Chapter 21 Chapter Nineteen

Abandoning the sage and abandoning wisdom will benefit the people a hundred times.Absolutely abandon benevolence and righteousness, and the people will return to filial piety and kindness.If there is no chance to abandon profit, there will be no thieves.These three think that the text is not enough, so now they belong.See simplicity and simplicity, less selfish desires. "King" and "Thief" juxtaposed bad debt From the counter-evidence in this chapter, it can be seen that Laozi's spirit is not against benevolence and righteousness and filial piety, as later generations said.He just pointed out what was wrong in the society at that time, and hoped that people at that time would deal with it carefully and guide it to the right path.For thousands of years, scholars and experts who commented on Lao Tzu often only knew one thing, and did not know the other. They were stuck in Lao Tzu's language and characters, and did not hear the implication, and misunderstood Lao Tzu too much and too outrageously.In fact, Lao Tzu and Confucius have the same spirit, but they express it in different ways.

Laozi's criticism of the society in the Spring and Autumn Period is to "discard the sage and abandon the wisdom".When we study the history of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the more we read, the more brilliant we become.Confucius wrote "Spring and Autumn", which is the first history book in China.Some people say that "Spring and Autumn" cannot be read, because reading it will make people treacherous and cunning.Confucius himself said: "The Spring and Autumn Annals is for those who know me, and the Spring and Autumn Annals for those who sin against me." After reading too much history, good examples are not learned, and all bad methods are learned.For example, when ordinary people read historical novels, it is difficult for Zhuge Liang to imitate, but it is easy for Cao Cao to imitate.Everyone who reads a novel wants to be the protagonist in the book. When reading, many people want to be Liu Bei, and even more people want to be Zhao Zilong and Guan Gong.Many people project their desires into the situations of characters with great abilities and great intelligence in the book, and unknowingly, they become like tigers but not anti-dogs. How sad!

In fact, in the book "Spring and Autumn", good principles can be found everywhere, and bad phenomena are also numerous.At that time, there were a lot of sages being advertised, and almost everyone who could speak was a sage, and there were many people with intelligence and wisdom.From the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, in our entire history, it is really a period in which talents are born in large numbers.When we read the works of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, sometimes we see that someone's words are very reasonable, but when we think about it from the opposite side, we feel that it is wrong. It should be the opposite side. Both are suspicious.Everyone's opinion is very wise, and there are also points that are worthy of discussion.It was an era of cultural and social upheavals.Westerners have a historical point of view: philosophers and thinkers only emerge at the end of social history, when there are turmoil and turmoil.However, according to our philosophy of history, it is better not to have these philosophers than to do so.A high degree of philosophical wisdom is tempered from the stimulation of painful events, and the price is too high.

Therefore, Lao Tzu opposes flaunting the sage, and opposes showing off the wisdom of the world.During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the masters who were good at ingenious tricks became more and more brilliant than the last.For example, Fan Li, who helped King Goujian of Yue restore his country, practiced the six methods taught by his teacher Ji Ranzi. However, he used three or four of the strategies to stabilize the international situation, and the country of Yue was also revived.In the end, fame, wealth, meritorious service, etc., are all ignored, and they just leave and go to other places to do business.As for the method of doing business, it was also taught by his teacher Ji Ranzi.There is simply no end to the studies of wisdom such as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it is too lively.

However, the world situation in that era was particularly turbulent.If we have experienced the situation and suffered from it, we know that the pain is unbearable.There is a saying in the ancients, "It is better to be a dog of peace than to be a troubled person".Human life in that troubled world is indeed not as good as chickens and dogs in a peaceful and prosperous age. Human life is at stake and may be destroyed at any time.Lao Tzu felt deeply painful and dissatisfied with that era, so he said: "Abandon the sage and abandon the wisdom, and the people will benefit a hundred times." If people did not show off their intelligence, they would still have a peaceful and quiet life, but they were ostracized by some who advertised saints and wisdom. The wise men are confused.

During the Warring States period, only Su Qin and Zhang Yi were able to manipulate that era for 20 to 30 years, regardless of whether they manipulated it correctly or not.So later Sima Qian, Liu Xiang and others admired Su Qin very much. Such a scholar, who came out at a young age, actually kept the world from wars for more than 20 years.To us now, the peace of more than two decades seems to be nothing, but during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, dozens of countries were fighting at any time and anywhere.Every war kills a large number of people.Old ladies and gentlemen worked hard to raise their beloved children and grandchildren slowly, and then ended their lives in a few minutes when they went to the battlefield.No wonder Sima Qian thought that Su Qin was just a frail scholar, but he fought the war between the six countries for more than 20 years.

