Wen | original to Xinzhitang
"Lao Tzu" book, so the scholarly circles are more consistent in the view that "Lao Tzu" was written in the early years of the Warring States period, and was not written by Confucius's contemporaries. Of course, there are also many scholars who insist that the book "Lao Tzu" was written by Lao Tzu, which is really confusing and unknown.
There is not only one mystery about Lao Tzu, what exactly is said in the book of Lao Tzu, and it has not been conclusive so far, what kind of ideas does Lao Tzu want to convey to us through such a book? This is also an unsolved mystery.
All the words in the book "Lao Tzu" add up to more than 5,000 words, and its style is also very special, a few sentences or even one or two sentences are divided into one chapter, and just over 5,000 words are divided into eighty-one chapters. And there is no obvious logical order between chapters. Although the whole text is divided into two major systems, the Tao Jing and the De Jing, it is obvious that there are also those who talk about morality in the Tao Jing, and there are also those in the De Jing, which shows that its chapter arrangement is also very chaotic. This characteristic of Lao Tzu inevitably leads to its difficult to read.
Theoretically, if we can translate the text of each chapter of the book accurately enough, we should be able to obtain the correct connotation of Lao Tzu's thought. But in fact, it is not, and there must be not a few scholars engaged in the translation and annotation of the book "Lao Tzu", but there is no consensus in the academic circles about Lao Tzu's thought. In this context, how to study Lao Tzu is indeed a big problem that cannot be ignored.
Obviously, if we just cook the back of Lao Tzu's book, or even recite it backwards like a stream, it is not equivalent to understanding Lao Tzu, and it is not equivalent to obtaining the correct Lao Tzu thought. So how do we get started with our research? My own opinion is that we need to have a macroscopic grasp of the content of Lao Tzu. Lao Tzu thought must have a basic concept and basic position of outline, unless Lao Tzu is not written by one and reflects the many different ideas of many people.
If we assume in advance that the Book of Lao Tzu was written by one hand, then Lao Tzu thought always provides a basic position and viewpoint, and the five thousand texts of the Tao Te Ching were created to convey this basic point of view and position.
The question is what is this view? How can we approach it? My approach is to place Lao Tzu in the chaotic world of the Spring and Autumn Warring States and speculate on his intentions and purposes in creating the Tao Te Ching. In the chaotic world of the Spring and Autumn Warring States, almost all the scholars of the Sons were written for the purpose of saving the chaotic world and bringing peace, so we speculate that Laozi scholarship is also for the same purpose, although it cannot be said that it must be in line with the original meaning of Laozi's book, but it is not a big mistake. We set such a creative purpose, that is, to provide a frame of reference for the study of Lao Tzu, so that when we read and understand the contents of Lao Tzu's books, we have a macroscopic foothold in grasping his thoughts.
Since we assume that the purpose of Lao Tzu scholarship is to save the chaotic world, then the book of Lao Tzu must answer the reasons for the great chaos in the world and provide specific solutions for salvation based on these reasons. Then when we read Lao Tzu's book, we must try to find the answers to these questions in his book. On the other hand, Lao Tzu provides his basic views and basic positions, and it is necessary to argue and prove his views, otherwise how can it be agreed by readers.
Therefore, when we read Lao Tzu's book, we must not only understand what kind of position and solution he provided to achieve the goal of saving the chaotic world, but also further understand Lao Tzu's ideas and steps for arguing his position and plan. Our understanding of Lao Tzu, then, begins with the answers to these questions. My study of Lao Tzu's book is based on such an idea. Reading with questions is always easier to gain than reading aimlessly.
I have some experience in reading Lao Tzu's books, and in the future I will show you my ideas and main conclusions and the process of obtaining them in a series of articles for your reference when studying Lao Tzu. But as far as the research method I am using is concerned, it needs to be added that the intention and purpose of the creation of Lao Tzu's book, which I assumed in advance in the course of my study, is only hypothetical in nature, because it is not directly derived from the specific content of the book, so we must not be bound by prejudices.
The process of our reading and comprehension is actually the process of our communication with Lao Tzu's thoughts, so we should not be afraid that we will be wrong, we just need to be prepared to correct our own prejudices at any time. Our assumptions are really just a way of reading and understanding the ideas inherent in the book, adhering to the principle of non-judgment, and even if our assumptions are wrong, they still do not prevent us from obtaining a correct understanding of the ideas contained in LaoZi's books.
As long as we know which specific ideas Lao Tzu intends to express through the contents of the Tao Te Ching, we can fully understand what Lao Tzu's scriptures say and why he says them. Therefore, I think it is necessary to grasp the meaning and main points of view of Lao Tzu's creation at a macro level. Therefore, when reading Lao Tzu, we must not have a broken understanding, and we must be good at unifying the different words and different ideas of the eighty-one chapters under a certain basic principle and position.
Therefore, I think that the fundamental reason why we cannot read Lao Tzu is not because of the difference in language between ancient and modern times, but because we cannot be in harmony with Lao Tzu in a high degree of thought. We can't understand Lao Tzu's thought, so we don't know what Lao Tzu was trying to say. Therefore, the goal of our exploration is to locate something behind the text rather than something in or above the text.
Our hypothesis is that if we had that thought, we would naturally write words similar to Scripture. Therefore, when we read Lao Tzu, we must grasp his core ideas and concepts through the study of the scriptures and construct his ideological system.
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