Note: Laozi is also called Tao Te Ching. (The Tao Te Ching is a later title. At first, Lao Tzu's book was called Lao Tzu without the name of Tao Te Ching. The date of its completion was controversial in the past, and it is still uncertain. However, according to the "Laozi" date of Guodian Chu bamboo slips unearthed in 1993, the date of its completion was at least in the middle and early Warring States period.
literary features
Laozi is a theoretical work pioneered by the Taoist school, with short length and low literary value. There are two points that can be briefly introduced:
First, visual reasoning.
second, the combination of rhyme and prosody in sentences.
Confucius asked for gifts
Confucius once asked for gifts from him, then retired and wrote Laozi. When I say Lao Tzu, I mean Taishi Yun or Lao Laizi. Whether Laozi was written by Laozi has always been controversial. Laozi explains the evolution of all things in the universe with Tao, thinking that "Tao gives birth to one, two, two, three and three things", and "Tao" is "the life of the husband (the command) is natural", so "man should follow the earth, the earth should follow the heaven, the heaven should follow the Tao, and the Tao should be natural". "Tao" is an objective natural law, and at the same time it has the eternal significance of "being independent and not changing, walking around without danger" The book Laozi contains a lot of simple dialectical viewpoints, such as thinking that everything has two sides, "the movement of the Tao" and can be transformed from opposition, "the positive is strange, the good is evil" and "the misfortune is blessed, and the misfortune is hidden". He also thinks that everything in the world is the unity of "existence" and "nothingness", and "existence and nothingness" is the basis, and "everything in the world is born of existence and born of nothingness". "The way of heaven, the loss is more than enough to make up for it, but the way of man is not, and the loss is not enough to make up for it"; "The hunger of the people is as much as the food tax"; "The people die lightly, but they survive on it"; "people fear not death, why are you afraid of death?" . His theory has a profound influence on the development of China's philosophy, and its content is mainly seen in Laozi.
Taoist philosophy
Taoism is one of the most important schools of thought in hundred schools of thought during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in China. The origin of Taoist thought is very early. According to legend, Huangdi in Xuanyuan has the idea of harmony between man and nature.
Generally speaking, it is recognized that Laozi was the first to establish Taoism in the Spring and Autumn Period, and Laozi elaborated it in detail in his book Laozi (Tao Te Ching).
Other representatives of Taoism include Zhuang Zhou, Lieyukou, Hui Shi and others in the Warring States Period. Taoism advocates the natural world outlook and methodology, respects Huangdi and Laozi as founders, and calls Huang Lao.
the core of Taoist thought is "Tao", which is regarded as the origin of the universe and the law governing all movements in the universe. Laozi once said in his works: "Things are mixed and born naturally. Xiao ha! How rare! Independence without change can be the mother of heaven and earth. I don't know its name, so it's called Taoism "(Chapter 25 of Laozi)
In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wen of Han and Emperor Jing of Han ruled the country with Taoist thoughts, which enabled the people to recuperate from the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty. History calls it the rule of cultural scene. Later, Dong Zhongshu, a Confucian scholar, advocated the policy of "ousting a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone" to Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, which was adopted by later emperors. Taoism has since become a non-mainstream thought. Although Taoism was not officially adopted, it continued to play an important role in the development of China's ancient thoughts. Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties was developed by combining the thoughts of Taoism.
Taoism and Taoism. Taoism is one of the major religions in China. Because "Tao" is the highest belief, it is believed that "Tao" is the origin of all things in the metaplasia universe, hence the name. The "Five Dou Mi Dao" founded by Zhang Daoling in the Eastern Han Dynasty was the beginning of the stereotype of Taoism. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, religious forms gradually became complete. Lao Dan is regarded as the ancestor, and he is honored as the "Grandfather". Tao Te Ching is the main classic. So Taoism and Taoism are often confused.
basic viewpoints
Taoist philosophy first got rid of the approach of Confucian social philosophy, and directly cut into the principle of the operation of heaven, and developed the philosophy of "Tao" with natural meaning and neutral meaning as the mainstay. The operation of heaven has its natural principle, and the philosophy of Tao is to understand this principle connotation, so as to put forward a lively and comfortable world space. Through the unlimited and persistent understanding of this world operation order, Taoist philosophy has developed a social philosophy that is completely different from Confucianism. Society is only the object of one party's existence, and people living in it should have their own freedom of independence and self-existence, without being bound by any ideology. Basically, Taoist philosophy does not deny the social ideal of Confucianism, but the attitude towards social responsibility does not exist first, but it can have an attitude and existence orientation that respects human autonomy more.
