Chapter 24 profit without harm, for without struggle

Faithful words are not beautiful, but good words are not true.Those who are good do not argue, and those who argue are not good.Those who know don't know well, and those who know well don't know.The sage does not accumulate, he thinks that the more he has, the more he gives to others.The way of heaven is beneficial but not harmful; the way of saints is to do without fighting. ——Chapter 81 of Lao Tzu On April 3, 2006, Premier Wen Jiabao attended the welcome banquet hosted by Australian Federal Prime Minister Howard during his overseas visit, and delivered a speech entitled "Persisting in the Path of Peaceful Development and Promoting World Peace and Prosperity".In his speech, Premier Wen said: "It is China's inevitable choice to unswervingly follow the road of peaceful development. This is determined by China's historical and cultural traditions." Do not harm", "Do not fight" and other words to show that the Chinese nation has always believed in peace and peace.

The meaning of this passage in the first excerpt is: true words are not beautiful, and beautiful words are not true.Those who are good at eloquence are not eloquent, and those who are eloquent are not good at eloquence.It is difficult to achieve broadness if you have a deep understanding, and a broad person cannot understand deeply.A sage does not hoard for himself, he helps others as much as he can, and he becomes richer; he gives as much as possible to others, and he becomes richer.The law of nature is beneficial to things rather than harmful to them, and the law of the world should be giving rather than fighting.

The motto in this chapter can be used as the highest standard of human behavior. It encourages people to be faithful, stern, and professional, to take the world as their own responsibility, to benefit others and to be less selfish.In this chapter, the categories of beauty and faith, goodness and debate, knowledge and knowledge raised by Lao Tzu actually belong to a series of contradictory issues such as truth and falsehood, good and evil, beauty and ugliness, etc., which are used to explain the relationship between the surface phenomenon of things and There are often inconsistencies in the inner essence, which contains rich dialectical thought.However, Laozi regards the contradiction of things, the inconsistency between appearance and essence, surface and content as absolute, which is somewhat arbitrary.Because there are many things in the world, and social phenomena emerge in endlessly, if it is determined that "faithful words" are "unbeautiful", "beautiful words" are "unbelieveable", and "good people" are "non-debating" Yes, the "debaters" are all "bad", the "knowledgeers" are all "not knowledgeable", and the "experts" are all "ignorant", that is too one-sided, and sometimes they cannot be harmonious Unite together?

"Benefits without harm" and "doing things without fighting", these are the most philanthropic ideas put forward by Lao Tzu in this chapter.Lao Tzu believes that "the sage does not accumulate, he thinks that others have more, and he gives others more", this is the greatest expression of love.Fromm, a German-American psychoanalyst, said: "Love is the ability to cultivate giving." Lao Tzu's "being a person" and "giving to others" are a manifestation of the ability to give.The greatness of a sage lies in his continuous help to others without taking possession of himself. This is the meaning of "benefit without harm" and "do nothing for nothing".Lao Tzu deeply felt that the turmoil and chaos in the world originated from people's strife. For the peace of the world, he put forward the idea of ​​"no dispute".However, Lao Tzu's "non-dispute" thought is not a kind of self-renunciation, but "non-dispute" based on "doing". "Wei" is a "doing" that conforms to the natural development of all things, does not violate nature, and is based on the law of society's own development. Its purpose and motivation are "being human". The results obtained through this "doing" do not necessarily Be self-serving and should "be with others".This kind of "doing" of serving others and contributing to society, and the "non-competition" spirit of not competing with others for fame and fortune, and caring about gains and losses are a great moral behavior.

With the continuous improvement of China's comprehensive national strength, "worries" about China's rise and the argument that China is regarded as a "potential strategic threat" are still seen in Western society from time to time.Premier Wen Jiabao quoted this sentence in his speech, intending to explain that China's development is aimed at building a prosperous, democratic, and civilized modern socialist country internally, and is open to the outside world in all directions, and constructively participates in the international community as a responsible major country. Affairs, advocate never seek hegemony, never engage in expansion.China's attitude of "beneficiary without harm, action without struggle" is conducive to the development and prosperity of the world, as well as to world peace and stability.