Today, I would like to share with you the article "胠(qu)箧(qie)" in the "Outer Parts" of Zhuangzi. We are familiar with the "thief of the hook baht, the thief of the country for the princes" "thief also has the way""

Today, I would like to share with you the article "胠(qu)箧(qie)" in the "Outer Parts" of Zhuangzi.

The phrases that we are familiar with, such as "the thief of the hook, the thief of the country is the prince", "the thief also has the way", "the lips are dead and the teeth are cold", etc., are from this article.

The article begins with a parable of cleverness being mistaken by cleverness: in order to deal with thieves who open boxes, cabinets, and cloth bags to steal property, it is necessary to tighten the rope and close the lock, which is what people usually call cleverness. However, when the great thief came, he would steal it along with the cabinets, boxes, and sacs, lest the ropes and locks not be secure. Then the clever practices mentioned above are actually savings made for the great thief.

One might ask: What then? Are we to open the cupboard and steal as much as we can?

Zhuangzi replied below: "Strike at the saints, indulge the thieves, and the whole world will be ruled." "Only by criticizing the saints and freeing the thieves can the world be at peace."

Why? For "the most holy abandons wisdom, and the great thief stops." Abandon the little wisdom of those so-called saints, and return the people's customs to simplicity, and there will be no great thieves.

Zhuangzi's view is somewhat anti-traditional and used, but it makes sense to think about it carefully.

When I was young, between neighbors, especially in the countryside, families did not have to lock their doors when they went out, and I rarely heard of anyone whose house was stolen by thieves. At that time, the folk customs were simple and kind, and there were naturally few such things as stealing.

Speaking of which, one could argue that theft is now also rare. Indeed, today's social security is good because of the effective social governance based on high technology, there is high-definition monitoring everywhere, and bad people dare not steal. In Zhuangzi's time, science and technology were not yet developed, and Zhuangzi's ideal was to make people not want to steal. There are some differences between the two.

Of course, Zhuangzi's idea is to remove small wisdom and let the folk customs return to simplicity and simplicity, but it may be a little negative and one-sided to govern society completely with his ideas.