The first six sentences in this chapter correspond to the lower paragraph of Chapter 67 of Wang Bi's Tao Te Ching, and the last three sentences correspond to the upper paragraph of Chapter 73. The text of this chapter is based on the second edition of the silk book, and revised with reference to the first edition of the silk book, Chu bamboo slips and Han bamboo slips.
This chapter is the continuation of the first two chapters, and the trinity of the three chapters systematically expounds what is the principle of "fairness and justice". In the first two chapters, I gave the definitions of "fairness" and "justice" respectively. "Fairness" is what Laozi called "Tao is nameless", which means that Tao regards all things in the universe as "nameless servants" serving the whole. As long as the individual does not harm the whole, Tao distributes the benefits equally. "Righteousness" is what Laozi called "Tao inaction", which refers to the corrective action taken by Tao against "injustice"; It is regarded as "injustice" that personal interests harm the overall interests, and it is regarded as "inaction" that Taoist people are loyal to nameless servants.
But in the first two chapters, Laozi only stated what is "fairness" and "justice", but did not explain how "fairness and justice" will be realized. This chapter reveals this mystery and clarifies the operating mechanism of the principle of fairness and justice.
Tao's control over all things in the universe is based on a word "Zi", which means that "nurturing" Tao is not only to give birth to all things, but more importantly, to nurture all things. Whoever Tao raises will live, and whoever Tao doesn't raise will die.
What are the criteria for Tao's "keeping" and "not keeping"? This is the principle of "fairness and justice". "The evil of the day, who knows why? I used to kill if I dared, but I didn't dare to die. This has both advantages and disadvantages. " In other words, the only standard of natural killing depends on whether it is beneficial to the universe and ecology. Beneficial is "fairness and justice", born from heaven. What is harmful is "unfairness and injustice", which is a godsend opportunity.
"If you dare to kill, if you dare not die" is the crowning touch of this chapter, which shows us the life and death device of Tao and explains how Tao ensures the implementation of the principle of fairness and justice. However, this sentence has been completely unrecognizable in the handed down version of Tao Te Ching. The word "brave" has become "brave", "dry" has become "alive", and the meaning of "dare" has been misunderstood again and again. Not only that, but this sentence was also moved in the handed down book, which made the conclusion of this chapter of Laozi disappear and the logic was incomplete.
The theme of this chapter is "I have three treasures". "Three treasures" are the three principles that the Tao controls the universe, which determines the life and death of all things, which is by no means up to human beings. It is the same misunderstanding in the traditional old notes to interpret "I" as "Laozi" or "sage" and "Three Treasures" as three human qualities. In addition, the books handed down from generation to generation changed the words "zi" and "qiān" in Lao Zi's original text into Confucianism's "benevolence" and "frugality", stealing Lao Zi's principle of fairness and justice, and Lao Zi's thought was completely distorted.
The Tao Te Ching has been handed down for more than 2,000 years, but the principle of fairness and justice, the core idea of Laozi, is little known, which is closely related to the misunderstanding of Laozi by later generations during the Warring States Period, and the misunderstanding and tampering of this chapter played a vital role. Comparing the original version with the handed down version, we can see that almost every sentence in this chapter is different from the handed down version. The logical deduction and profound value connotation of Laozi's system have long since disappeared in the handed down books, and the principle of "fairness and justice" has also vanished into thin air.
The "three treasures" are the top-level design of pottery, which are closely linked, ensuring the implementation of the principle of "fairness and justice"
Lao Tzu said that Tao has three magic weapons, which are used to control the universe and ensure ecological harmony and long-term stability.
This chapter involves some uncommon or disappearing ancient Chinese usages, and the clarification is not enough to correctly understand the true meaning of Laozi. The word "temple" bears the brunt.
"Temple" was first seen in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and it was written as "up and down again". "Governance" was used by Laozi as "governance". Ruling the country by honesty ",Chu bamboo slips and A version of Silk Book both read" ruling the country by honesty ",while B version of Silk Book and Han Book both read" ruling the country by honesty "and" governing "as" governing ". Yang Shuda thinks that the sound of "temple" should be pronounced as "zhi" (the theory of accumulating micro inscriptions). Therefore, the original meaning of "temple" means governance. Around the early Warring States period, the word "you" under "temple" evolved into "inch", which had the meaning of statutes, giving "temple" the meaning of "temple" gradually evolved from governance to government, such as "Dali Temple". The usage of "temple" as a governance verb has since disappeared from people's field of vision.
