Chapter 27 3. Two Ways of Living and Two Ways

My God, are you really ruthless? ruthless. Lao Tzu made it very clear—— The world is not benevolent, and treats everything as a straw dog. Ru (read like removing), the original meaning is to cut grass.The grass that is extended to feed animals is called grass; the person who mows the grass is called grass (pronounced as Rao).荛 is firewood.Ruo is a person who cuts grass and firewood.Therefore, if a person says that his status is low, he calls himself Chuxiao, which means a man of the grass;This is of course humble.Just like my humble person, it means a small local person who lives on the sidelines and has no experience.

So, what is a hound dog? There are three explanations.The first type is said to be grass and dogs; the second type is said to be grass and grass (pronounced as changing), that is, domestic animals, livestock, or sacrifices for sacrifices.Among them, those that eat grass are called cuds, such as cows and horses; those that eat grass are called grass, such as pigs and dogs.Therefore, hound dogs are cows, horses, pigs and dogs used for sacrifices. The third explanation is that the grassy dog, called Chuling, is equivalent to the current wreath.During the sacrifice, the humble dog is dressed in red and green, and looks like a dog.As soon as the activity is over, they abandon the side of the road and let the cows and horses trample on them, which is extremely contemptible.

All three explanations work. And no matter which explanation, the humble dog is very cheap. Therefore, heaven and earth "take all things as straw dogs", which means that although all things are created and produced by heaven and earth, heaven and earth use them all the time and discard them, and ignore them completely.This is of course unkind and ruthless. The question is, since heaven and earth are ruthless, why do they say "Heaven will save them and protect them with kindness", and the weak will be cared for and rescued? Because the way of heaven is originally like this.

Lao Tzu made it very clear: the most soft in the world is the most firm in the world.This is the law.Law has no emotion, and does not talk about emotion.If the sky is loving, the sky is also old.Thinking that there is love in the way of heaven, that is self-indulgence. Heaven is ruthless.What about people? And as it should. So I said—— The sage is not benevolent, and treats the common people as straw dogs. The meaning is also very clear: rulers and leaders should follow the example of heaven and earth.Heaven and earth despise all things, and the monarch ignores all people.However, contempt is not wasteful, and ignorance is not unreasonable.It is a big mistake to understand "thinking of a humble dog" as trampling, ravaging, persecuting, and killing.

what is that? It's not about love. The so-called "not love" is not hate, but neither love nor hate, heartless.To be more precise, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.If the ruler is inactive, the people will self-govern; if the ruler is ruthless, the people will be rich; if the ruler is incapable, the people will be free.Isn't this what Lao Tzu thought?It's just that it's too ugly to say that people are straw dogs. Perhaps, this has something to do with Lao Tzu's personality.Among the pre-Qin scholars, Laozi and Han Fei were the coldest, just as Mozi and Mencius were the hottest.Mozi's ancient way, Mencius's heart is warm, Han Fei's is cold, and Laozi's is heartless.His way is cold.

What about Zhuangzi? Zhuangzi is a lover.His way is full of passion. Let's look at Zhuangzi. Of course, Zhuangzi also advocated the inaction of the king.But what he cares more about is not what the monarch sees the people, but what he sees himself.This is much more important than what other people think, what the leader thinks. Excuse me, what do you see? It is what it is.If it is Kunpeng, it will be regarded as Kunpeng;If it was originally a humble dog, it should be regarded as a humble dog.There is no difference between Kunpeng, chick, Xishi, ugly girl and humble dog in front of Tao.

Therefore, it is ridiculous for Dongshi to imitate; it is also ridiculous for a bird to think that Kunpeng should not fly so high and so far.Because "from the point of view of Tao, there is no high or low value in things", this is called "the theory of equalization of things". Such a way, is it sentient or ruthless? Hard to say.But it is certain that Zhuangzi’s way of life is different from Laozi’s.In Lao Tzu's view, since the weak survive, they must pretend to be dumb, deaf and dumb, and try to curry favor with others.It's just that conspiratorialists pretend to be low-key, rich people pretend to be low-key, and ordinary people pretend to be stupid, but they all "pretend to be grandchildren."

In short, whoever can pretend will survive.Whoever laughs last laughs best.This is Lao Tzu's way of life. Zhuangzi never pretended.Zhuangzi said, look at those wild cats and weasels, pretending to be humble and crawling there, they are actually trying to catch small animals.What was the outcome?He ran headlong into the traps and snares. The same goes for people.The clever are self-righteous, the mentally retarded are fussy, the eloquent are domineering, and the stupid are chatty, as the saying goes, "Great knowledge (wisdom) is leisurely, small knowledge is free; big words are hot, small words are Zhan Zhan".But the common feature is forgetting the truth.As a result, the villain is for profit, the scholar is for fame, the doctor is for the family, and the sage is for the world. They all lost their lives.What's the trouble?

Life should be real and free.So Zhuangzi said, don't be a celebrity, don't be a counselor, don't be a person in charge, and don't be a youth mentor.These titles and responsibilities are harmful. Then how to live? A useless big hollow gourd is tied around the waist, floating in the rivers and lakes; fishing by the river, it doesn’t matter whether you catch it or not; or find a big tree in the deserted wilderness, wander around it, Sleep under it. This way of living is called "happy excursion". Obviously, Zhuangzi's "happy excursion" and Laozi's "being under" are two ways of living.The way of life is different, that is, the way is different.If the way is different, we will not conspire with each other.It is a miracle that both Lao and Zhuang are Taoists.

What about Confucianism?

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