The word "virtue", Confucianism stresses good and evil; Here in Taoism, we are talking about the origin of the universe. What is the origin of the world? Laozi thought it was "Tao". What is Tao? As far as Chinese is concerned, "Tao" starts from the beginning and goes from the beginning. Its original meaning is the way people walk, which means extending in all directions. Although there are no proper nouns in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, there are proper nouns whose original meaning is the right way. The word "Tao" was first seen in the bronze inscriptions of the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, referring to the road. Later, Shuowen said: "The Tao is also the Tao." The Spring and Autumn Period refers to the laws of astronomical phenomena, sometimes including the laws of good and bad luck in life. This is the meaning of "heaven" and "man" in philosophy. Laozi was the first to put forward "Tao" as the highest philosophical category in the history of China philosophy. He believes that "Tao" is the "root" of heaven and earth and the "ancestor of all things". He said, "The Tao gives birth to one, two, three and everything." (Lao Tzu, chapter 42, below quotes the title of the article. ) Here "one" refers to vitality, "two" refers to yin and yang, and "three" refers to the intersection of yin and yang, which produces harmony of qi, forms heaven and earth, and transforms everything.
What is "virtue"? "Germany, too." Laozi believes that "things can be born as virtue." (Chapter 5 1) In other words, Tao is the body of virtue, and virtue is the use of Tao. Due to the action of Tao, everything grows according to the laws of nature. Everything is self-nature, which is virtue. Therefore, the reason why Tao is respected and virtue is expensive is because morality does not give orders to make everything come into being, but everything naturally forms according to its internal laws. Therefore, it is said that "to help (conform to) the nature of all things and dare not do it" (Chapter 64). In this way, Lao Tzu returned to the philosophy of life from natural philosophy, thinking that one should obey nature, should not force nature, and should not be sharp-edged. This is "inaction". Only in this way can things be done well. From this perspective, Taoist philosophy emphasizes "nature".
So, what is Tao itself? How can you become the "root" of heaven and earth and the "ancestor of all things"?
In Laozi's view, "Tao" contains the truth of all things in the world. It has no shape, no sound, no matter, it is eternal. This truth is beyond words. Just as Su Dongpo said in Sun Yu, just as a discerning person can't explain the sun to the blind. In the words of Laozi, it is "Tao can be Tao, not surprising." Because you call it white, it is not black; If you call it "yes", it is not "no". "Tao" is actually the unity of opposites between "nothing" and "being", which only the soul can understand. The ontology of the universe is "nothing". From "nothing" to heaven and earth, from heaven and earth to everything, a variety of worlds have finally formed. Tao is the source of creation of all things in the universe. "Nothing" is the noumenon of Tao, and "Being" is the function of Tao. When Tao has the creative function, everything comes into being, which is "being". The world often only knows the benefits of "having" and doesn't know the usefulness of "not having". In fact, "nothing" is much more useful than "having". Between heaven and earth, like bellows, the middle is empty, which can also be called "nothing", but it is because of emptiness that everything can be produced. Just as an empty cup can hold things, an empty room can produce the effect of living. It can be seen that the invisible and silent "Tao" has an infinite magical effect. In Laozi's own words, "Tao" is like a seamless thing, born in front of heaven and earth, silent and intangible, independent and unchanging, endless and never tired. It can be the mother of all things in the world. I don't know its name, so I call it Tao.
Here, Lao Tzu regards "Tao" as the highest category. "Tao" has no personality and is by no means another name for God. Laozi said: "The Tao is big, the sky is big, the land is big, and the people's congress. There are four big ones in the area, one of which is inhabited by human beings. Man's law is based on the earth, the earth is based on the sky, the sky is based on the Tao, and the Tao is natural. " (Chapter 25) In other words, "Tao" is still one of the four "realms" (nature). It has not surpassed nature and become the master of nature. It is not a supernatural god. Governing the world with "Tao" will make the "ghost" in the traditional concept useless ("its ghost is not a god"). "Tao" has no desire, no heart and no ambition, which can be regarded as small and the destination of all things, and can be regarded as great. In this way, the "heaven", "emperor", "ghost" and "god" in traditional culture have lost their dominant position here and no longer have any authority.