"Temple" occupies a place in ancient Chinese. Pass on "history", attendants; Pass on "poetry", poetry; Pass "shit", shit. Therefore, this sentence is pronounced as "keep it" in the handed down book, "keep it and wait" in the Han bamboo slips and "stay in the city" in the silk book, which is the same pronunciation. However, these explanations are not the original meaning of Laozi.
Laozi's original intention is that "temple" is the solution of "governance", and "temple protection" is to govern the universe's ecology with "three treasures" to make the ecology harmonious and orderly and long-term stability. , refers to the universe ecology.
In contrast, "I have three treasures, and I will protect them". The words "you", "you" and "you" all express the same meaning, that is, "you". "Holding and protecting it" does not provide any valuable information, but it is dispensable, which obviously does not conform to Laozi's concise and rich style of writing.
Lao Tzu said that the three magic weapons of governing the universe by Tao are: first, I support you; Second, everyone is the same; Third, not specialized.
"Zi", nourishing, refers to the cultivation of all things. Tao regards "I nurture you" as the first rule to govern the universe ecology, because it is the foundation of the latter two, and Tao ensures the implementation of the latter two through "nurturing" and "not nurturing".
"Zi" is written as "Zi" in silk books A and B, and "Zi" should be the original word of Laozi. "Zi" means "Zi". The "Zi" and "Ci" handed down from generation to generation is a typical Confucian solution to the old age and a serious misinterpretation of Laozi's thought.
"qiān" means that everyone is the same. "Tong" does not refer to function and function, but to status and rights. Everything in the universe plays a big or small role, but they have no merit. They are all "unknown servants" of the whole ecology, and heaven and earth are no exception.
The word formation of "love" embodies the connotation of "meaning". The Chu people wrote "Shang Yue" and "Ai", meaning that everyone said the same thing:
Shu, the first edition of the silk book is "inspection" and the second edition is "frugality". The popular explanations are "inspection" and "frugality". Later generations stole Laozi's principle of "fairness and justice" with the so-called "frugality means no desire".
"Dare to be the first in the world" means that "disrespect" is the first in the world, and "dare" means "respect" but not "courage"; "Being the best in the world" means seeking to surpass the power and status of the people in the world and the wealth it brings.
The subject of "dare not" is Tao, and the subject of "the best in the world" is people. A common misunderstanding is to confuse "Tao" with "man". Tao created the world, and the whole world is Tao, and there is no need to seek it through main roads. Tao is a super thing, which is above all things, not to mention the struggle between Tao and people. Therefore, the subject of "the best in the world" can't be Tao, only people. This can also infer the meaning of "dare" or "disrespect".
Why is "the best in the world" not respected? Because it destroys the principle of "fairness and justice" and is the initiator of "injustice"
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Insert a paragraph here to explain the usage of the word "dare":
The interpretation of "dare" as "respect" is rare even in ancient Chinese, but it shows the consistency of this usage in Tao Te Ching. The word "dare" in Tao Te Ching all means "respect". Only by interpreting "dare" as "respect" can we communicate with the old meaning.
The word "dare" first appeared in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, which has three layers: upper, middle and lower. The upper layer is "inverted jackal", which stands for sacrifice and symbolizes the incarnation of the gods. In the middle is the "bell" and below is the "double friends", which means that people hold memorial tablets in their hands to worship the sacrificial heads. The whole word means to worship heaven. According to Shuowen, Xu Zhongshu's Oracle dictionary interprets this word as a man holding a hunting fork and stabbing a wild boar to death, which is debatable. The theory of hunting fork has great false suspicion.
