Hidden are those who tamper with the "Tao Te Ching", conform to worldly affairs, and want to please everyone. We all know that the Tao Te Ching is a classic work of Taoism, written by Lao Tzu himself. But do you dare to imagine that the version of the Tao Te Ching we see now is not the original Tao Te Ching written by Laozi. What's even more frightening is that they are not simple changes. Although they only changed a few words, they are far from what I meant and directly tampered with the original meaning that I wanted to convey.
This secret was discovered from ancient books unearthed in Mawangdui in 1973. Among the ancient books unearthed was a version of the Tao Te Ching. If this ancient version of the Tao Te Ching had not been unearthed, we would not even know that the Tao Te Ching had been altered. For example, there is this sentence in Chapter 5 of the Tao Te Ching: Between heaven and earth, is it still a mess? If it is empty but not yielding, it will get better when it moves. It is better to keep the center than to talk too much. ?This actually emphasizes an important point of "less words", and this is also respected by Confucianism, but the original version is not like this. The original version is? Between heaven and earth, is it still a mess? If it is empty but not yielding, it will get better when it moves. It is better to stay in the center than to learn too much and be poor. ?.
From this point, we can see Laozi’s detached thoughts. What he means is that things are constantly changing. If you observe from different angles, you will see different things. Therefore, if you look more, you will not necessarily be "well-informed". When treating things, you must It has its own set of logic and cannot change with changes in external objects. There is also Chapter 14 of the Tao Te Ching. There is this sentence in this chapter: Hold on to the ancient way and use it to control the present. Being able to know the beginning of the ancient times is called Taoism. ?. At first glance, it seems to be the same as what the mainstream thought advocates, but in fact, the original version is not like this. The original version says this: "Adhere to the way of the present and control the existence of the present, and you can know the beginning of the past. This is called Taoism." ?.
The revised version is to conform to the mainstream thinking, which says that ancient laws should be followed to govern the world and the laws of the ancestors should be followed. Therefore, Zhou rites must be respected, and the ancient governance methods cannot be changed. But that’s not what Lao Tzu actually means. What he means is that we should learn to apply it and use modern methods to govern the world. Because the person who formulated that theory in ancient times has passed away, and he does not understand the modern world, so it is not feasible to use his theory. All in all, the revised "Tao Te Ching" seems to be more suitable for the mainstream thinking of that era, and the "Tao Te Ching" written by Laozi himself conveys ideas that are much more advanced and advanced than the revised version.