"Tao" occupies a dominant position, but "Tao" does not pretend to be the master. The leading role of "Tao" is just to let everything go with the flow and govern by doing nothing. Therefore, the mastery of "Tao" is actually just a universal law of natural inaction. This also shows that Laozi's philosophy is a philosophy based on respecting people and God, with obvious atheism tendency. This also shows that the humanistic spirit of China's philosophy played down the religious consciousness of China people.
Laozi also opposed the theory that heaven has knowledge and emphasized that heaven is natural and inaction. He said, "Heaven and earth are heartless." (Chapter 5) That is, there is no benevolence and no class between heaven and earth, everything is left to its own devices, and there is no mysterious inductive relationship between man and the natural environment. Therefore, Laozi's "Theory of Heaven" has a thorough atheistic tendency and is of epoch-making significance in the history of China's philosophy.
Laozi's philosophical thought is very dialectical. He believes that all concepts, judgments and values in the world are relative and are produced by comparison. For example, the teeth are the hardest and the tongue is the softest, but with the passage of time, people's teeth are lost, but the tongue is intact; High and low exist through mutual comparison; The weapon is sharp, but ominous; Humans can be smart, but the world is chaotic. Therefore, saints should treat the world with an attitude of inaction and practice the teaching of "no words" and the virtue of "no arguments". For example, if you pay too much attention to the existence and quantity of gold, silver and jewelry, you will find yourself in great trouble. He said: "Disaster is greater than dissatisfaction" and "blame is greater than being cut off" (Chapter 46). These two sentences mean: "Dissatisfaction is the greatest disaster, and wanting a lot of things is the greatest sin." Because "fame" will cause people's struggle, while "wealth" will cause people's greed. Therefore, Lao Tzu advocated not to Shang Xian, so that the people did not dispute; Expensive and rare goods, so that people do not steal; If you can't see what you want, you won't be chaotic. Doing nothing in governing the country will lead to death. Everyone is content and the world is at peace.
This idea of Laozi is very similar to Epicurus, a famous western scholar. Epicurus said, "contentment is great goodness." Because in the face of the challenges of wealth, honor, love and other foreign things, as long as you are content with things like bread and water as luxury goods, you will feel the peace of mind and experience a unique happiness from it. On the other hand, if you are not satisfied and pursue the enjoyment of foreign things, your desire will increase and you will be unfortunate in the end.
Laozi's transformation theory is even more profound. He said: "Flexion is complete, waste is straight, depression is surplus, we are new, less is gain, more is confusion." (Chapter 22) That is to say, bends can be preserved, bends can be straight, depressions can be filled, old ones can be made new, taking less can be much more, and greed can be confused. This is the dialectics of the transformation of things. In Lao Tzu's view, it is precisely because the sage is humble and does not contend with others that no one in the world can contend with him; It is precisely because the big tree is stronger than the grass that when the typhoon blows, the grass is intact, but the big tree is uprooted; Just because the wind in nature is invisible, it can pull down houses and trees; Just because the water in nature is round and the weakest, it can penetrate mountains and the earth. Weak water drops can penetrate hard rocks, and floods will also wash away hard urban bridges and drown rural farmhouses. So strong things can't beat weak water. Of course, when I say water is weak, I don't mean water is weak, but I praise its modest character and tenacious heart, as well as its irreplaceable energy to restrain the hardest things. In the words of Laozi, "the world is the softest and the strongest." Chapter 43 The softest thing in the world can also pass through the strongest thing in the world. All these explain the dialectical philosophy of weakness over strength, softness over rigidity and perfection in music. If people can overcome their aggression and imitate the indisputable, weak and natural nature of water, they will have an invincible and invincible transformation effect, thus approaching the "Tao."
Laozi not only saw the dialectical law of the transformation of things, but also initially realized that the transformation of contradictions should have a process of quantitative accumulation. He said: "the wood in the arms is born at the end; Nine-story platform, starting with tired soil; A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. " (Chapter 64) also said: "If the world is difficult, it will be easy; The world's major events must be in the details. " (Chapter 63) Here, there is a qualitative difference between difficulty and easy, big and small, but in Laozi's view, more lies in less, big lies in small, and it is difficult to hide in easy. Therefore, people with "Tao" always handle things from small to large, from easy to difficult, and achieve great things. Therefore, as long as we start from bit by bit, no matter how big the difficulties are, we can overcome them. Didn't the folded tree grow from a small bud? Isn't the nine-story platform made of piles of mud? Isn't it Wan Li Road from the first step? On the contrary, "how easy it is, how difficult it is", and thinking things too simple is bound to be a disaster. This warns people that no matter what they do, they should persevere, start well and finish well, and realize the leap from quantitative change to qualitative change. These thoughts of Laozi are all exposed in the dialectics of the process of qualitative change and mutual change.