The meaning of the word "dare" changed in the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty. In the early Western Zhou Dynasty, the word "dare" still retained the metaphorical meaning of Oracle Bone Inscriptions. The memorial tablet was replaced by a mouth, and both hands were simplified to one hand. Inverted jackals have also been simplified, symbolizing mumbling and worshiping heaven and earth:
By the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the mouth and the inverted chest were connected into a whole, forming a left-right structure. The figurative meaning of this word has become the relativity between man and beast, and the meaning of "courage" has been derived. Before and after the Warring States Period, the left side evolved into the upper claw and the lower ancient, and the left and right sides were opposite, indicating that people worked hard to forge ahead in the face of the old evil forces, which is called "Dare to forge ahead" in Shuowen:
Ancient literature supports the above speculation. Shangshu Pan Geng is an ancient book that has always been recognized. Although there are various disputes about the creation time, most of them think that it is a work of Yin and Shang Dynasties, and it is not later than the early years of Zhou Dynasty. The word "dare" appears six times in Pan Geng, and every word "dare" is interpreted as "respect", without exception. In contrast, the word "dare" in The Book of Songs is basically interpreted as "courageous and resourceful".
The following are two examples in Pan Geng (the sentence break and interpretation in Shangshu are controversial, and the following are different from the popular sentence break and interpretation):
"You are a heart and a people. As for marriage friends, Pinai dares to say. You have accumulated virtue, but you are not afraid of arrogance. " It means that I hope you can put aside selfishness, do practical things for the people and accumulate true virtue. The highest is accompanied by friendship, and great reverence is noble. As long as you do good deeds, scorpions and beasts can't hurt you. "As for marriage friends, Pi dares to speak": Supreme; Yu, vast; Marry, pair; Friendship, fraternity; Pi, big also, make a big solution; Dare, respect; Great, great virtue; Words and modal particles are equivalent to "words".
"I don't take good goods, dare to do a good job. A monk seeks protection for others and is called Qin. " This means that I don't hire greedy people, but respect those who are beneficial to people's livelihood. As long as I can raise the people and let them live and work in peace and contentment, I will regard their merits and entrust them with heavy responsibilities. "Dare to live with respect": Dare and respect; Gong, lift; Life, let life survive, is to benefit people's livelihood.
Give me another list. Shangshu Tang Shi: "Fear God and dare not be unjust." It means I'm afraid of heaven, and disrespect is not the right way. "Dare" is still interpreted as "respect".
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Lao Tzu said, I raise you as a means, and controlling everything in the universe is the purpose; Everyone is the same means, widely accepted, and has a long history is the purpose; Dare not be the first means in the world, the purpose is to achieve.
"Use" means controlling everything. Tao has achieved absolute control over all things through "nurturing" or "not nurturing", which is the wonderful use of "Zi".
Other versions of "Yong" and "Yong" are misreading. In Laozi, a bamboo slip of Chu, courage is written as courage, but later generations misunderstand courage as boldness because they don't understand the wonderful use of Confucius, and mistakenly associate courage with courage.
"Wide" means not only wide acceptance, but also long-term significance. "Everyone is the same" can not only be unanimously recognized, but also be persistent.
"Success is long-lasting" is Tao's agency system design. "Everyone is the same" does not deny that "there must be leadership", but leadership must not distinguish between public and private, let alone specialization. "Chengjiu" is synonymous with the "saint" that Tao wants to create. They work hard but don't get much. They have the ability not to bargain. Tao has the confidence to put forward such employment standards because the principle of "unity of opposites" determines that such people must exist.
"Dare to be the first in the world" is actually what we call the cadre selection standard today. More work for more is a complete denial of the market economy, so that many people may find it difficult to accept it today. But this is the core of Laozi's values and the difference between Laozi's values and traditional values formed by people for thousands of years. You need to understand it carefully. Laozi's "Three Laws" emphasizes that in order to achieve real "fairness and justice", people who are capable and willing to contribute should be screened out as agents at all levels of society, otherwise it will violate the third law of Tao. The question is how do we screen? I didn't give an answer.
The second edition of Silk Book is called "Commander Yi", but the quotations in the first edition of Silk Book and Jielao written by Han Feizi are all called "Commander Yi", while the word "Cheng" is omitted in other editions and used as a commander. Both "things" and "utensils" are born of things. The concept of "thing" is broader, covering "device", so "chengjiu" is more appropriate.
