<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" > Chapter 3:</h1>
If the people are not virtuous, the people will not be in dispute.
(Not respecting talented people leads the common people not to compete with each other.) ）
It is not expensive and rare goods, so that the people will not be thieves.
(Not cherishing rare possessions leads the common people not to steal.) ）
It is not desirable to see what is desired, so that the people will not be disturbed.
(Not showing off things that are enough to cause greed leads to the people's hearts not being confused.) ）
It is precisely with the rule of the saints that they are humble in their hearts, their stomachs are solid, their aspirations are weak, and their bones are strong.
(Therefore, the principle of the sage's governance is: empty the hearts and minds of the people, fill the belly of the people, weaken the people's competitive intentions, and strengthen the bones and bones of the people.) ）
ZhengHeng makes the people ignorant and desireless.
(Often leaving the common people without ingenuity and desire.) ）
If the husband knows that he does not dare to do it, he will not be cured.
(So that those who have the intellect do not dare to do anything.) The saints do it according to the principle of "doing nothing" and conform to nature, then the world will not be unpeaceful. ）
【Fifth and sixth sentences】
Original text: Constantly make the people ignorant and have no desire.
01
What is ignorance and desirelessness? Many scholars interpret it as a dark and foolish thought. In fact, this is unfair, at least not in this chapter. In fact, Lao Tzu's so-called "ignorance and desirelessness" means:
The promulgation and implementation of any government decree cannot make the people feel that they have an opportunity (that is, knowledge) and profit (that is, desire).
Of course, both organic and advantageous here are illegitimate opportunities and benefits. If the government's resources are allocated fairly enough and the laws and measures are perfect enough, the people will be in a state of ignorance and desirelessness.
02
The so-called politics means governing the country with integrity.
An official once asked Confucius, what is politics? Confucius replied, "Politician, Zhengye! ”①
So what is positive? Impartiality is right, not lacking, not excessive is right, not disturbing the people's hearts, not stimulating the people's desire to be non-divided is right, the so-called policy, in essence, is actually the "right policy." When the government's policy conforms to the three principles of "not virtuous", "not expensive and rare goods", and "not seeing what is desireable", then in a sentence from Su Rui's "Lao Tzu Solution":
Although there are wise people, there is no use for cleverness.
Yes, even the "wise" cannot steal. Let's take an example:
In 154 BC, in order to strengthen the control of the central government, the Han Jing Emperor began to cut down the domain, that is, to weaken the power of the various princes and kings. As a result, not long after the policy landed, rebellions in various places sprung up like mushrooms, which is the famous "Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms" in the history of the Han Dynasty.
In the end, Emperor Jingdi of Han had no choice but to kill Chao, who proposed the policy of "cutting the domain" to please the Seven Kingdoms, but to no avail (2). If it were not for the fact that a generation of fierce generals Zhou Yafu had taken command and quickly quelled the rebellion, the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms would have shaken or even broken the foundation of the Han Dynasty.
Emperor Jingdi's "decree of cutting the domain" was an unwise decision because it stimulated the evil side of human nature. So how should policy be formulated?
03
Decades later, his son Emperor Wudi of Han also encountered the same problem of cutting the domain after succeeding to the throne, but Emperor Wudi of Han learned his lesson and did not directly implement the "order to cut the domain", but used a very clever method to dissolve the rebellious hearts of the princes.
What's the solution? Quite simply, it's called the Tuien Order.
Emperor Wu of han issued an edict:
After death, the land of the princes could not be passed on only to the eldest son, but must be given to his sons in its entirety (3).
Yes, one son is divided into ten parts, and ten sons are divided into ten parts. I have to say that this policy is extremely clever! In this way, the territory of the princes will become smaller and smaller, and the power will become smaller and smaller, and after two or three generations, they will lose their "wings" and will not be able to rise up at all, and can only obediently enter the cage of central power. The most critical are:
From the very beginning, the princes could not directly rebel.
Why? Because the "Tui En Order" is not like the "Cut Order", it offends the collective interests of the entire family of the princely states, thus provoking resistance. The Tuien Order did not directly take back the land and power of the princes, but only gave the sons of the princes other than the eldest son of the princes, a reason to compete for the legitimacy of the "family property".
The magic of this policy is that it invisibly transfers the contradictions between the state and the princes to the heads of the princes and sons.
Do you want to rebel? I am sorry! Please ask your sons first if they agree. Do you want to recruit soldiers secretly? I am sorry! The first to report or even assassinate you will be your concubine and your concubine.
May I ask, the whole family is an internal ghost, how do you oppose?
04
Yes, Emperor Wu of Han's edict of tutelage is completely in line with Lao Tzu's policy of "constantly making the people ignorant and desireless", even if you are smart and sophisticated like a "prince of princes", you do not dare to play slippery, nor can you steal and take advantage of it.
Therefore, as long as the policy is proper, some "wise people" dare not take advantage of the loophole and cannot speculate. Then naturally the world will be peaceful. That's why Lao Tzu said:
"If the husband does not dare to know and does nothing, he will not be cured."
05
It can be seen from this that "ignorance and desirelessness" is not the thinking of foolish people, but a higher dimensional wisdom of governing the country. Hegel, a generation of Great Philosophers in Germany, was deceived by words because he read the second-hand translation of the Tao Te Ching, and later put forward a third-rate political idea:
All men are to integrate themselves into the absolute will of the state, to obey the absolute power of the state in ignorance and desirelessness, and to have a universal obligation to sacrifice for the state, the "earthly creature", and not to bear any responsibility even if the monarch of the country makes a wrong decision (4).
