How do I interpret 者 in 如是者有年，一日偶然…?

Question

我自读书识字以来，就想为英雄豪杰，求之四书五经，茫无所得，求之诸子百家，与夫廿四史，仍无所得，以为古之为英雄豪杰者，必有不传之秘，不过吾人生性愚鲁，寻他不出罢了。穷索冥搜，忘寝废食，如是者有年，一日偶然想起三国时几个人物，不觉恍然大悟曰：得之矣，得之矣，古之为英雄豪杰者，不过面厚心黑而已。
_{李宗学，厚黑学全集，p.21. (photo)}

I don't understand 如是者有年 above, and specifically what 者 is doing in there. My best guess is 如是者 could be something like "such a person", but YouDao gives "if so" which suggests 者 is something like 这样 in this context.

Question: How do I interpret 者 in 如是者有年…?

Answer 1

如是者 seems to be a modern day Cantonese phrase:

Words.hk

語句
所以；根據前文嘅規律
so; so that; in sequence with the above mentioned

你而家開始一個月儲三千蚊, 如是者, 三十年後你就夠畀首期。
You can try to save $3000 a month from now on, so that you can afford the down payment after 30 years.

I'd treat it more as a set phrase rather than as its individual components.

Answer 2

穷索冥搜，忘寝废食，[如是(者)]有年 = searching earnestly, to the point of not sleeping or eating, and [like this (way)] for years

如是(者) = like this (way) --> "way" refers to " in the manner of (穷索冥搜，忘寝废食)"

You can see '者' as the pronoun for 'the not sleeping or eating way of search'

More example:

他日间工作夜间读书，十年如是 = he works at day, study at night and like this for ten years

他日间工作夜间读书，如是(者)十年过去 = he works at day, study at night and like this (way), ten years have passed

者 (way) refers to the way he works at day and study at night

Edit:

From the examples I posted, I noticed "如是者" (like this way) is always followed by a time reference. e.g. 如是者十年過去， 如是者直至年未

Answer 3

穷索冥搜，忘寝废食，如是者有年。

1. 者，通常指人或是事物的代稱。

言者：說話的人；聽者：聽話的人之類...

所以如是者有年若翻譯為「這麼做的我好多年了」，是通的。

2. 者也可能沒甚麼意思，就是語氣的轉折停頓。

如是[者]有年：「就這樣....也好多年了」，這樣的翻譯我想應該也沒甚麼問題！

基於文章作者感嘆花了這麼時間在窮索冥搜、廢寢忘食而不可得的情況下，個人偏向2。

供OP參考。

Answer 4

穷尽索, 冥搜未已,
Pursuing profoundly, delving the depths,
废寝忘食，
not eating or sleeping,
如是像这样有年，
thusly for years
一日偶然想起三国时几个人物，
one day good hap, characters of The Tale of the Three Kingdoms sprang to mind，
不觉恍然大悟曰：
without thinking, it suddenly dawned on me, I yelled：
得之矣，
"Eureka,
得之矣，
eureka
古之为英雄豪杰者，
an ancient hero,
不过面厚心黑而已。
profound and secret, that's all.

厚黑学

在李宗吾的著作中，他提出了一系列惊世骇俗的观点，如“厚而无形、黑而无色”“古之为英雄豪杰者，不过面厚心黑而已”等等，这一系列惊世骇俗的观点对后世的人们产生了广泛而深远的影响。

Answer 5

this word like 'ah','um' kinds of words in English ,so my answer is ,it does not have a exact meaning ,but just for the rhythm ,which means you can also delete it and the sentence still makes sense . this sentence means (i do things )like this having years .and we can look at its original mean :会意。字从耂从日。“耂”字从土从丿，读为“不土”，义为“不耕土”；“日”指“日子”、“每天”。“耂”与“日”联合起来表示“全天从事非农生产”、“工商专业户”。it represents those people who don't farm but use their talking ability to do business .so it represent persons in the original meaning .but with the development of this word ,like this sentence you mentions ,it has deprived meaning ,like auxiliary word in English .but the difference is it can be deleted without affecting the grammar . something i want talk about :lizongxue is a modern man ,so they dont have a very strict use of traditional word .so you just need to understand what he express but not pay too much attention the syntax .if you want to learn the traditonal language style ,you should read those book before Song dynasty (included ).