"The Commoner Saint: Shao Yong"
The pillow is broken and the words appear.
Sixteen-year-old Shao Yong held the piece of paper floating out from the fragments of the pottery pillow, which accurately predicted when he would break the pillow by hitting the mouse. A chill penetrated his back - is life really just a play that is performed according to a script?
However, this is not a story about "divine calculation". Rather, it tells the story of how one man spent his life rebelling against this "script."
Shao Yong, a young man, was obsessed with "Yi". He could see the subtleties of the book and judge things like a god. But the more he glimpses the precision of the trajectory of fate, the more acute the paradox in his heart becomes: If everything is determined, then what is the meaning of human efforts, emotions and choices?
From the turmoil of Xining's reform to the "comfortable home" outside Luoyang City, Shao Yong embarked on a unique path. While his close friends Sima Guang and Cheng Hao were debating in the court, this commoner thinker was alone in constructing an unprecedented picture of the universe - "Innate Yi Xue". He tried to answer a fundamental question: Based on the established laws of heaven and earth, does the human heart have true freedom?
This book takes you back to the ideological scene of the Northern Song Dynasty and witnesses how a wise man transformed from a sorcerer who "calculates all the secrets of heaven" to a philosopher who "observes things and knows his destiny". This is not only a recollection of the life of a historical figure, but also a profound reflection on freedom and destiny, law and will.
When the final answer is hidden in the leisurely falling trajectory of a plum blossom, perhaps each of us can see our own life choices from it.
