As the sun sets, the Dutch Command by the river has the most pleasant time of the day. On the lawn at the entrance of the small building, Zhou Nan asked people to move the tables and chairs here, so that they could chat while enjoying the cool breeze.

Pontianak, located on the equator, never gets windy, and the temperature here is hot and humid, and people like Zhou Nan who are not used to the hot weather will find it very difficult to endure here.

Audrey and a few young girls were also chatting at the gazebo, and they were teasing a litter of marmosets, and they were all laughing very happily.

Marmosets can be said to be the smallest monkeys, the largest is only a dozen centimeters, and some are small, about the size of a thumb. The girl has no resistance to this cute little animal at all, and in the past few days, in addition to taking care of Zhou Nan, Audrey is taking care of this nest of marmosets sent to her by others.

Today's guests are a group of scholars from the presidium of the Bandung headquarters of the Confucian Association, and the so-called Confucianism is actually Confucianism. In the East Indies, however, it became almost a religious department.

They organize believers to regularly engage in religious prayers, singing hymns and studying scriptures in the auditorium, traditional festivals, Confucian ceremonies on Confucius's birthday, family mutual assistance, child education, marriage notarization and wedding of newlyweds, funerals for the deceased elderly, charity, disaster relief and other activities.

Funds are mainly made by voluntary donations from the faithful, social donations, and a small amount of financial allocation from the government.

The development of Confucianism was very early, but it was only in recent decades that it became large-scale. Forty years ago, they built the country's largest Confucian Temple in Surabaya, and since then, they have repeatedly convened national conventions to form a formal organization.

During this period, there was another organization that was popular among the Chinese in Southeast Asia like Confucianism, and that was the Three Churches. The main purpose of the so-called Three Churches is to promote the three religions (Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism), and the founder is the Peranakan writer Kwok Tak Huai, who was once active in the Chung Wah Association.

However, due to the fragmentation of the organizational structure of the three churches, with no core purpose and development plan, most of the members were eventually incorporated into Confucianism.

Kwok's nephew, Dr. Kwok Xie Zhuo, became the first president of Confucianism, and in the fifties he recruited most of the Chinese in Southeast Asia as members.

However, the turmoil of the sixties caused Confucianism to decline, and later it even became an illegal organization. It wasn't until decades later, the next century, that it was recognized by the government again.

Zhou Nan had no prejudices about Confucianism, although he went from Confucianism to Confucianism, and later became Confucianism, and also became a deformed academic monopoly group, but there were still positive effects.

The revolution of the sixties and seventies was a process of removing the dross and extracting the essence. It's just that the great man got old and the later movement got out of control.

Most of the Chinese in Southeast Asia were born in this land during the Ming and Qing dynasties, or even earlier, and they have left behind many ancient cultural traditions.

In later generations, some scholars once commented that it is not unreasonable for the culture of the Ming Dynasty to look at Southeast Asia and the culture of the Republic of China to look at Wanwan.

But because of this, Zhou Nan also saw more pedantic and dross ideas in them, and regarded the things of the ancients as the truth.

For example, they insisted on the orthodoxy of Confucianism, believing that only Confucianism was the core tradition of the Chinese nation, and had a long debate with Zhou Nan on this basis.

When he was in the United States, Zhou Nan felt this insistence, and Mr. Situ even criticized Zhou Nan for being a stubborn Taoist heir.

It is very difficult for Zhou Nan to change their thinking, and it is even more difficult than changing the future development path of the entire South China Kingdom.

In Zhou Nan's view, Confucianism, as a doctrine, is worthy of in-depth study and research. Confucianism as a class has monopolized the avenue of scholarship, including the establishment of Confucianism as a religion, which is not worth advocating.

However, it is simply impossible to get them to change their beliefs.

So in the end, Zhou Nan simply did not debate with them, but talked about the influence of Confucianism and Taoism in the West.

"Eastern culture is not popular in the West because of our peculiar theoretical foundations. Since ancient Greece, the West has not followed the same path as our East. With theology as the main body of thought and mathematics as the main body, they divided the two extreme disciplines into two distinct but interconnected paths. This, is the advantage of the West, because they have always walked on two legs. ”

"In the East, we have always taken the Taoist philosophical system as the main body, and Confucianism as the backbone, taking a one-legged road. Therefore, when the development of science and technology comes to this era, when our lives are more and more applied to scientific disciplines, we will inevitably fall behind. ”

"I don't want to argue with you about which is more profound, Confucianism or Taoism, or Lao Tzu or Confucius, which has been arguing for thousands of years. Although Confucius himself admitted that 'Lao Tzu is the best in the world', later generations also believed that Confucianism as a prominent study was more active and widely applied than Taoist thought. In this regard, Taoism, which exists in a philosophical sense, is indeed inferior to the application of Confucianism due to its profundity and passivity. ”

