Chapter 15 Chapter Fifteen

In the past, those who studied and practiced the Tao well were subtle, wise, profound, and clear. (Another version is "the ancient good Taoist". In terms of meaning, the good Taoist is clear and accurate, and goes straight to the point. In terms of writing, Lao Tzu has always used different angles to make a three-dimensional view of Tao. This time, it is advisable to talk about things from the perspective of "being good at being a scholar", that is, from the perspective of learning and enlightening to become a scholar. If we talk about "scholar" here, its "good deeds" are still It refers to their comprehension and intensive study of Tao. Therefore, there should be no big difference in the interpretation of the two versions.)

Because of their depth, the profundity and realm of their Dao are not easy for others to perceive and recognize. Just because it is not easy to understand, it is even more difficult to describe it: what kind of people are those who have attained the Tao?They cautiously, as if crossing the river in winter.They are cautious and modest, as if they are worried about being dissatisfied or attacked by their neighbors.They are serious and rigorous, like a guest in a foreign country, so don't be careless.They unfolded slowly, like melting ice and snow.They are really thick and natural, like native wood.They accept tolerance, like a valley depression, eclectic, as if they do not avoid filth.

So, who can stop the filth?It is settled and cleared by a calm process.Who can rest forever?Bring it to life with tweaks and gentle drizzles.A man of Tao does not seek fullness, and because he does not seek fullness, he seems conservative, but continues to achieve success. There is a deep and unintelligible formulation here, which shows Lao Tzu's emotion, and can be interpreted as a complaint openly.Many of Laozi's ideas are different from those of ordinary people, one step ahead, not without weirdness.In the book, he has repeatedly lamented that the Dao is unreasonable, unrecognizable, and difficult to be understood and accepted by others.Although he theoretically emphasizes the sharpness, resolution, lightness, and dust, in fact his theory is still very different, his sharpness cannot be concealed, and his sharpness and controversy Difficult to get rid of frustration.His dazzling light cannot be reconciled.The gap between his and the secular theory is difficult to reconcile.

And Lao Tzu’s so-called reluctance to describe the state of a person who is good at being a scholar—good at being a person, doing things, governing and Dao—is Yuxi (cautious), Juxi (considerate and vigilant), Yanxi (respectful and serious), and Huanxi (flowing and relieved). ), Dunxi (sincere and simple), Kuangxi (openness and profoundness), Hunxi (inclusive), at least the first three Xi-Wei Yu Wei Wei Wei Wei Wei Yan, no big difference from Confucianism.Confucianism is to say that people are gentle and respectful, like gathering in a tree; cautious, like walking in a valley; trembling, like walking in an abyss, like walking on thin ice (from).

Confucianism also talks about what is like sitting on the spring breeze (Zhu Xi).It is said that "those who are in late spring, spring clothes are ready, five or six people who are crowned, and two or three boys, bathe in Yi, dance in the wind, and return home after singing" ().There is also the meaning of Huan-Ru Bingzhi will be released or has been released. In modern language, Huanxi means thawing.After the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, it was called a thaw.We once criticized it as revisionism.Unexpectedly, Laozi used the metaphor of thawing more than two thousand years ago to describe the situation and mentality of a good scholar.

Confucianism also talks about thinking in images, and it is beautiful. Wen Wengong people, from "Mao Poetry", obviously the common people have accepted such a gentle, courteous and frugal manner.Ru Ji Yu Mu refers to people gathering on wood (trees), being careful not to fall off, which is juxtaposed with the apprehensive and cautious people below, as if they are facing an abyss.What I was thinking of reading this was the female gymnast performing on the balance beam, and a flock of birds perched on a branch, nobody daring to touch each other.Of course, they are all gentle and careful.

There is a way to explain it, saying that a warm and respectful person is a gentleman, while a cautious person is a villain.Are you too fond of dividing camps?Lao Tzu would not talk about hesitation, hesitation, Yan, and Huan in this sense. There is also a bit of linguistic interest.The first two characteristics of the Tao are hesitation and hesitation, together they are hesitation, and reading backwards is hesitation.The word "hesitation" seems to have a somewhat derogatory connotation today. It seems to describe a person who is timid, indecisive, unresponsive, and not manly enough.And Lao Tzu praised it as Taoism. Is it true that people today are more impatient and impulsive than people in ancient times?