Most importantly, Lao Tzu has a certain conditional thought of contradiction transformation, which is rich and profound. According to people's common sense, he saw that Jiang Hai's "goodness" was the transformation condition of "the king of a hundred valleys". He said: "Jianghai can be the king of all the valleys, so benevolence and righteousness can be the king of all the valleys." (Chapter 66) Because water flows downwards, thousands of rivers belong to the sea. It is precisely because the sea is good at being the downstream of all small rivers that it unified the "Hundred Valley" and became the king of all small rivers. Therefore, a "saint" must be humble to the people if he wants to be the leader of the people. Only by being humble and obedient to the people can we really convince them. Lao Tzu also said, "impatience beats cold, and silence beats heat." Chapters 4 and 5 mean that brisk walking can overcome the cold, while quiet can overcome the heat. Here, "mania" becomes the condition for the transformation from "cold" to "not cold"; "Static" becomes the condition for the transformation from "hot" to "not hot". This shows that Lao Tzu saw the conditions for the transformation of contradictions in nature. Similarly, for social phenomena, Lao Tzu also knows the conditions for transformation. He said, "If you are rich and arrogant, you will blame yourself." Chapter 9 means: Being rich and proud is tantamount to looking for disaster and losing "wealth". Here, "arrogance" is the condition for turning happiness into disaster. Similarly, Lao Tzu also saw that "taking credit" is the transformation condition of credit from "gain" to "loss" He said: saints "live in prosperity after success." If you are a husband, you can't go. "(Chapter II) That is to say, the" sage "has made great achievements without pretending to be himself, so that his achievements will not be lost. On the contrary, it is lost. Just as in war, pride comes before defeat. "Disaster is greater than underestimating your enemy. If you underestimate the enemy, you will lose my wealth. "(Chapter 69) For another example, in learning, modesty makes people progress and pride makes people lag behind. He said, "Good people are not good teachers, but bad people are good teachers. He doesn't value his teachers or his capital, although he is a great fan of wisdom. It means beautiful. (Chapter 27) Here, "capital" means wonderful reference, which means subtlety. It means learning from others' strengths and making up for your own shortcomings. Otherwise, "don't value your teacher, don't cherish his capital." If you think you are wise, you will become very confused. Therefore, "not expensive" and "willing" are the conditions for the transformation from "wisdom" to "fascination".
Laozi not only initially saw the conditions for the transformation of contradictions, but also noticed the methods of transformation. His method is mainly a "good" method. He said: "saints are always good at saving people, so they don't abandon people." They are always good at keeping things, so they won't throw them away. It means attacking Ming. " It means that "saints" are often good at saving people, so there are no useless people; "saints" are often good at saving, so nothing is useless at all. This is called hidden wisdom. He also said: "Those who are good at being scholars are not martial; A good soldier is not angry; Those who are good enemies do not agree; Those who make good use of people do it. It refers to the undisputed virtue, the power of employing people, the match of heaven, and the extreme of ancient times (Chapters 6 and 8). " The scholar is handsome as a pawn. The meaning of this sentence is that a person who is good at being a "scholar" and "handsome" is not successful in his bravery; A man who is good at fighting does not rely on his anger; Those who are good at defeating the enemy need not fight; People who are good at employing people should be modest to others. This is called "virtue" of not arguing with others, this is called using the power of others, this is called cooperation with heaven, and this has been the principle since ancient times. Of course, this "good" method is based on "the power of employing people" and aims at "governing people". His undisputed "virtue" embodies his "inaction" and is only a means of "governing people". But this kind of "goodness" is the transformation method of "the power of employing people". It not only contains materialistic factors that pay attention to objective reality, but also embodies the dialectical thinking method of the subjective initiative of being kind to men and trusting women and using troops and employing people. We learn from it, and the "good" method should be said to be a great contribution.