But since the First World War, Westerners have found that their minds can no longer adapt to the changes in the world, so the Tao Te Ching has become the spiritual food for Westerners. I have lived in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Switzerland, where people have studied the Tao Te Ching as a masterpiece of thought on a par with the Bible, and studied its profound meaning. Therefore, we can understand that Confucianism, as an applied academic discipline, belongs to the entry level, while Taoism is a master-level philosophical thought. ”

Jia Nanfeng, who had a long beard, shook his head and smiled: "I don't agree with it, I have never denied the profundity of Taoist thought, but because of its complexity, different people can give it different meanings, whether it is from practical application, or daily life, including ideological inspiration, I don't think Taoist thought is more advanced than Confucianism." Today, we have come to communicate with Mr. Zhou, not to argue about which discipline is greater, but to find a way to better promote the promotion of Eastern thought around the world with Mr. Zhou. Whether it is Confucianism or Taoism, it is the most quintessential source of ideas in our oriental culture. ”

Zhou Nan nodded and said, "I have also planned for this for a long time, but I haven't thought about how to operate it yet." ”

Guo Dehuai looked at Zhou Nan and said with a smile: "As an effective supplement to Confucianism, we have decided to translate the Four Books and Five Classics, including the Taoist Classics, into various languages and publish them......"

Zhou Nan smiled: "This is indeed a method, but I don't expect Westerners to recognize our academics, especially in today's era of vigorous development of science and technology, it is indeed lagging behind." ”

Guo Dehuai nodded and said: "So we hope that Mr. Zhou can communicate with Cai Lao and them, if Confucianism can be listed as the state religion of South China, it should be very useful for the promotion of Confucianism." ”

Zhou Nan paused for a moment, then laughed, and had some mustard for their proposal. He shook his head and said, "If Confucianism is a kind of scholarship that has a positive effect, I will not refuse. However, the current Confucianism has lagged behind the whole era, and if you still can't see this, and want to use the national policy to promote such a backward academic, I can only say that it is too out of place. ”

This sentence is a little unkind, and the faces of several guests are a little unpleasant.

Zhou Nan seemed to be invisible, and continued: "Nanhua is a country with Chinese as the main body, and there is freedom of religious belief. Confucianism is an explicit discipline and an applied discipline, not an ideological discipline or a philosophical discipline. It can be said that the ideology of Confucianism is not enough. Because the centripetal force of Confucianism is also full of a kind of exclusionary force, if you want the full support of the state, I will resolutely oppose such a discipline. ”

"Is Taoism okay?" The younger Ke Xuesong asked.

Zhou Nan said with a smile: "Taoist philosophical thought is indeed possible, I can read to you now the admiration of countless politicians, thinkers, poets, and writers in the West for Taoist thought, but what about Confucianism?" But don't worry, I won't use national policies to promote Taoist scholarship. We still have to respect a country's religion and freedom of thought. ”

At this time, Etinny came to the courtyard and stepped on the lawn to Zhou Nan's side. He whispered, "Jonas, the car sent by Mr. Lin Zhiguang to meet you has arrived. ”

Zhou Nan nodded, and before he could speak, he heard Guo Dehuai ask: "Mr. Zhou, I personally think that Taoism and Confucianism can coexist, what do you think?" ”

Zhou Nan smiled: "That's true, I also think that there is no contradiction between Taoism and Confucianism, and there are even some commonalities." However, whether it is Taoism, Buddhism, or even Christianity, these religious beliefs can only be promoted when they are beneficial to the development of a country. On the contrary, if it is only for the sake of the family's words and the development of the family, it is a selfish behavior to let the state support it. ”

He smiled and nodded and said, "I think I already understand what Mr. Zhou meant." Freedom of religion and freedom of thought, Nanhua will definitely not favor any faction. If each faction wants to develop, it must rely on its own ability, right? ”

"Yes!"

The eldest Jia Nanfeng stood up and said, "I bothered Mr. Zhou today, and we don't conspire with each other, let's leave!" ”

Zhou Nan also stood up with a smile on his face and said, "Mr. Jia, what is the way of your words?" Although Taoism is not visible to people, it is precipitated in the minds of all of us! What do you think? It's a pleasure to meet you today, but I'm busy with business, so please forgive me for being rude. I would like to welcome you to Switzerland when you have time, and we will take a few days to discuss this issue. ”

After sending them away, Zhou Nan could only sigh secretly. The difficulty of ideological unity is far greater than that of a country!