The same is true for the word Huan, which is very derogatory, especially the lack of fighting spirit.But Lao Tzu used it to describe a state of thawing that is about to be released, relieved, relaxed and agile, a state that is never rigid or hardened.This also shows that there are many nouns and names in the world, and their commendatory and derogatory meanings are also transformed and mutated. The rigidity of the mind will lead to the rigidity of the language, and the relaxation and agility of the mind will lead to the release of the agility of the language. This is worthy of joy. The banners raised by Lao Tzu and the words he spoke are not without grotesques, and they have an impulse to deliberately raise a pole, but no matter how maverick he is, he cannot be himself, and it is impossible not to be free from the influence of others, other schools of thought, and the mainstream culture of society. , Lao Tzu's exposition is still a wonderful branch of the towering tree of Chinese culture.Laozi's inaction, inhumanity, and lack of propriety are in direct opposition to Confucianism, but Confucianism can accept hesitation and humility.Kuang characters may be a little controversial, but if you read it carefully, Confucius is not without Kuang style.Mixing words is more difficult, but Confucius's "teaching without discrimination" also means mixing words?

There is another problem, be cautious, considerate and vigilant, respectful and serious, these Confucian-like teachings are relatively rare in the whole Laozi, and they are only seen in this chapter.Lao Tzu prefers to talk about inaction, non-speaking, subordination, trance, non-competition, no preference, no death, and no benevolence...that is, the opposite of Confucianism, simple, honest and mysterious, pretending to be stupid and pretending to be stupid - great wisdom is like foolishness, great courage is like timidity that side.Why do we talk about Yu, He, and Yan here?In fact, Lao Tzu does not only talk about one-sided reasoning, but only one-way thinking.He is doing nothing but doing nothing, fearing nothing but fearing nothing, and having nothing dangerous but everything is dangerous. This is in line with Lao Tzu's dialectical thinking mode.At the same time, by this, Lao Tzu expresses his respect and even awe for the Tao and those who have realized the Tao.

I would also like to further discuss Yu, Ju, Yan and Huan, Dun, Kuang, Hun.Some scholars have observed Lao Tzu's style from it.In my opinion, the first three—cautious, fearful, and dignified—are a kind of inevitable precaution and self-protection psychology caused by the troubled times of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, but they also conform to Lao Tzu’s idea of ​​being more feminine.Speaking of the first three items, some people even ridiculed Lao Tzu as a fearful, timid, petty, evasive little man, like the little civil servant and the man in the trap described by Chekhov.What about the last four items: stretch, simplicity, broad-mindedness, and compatibility, which are enough to qualify as "the destiny is called nature, and the will is called the way" ("The Doctrine of the Mean").The last four items are the result of thawing, true color, openness, unscrupulous trickle, and a little wildness, this is the true face of Lao Tzu, and the true temperament of Lao Tzu.