Laozi said that zi is the basis of use, zi is the premise of extensiveness, and the latter is the first condition. If I don't support you, I can't control you; Without fairness, it is difficult to improve; Without selfless dedication, it is impossible to create a real leader; The other method doesn't work at all.
Here, "today" means if. "Qi" is the solution of "taking". "Death" means it won't work, not death.
Death hit the nail on the head and pointed out the mystery of this set of rules. "I support you" is the premise. Only when there is support can there be "no support", which is the principle of fairness, and "no support" is a restriction on unfairness. "No privilege" restricts the private use of public rights. Only by being willing to contribute and not seeking personal gain can they be granted public rights and become "winners". Interlocking!
The wonderful use of "nurturing"-reciprocity, being able to advance and retreat, and making precise efforts.
In the previous part, Lao Tzu introduced the concepts of the three magic weapons, their interdependence and the goals they can achieve. In this part, Laozi focuses on the role of "Zi" in the governance mechanism of the universe and its selection criteria.
Laozi said, "Zi" always guards the "fairness and justice" of the universe's ecology. Once "unfairness" is discovered, it will immediately strike a precise blow, which is innocent. Taking offense as defense, "fairness and justice" is bound to be impregnable.
"tán" and "strike" refer to ruthless "injustice", resolutely govern and return the world to "fairness". "Bounce" means aiming. Lao Tzu mentioned in the following chapter: "Play well and be resourceful. Skynet is long, sparse and not leaking. " Good intentions are good at seeking, precision at once, and precision strikes, so that "injustice" can't escape the French Open.
This sentence handed down from ancient times is written as "grace, to overcome, to discipline", with "grace" as the subject, meaning that "grace" is an invincible weapon, which is really difficult to justify logically.
Laozi wrote "to overcome obstacles with bullets" because the relationship between Tao and things is beyond things, and there is no contest between them, so there is no "war". The only choice for things is to obey the will of the Tao.
Lao Tzu said, whoever God wants to raise will soak in the fountain of life and make life full of vitality. "Why", then.
"Yu" means to raise. There is an ancient saying that a daughter-in-law is an adopted daughter. "Jade" is used as a "sword" in both versions of silk books. Later generations thought that the logic of "building" was not good, so they changed "building" to "saving". In fact, the contrast between "Yu" and "Zi" is the original intention of Laozi, which is logically perfect.
There is a famous saying handed down from ancient times, "Those who are good at building will not pull out, and those who are good at embracing will not take off". In Laozi, a book written by Chu Bamboo, "Good scholars don't nest, and those who are good at protecting don't exchange (yuè)", in which "learning" means "nurturing" and "exchange" leads to "sound". The whole sentence means that people who are good at raising children do not have their own homes, but take the world as their home and raise the world; Those who are good at protecting have no hiding place, neither protecting themselves nor their homes, but protecting all the people in the world.
The explanation of "Yu" as "nourishing" is reflected in ancient documents, but it is often used as a modal particle or interpreted as another meaning. The Book of Songs: "Don't think about your ancestors, I learned virtue. Always say what you want and seek more happiness. " "Not thinking about ancestors" is the inversion of "not thinking about ancestors", and "self-cultivation" is "Xiu De". The whole sentence means that if you want your ancestors to forget (live up to their ancestors), you should pay attention to cultivating your own virtue; The only way to always be competent for the mission entrusted by God is to seek more benefits for the people. However, when Mao Heng interprets this sentence, he takes "mindlessness" as the logic, and also reads "Yu" as "speech" and "Sui" as an explanation. Zheng Xuan and Kong agree with this, but they don't know that "Yu" means "raising".
Lao Tzu said, who can know the likes and dislikes of heaven? It's actually quite simple. If God respects it, it will give it nectar; if God does not respect it, it will wither. Heaven is treated so differently because the former is beneficial to the whole and the latter is harmful to the whole.
The "dare" here is still interpreted as "respect", which refers to what the Tao respects, that is, the behavior that conforms to the standards of the Tao, while "dare" is the behavior that violates the standards of the Tao. Tao has a clear view of right and wrong, which is "fairness and justice". Besides, Tao has no other value judgment.
What I want to explain here is the usage of the word "kill". "Kill", here is the solution of "harvest".
