1. Original text
Go to the extreme of emptiness and keep quiet.
All things are working together, and I observe them.
Everything in the universe returns to its roots.
In the final analysis, it is called tranquility, which means restoration of life.
Returning to life is called Chang, knowing Chang is called Ming.
If you don’t know the rules, you will do evil.
Know that the appearance is permanent, the appearance is the public, the public is the king, the king is the sky, the sky is the way, and the way is long. Not in danger.
2. Analysis and summary of each school's explanations
1. Han Pengjie's "What Does the Tao Te Ching Say"
Try your best to reach the extreme of humility of mind, so that Live a quiet and unchanging life. All things grow together vigorously, and a wise man examines the reason for their reciprocity among the chaos. All things come together and return to their roots. Returning to its roots is tranquility, and tranquility can restore life and renew it; restoration and renewal is nature, and understanding the laws of nature is called wisdom. Reckless behavior that does not understand the laws of nature often leads to troubles and disasters. People who understand the laws of nature are tolerant. Only by being tolerant can they be calm and just. Only by being just can one be a saint within and a king outside. Only by being a saint within and a king outside can one be in line with the "Tao" of nature. Only in line with the way of nature can one be long-lasting and not be in danger throughout his life.
2. Nan Huaijin's "Laozi He Shuo"
(1) The wonderful use of tranquility
"To the extreme of emptiness, keep silence. All things work together, and I use them Observe recovery. All things return to their roots. Returning to the roots is called rejuvenation. This is the principle and method of Taoism. It is wrong to depart from this principle. "To the extreme of emptiness, keep quiet." "Void" is almost equal to the Buddhist "empty". And "Keeping Silence" talks about skill and effect, and requires you to keep it with concentration and persistence.
"All things are working together, and I can see them again." "Working" is an adjective. All things in the universe, mountains, rivers, and earth are changing all the time, and they are developing and creating endlessly. "Recovery" is the way back. If we use the Buddhist adjective "boundless" to describe the power of life, it is infinite, has always been there, and will never be born or destroyed. Non-birth does not mean the state of cessation and annihilation, it does not mean withering away, nor does it mean that there is nothing at all. Rather, it means that there is always infinite energy there, which can be used without being used and will not be exhausted.
(2) The life root of all living beings
“Everything in the world returns to its root, and returning to the root is called tranquility. This is called returning to life, and returning to life is called normality.” “Yunyun” represents a universal Ordinary grass is also used to describe the endless growth of all things in the universe. After one group dies, another group is born, and more and more are born, which are called "Yun Yun". In later generations, the Taoist "Yun Yun" and the Buddhist "all living beings" evolved into a very beautiful term in literature: "Yun Yun all living beings". Lao Tzu said that all things are so colorful and "everything returns to its roots." He observed that every life relies on its own roots to live. But how to “return to our roots”? The only way is to seek silence. "Returning to the root of tranquility means restoring life." Only by being able to be extremely still can we find the origin of life and return to the foundation of life. What is this root? ——Void. "Resume life as usual", if you find the root of life, you can "neither birth nor death", always be there, and exist forever.
If people do not understand the fundamentals of Tao and the origin of life, and "do not know what is normal and do evil indiscriminately" and act recklessly, they will inevitably cause great harm and no good results.
To know "constant", you must grasp the origin of Tao, and only then can you know how to be a human being and how to do things. If you know the "constant", you can be "tolerant", and your mind can accommodate everything, covering the sky and the earth. Because of this broad-mindedness, the scope of wisdom expands beyond limit. Therefore, it is said that "tolerance is for the public", and naturally the world is for the public and there is no selfishness.
Since "Rong is the public" and "the public is the king", this "king" does not necessarily mean the king. According to the modern interpretation, everything is society, while Buddhism says that everything is to save all living beings; "The public is the king" ", the King is Heaven" is in line with the natural laws of heaven and earth. All things grow in heaven and earth, and the sun and moon shine on all things. They are fair and impartial and do not care about rewards. This is the natural law of "Heaven is the Way".
