Chapter 4 Chapter Four

Although the Tao is empty, it cannot be exhausted no matter how you use it.It is as profound as the origin and destination of all things, the foundation and basis of all things. To wear off its sharpness, remove its exclusiveness, adjust its brightness to make it softer, and get closer to the world and worldly things.It seems like nothing. We don't know what the Dao came out of, anyway, its appearance was earlier than the appearance of God. The fourth chapter talks about the character of Dao.In particular, it emphasizes its two characteristics: it is empty and quiet, and it is inexhaustible and inexhaustible.It is not only divine, more original, more abstract and more essential than God, but also this shore, human, life-oriented and secular.

The Dao is friendly, and it is not very stimulating, persecuting or frightening. Kong, emptiness, Chong, and cup (there is a saying that Chong should be cup) all refer to emptiness.It is because of emptiness that it is inexhaustible.All real, concrete, figurative, and hard objects, life, and utensils are used up or run out quickly.For example, dynastic regimes are real, concrete, and solid, but they all have their beginnings and endings, and they all have a process of decline and destruction after the prosperity.The memories, discussions, and exclamations of the dynastic regime are much more abstract, more empty, and much longer.Like money, it's real

What is clear, measurable, and touchable is also three-purpose and dual-use, and it will be exhausted after three spends and two spends.But the thinking, laws and principles of wealth and desire are much more abstract, hollow and far-reaching than specific money. The characteristic of the great way is emptiness, and the characteristic of the small way is fullness. The characteristics of the great way are or so, like, maybe and similar, all of which are vague and approximate.The characteristics of Xiaodao are clear and certain, and there is not much room for discussion. Maintain the state of emptiness, maintain the infinite volume of Chong, maintain the covering ability of the Dao, maintain the superiority and initiative of abstract concepts, that is, "name" and "character", leave room for it, and never waste money and work hard This is Lao Tzu's ideal.Although it cannot be absolute, it is always possible to work hard and fight like this.

The void of the Dao is a kind of greatness and a kind of function.The Dao is the generalization and essence of all things, the origin of everything, even the origin of God, and God is also the result of the function of the Dao. Such an imaginative generalization is unparalleled. Please think about it, since every specific thing has a source, an essence, a birth and death, and a process of change, how can everything not have a general source, a general generalization, and a general destination?Wouldn't it be good to call it Tao?The characteristic of Tao is that it is real but empty, it seems to be there but it seems to be non-existent. It is the appearance of the existence of roads, Taoism, nature, existence and non-existence, and the existence of chaos; it is also the principle, law, ability and dominance. Xuan, no matter how generalized it is, it is impossible to reach it, because it is infinitely large, infinitely far, infinitely deep, infinitely earlier, and infinitely later.In a word, it is the ultimate.

It is empty (chong or cup) and deep, it seems to be the ancestor of all things - the origin and destination of all things.This cannot be proven or falsified.Because human beings have big concepts, deep concepts, and general and comprehensive concepts.So as big as the ultimate, as big as the infinite, as deep as the ultimate, as deep as the infinite, summed up and synthesized to the ultimate, summed up and synthesized to the infinite, what do we get?Is there something that summarizes everything, dominates everything, embraces everything, is eternal, and is infinitely mysterious?Yes, it is the Tao.

This is actually more difficult to question and refute than to say that this last ultimate concept is a certain god.Because if it is a god, you can negate god B with god A, and replace gods A and B with god C or no god, but you cannot deny and replace the concept of infinity, infinity, depth, infinity, distance, and infinity.You know, even mathematics admits such a conception of infinity.Tao is infinity, immeasurable and infinite (the latter two are Buddhist concepts, but we can use Lao Tzu's theory to help us understand them), Tao is everything.Just as the zero on the infinite multiplier tends to everything and any number.

The meanings of Ruirui Jiefu and Guangtongchen are that Tao is also life, which is closely integrated with natural life.Dao is not an oppressor, judge, or punisher above life.In today's language, He Guang Tong Chen is close to life, close to reality, close to the people (at that time there was no such thing as the public or the people), and facing the secular world.People with little knowledge often think that they are self-righteous and superior to everyone. In fact, if the elite consciousness is separated from the life consciousness, it will become a metaphysical consciousness. It becomes a volley, a kite with a broken string.

The real elites were called saints at that time, but they should be closely connected with life: the ocean is like the soil, the elegance is like the vulgar, the wisdom is like the stupid, the great thinker is like ordinary people, you and me.People who call themselves thinkers practice the muscle mass of thought, the aerobics of thought all day long, while real learning and real insight are ordinary, and truth is much simpler and more solid than fallacy in general. As Chernyshevsky said: beauty is life (rather than over life); also as the monk Liaoge said: Dharma is in your daily use.Where you dress and eat.In your language entertainment.Where you walk, sit, sit and lie down.Where you shit and pee.Psychic thinking is not the case.Duh, it's useless to cry so bloody, it's better to keep your mouth shut for the rest of the spring.

The same is true of the real avenue, it is life, it is nature, it is simplicity and sincerity. Chinese Buddhism is obviously also influenced by Taoism and Taoism. It opposes artificiality and exaggeration, opposes aloofness, opposes putting on airs to scare people, opposes beating one's chest and feet, crying for heaven and earth, and opposes the posture of one person fighting the whole earth at every turn. Of course, flat and light. This is because, no matter how great, mystical, extraordinary and holy passion and pride you have for speculation and perception, all your cognition still comes from life, from the world, and from this shore.All metaphysical greatness is inseparable from the metaphysical foundation.No matter how sacred the information on the other side is, only after it is downloaded to this side can we discuss and understand it.The Dao seems to exist or exist. In this chapter, the words "like" and "or" are used twice: "Or not. Yuan Xi seems to be the origin of all things... Zhan Xi seems to exist." In this chapter, Lao Tzu revealed his The plausibility, ambiguity, and conjecture of Taoism are called "as if" and "maybe". Such words are not persistent, hard, and domineering. This is also the basis and expression that must be as light as dust.What you can master is only a rough idea. Can you not be like the light, but self-operating, self-sufficient and powerful?

The Dao is invisible and intangible, and the Dao is manifested, developed, and displayed.The avenue evolved into life, daily life, dressing and eating, talking and socializing, walking, sitting, lying down, shitting and sending urine, of course, it is also about action and speech, governance and desire, sharpness and disputes, and society. With the hustle and bustle of the crowd. Lao Tzu's greatness and contribution, and even his sense of humor, lie precisely in the fact that he sees the necessity and morality of frustrating sharpness from sharpness, the necessity and morality of resolving disputes from disputes, and sees From the hustle and bustle, we can see the necessity and Taoism of rushing, emptiness, and cupping. From the authority of Mount Tai, we can see the ending of the moon's fullness and loss, and the water's fullness and overflow.

Here, the light you want to hide may be the light of Dao. Dazzling necessity and morality.From the non-Tao, little Tao, and the scarcity of the Dao in the world, we can recognize the existence of the Dao undoubtedly. , Taoism, knowledge. In this way, Lao Tzu surpassed or blurred the dispute between materialism and idealism, between atheism and theism, between this shore and the other shore, that is, between the human world and the divine world, between this life and the afterlife. Dao is spirit and life.The avenue is the highest, deepest and most vast ultimate of the spirit as well as matter.Now that the ultimate has been reached, since the two parallel lines have intersected at infinity, since zero can become any number at infinity, and since the difference between zero and any number and infinity at that time has disappeared, spirit and matter What's the difference?