Book of Rites: "If the son of heaven kills, he will go to Dasui. If a warlord kills, he will go to Xiao Sui. If the doctor kills someone, the car will be stopped. As soon as the car stopped, the people hunted. " It tells the story of Emperor Tiandi hunting three times a year, accompanied by princes and scholars. The etiquette of hunting is the emperor's priority. When catching prey, the emperor's standards are lowered, and princes can start hunting, followed by doctors and finally the people. The "killing" here refers to getting the prey and emphasizing the harvest.
In modern Chinese, "killing" also means "receiving". The ending stroke of cursive script is called "killing the word". Film and television works complete all the shooting work and enter the final stage of production, which is called "killing".
"Killing" is characterized by two sides. "Harvest" is a bumper harvest for people, but it is extinction for crops. The same is true of "hunting". Hitting the prey is "gain" for people and "death" for the prey. From the analysis of word-making, the word "kill" of Chu people, from grass to wood, is like people knocking the fruit on the tree with tools, highlighting people's "harvest":
And Qin Zhuan's writing is different, from x to death, like a plant with its head cut off, highlighting the "extinction" of things:
With the unification of characters, Qin Zhuan replaced Chu seal, and the meaning of "killing" was gradually forgotten.
Both the A and B versions of this silk book say "Dare to kill, dare not kill", while the Han bamboo slips of Peking University say "Dare to kill, dare not die". It can be inferred that the original text of Laozi is a word "withered" and "withered" is a mistake of "withered". "Courage" is due to the continuous misunderstanding of "dare" and "kill" by later generations, which leads to the misunderstanding of "use" as "courage".
Later generations of the Warring States did not understand Laozi's principle of "fairness and justice", so they did not realize that Laozi was expounding the life and death mechanism of governing the universe by Taoism. "Kill" is release, "wither" is killing. Later generations completely reversed the relationship between them, treating "killing" as death and "withering" as "living". I mistakenly made a logical paradox: "Dare to kill, dare not live."
"This has both advantages and disadvantages" and "both advantages and disadvantages" are different. In the former, "this" is interpreted as "like this", indicating causality, while in the latter, "this" is a pronoun, so I generally choose to omit it.
"For dare to kill, for dare not withered. This has both advantages and disadvantages. " This chapter draws a perfect ending here. "Dare" and "dare not" are the right and wrong standards of Tao; "Kill" and "wither" are "nourish" organs; Everything is born and died, all in the thinking of Tao; The only criterion for choosing Tao is the principle of fairness and justice.
Correction instructions in this chapter
1. Reorganization of relevant chapters
This chapter consists of the second half of chapter 67 and the first half of chapter 73 of Wang Bi's Tao Te Ching. The first three sentences in chapter 67 of Wang Ben are about the difference of Tao and the dialectics of big and small, which have been included in the chapter of "Tao can be controlled" in the original version. The last six sentences are all about "Three Treasures". There is no direct connection between the front and back parts. On the contrary, the first three sentences of Chapter 73 are the ultimate revelation of the organs of birth, aging, illness and death, and the crowning touch of the "three treasures" governance mechanism, which are inseparable from the discussion of "three treasures" in Chapter 67, so the two are combined into one chapter.
In the three sentences included in Chapter 73, "Who knows what evil is in heaven?" Is to ask, "Dare to kill, dare not die." This has both advantages and disadvantages. "Yes, the order of Wang Benzhong is just reversed, and the merger has also been revised accordingly. There is another sentence in Wang Ben's Seventy-Three: "It is still difficult to be a saint." This sentence is a repetition of chapter 63 of Wang Ben's "it is difficult for a saint, so there is no difficulty in the end." It is about the way of saints, which is not directly related to the context of Taoism, so it was deleted. The last two sentences of Chapter 73 are Lao Zi's summary of Heaven, which are relatively independent of the "Three Treasures" and merged into Chapter 77 of Wang Ben, which is more closely related to it.
2. Keyword research
Fu, A, B silk edition and handed down edition all broke it in the last sentence "I'm a good husband after a long time". Jiang Xichang thinks that "fu" is actually a phrase, which is the next sentence, and the original text is from Jiang.
