric nature than escape the so-called civilized world that is becoming savage and barbarized.

  If willing to give civilization a new positioning, it has already leaned towards the natural side. Humanity has also cast its gaze at its former adversary - nature.

  Now we can no longer erase or rewrite the history of human civilization, but we have the right to summarize the lessons. The important lesson is: humans cannot be too arrogant towards their own kind, and even more so, they cannot be too arrogant towards nature.

  This arrogance also includes the creation of civilization, if this creation does not maintain harmony with nature.

  The unnaturalization of civilization has many manifestations. Over-reproduction, over-consumption, over-emission, over-competition, over-occupation of space, excessive formalities, excessive display of knowledge, excessive triviality, excessive psychological complexity, excessive verbal disputes, excessive textual garbage, and excessive ineffective construction... It is clear that all these have become a disaster. The summary resistance to this disaster is to return to nature.

  We are fortunate that the Chinese civilization has continued for thousands of years without interruption, but we should also see that this advantage has brought even heavier burdens. Good things have turned into bad things here, and glory has gone in a negative direction.

  Therefore, the top priority for Chinese civilization in the new century is to shed various burdens and face nature sincerely and lightly, even if these burdens contain historical honors and civilized glory.

  Even when the pearl treasure is suffocating, it should be put down, because when human strength can no longer bear it, it has become an inhuman existence.

  Compared to poverty and disorder, we will certainly have wealth and order, but more importantly, beauty and comfort, that is, the "poetic dwelling" yearned for by philosophers. I predict that the competition between Chinese civilization and other civilizations will also unfold at this point.

  I suddenly thought, if we pause slightly at the threshold of the century and loudly ask the Chinese philosophers from over two thousand years ago for their opinions on this issue, I believe that the vast majority of them would not have too much disagreement, and they would all oppose the phenomenon of civilization piling up excessively and harming natural ecology.

  Confucius would say, I have always advocated for moderate joy and harmony with nature; Mozi would say, my doctrine is even simpler than yours, opposing any unnecessary expenditure and useless accumulation; Xunzi would say, human selfishness will destroy the simplicity of the world, so it must be turned around with severe punishment...

  The smiling ones who remained silent were Laozi and Zhuangzi, they seemed to have foreseen everything, finally opening their mouths: put civilization and nature in front of us, we choose nature. What are all people bustling about? When it comes to the way of civilization, the only way is nature.

  That is to say, Chinese culture is a subtractive culture at its highest level, a culture that yearns for simplicity and nature. It is this essence that saves a lot of waste and preserves life.

  Six

  The main pass from Nepal to China is a gorge. The gorge is densely forested, with deep rivers below the cliffs and waterfalls rushing down the mountain walls. At first, there are still many terraced fields on the slope, but as you go further north, the terrain becomes more dangerous, and later only one kind of ghostly line remains, teasing the light between the clouds and sky. All this clearly foreshadows that there should be a grand view ahead.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, in the distance there was a mountain peak that blocked the sky like a wall, and it also became the end of the canyon. Due to the great distance, the misty clouds were swirling and spreading out into a leaden grey color.

  Today the sun is shining brightly, and the snow-capped mountains are melting rapidly. The waterfalls cascading down the mountain walls cannot be fully contained in the culverts, and instead flow gently across the road surface. We stopped our cars and took out the cleaning tools to give each vehicle a thorough wash with this icy cold water. It's just like we're almost home, seeing the smoke rising from the kitchen, rushing down to the riverbank to wash our faces and calm our racing hearts.

  The place we are going back to is very close, just ahead. What I am thinking now is that I only understood it after parting ways.

  Only after parting did I understand it - this sentence contains a self-examination. We have always relied on it, sucked it dry, yet complained about it, belittled it, and blamed it. It took thousands of years of effort to walk out a path, but we often mock it for not taking another one. With great difficulty, it preserved a family business, a reputation, and dignity in the midst of turmoil, but we often lightly say what's the point of preserving these things. We are spoiled and arrogant, sometimes complaining that its wrinkles are too many, sometimes that its complexion is not good. This time, leaving it to look at it from afar, I was finally shocked, finally ashamed, and finally regretful.

  The sound of water in the canyon below grew louder, and turning to look out the car window, it was a breathtaking sight. Suddenly, like a miracle, a large bridge appeared above the canyon, spanning across it, with buildings at both ends.

  It seemed to have a premonition, and immediately stopped the car, craned its neck to look over, on the opposite bridgehead there was a large gate made of white stone, on which the name of a country was clearly engraved in giant Song-style golden characters.

  I stood still, all my companions stood still, and no one made a sound. The only sound was the roar of the water in the valley below, like thunder.

  We of this generation are latecomers, and we did not speak out in time when you needed us most. We were too lazy to visit your relatives and neighbors early on. We often got bogged down in trivialities and failed to see the big picture of who you truly are. But it's still not too late - a new century has just begun, and today I've finally arrived on time.

  Nepal customs is handling our exit procedures at this end of the bridge. We tiptoed and looked, seeing that there were still many people standing on the bridge, and after inquiring, it turned out that the Tibetan residents had learned about our itinerary on TV and came to welcome us voluntarily. Led by several middle-aged women and an old man with a big beard, they seemed to have already prepared khata and highland barley wine for us.

  The elevation here is 1,900 meters. After passing the pass and entering Zhangmu Town, it is 2,600 meters. The air has already cooled down, and I changed into a down jacket on the bus.

  The fleet moved again, crossing the valley, passing through the crowd, and slowly driving into that white stone gate.