• 标题：Remembering my teacher Charlie Munger

  • 作者：李录

  • 发表时间：2023-11-30

Remembering my teacher Charlie Munger 怀念我的老师查理·芒格

周二，我在亚洲出差，接到查理家人的电话，告知查理已经生命垂危。我马上乘坐我能找到的下一班飞往加利福尼亚的航班，在起飞前，通过查理女儿的电话，和他做最后的通话。此时查理已经意识模糊，但是中间几次都能听到查理努力的发出声音，仿佛听到了我的话。降落后，我得知查理已经在几个小时前离开了我们。

我抵达了他在圣巴巴拉的家，有机会与他的家人共度宝贵的时光，回忆查理的一切。家人告诉我，就在几天前的感恩节晚餐上，查理还是那么迷人、幽默、充满智慧。我再次参观了他的家庭图书馆。就在那个房间里，整整20年前，也是在感恩节后的一个周末下午，在我们共同的朋友罗恩·奥尔森的介绍下，查理和我第一次进行了一场持续数小时的深入交谈。从此，我们开始了长达二十年的投资伙伴关系。查理成为了我的导师、合作伙伴、挚友，最重要的是，人生楷模。

我非常感激芒格一家在第二天为我做了特别安排，让我与查理进行了体面而私密的道别。

在那里，查理闭着眼睛静静地躺着，看起来和往常一样，安详和真诚，脸上带着微笑。他身上有一种宁静。有一刻，我想起了曾在泰国佛寺里见过的活佛。在佛教传统中，真正开悟的僧侣经过终生修行，身体可以保持不腐烂，在死后没有任何腐烂的痕迹。那一刻，我在查理身上看到的就是这样，一个开悟的圣人，有着不朽的身体，周围笼罩着永恒的光芒。

查理并不是一个佛教徒，无法检验身体不腐的说法是否可靠。但毫无疑问，他的遗产和影响将继续延续下去，影响着未来的几代人。在我们的资本主义社会中，美德、道德责任、追求真理和公共服务应该被放在何处？查理芒格通过自己漫长的人生回答了这些问题。他坚持以最具道德的方式赚钱，只有在异位而处，站在对方的立场上也愿意做这笔交易的时候，才和别人发生交易。他通过终身学习寻求世俗智慧。他以理性指导生活，没有嫉妒、怨恨和自怜等心理缺陷。他以坚忍不拔、泰然自若的精神面对并坚持克服了无数的逆境。随着财富和地位的增长，他对成功的外在标志表现出了很少的兴趣，相反地，他把财富花在了有价值的事业上，并不知疲倦地向那些愿意倾听的人传播他的世俗智慧，而且常常伴以幽默风趣的口吻。他始终与家人、朋友、伙伴和更广阔的世界保持着深切的联系和爱心，直至最后一刻。

在查理·芒格最后的几十年岁月里，他的思想开始在世界各地传播，特别是在中国和印度这些人口最多的国家。在中国，查理·芒格的文集《穷查理宝典》的简体中文版在过去 10 年里售出了 120 多万册。在中国，受教育阶层越来越多地将查理视为现代儒家思想的化身，在拥抱资本主义市场力量的同时保持着善良和开明的生活。随着时间的推移，这种现代儒家思想将对中国的现代化以及中国与世界其他国家的互动起到至关重要的作用。

查理的教诲将继续传播，激励并深刻影响世界。这将是他永恒的遗产。

追念恩师

周二在亚洲出差，接的查理家人的电话，告知查理已经生命垂危。马上搭飞机返美，临行前通过查理女儿的电话，和他做最后的通话。此时查理已经意识模糊，但是中间几次都能听到查理努力的发出声音，仿佛听到了我的话。下飞机时知道，查理已经在几个小时之前离世了……

来到查理在 Santa Babara 的家里，和查理家人后代回忆起他生前的点点滴滴。我又回到查理的图书室，整整二十年前，就是在这间屋子里，也是感恩节周末的下午，我们交谈了好几个小时，开启了我们此后二十年的投资伙伴关系，查理也从此成为我终生的良师益友，人生楷模。

