Chapter 6 Chapter Six

It is recorded that when Confucius traveled around the world, he met some people who he called "hermits" ("Weizi") who "retired from the world" ("Xianwen").These hermits laughed at Confucius, thinking that his efforts to save the world were futile.A hermit described Confucius as "a man who knew what was impossible and did it" (ibid.).Zilu, a disciple of Confucius, once responded to these attacks by saying: "Not being an official is meaningless. The festival of the elders and the young cannot be abolished. How can the righteousness of the monarch and his ministers be abolished? If you want to purify your body, but disturb the great relationship? Gentleman To be an official is to practice righteousness. If the way is not good, you know it." ("Wei Zi")

The hermit is just such an individualist who "want to cleanse himself".They are also, in a sense, corruptionists, who believe that the world is too bad to be saved.A hermit said: "The eloquent ones are everywhere in the world, but who can change them?" ("The Analects of Confucius·Weizi") Most of these people live in isolation and hide in the mountains. Taoism may be born of such people. But Taoists are not ordinary hermits. They only want to "retreat from the world" and "want to cleanse themselves, and do not want to justify their retreat in theory. Taoists are such people. They have retired. They also have to propose an ideological system. Endowed Their actions have meaning. Among them, the earliest famous representative seems to be Yang Zhu.

The dates of Yang Zhu's birth and death are unknown, but he must have lived between Mozi (about 479-381 BC) and Mencius (about 371-289 BC).Because Mozi never mentioned him, and in the time of Mencius he already had the same influence as Mohism.Mencius himself said: "The words of Yang Zhu and Mo Di permeate the world." ("Mencius Knee Wengong Xia") "Liezi" is a Taoist work, and one of them is entitled "Yang Zhu".According to tradition, it represents the philosophy of Yang Zhu.But modern scholars have deeply doubted the authenticity of the book "Liezi", and most of the ideas in "Yang Zhu" are inconsistent with the thoughts of Yang Song recorded in other credible pre-Qin sources. The theme of "Yang Zhu" is extreme indulgence, but Yang Zhu was never accused of indulgence in other pre-Qin works.Unfortunately, there is no complete record of Yang Zhu's thoughts, so we have to deduce them from the scattered materials found in other people's writings.

"Mencius" said: "Yang Zi took it for me, plucked a hair to benefit the world, and didn't do it." "Judging Parts · Bu Er") "Han Feizi" (third century BC) said: "There are people here today, and they don't enter the dangerous city, they don't stay in the army, and they don't use the world's great interests to change their shins... Light things and rebirth He is also a scholar." ("Xianxue") "Huainanzi" (second century BC) said: "The whole nature is preserved, and the shape is not piled up with things: Yang Zi's establishment." ("Si Lun Xun")

In the above quotation, the Yang Sheng mentioned in "Lu Shi Chun Qiu" has been proved by scholars recently to be Yang Zhu. The person mentioned in "Han Feizi" who "does not change his shin for the benefit of the world" must also be Yang Zhu or his disciples, because no one else advocated this at that time.Combining these materials together, we can come up with two basic concepts of Yang Zhu: "for myself" and "rebirth after despising things".These concepts are obviously against Mozi, who advocates universal love. "Han Feizi" said that Yang Zhu did not take advantage of the world's great interests to change his shins, and "Mencius" said that Yang Zhu did not do anything to benefit the world, which is somewhat different.But these two statements are consistent with Yang Zhu's basic concept.The latter is consistent with "for me", and the former is consistent with "light things and rebirth".The two can be said to be two aspects of a doctrine.

Both aspects of Yang-Zhu thought mentioned above can be exemplified in Taoist literature. There is a story in "Zhuangzi Xiaoyaoyou": "Yao let the world belong to Xu You....Xu You said: "Your son ruled the world, and the world has already been ruled, but I am like a son, will I be named? The name, The real guest. Will I be the guest? The wren nests in the deep forest, but only a branch; , even if it was given away in vain, he would not want it.Of course, he will not change his shins with the world's great interests.This is an example of Yang Zhu's thought in "Han Feizi".

As mentioned earlier in the "Yang Zhu" chapter of "Liezi", there is a story in which it says: "Qinzi asked Yang Zhu: "Remove the hair of the son's body to benefit the whole world. Do you want to do it?" One hair can save you. Qin Zi said: "Fake aid, what is it for?" If the skin of a person who wins ten thousand pieces of gold, do you do it? Said: For it. Meng Sunyang said: If a single section wins a country, what do you do for it? The skin, the skin is as small as a section, so it’s easy to save. But the accumulation of a hair makes the skin, and the accumulation of the skin makes a section. A hair solidifies a ten thousandth of a thing, so why is it so light?" This is another aspect of Yang Zhu's theory illustration. "Lie Zi Yang Zhu" also said: "The ancients lost a penny to benefit the world, and they would not give it; they learned the world and offered themselves, and they did not take it. Everyone does not lose a penny, and everyone benefits the world: the world is governed." We cannot believe that these words were really spoken by Yang Zhu, but these words sum up the two aspects of Yang Zhu's theory and the political philosophy of early Taoism very well.

