讚辭及講辭

讚辭及講辭

讚辭 | 致辭 | 致謝辭

讚辭

撰寫及致辭：香港大學教育學院講座教授程介明教授 (English version only)

Redefining Scholarship
Today, we gather here to celebrate the appointment of the inaugural University Laureate at the University of Hong Kong: Professor Jao Tsung-I. The University Laureate, the most prestigious academic honour that the University can bestow, is an appointment in recognition of genuine scholarship at its highest level of achievement.

Professor Jao is an exceptional scholar whose intellectual profundity and academic repertoire extend far beyond the confines of any honour bestowed upon him. I would therefore venture to say respectfully, in Latin, ‘Laus minor est admiratione, admiratio non par ingenio.’ [Any phrase would fail to do full justice to our admiration, and any admiration would be less than he deserves.]

When it comes to Professor Jao’s celebrated gifts and works, hardly any biographical account about him would itself suffice. The numerous awards and honours conferred on him can only begin to exemplify the wisdom in this distinguished scholar. His lifelong passion for art and culture has found expression in over a thousand publications, as well as in his poetry, calligraphy and paintings. More than eight decades of relentless academic pursuits have also led him to transform and pioneer studies of many disciplines.

Over Professor Jao’s ardent research hovers a mind of immense clarity and sensitivity, culminating in ground-breaking contributions covering such broad and diverse areas as history, archaeology, literature, culture, education, religion and art. He is also an acclaimed expert in finer specialist areas including the study of Confucian Classics, Buddhist scripts, oracle bone inscriptions, historiography, epigraphy, folklore, historical musicology, linguistics, comparative cultural studies, translation and history of fine arts. In particular, it was thanks to his pioneering research on Dunhuang materials that Dunhuang studies has been firmly established as a major discipline in modern sinology. As he navigates between specialization and the wider academic domain, his diligent and dedicated approach to learning is to work tirelessly and zealously until all within his purview is revealed, beyond dogma and orthodoxy.

Professor Jao is indeed a specialist in each of these areas, but he is confined to none. He reminds us of the notable figures from the European Renaissance: he is one such master making his mark, yet in the 20th and 21st Centuries, yet nurtured by traditional Chinese culture. His scholarly inquiry into the many fields of humanities has embarrassed the boundaries of disciplines – artificial and superficial as the boundaries may be – and calls for a redefinition of the notion of scholarship.

Renowned for his prolific and authoritative works in Chinese studies, Professor Jao is often commended as an accomplished sinologist and an ambassador of Chinese civilization. In fact, he is proficient in many languages and well versed in ancient and modern, as well as Asian and Western, scholarship. Among his famous works are his Sanskrit studies and Babylonian epics. His abiding enthusiasm for scholarship has taken him beyond the dichotomies of the insider and the outsider, and beyond the vantage points of a native Chinese and a western observer. Over the decades, he has fostered close exchanges with eminent scholars in the international academic community, and has generously provided guidance to their younger generation of scholars. His influence and generosity know no geographical bounds either.

One may go even as far as attributing his wisdom to his self-education, starting from the unusual family library of over 70,000 volumes, in his childhood. The traditional Chinese modes of study and the expedition among the vast sea of Chinese classics have cultivated in him the intellectual capacity for developing the knowledge and wisdom that he has illustrated. His achievements almost hint at a certain degree of dispensability of contemporary formal schooling.

Within Professor Jao’s erudition lies a heart which is pure and serene, driven by curiosity, dedicated to true understanding and unencumbered by any difficulty. There is no barrier to learning, just as there are no obstacles in his mind. The purity of his spirit resides in his calligraphy, paintings and poetry; his literary and artistic creativity is but part of him as a scholar. He is also a qin player of the first rank, appreciative of how different art forms resonate with each other. To him, truth is not only about hard facts, but there is richness embedded in the aesthetic. Perhaps inspired by his understanding of Buddhism, Taoism and ancient Chinese cultures, Professor Jao gives generously without condition or calculation. To him, there are only friends and no enemies; there is only harmony and no hatred.