查理家人不做遗体告别，但是为了我特意在第二天中午做了这项安排，我万分感激。

在教堂的一角，查理静静的闭目躺在床上，和离世前一模一样，安详、宁静，脸上流露出一丝不易察觉的微笑，一时间竟让我想起在泰国清迈寺庙里看到过的肉身佛。查理经由终生修行，也如得道高僧，金身不腐，浑身都散发出永恒的光芒。查理和家人都不是佛教徒，当然不会成为肉身佛，但是他的精神遗产将世代相传。中国文化的现代化必然离不开市场经济、商业社会环境下士大夫精神的现代演化。芒格先生是现代士大夫的化身。以诚实、德行、勤勉、修炼自我；凭借智慧、真知，以互惠共赢的方式致富；借凭财富自由追求人格独立、 达世济人；以终生学习、独立思想、理性诚实追求真知；以榜样的力量教诲后人，传播思想。此乃商才士魂，当代士人典范！

I was on a business trip in Asia on Tuesday when got the call from the Munger family informing me that Charlie was in his final hours. I hopped onto the next flight I could find to California, and before departure, was able to talk to Charlie through the help of his daughter. Charlie had largely lost consciousness, but still could clearly hear him trying to make a sound to acknowledge he had heard me. Upon landing, I learned that Charlie had left us a few hours earlier.

I arrived at his Santa Barbara home and had the opportunity to spend cherished time with family members, reminiscing about all things Charlie. Charlie was engaging, humorous and full of wit even at Thanksgiving dinner just a few days ago, family members told me. l visited his home library again. In that very room, exactly 20 years ago，also on a post-Thanksgiving weekend afternoon, following the introduction by our mutual friend Ron Olson, Charlie and I first struck up a deep conversation which ran for several hours. It began an investment partnership that has now endured two decades. Charlie became my mentor, partner, dear friend and above all, life-long role model.

I was so deeply grateful that the Munger family made a special arrangement the next day for me to say a proper and private goodbye to Charlie.

There, lying quietly with eyes closed, Charlie looked the same as ever, peaceful and sincere with a subtle smile on his face. There was a serenity about him. For a moment, I was reminded of the Living Buddhas I once saw in the Buddhist temples of Thailand. In the Buddhist tradition, the bodies of truly enlightened monks, through life-long self-cultivation, can remain incorrupt, without any traces of mummification after death. In that moment, it is what I saw in Charlie, an enlightened sage with an incorruptible body, surrounded by a glimmer of eternal light.

Charlie was not a Buddhist. That vision can never be tested. But it is incontrovertible that his legacy and impact will live on for generations to come. In our capitalist society, where do virtue, moral responsibility, truth-seeking and public service fit in? Charlie Munger answered these questions through his long exemplary life. He insisted on making money in the most morally sound way, entering transactions only when, if positions were reversed, he would comfortably take the other side. He sought worldly wisdom through life-long learning. He guided life with rationality devoid of mental deficiencies such as envy, resentment and self-pity. He faced and persevered through countless adversities with stoicism and equanimity. As he gained in wealth and stature, he showed little appetite for the trappings of that success, and instead spent his wealth on worthy causes and tirelessly spread his worldly wisdom to those who would listen, often with humor. He remained deeply engaged with family, friends, partners and the broader world with loving assiduousness through his last days.

In his later decades, Charlie Munger's ideas began to spread across the world, particularly in the most populous countries of China and India. In China, the Mandarin language version of "Poor Charlie's Almanack,” an anthology by and about Charlie Munger, sold over 1.2 million copies over the last 10 years. There, the educated class increasingly came to view Charlie as the embodiment of the modern-day Confucianism, maintaining a virtuous and enlightened life while embracing the market forces of capitalism. In time, that vision of modern Confucianism will be crucial for Chinese modernization and how China interacts with the rest of the world.

Charlie's teachings will continue to spread, inspire and impact the world even more profoundly. That will be his eternal legacy.