Finally, Lao Tzu also saw the opposition between phenomenon and essence to a certain extent. For example, in the last chapter of Laozi, he can see the essence of some philosophical categories through superficial phenomena, which is a great dialectical thinking. As the saying goes, fragrant flowers are not necessarily beautiful, and those who have a glib tongue are not necessarily capable. Laozi said: "Good words are not beautiful, but good words are not believed." "Good people don't distinguish, and debaters are not good." "The knower doesn't know, and the blogger doesn't know." That is to say, in Laozi's view, the truth is not good, and the good words are not true; People who behave well don't talk eloquently, and those who argue logically are not good; People who really know that the avenue of the universe is in their own hearts do not need ambition. People with extensive knowledge may not have real knowledge of the avenue. It contains dialectics of contradiction and opposition, such as truth and falsehood, beauty and ugliness, good and evil. He saw that some social phenomena did not accord with its essence, so he very much hoped to teach people not to look at problems only from superficial phenomena. Of course, Laozi's dialectics is simple, not very scientific, because the society is very complicated. Scientific dialectics emphasizes both opposition and unity. If it is determined that all "good words" are "not beautiful", all "good words" are "unbelievable"; All "debaters" are "bad" and all "good people" are "not arguing"; Those who know will "not know" and those who know will "not know", which is too one-sided. Seeing only the opposition of contradictory categories, but not their unity, is a defect of metaphysics and has not been completely reformed.
To sum up, it is not difficult to see that Laozi has rich and profound dialectical thoughts, and believes that dialectical laws are rooted in "Tao", that is, "the movement against Tao". (Chapter 40) This is a great contribution of ancient philosophy, because it shows that the movement and change of "Tao" are opposite, complementary and circular. This theory shows that everything in nature and human society will go to the other extreme when it develops to one extreme. As Hegel said, everything contains its own negation. This is a theory supported by Confucianism and Taoism. This is the key point of Confucian interpretation of the Book of Changes. This is the conclusion drawn by philosophers inspired by the movement of the sun and the moon and the change of seasons. I ching said, "when the cold passed, summer came, and when the summer passed, the cold came." (Under Cohesion) Lao Tzu talks about "the movement against the Tao." (fourth. Chapter). Confucianism and Taoism have a profound influence on the Chinese nation and made great contributions. China people tend to be cautious when they are rich; Full of hope in times of extreme danger. This is exactly the "anti-Tao" philosophy that armed China people's psychology.
Laozi's dialectical thinking in philosophy is related to his "gentleness" in thought. Laozi emphasizes the word "softness" very much. He summed up "the strong is the lower, the weak is the upper" (Chapter 76), and put forward "few desires", "no desires", "no benefits", "contentment", "Zhi Zhi", "knowing men and keeping women", "knowing white and keeping black", "knowing honor and disgrace" and "not being the world". However, Laozi lives in a slavery collapse. Later, as a historian of the Zhou Dynasty, he witnessed the situation of countries merging, great powers contending for hegemony, poor people and rebellion, which made him hate the "rule of courtesy" of the old slavery on the one hand and dissatisfied with the "rule of law" implemented by the emerging feudal forces on the other. He advocated "inaction", as long as you are willing to eat, dress beautifully, live in peace, enjoy its customs, face neighboring countries, listen to the voices of chickens and dogs, and the people will not rest until they die. This determines the negative and conservative side of his philosophy. Therefore, he talked about transformation, but absolutely prevented extremes from turning; He argues that the indisputable "virtue" is the wisest strategy and the "good" method. In fact, Laozi's struggle is a special way of struggle and an indisputable struggle. His argument that "the husband alone won't fight, so the world can't fight with him" and "conquering the enemy without fighting" is also an argument that does not emphasize struggle. Because you don't argue with others, no one in the world will argue with him. Isn't this winning without fighting? This is the brilliant side of Lao Tzu.
Mao Zedong once said, "A man knows himself." . I think this has something to do with Laozi's "knowing people makes you wise, knowing your friends makes you wise". The winner is strong and the loser is strong. "There is a theoretical connection. In Laozi's view, understanding others can only be regarded as smart; Knowing ourselves and knowing ourselves can be regarded as Qingming; Only those who can surpass others can be considered powerful; He who can overcome himself is a strong man. Everyone has all kinds of desires and selfish ideas. To overcome these weaknesses, we must first reflect on ourselves and be self-aware, self-evident and self-defeating, which is in line with the dialectics of Tao.