The diaosi version of this sentence says, "I always have three treasures." The second edition of the silk book is "I always have three (Wang Dai), and the market is (Wang Dai)." Han bamboo slips of Peking University "I always have three treasures, and I want to keep them." Most of the books handed down from generation to generation are "I (I) have three treasures, which I hold and protect." Presumably, Laozi's original text is probably "I have three stays, but I stay in the temple." The first "stay" is a variant of "treasure". The second "stay" is "guarantee", which means guarantee.
The word "horizontal" is not available in other versions, but was added by later generations. Silk books A and B have a special liking for "constancy". Once it rises, it will be added to Laozi's words. The most typical one is "whether there is mutual growth". Silk books A and B wrote: "Whether there is mutual strength or not, the difficulty is complementary, the length is also punished, the competition is also mutually beneficial, and the sound is also harmonious and unchanged." Finally, the word "unchanged" was inserted alive.
"Temple" has been introduced in detail above, so I won't repeat it here.
This sentence was originally written by Laozi, "I dare not be the best in the world when I say it first, then I say it second and then I say it third." Silk book A and B and Han bamboo slips of Peking University reflect the original appearance, and the "kindness" handed down from generation to generation is a distortion of Lao Zi's original intention. "Zi" means to "nurture" through "Zi", which is related to the meaning of this chapter.
"Yi", A and B versions of silk books are "Jian", Peking University Han bamboo slips are "Yi", and all handed down versions are "Jian". These three words are misreading Lao Zi's original text, failing to embody the ideological connotation of fairness, but stealing Lao Zi's core values of fairness and justice with Confucian frugality.
This sentence, the second edition of the silk book is "Fu Zi, with a single system, with a standard system." Based on this, it is speculated that Laozi's original word should be a single word, and later generations misread it as "war", which is opposite to "victory", thus resulting in "winning by war and consolidating by rules" In fact, "single" is "bullet", which refers to Tao's precise attack on "injustice"
The word "I" in the second edition of silk and the word "Sheng" in the first edition of silk are both misunderstandings of "Ke". "Victory" and "gram" are synonyms today, but these two words have different meanings here. If carefully distinguished, the writing of "victory" and "gram" in Chu bamboo slips is actually different. The abbreviation of "ke" in Chu is the upper, middle and lower structure, from top to big, from middle to little, from bottom to strong:
The word "big" is on it, and two strokes on each arm should symbolize wearing armor. There are several squares in the middle, and the "force" below symbolizes the surrender of the defeated party. There are several between "big" and "force", so they represent two different subjects. This should be the word "gram" of the Chu people.
As for the word "victory", * * * appeared four times in the Smell of Success in Chu Bamboo Slips, the first three times meant "competence" and the last time meant "defeat". The word "victory" is written from top to bottom:
There is no "several" in the middle of this word, so "big" and "strong" both refer to the same subject, indicating that they are winning because of strength and are not interested in whether the other party gives in. This should be the word "victory" of the Chu people.
It is inappropriate for academic circles to transfer these two words to the word "victory" now. The confusion between these two words may have appeared since the mid-Warring States period. The word "victory" in the chapter "Lao Zi C" in Chu bamboo slips was written as "gram". This chapter is from the descendants of the Warring States, which is very suspicious. It may be just an example that later generations are not proficient in Chu seal, or it may be a common phenomenon at that time. By this time, people have "won" and "gram".
This day will be over, what can I do?
In the second edition of the silk book, this sentence is "Heaven will make it, as if it were made by this wall", and in the first edition of the silk book, it is "Heaven will make it, and women will be made by this wall". The word "see" in the two sentences should be regarded as the mistake of "Yu". "Yu (Yang)" corresponds to "Zi (Zi)", which is called "nourishing". "Wall", the original meaning of the fence, is a metaphor for being surrounded by the nutrition of life. The conjunction "Ru" is a derivative of "female", and both "Ru" and "female" are misunderstandings of "Yan". The word "Yan" written by Chu people does not have the word "An", but is one point more than the word "female", and "Yan" is interpreted as "therefore";
Attachment 1: Chapter 67 of Wang Bi's Tao Te Ching:
Appendix II: Chapter 73 of Wang Bi's Tao Te Ching;