Taoism attaches importance to the freedom and liberation of human nature. On the one hand, liberation is the liberation of people's knowledge and ability, and on the other hand, it is the liberation of people's life mood. The former puts forward the cognitive principles of "learning is getting worse and worse" and "this is also right and wrong", while the latter puts forward the life skills of "modesty", "weakness", "softness", "meditation" and "become a butterfly" to face the world.
literary features
Lao Tzu went through the customs
Lao Tzu finally saw that the Zhou dynasty was getting weaker and weaker, and it was out of shape. He decided to run away and fly away. This is going to talk about Lao tze going through customs.
if I want to go to the state of Qin and the western regions, I have to go through Hangu Pass. Another way of saying it is the great divergence. Hangu Pass was probably originally in today's Lingbao County, Henan Province, and later the pass was moved to today's Xin 'an County, Henan Province. The two mountains face each other here, and there is a path in the middle. Because the road is in the valley, it is deep and dangerous, as if it were in a letter, so it is named Hanguguan.
the officer guarding the customs is Yin Xi, known as Yin Xi. On this day, he was standing on the city gate, watching, only to see a purple gas drifting from Ran Ran in the East in the valley. Guan Ling Yin Xi is a man of profound cultivation and knowledge. As soon as he saw this kind of weather, he thought, there is a saint coming! Only saints can have such clouds. Today, there must be a saint who will pass through my city. I don't know who it is. Not long after, I saw a man with extraordinary character and sage like style, riding a green cow and slowly coming to the pass. It turned out to be Lao tze! Guan Ling Yin Xi knew that he was going to fly away, so he must let the most famous contemporary thinker leave his wisdom, so he pestered him to write some works as a condition for letting him go through customs.
Of course, I don't want to, but I won't let Yin Xi pass unless I promise to pass the customs. He won't give you a passport and visa! I had no choice, so I had to agree to the conditions. In addition, I promised him for another reason. According to the Collection of Historical Records, Guan Ling ordered Yin Xi to be "good at learning the stars", so he could see the astronomical phenomena, the stars and the clouds, and he knew that he was a saint when he saw a purple gas floating. We can't read this purple gas even when we see it. It is said that Guan Ling Yin Xi himself has a book called Guan Lingzi. I also admire this wise man who "takes the essence and hides virtue and benevolence" and "knows its strangeness", so I have a feeling of meeting a bosom friend, which makes me write a book for him. What a pleasure it is to write for a bosom friend?
At that time, I meditated and wrote his wisdom on the bamboo slips word by word, first writing the first part, then the next part, which is said to have been written for several days. After writing a number, * * * has 5, words, named Tao Te Ching, the first one is called Tao Te Ching, and the next one is called Tao Te Ching, which is divided into 81 chapters. So an earth-shattering great book of "Five Thousand Words" was born! It is said that Guan Ling Yin Xi was deeply intoxicated and attracted by such a wonderful book. He said to Laozi, "After reading your book, I don't want to be a border officer anymore. I'm going to run away with you." I smiled and agreed. It is said that Guan Ling Yin Xi really ran away with Lao Zi. Later, some people saw them together in quicksand in the western regions, and they all lived for a long time!
Laozi's going abroad has always been told and interpreted with relish. Mr. Lu Xun also took an interest in this, and specially created a new story, Lao Zi Going through the Customs, and also had a little pen-and-ink battle with others. In addition, the "purple gas coming from the east" in Laozi's going through customs has also become a gene in China culture. The emperor's family regards "purple gas" as auspicious and auspicious. You see, if a child is born with purple gas, the ancients think that this child must have great promise. People's homes also regard "purple gas" as a symbol of good luck, so they write the words "purple gas comes from the east" on the gate and so on. The ancestors also believed that wherever there were treasures, purple gas would appear in the sky.
interestingly, the "green ox" that Lao Zi rode on also became a famous image in Taoist culture, and the green ox later became the mount of immortal Taoist priests. Later, "green cow" became synonymous with Lao Zi, and Lao Zi was also called "green cow teacher" and "green cow Weng". This green cow is also regarded as a god cow by the people in Lao Zi's hometown, saying that Lao Zi flew there by this green cow when he went through customs, and there is a wonderful legend.