And to say that Laozi is characterized by inner fear is extremely cheap and superficial impression thinking, superficial thinking, and pediatric thinking. There is another topic worth discussing: what kind of personality is the most complete?What kind of personality is meaningful? Isn't it great that you can be gentle, cautious, cautious, open-minded, simple and tolerant at the same time?Compared with Lin Daiyu, who is self-willed and petty like in front of Brother Bao, or Sister Bao, who is blindly impeccable in public relations, isn't it great? Laozi’s emphasis is different from that of Confucianism. Whether it is gentleness or prudence, what Laozi emphasizes is not to be full or full. He thinks about all this from the perspective of not being full or being full.The central idea of ​​this chapter is not to profit.It is better to be a little more tolerant, simple, wild, and turbid than to be full of rigidity, narrowness and intolerance, stubbornness (difficult to dissolve), harshness and harshness, meticulousness, and cleanliness and exclusiveness.Lao Tzu's intention is that only when there is no profit, only when one realizes one's own flaws and gaps, can there be room, future, life, development, and avenues. Laozi taught the principle that when the turbidity stops, the quietness will be clear; when the peace is long, the movement will be born.The state of the Taoist he understands is not a pool of stagnant water, a stagnant tree, and a dead heart, but a state that can be moved by being still, and born by being clear, but it must be slow, slow, and impetuous must be overcome.This way of stillness and movement is the basis for not wanting to be full or not to be full.If you are full, you will be dead and dull, and if you are not full, you will have room for Xu Qing and Xu Sheng. What he aimed at was still the shortcomings of the Hou Wang scholars at that time, and what he thought about was still rectifying the current disadvantages.What he is dedicated to calling is still a kingdom of the great way, a kingdom of nature, a kingdom of inaction, and a kingdom of simplicity. This chapter talks about those who are good scholars, and thinks that they are subtle, profound and unknowable.It's not that scholars are unrecognizable, but that the Dao is unrecognizable.It's not that you don't know the Dao, but that you don't know it.Since you don't know it, I don't want to show it to you.The sharp weapon of the country should not be shown to others.The sharp weapon of man should not be shown to others.I don't want to fight, and you don't want to suffer. Isn't it good to understand the abstruse? Those who can be Tao are very Tao, and those who can be famous are very famous.Then Lao Tzu forced it to describe it, and forced it to be aliased: This is Lao Tzu's condescension, it is also Lao Tzu's helplessness, and it is also Lao Tzu's self-deprecating.Even you yourself admit that it is forced and unfathomable, so how do you expect readers to understand what you are talking about? Like wading through a river in winter, like worrying about neighbors, like receiving distinguished guests or visiting a foreign land, like ice and snow about to melt, like the roughness of logs, like the low-lying and open terrain of valleys, like the trickle and turbidity of rivers.These descriptions, except that the neighbors and guests are social life phenomena, the others are natural phenomena.This shows that Lao Tzu realized the existence and subtlety of the Dao from the various phenomena of nature and society.His Dao is not only the product of speculation, imagination, and speculation, but also the product of intuition, feeling, and consideration, and the product of nature and life.His examples illustrate that while discussing the Dao, he is mysterious and profound, and he is superb; on the other hand, he listens to the world, pays attention to feelings, pays attention to all things, and describes the concrete. He is a sign of the Dao, good at getting enlightenment and wisdom from natural phenomena and life, and getting enlightenment from observation, feeling, experience and specific things, and intuition. Lao Tzu is a thinker, but first of all he is a reader, reading nature, reading heaven and earth, rain and dew, valleys, water, Xuan Mu, 橐龠, all things, all phenomena... This is close to the theory of investigating things and extending knowledge. Learning from nature is a Chinese cultural tradition.Those who study painting will do this, and those who study martial arts will also do this, such as cats running away from dogs, eagles catching tigers, and people who study philosophy like this. Chinese people like to talk about the word "enlightenment". After importing Buddhism, they simply talk about enlightenment.Enlightenment is not exactly the same as the thinking or analysis we are talking about today. It is the unity of visual thinking and logical thinking, the unity of reasoning and judgment and profound thinking, the unity of rational clarity and mysterious revelation, and the unity of external objects and inner hearts. The unity of discovery is a leap of thinking and feelings, and it is used for objects, but also for the heart. Chinese traditional culture cherishes unity, unification, return to one, and return to one.What this chapter describes is the scholar—the unity of man and Tao, and also the unity of Tao and nature, society, and life, that is, the unity of Tao and heaven.It expresses the idea of ​​the unity of man and nature, the unity of heaven, the unity of humanity, and the unity of nature and culture.This kind of unity and unity is the backbone of Lao Tzu and the backbone of Chinese culture.In China, no matter what you study, you have to learn from nature, right up to being a government official, a soldier, a doctor, a teacher, a shaman, a priest, or a geomancy.Nature will always be our teacher, the teacher of Chinese culture.Lao Tzu's way is also natural.Although this kind of thinking is too general, it is still extremely lovely, extremely precious, invincible, and forever shining.As for someone who argues from China's environmental issues that the Chinese have not achieved the unity of man and nature, that is demanding on the ancients.Pay attention to environmental protection, that should be used to ask us contemporary Chinese.In fact, Lao Tzu’s ideal is a small country with few people, rare goods that are not expensive, and no contact between old and dead. Objectively, it is absolutely in line with the concept of environmental protection.Today's environmental damage is not a debt owed by the Chinese cultural tradition, but the evil result of violating the Chinese cultural tradition, especially Lao Tzu's proposition. It is amazing that the ancients had such subtle, profound, profound and great concepts as Lao Tzu.