Although Lao Tzu's social situation at that time was not as chaotic and bad as that of Su Qin and Zhang Yi, it was already on the road of great changes and ominous changes. When he was distressed, he had the idea of ​​"abolishing sages and abandoning wisdom, and benefiting the people a hundred times".The same is true for the principle of benevolence and righteousness. At that time, not only Confucius advocated it, but Confucius synthesized the essence of benevolence and righteousness and passed it on to future generations.During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, countries fought against each other and conquered each other, all using the good name of benevolence and righteousness as their slogans.If you want to talk about benevolence, righteousness and morality, that is very good, and I will follow suit.But you all have to follow my instructions, kneel down if you want, kill if you want, anyway, I can also announce that this is for the sake of benevolence, righteousness and morality, and I have to.Once the use of benevolence, righteousness and morality reaches this point, the world is in chaos and it is hopeless.Therefore, Lao Tzu hates it very much, and advocates "absolute benevolence and abandon righteousness, and the people will return to filial piety and kindness." There is no need to use benevolence and righteousness as a propaganda slogan in society.

Only a great hero can show his true colors Moreover, people also need to abandon the cleverness that they think they are doing - "smartness", and abandon the selfish greed for "profit", then naturally there will be no thieves committing crimes.This is "absolutely abandoning profit, and there are no thieves." The word "thief" here must quote the great thief in "Zhuangzi·(Yue Qu) Xun Pian"-Root Zhi.To put it seriously, almost all the princes in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were robbers. After Laozi put forward the above reasons, he went on to say: "These three people think that literature is not enough, so they have their own." "Wen" stands for thought and theory.He said, why should we abandon the three things of wisdom, benevolence and righteousness, and ingenuity?There are so many developments in this philosophical principle that it is difficult to explain it in one word, so I will not talk about it for now, just grasp this concept.This is equivalent to the country people who often say: "My fate is bitter, so I have to do this." Fate is an unshakable concept that does not need a lot of reasoning to explain, as long as it can be understood from real life.In the past, families in China only grasped one concept - filial piety, the truth of which is self-evident and needless to say.

So, what kind of life ideal can we summarize these concepts of abandoning sages and abandoning wisdom? ——"See simplicity and simplicity, less selfish desires".If human beings in society can really take this as their attitude towards life, the world will naturally be peaceful.Even if an individual possesses this kind of self-cultivation, his life is the greatest happiness.In fact, this is the extraordinary sentiment of life of the great sage. "See Su", "see" refers to the view, concepts and thoughts are called views; "su" means pure and clean.Confucius also discussed this issue. "Plain" is like a piece of white paper, without any color.One's thoughts and concepts must be kept pure and uncluttered at all times.These are the two sentences of Zen Buddhism: "Don't think of good, don't think of evil", neither good nor evil are involved, and they are clear and transparent.And "Baopu", "Pu" is uncarved, original wood with excellent texture.Some books use the word "Pu", "Pu" and "Pu" are used together, and the shell of jade that has not been carved is called Pu. "Simple" and "Pu" appear rough and inconspicuous on the surface, but in fact, the quality is hidden deep, and the brilliance is restrained. Everything is natural, and there is no deliberate artificiality.Our hearts and minds should always embrace this primitive and natural simplicity, and treat people and handle affairs with this attitude.In this way, the thoughts are pure and free from subjective prejudices.Do things normally, be honest, laugh when you laugh, and cry when you cry.Crying is not for a certain purpose, crying for others to see; laughing is not because he tells a joke, I am sorry for not laughing, so I have to pretend to smile with my mouth open and my teeth showing.This is not the state of life of "seeing the plain and embracing the simple".

Next, special attention should be paid to the point of "less selfish desires".The two schools of Confucianism and Taoism did not teach people to achieve absolute "desirelessness". Complete desirelessness is simply impossible. If it is achieved, it will be transcendent and holy.Only in Buddhist practice, one must first have no desires, so it was criticized by Confucianism as too lofty and unattainable.Confucianism and Taoism believe that "fewer selfish desires" is already a great thing. "Less selfishness and fewer desires" can be close to the Tao, but it is not completely in line with the Tao.

Laozi advocates "absolute benevolence and abandon righteousness". He does not use saints as a model, and does not use practice as a slogan. As long as he behaves honestly and behaves well, that is true cultivation. "Never benevolent and righteous", we must abolish those practices that are hypocritical and harmful to nature.Sometimes, we see stories in history, many of them talk about benevolence, righteousness and morality, and they want to help and save others, but the other party suffers bad luck.This kind of act of benevolence and justice in the name of aggression is very undesirable.As for "cutting the odds and abandoning the profit", it is aimed at the fact that human beings like to play with their own ingenuity and think they are smart.Both Eastern and Western religions believe that using tricks and finding ways to play tricks is generally for self-interest, which is a bandit mentality and is immoral.Therefore, Lao Tzu put forward "Seeing simplicity and keeping simplicity, less selfish desires" as the central principle of our life cultivation.Next, I will tell us the role model of learning the Tao, the self-cultivation of being a person and doing things, and continue to develop along his consistent line of reasoning.