There is nothing like heaven and earth. If you have an open-minded mind and are in line with the principles of Tao, then you can have "a long-lasting Tao", a long history, and immortality. The "selflessness" mentioned in Buddhism is the "Great Lord" and the "Way of Heaven". "Bodyless". "Bodyless" means that in our lives, we live until our last breath. After death, our bones turn into dust and our bodies are gone, but the spirit of life remains forever. Immortality, its The key point is all in these six words: "To reach the extreme of emptiness, to maintain tranquility and sincerity".
3. Mr. Baiyun's "The Way of Laozi"
(1) To the extreme of emptiness, keep quiet and sincere.
To reach the extreme of emptiness, it refers to reaching the realm of emptiness from the great road to nothingness. The specific way to start is the art of mind fasting explained by Zhuangzi. Staying still and sincere means holding the spirit in your arms and keeping it in mind without being shaken. How exactly can we maintain silence? The method of starting is also in the book "Zhuangzi", the way of Zhengjing Mingxu. The righteousness is self-quiet, the stillness is self-luminous, the luminous is self-empty, and the emptiness is self-doing and nothing-doing.
(2) All things are working together, and I can observe their restoration.
Looking at all things with the way of heaven, we can see that all things follow the destiny of heaven at the same time and continue to prosper. It can be seen that everything comes from the destiny of heaven and everything falls into the destiny of destiny. Machine, the power of heaven and earth.
(3) All things return to their roots.
All the myriad things are the sons of heaven and earth, and heaven and earth are the sons of the great road. All things in the world, and their evolution in cycles of life and death, are all driven by the Great Dao. They are born from the Tao, transformed into the Tao, and die into the Tao. Everything is born because of the Tao, everything is transformed by the Tao, and everything takes the body of the Tao, so everything returns to its root.
(4) Returning to the root is called tranquility, and tranquility is called returning to life.
All things are born by the energy of heaven and earth. This is the destiny of heaven. Governing the world with the way of heaven, allowing all things to be transformed according to the destiny of heaven, this is the return to the roots. All things allow themselves to be transformed according to the destiny of heaven without doing anything, and they are in harmony with the way of heaven. This is called tranquility. There are three kinds of destiny: the destiny you are given, the destiny you are destined to transform, and the destiny you have to survive. After all things in the world are rectified, their destiny will be able to last for the whole life without any harm. It is called resurrection.
(5) Returning to life is called Chang, knowing Chang is called Ming.
Returning to Heaven’s destiny and following Heaven’s way are permanent. Only by knowing the commonplace can we abandon the rule of human wisdom that is artificial and ingenious, and only then can we have an insight into the rule of heaven. Those who understand the rule of heaven are enlightened.
(6) Don’t know what is normal and act recklessly.
If you don’t understand the way of heaven, you don’t know how to follow the way of heaven. If you don't follow the way of heaven, you will govern the country with human wisdom, and you will act randomly based on human ideas. Ruling the world in this way will cause confusion and disaster in the world, which is called evil.
(7) Know the eternal appearance, the appearance is the public, the public is the king, the king is the sky, the sky is the way, the way is the long-lasting, the body will not perish even if you die.
Why should we govern the world with the way of heaven instead of governing the world with human wisdom? This passage talks about the political ethics of the way of heaven. From this passage, we can see how the political ethics of heaven are derived step by step.
3. My realization - the artistic beauty of "emptiness and tranquility"
I remember someone said before: the aesthetic mentality of "emptiness and tranquility" occupies an extremely important position in the history of Chinese aesthetics. Laozi believes that the subject must have a mental state of "reaching the extreme of emptiness and maintaining tranquility" so that he can forget everything around him and his own existence, so that he can assimilate with all things and fully comply with the laws of nature. And can have insight into the universe and know everything.
Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and even celebrities of all ages have their own descriptions of "quietness" and "emptiness", but for an ordinary person like me, I still can't understand what this is. experience. Is it the stillness of concentrating on breathing while meditating and discarding all kinds of thoughts in the mind? Or does it refer to the kind of stillness that feels like time and space disappear when you focus on something? Or is it the inner peace you feel when immersed in nature?
But it seems that every kind of "quietness" is good! For the time being, I think Lao Tzu means maintaining this "quiet" state in all aspects! Without specific guidance from an expert, I can only have a superficial understanding.