Sapientia et Virtus, the motto for the University of Hong Kong, literally mirrors the Chinese mingde gewu (明德格物). Through his meticulous and rigorous research, such as his application of western and scientific methods to ancient Chinese materials, Professor Jao has enriched and expanded the conception of research. In seeking the true meaning of scientific understanding, and in interpreting and explaining the objective world, he exemplifies the essence of gewu. His virtuous character, integrity and generous disposition illuminate the human virtue: Professor Jao is an outstanding scholar who embodies the essence of mingde.

Professor Jao taught at the University of Hong Kong from 1952 to 1968, where he started his study of Dunhuang. He has been with the University since the launching of Petite Ecole in 2003. His appointment to the University Laureate is a symbol of not only celebrating the achievements of a prominent academic, but also that of reinvigorating and reinterpreting the university motto. His spirit will ever illuminate the academic community at the University of Hong Kong.

“明德格物”是香港大學的校訓。饒先生的治學精神，以永不言倦的好奇之心，不屈不撓、鍥而不捨；因此無疆界地馳騁學術領域，貫通專業與門派之藩籬，成就了橫跨古今中外之大學問。饒先生待人誠懇、真摯、慷概，毫無學術以外之計較，從不涉及學術紛爭，體現了“圓融無礙”。作為一位長者，饒先生堪稱“心無罣礙”，他賦予了“明德格物”跨越時代的深刻意義。

致辭

撰寫及致辭：中國文化院院長許嘉璐教授

偉大的文化，偉大的學人 ——饒宗頤先生獲頒“桂冠學人”儀式上的講話
非常榮幸，能够參加饒宗頤先生榮獲香港唯一最高榮譽“桂冠學人”的盛典，我作爲推薦人之一，尤其感到莫名的高興。請允許我向饒先生、也向香港大學當面表示熱烈的祝賀！

在我看來，今天的盛典所慶賀的，不僅僅是饒宗頤先生，而且是整個中國的學術界、教育界。我們在慶賀20世紀的中國出現了饒先生這樣的偉大學者，也是在預示幷以慶賀之心迎接饒先生所期盼和預言的中華文化復興熱潮的到來。

饒先生治學的一生，證明偉大的中華文化生生不息、後出轉精的旺盛不竭的生命力，形象地展示了中華5000年文明逐代積累、提升的現實例證。這不僅對當代和後代中國學人關于怎樣作學問、怎樣作人有著極大的現實啓示，而且也是在告訴世人：中華傳統文化正在活潑潑地存在著並發展著。

學界共知，饒先生的學術成就是多方面的，曾被人譽爲“百科全書式”的大家，這只是說饒先生研究領域之廣泛。但是，學人或博或專，而如饒先生如此既博廣而又專深，于所涉足的每一方面都有巨大貢獻者，當代尚無第二人。饒先生在甲骨學、金石學、考古學、敦煌學、歷史學、目錄學等諸領域，敏感而專注，嚴謹而深入；其於儒、釋、道，融匯而貫通，得其三昧，于異域學術及其與中華文化之關係的研究也頗有建樹，多有發前人所未發者。這些，早已引起世界學界的關注，有些已被視爲不刊之論。