Who should bear that? Of course, those who give opinions and the parliamentarians involved in decision-making!
It has to be said that Hegel may have continued to develop in philosophy and become a generation of masters in his own right. But in the field of political thought, it can be said to be very naïve. If it's just childishness, the problem is that he still thinks he's extremely clever. He once disparaged:
China has no history, but is just an "empire of stagnation" with no progress in the cycle of chaos throughout the dynasties (5).
However, it was such a "stagnant empire" in Hegel's eyes that more than two thousand years ago, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty knew that the monarch had done something wrong to put down his face, take responsibility, and promulgate the "Edict of Sin" to serve the subjects and win back the people's hearts, thereby increasing the credibility and cohesion of the entire country. Moreover, there are not a few monarchs who have emulated Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, which has become a basic consensus in China's political tradition.
As a result, Hegel, who lived in the nineteenth century, had the basic ideas of political science as follows:
In order to maintain dignity and authority, even if the monarch makes a wrong decision, he should not admit his mistake and take responsibility.
This is really a response to a Chinese post-pause:
Long eyes on the soles of the feet - never seen the world!
In fact, China's history seems to be a cycle of chaos, in fact, every dynasty will basically optimize and improve the system on the basis of the previous dynasty, so it can basically ensure the cyclical stability rate of a dynasty for 300 years, which is precisely the performance of the advanced concept of the state.
The reason why European history is fragmented, and why it follows the order of slave society, feudal society, and capitalist society step by step, is precisely because the concept of the state is too backward. Why? Because European monarchs cannot control the church, cannot suppress the nobility, cannot provide the people at the bottom with such a rising channel as the "examination system", cannot stimulate the vitality of the whole country, and cannot stimulate the enthusiasm and creativity of the people. The consequences are:
The state is always led by the nose of the aristocratic class, always conformist, and there is never a non-aristocratic civil service system, so it can never have qualified administrative efficiency.
It is precisely because of this that the history of dozens of European countries will fall into a thousand-year-long "dark Middle Ages". Since the county system of the Qin Dynasty, China's political structure has completely surpassed the feudal aristocracy, with the core elements and basic prototypes of a modern state, which is more than 1800 years ahead of Europe (6). Of course, Hegel did not know anything about this, so he would make a series of "sitting in the sky" style remarks.
06
Although Hegel's doctrine of the state was mainly inherited from Aristotle and Rousseau in the West, he was also familiar with the Tao Te Ching (7), and it is difficult to say that it was not affected by mistranslations. A hundred years later, Hegel's political philosophy that "the state is the end, the people are the means" finally bore a bad fruit, and was used and preached everywhere by Hitler, so he packaged a classic Nazi saying:
"The responsibility of the State is to train young people into a useful tool. ⑧”
Do? Of course, to conquer, to invade, to dominate the world! Go and sacrifice for Hitler's own glory and greatness! Because in Hitler's view:
The strong must rule over the weak, the weak should not complain, but should cooperate, and the weaker people are not even worthy of the right to fertility and life, so he not only slaughtered 6 million Jews, but also slaughtered at least 200,000 "old, weak, sick and disabled" in Germany, and some scholars estimate that it is even as high as 770,000 (9) (10) (11).
You see, the same is advocating "ignorance and no desire", Hitler's solution is to reduce the iq and thinking ability of the people, and Lao Tzu's solution is to improve the wisdom and governance of the rulers. Hitler advocated "strong control", a form of totalitarianism. Lao Tzu's advocacy of "ruling by doing nothing" is a kind of decentralization. These two concepts are like water and fire, and they are like clouds of mud.
Which is higher or lower, I guess I don't need to say the answer?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="113" ends >[Chapter 3].</h1>
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="115" >:</h1>
1. The Analects of Yan Yuan XVII
2. Sima Qian's "History of Yuan Angchao's Wrong Biography", Ban Gu's "Book of Han • Wrong Biography of Yuan Angchao"
3. "History of the Marquis of Pingjin", "Book of Han • Biography of the Thirteenth King of Jing , Liu Sheng, King of Zhongshan Jing"
4. This passage is synthesized and refined from the ideas in Hegel's Principles of the Philosophy of Law, Chapter III, The State, sections 258, 284, 285, 325, and 330, and is not Hegel's original words.
5. Hegel, "Philosophy of History • Part I • Part I • China", (French) Alain Perefite, "The Stagnant Empire - The Collision of Two Worlds: Part I • Chapter Five", "The Stagnant Empire - The Collision of Two Worlds: Part V • Chapter Seventy", "The Stagnant Empire - The Collision of Two Worlds: Conclusion"
6. Francis Fukuyama, Political Order and Political Decay, Part II: Chapter Twenty-Five
7. For evidence of Hegel's familiarity with the Tao Te Ching, please refer to his book Lectures on the History of Philosophy • Volume I • Eastern Philosophy • A Third • Taoists
8. Hitler's "Mein Kampf: Part II: The Nation"
9.Wen Pei, & Michael Burleigh. (1995). Nazi atrocities in Germany – In 1939, Nazi doctors began to physically exterminate the country's disabled people in order to hone their killing skills. University English(10), 20-25.
10、 Qin Chuan. (1993). Hitler's extermination of the disabled. Military History(03), 19.
11. Robert Jay Liverton, "The Nazi Doctor, Chapter 2" "Euthanasia": Direct Medical Massacre"
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