Today, in the northeast corner of Luyi County, Henan Province, there is also a high platform about 13 meters high, which is called "Laojuntai" and "Shengsendai", and there is a Laozi Temple on the platform. There is an iron pillar with a thick bowl mouth buried in front of the temple, which is called "Mountain Whip". According to legend, when I was in my 5 s, I gave lectures here. There are many roads from my home, and I have to go through a mountain called "Yinyang Mountain" when I come and go. This mountain is very high, covering the sky and the sun. There is no sun in the north of the mountain, and nothing grows in the snow and ice. The sun is blazing in the south of Shannan, crops are dying, and the people are suffering. Seeing all this, Lao Tzu wanted to save the people, but he was willing but unable to do so. Now I have flown over Hangu Pass by riding a green cow, knowing that I have become an immortal, and that green cow can speak human words, so I want green cow to fly back to my hometown together to manage that mountain. When I got to my hometown, I whipped the mountain, and the top of the mountain was cut off, and I flew to Shandong and became Mount Tai. With another whip, the mountainside reached Henan and became Pingdingshan. At this time, the tip of the whip was broken and the broken whip flew to Shanxi. When I saw that there was only one pole left in my whip, I stuck it in the ground. This is the origin of this iron crutch. Lao Tzu flew away by the green cow again, and the whip stick stayed there forever. The people thanked Lao Tzu for coming to drive away the mountain, because from then on, Lao Tzu's hometown had a good weather. The people called the earthen platform where Laozi stood when he drove the mountain away with a whip "Ascending Sendai" and called the iron pillar on the ground "Driving the Mountain Whip". Tang Gaozu tang gaozu revered Lao zi as "the old gentleman on the throne", and called this platform "the old gentleman's platform". He also built a temple and offered sacrifices. -what a magnificent imagination the people have! After reading this legend in Laozi's hometown, I feel that Laozi is living among the people with flesh and blood! Lao Tzu's culture is accumulated bit by bit, and China's profound and broad culture is derived bit by bit and accumulated layer by layer.
Taoist social philosophy is not aggressive and positive, because society is only a process of heaven, not an end in itself. Taoism believes that the social ideal of Confucianism is reasonable, but not absolute, so there is basically no need to put forward a set of decisive social ideals, because the change of heaven itself does not have the absolute performance of right and wrong, good and evil, so Taoism emphasizes more on the principle of wisdom to survive in society, and this wisdom must be an effective way to survive in any historical situation. It is also because the social philosophy of Taoism does not focus on its own development specifications, but emphasizes the wisdom of coping, which is conducive to people's needs for self-cultivation, so the treatment of Huang Lao in the early Han Dynasty has an experimental theoretical basis. At the same time, after thousands of years of frustration with Confucian-based official culture, China literati can also have a vast world of mind to live a smooth life.
Thoughts of Important Philosophers
The theory of Taoism is based on Laozi. Laozi's book Tao Te Ching contains 5, words, which is full of words. The book extensively discusses the metaphysical meaning of Tao and the wisdom of life, and puts forward a theory of the origin of the natural universe, which is composed of things and exists independently. It also puts forward the ontological thought that the principle of world existence and operation is "the movement against Tao". For the human beings living in it, So Laozi also put forward many political, social and life philosophy viewpoints, but all of them focused on preserving our health rather than the creation of civilization. It can be said that he responded to the chaotic world situation with a set of social philosophy and theory based on the wisdom, and had no intention of creating a new atmosphere in society, because Zhuangzi, who was not the main road, was the most important pioneer of Taoist theory after Laozi, and Taoist philosophy was basically the second type of Laozi and Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi's Taoism is different from the old school in that Zhuangzi dealt with the relationship between man and nature and man's pioneering ability in more detail, including wisdom, cognitive ability, physical energy and so on. Zhuangzi also stood on the basis of the proposition that heaven is natural, and put forward the way of dealing with the whole society and country from human self-cultivation. The seven works in Zhuangzi's book are his theory from world outlook to knowledge theory to kung fu theory to social philosophy.
Liezi was born in the Warring States Period. The eight existing Liezi were compiled by Zhang Zhan in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. It is generally believed that this book reflects the thoughts from the Warring States Period to the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Liezi, based on Taoist thought, reformed the outlook on life of inaction in Taoist thought, emphasized the positive role of human beings in the natural world, and thought that the best living state was that people were not worried about the sky and were not afraid of the sky.
Wang bi was born in the three kingdoms period. When the development of Confucian Classics in the Han Dynasty has come to an end, and social politics has been in a turbulent and unjust situation, intellectuals turned to the atmosphere of metaphysical talk. With his deep understanding of Laozi's philosophy, Wang Bi annotated Laozi's Book of Tao Te Ching, emphasizing the difference between body and use, which not only developed the spirit of interpreting the old school, but also annotated the Book of Changes with this principle, and even changed it from the Han Dynasty.
Guo Xiang, a native of the Western Jin Dynasty, is famous for Zhuangzi's Annotation, and advocates that the theory of "individualization" is a metaphysical conceptual theory developed from highly abstract thinking, which holds that everything in the universe was born in the accidental "Xuan Ming" environment.