孔子說：“志于道，據于德，依于仁，游于藝。”這是他所理想的古之君子應有的境界。我認爲，當代也唯先生有焉。
例如，饒先生於中國傳統書畫無所不精。其精，即在認真繼承傳統，却又不拘守一家，匯通而自創。書成選堂體，畫能重振白描，獨步新境，而二者又皆具三教相融之風。先生長年鼓琴，唯近年指力稍衰，不復撫弄。我迄無緣親聆，但據其書畫、爲人及文風，可以想見其琴音之古隽深沉，蒼勁幽遠。因爲琴、書、畫，都是直寫心聲的藝術。誠所謂讀其畫、賞其字或聆其音，即可知其人。
莫要小覷了在今天還爲學界許多人不屑或無暇顧及的所謂這些“雕蟲末節”。作爲一個學人，如果唯有知識和理性，却沒有孔子所說的“藝”的熏陶和修養，即可能在審美、想像、進入人文精神層面有所欠缺，因而即使“據于德，依于仁”矣，却難以領悟“道”爲何物，“道”在何方，這也正是孔子提倡“游于藝”的原因。饒先生道、德、仁、藝四者俱，非桂冠之榮無以表之。從這點來說，香港大學隆重舉行今天的儀式，授予饒先生這一榮譽，既說明大學的高超眼光，也是爲國家、爲學界修了一件巨大的功德。作爲後學，我要對香港大學表示衷心的感謝！

我說這是一件功德，是因爲通過這一盛事，可以讓無數後來者更加懂得作爲中華學人，應該以怎樣的心態面對社會，以怎樣的精神面對自己所從事的研究和工作，以及個人的內心修養應該朝著什麽方向和高度提升。
我們這個時代，似乎是一個不出大師，出不了大師的時代。其原因是很複雜的。就學人自己而言，找到最恰當的方向，懷著博大的胸懷、崇高的信仰和對研究與工作的無我投入，永遠保持青春般的活力，恐怕是最重要的，最根本性的。這些應備的品格，在饒先生的身上都完美地具備了，這就是巨匠之所以爲巨匠，大師之所以爲大師。我祈望在這個世紀中，香港和整個中華民族能够再出現幾位像饒先生這樣的巨匠、大師。

衷心感謝饒先生對中國和世界學術所做的貢獻，並且祝福他身體康泰，永葆學術青春。

謝謝各位！

致謝辭

撰寫及致辭：由李焯芬教授代饒宗頤教授饒宗頤學術館館長 (English version only)

Vice-Chancellor, Distinguished Guests, Fellow Members of the HKU Family, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am immensely honoured and deeply humbled by the bestowment of the University Laureate on me this afternoon. As the slide show earlier indicates, I have a long and extremely beneficial association with the University of Hong Kong, spanning more than sixty years. One can perhaps write a book on this long association, but let me cite herein two examples of how the University of Hong Kong has made a huge impact on my scholarly pursuit all these years.

As we all know, the University of Hong Kong is an international university with global distinction. The international character of our scholarly pursuit actually went back a long time. It provides our teachers and research scholars with full exposure to research studies and source materials in different countries. Such an international dimension is extremely important in breaking new grounds in scholarly research. Thus, in the early 1950’s, when I was teaching at the Department of Chinese, and was initiating my research studies on the Dunhuang manuscripts, I was able to gain access to the original Dunhuang manuscripts in the U.K., France, Germany, Japan, etc. This subsequently led to my series of articles and books on Dunhuang studies. Without the free and open environment of the University of Hong Kong and its international network, such scholarly pursuit would not have been possible.

The other example is the University’s establishment of the Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole a decade ago. The Petite Ecole now publishes two first-tier journals on sinology studies and Dunhuang studies respectively, along with numerous research papers annually. As well, it receives numerous invitations for exhibitions of Chinese paintings and calligraphy annually, from various parts of the world. In essence, the Petite Ecole has become a pioneering institute for the study of Chinese culture and art, with a strong international network. Again, all these would not have been possible without the visionary leadership and strong support of the University.

I am therefore deeply grateful to the University of Hong Kong for playing such an instrumental role in my scholarly pursuit all these decades. The University has become a truly world-class institution, with a firmly established research culture and conducive environment that has benefitted our faculty members immensely, myself included. I am enormously grateful to the University and to you, Vice-Chancellor, for building such a research culture and environment, and for your tremendous support all these years. Please accept my heartfelt thanks and salute. Thank you kindly.