Yang Zhu thought in The reflection of Yang Zhu's basic ideas can be seen in "Laozi" and "Lushi Chunqiu". "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals" said: "Today, my life is for me, and it benefits me too much. In terms of its high or low, no one can compare it with being the emperor. In terms of its importance, it is not easy to be rich in the world. In terms of its safety, one If you lose the dawn, you will never get it again in your life. Those who have the Tao should be careful about these three things.” ("Meng Chunji·Respecting the Self") This passage explains why things should be lightened and reborn.Even if you lose the world, you may be able to regain it one day, but once you die, you will never be able to live again. Some words in "Laozi" contain the same thought.For example, "If you regard your body as the world, if you can send it to the world; if you love your body as the world, if you can entrust it to the world." (Chapter 13) That is to say, in dealing with others, those who value their own body more than the world, The world can be given to him; the person who loves himself more than the world can entrust the world to him.Another example is "name and body: which one is related? Body and goods: which one is more?" (Chapter 44) all show the idea of ​​despising things and rebirth."Health Master" said: "There is no close name for doing good, and there is no close punishment for doing evil. The predestined supervisor believes that it is a scripture: you can protect yourself, you can live a whole life, you can support your relatives, and you can live forever." This is also along the lines of Yang Zhu's thought Following the route, pre-Qin Taoists believed that this was the best way to protect one's life from harm in the world.If a person's behavior is very bad, being punished by society is obviously not the way for a whole life.However, if a person's behavior is too good and he gains a good reputation, this is not the way to live a whole life.Another article said: "The mountains and trees are invaded by themselves. The cream and fire are fried by themselves. Osmanthus is edible, so cut it. Paint is usable, so cut it." ("Human World") A person who enjoys the reputation of being talented and useful , his fate will be the same as that of laurel and sumac.

So there are some words in praise of useless use. In the chapter "Human World", it is mentioned that there is a huge Lishe tree, which is useless and useless, so the craftsmen do not cut it.The tree of Lishe Tuomeng said to the craftsman: "I have been unable to use it for a long time. I have died a few times, but now I get it for my great use. It is also useful to make me useful, and it must be so great?" This article concludes ; "Everyone knows the use of usefulness, but no one knows the use of uselessness." Uselessness is the way of life.People who are good at whole life must not do too much evil, but they must also not do too much good.He must live between good and evil.He strives to be useless, but in the end uselessness is of great use to him.

What this chapter talks about is the first stage of the development of Taoist philosophy in the pre-Qin period.There are three main stages in the development of pre-Qin Taoist philosophy.Those ideas belonging to Yang Zhu represent the first stage. Most of the thought in the Laozi represents the second stage.Most of the thought represents the third and final stage.I say most of the thoughts in "Lao Tzu" because there are also thoughts representing the first and third stages in "Lao Tzu", and there are also thoughts representing the first and second stages in "Lao Tzu".These two books, like other books in ancient China, were not written by one person, but by different people in different periods. They are actually a compilation of Taoist writings and sayings.

The starting point of Taoist philosophy is to avoid harm throughout life.In order to avoid harm throughout his life, Yang Zhu's method is "avoidance".This is also the method of ordinary hermits. They escape from the world and take refuge in the mountains, thinking that in this way they can avoid the evil of the world.But how complicated things are in the world, no matter how well you hide them, there are always some evils that cannot be avoided.So sometimes, the "avoidance" method is still useless. Most of the thoughts in "Laozi" show another attempt, which is to reveal the laws of the changes of things in the universe.Things change, but the law of things change remains the same.When a man understands these laws, and follows them to regulate his actions, he can turn things in his favor.This is the second stage of the development of pre-Qin Taoism. Even so, there are no absolute guarantees.Regardless of the natural world, the social world, there are always some unexpected factors in the changes of things.Be careful though.There is still the possibility of being victimized.Only then did Lao Tzu put the words straight: "The reason why I have a serious patient is because I have a body, and I have no body, so what trouble do I have!" (Chapter 13 of "Lao Tzu") There are many places to add this kind of profound and enlightened words. Playing together, produced the theory of life and death, one thing and one self.What it means is to look at life and death from a higher point of view, and look at things and self.Seeing things from this higher point of view is able to transcend the real world.This is also a form of "avoidance"; however, it is not from society to the mountains, but rather from this world to another.This is the third and final stage of the development of Pre-Qin Taoism.There is a story in the "Mountain Wood" chapter, which shows all these developments.The story says: "Zhuangzi was walking in the mountains and saw a big tree with luxuriant branches and leaves. The woodcutter stopped by it and did not take it. He asked why. He said: There is nothing to use. Zhuangzi said: This tree will live forever without wood." The master came out of the mountain, but he gave up in the family of the old man.The old man was overjoyed and ordered Shuzi to kill geese and cook them.Zhu Zi asked: "One of them can sing, and the other cannot sing: please kill me?"The master said: kill those who cannot sing.Tomorrow, a disciple asked Zhuangzi, saying: "Yesterday, the tree in the mountain will last its entire life if it is not strong enough; today, the wild goose of the owner will die if it is not good enough: where will you go, sir?" "Zhuangzi laughed and said: Zhou will be between talent and inadequacy. Between talent and inadequacy, it seems like it is not. It is tiring to let it go. If you take advantage of morality and float around, it is not the case. No reputation, no scorpion, a dragon A snake, changing with the times, but not willing to do it; one up and one down, with peace as the measure, floating like the ancestor of all things; if things are not in things, then you can get it and you will be tired of evil!" The first part of this story expresses Yang Zhu's Quansheng theory, while the second part shows Zhuangzi's theory.The "talent" mentioned here is equivalent to the "doing good" mentioned in "Health Master" quoted earlier. "Not talented" is equivalent to "doing evil". "Between material and non-material" is equivalent to "following the supervisor and thinking the scriptures".But if a person cannot see things from a higher point of view, none of these methods can absolutely guarantee that he will not be harmed.but.Seeing things from a higher perspective means canceling the ego.We can say that Taoism in the pre-Qin period was all for me.It was only later developments that turned this for-me into the opposite, canceling itself.