#历史开讲 #
The elephant of the manga family is invisible
''Loud voice, elephant is invisible' was first found in Lao Tzu Chapter 41: "When the sergeant hears the word, he acts diligently; The sergeant heard that if he survived; The corporal heard this and laughed. Not smiling is not enough. Therefore, there are some suggestions: the clear way is ambiguous; If you retreat; Obedience; Upper Deruo Valley; If Guangde is insufficient; Jiande Ruo Steal; The quality is as good as Yu; Great whiteness; Be generous; Late bloomer; loud voice; Elephants are invisible; The road is unknown. The husband is only the way, and the loan is good. ”
This passage is mainly to illustrate that it is very normal for the Tao not to be understood, after all, the true Tao is nameless, and not everyone can understand it. After citing the different reactions of "sergeant", "sergeant" and "corporal" to Wen Dao to illustrate this truth, Lao Tzu then gave various examples to illustrate the nature of the Tao, and these examples are almost all explained by antonyms: "ambiguous" refers to obscurity, unclear, use "ambiguous" to explain "ming", use "retreat" to explain "advance", use ruggedness to say flat, and use low valleys to illustrate noble virtues... The same is true of "loud voice" and "elephant invisible". It embodies Lao Tzu's world view: the Tao is the natural law between heaven and earth, and it is the supreme thing. But it is implicit and nameless. Moreover, the Tao is not unique, it is not immutable, it is everywhere and exists in all things in heaven and earth. The Tao gives birth to heaven and earth, and contains it in heaven and earth.
It can be seen that the "loud sound" frequently mentioned in the field of modern and contemporary music is not actually talking about music, or not just talking about music as it seems, but talking. So, what exactly is the Tao, and what does it mean to say "loud voice, elephant invisible"?
1. "Great" is not "to", but "Tao"
There is a concept here that needs to be analyzed first, that is, the "big" in the article. "The Great Sound is Loud, the Great Road is Invisible" is often thought to mean that the "supreme music" and the "supreme Tao" are "silent" and "invisible". But chapter 25 of the Tao Te Ching has this passage:
"There is a mixture of things, born congenitally, lonely, independent and not changed, circulating but not dying, can be the mother of heaven and earth."
I don't know its name, the word is the way, and the name of the strong is great.
Pass away, pass away. Far from the opposite. ”
Here is the origin of the name "Tao": Tao refers to things that existed before the birth of heaven and earth, which can also be said to be chaos, containing the qi of heaven and earth. Later, the clear qi rose to the sky, and the turbid gas sank to the earth, which is heaven and earth. Therefore, the Word is the mother of heaven and earth, and it is it that gives birth to heaven and earth. Lao Tzu did not know how to call this "Dao", so he only found a similar word to describe him, this is the "Dao" that later generations have used to this day, in fact, it is the same as what we call "words do not reach the meaning" and "language is difficult to accurately express thoughts" is a truth: what is "Dao", it is difficult to say clearly, we today generally regard it as the natural law between heaven and earth, Lao Tzu borrowed the word "Dao" to name it.
In a paper entitled "Analysis of the Essence of Lao Tzu's Musical Aesthetic Thought from the Misinterpretation of "Dayin Xisheng"", the author Li Hao analyzes this, arguing: "'Dayin' is 'Daoyin', which is the sound presented by the 'Dao' itself, which is the most beautiful, formless and indescribable... It conforms to the characteristics of simplicity, authenticity, naturalness, and inaction of "Tao", so it is different from the artificial "five tones". Chapter 12 of the Tao Te Ching mentions that "the five tones are deafening." Therefore, Li Hao also said that the "five tones" went against the way of nature, and Lao Tzu opposed the "five tones" and proposed that the "big sound is sound", which is based on the difference between sound and harmony, "in order to realize the pursuit of the 'big sound' of nature and the yearning for 'great beauty'." ”
As Lao Tzu said, "The word is known as the Tao, and the name of the strong is called great", it can be seen that the "big" mentioned by Lao Tzu sometimes also refers to the "Tao", then "the great is like humiliation; Be generous; Late bloomer; loud voice; The "big" in "Elephant Invisible" can be understood as "Dao" from this point of view, which further proves that this passage is saying, but borrows some "white", "square", "sound", "elephant" and so on that can be seen around human beings.
Second, the opposite philosophical view worldview
"Everyone in the world knows that beauty is beautiful, and evil is evil, and everyone knows that what is good is good, and what is not good is good.
Therefore, there is no mutual birth, difficult and easy to form each other, long and short are compared, high and low are inclined together, sound and sound are harmonious, and front and back follow. ”
—Chapter 2 of the Tao Te Ching
From this passage, we can see that Lao Tzu has a philosophical view of opposites, and the relative view in Zhuangzi's thought should also come from this. All things in the world are relative, this is an even more ancient truth, Lao Tzu discovered this truth, thought about it, and preserved it in the Tao Te Ching, which is really a great achievement.
There is such a sentence in Li Yu's "Remembering Jiangnan", the empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty, "A car is like a flowing water and a horse is like a dragon", which is to recall the prosperous life at the beginning, and when the reader reads this sentence, after recalling the past prosperity, he immediately remembers Li Yu's current desolation and loneliness, resulting in sadness. The prosperity and desolation in this are opposites, without desolation, the so-called prosperity cannot be talked about, reading this prosperous scene, the poet's bleak status quo is just like in the present.
In heaven and earth, everything is relative. Sky and earth, overcast and sunny, up and down, front and back, with and without, light and dark, winter versus summer, peaks versus valleys... These are all natural ways, without any of them, there is no colorful world. There is a plot in the childhood anime "Skyscraper": there is a strange person called Weiri who has an eccentric personality, likes negative emotions such as sadness and pain, but is afraid of happiness. With the efforts of the protagonist and a group of people, the strange atmosphere was brought to the Xiahe Bank to be "brainwashed", and since then he has become a person with only a smile, this ending looks very harmonious at first glance, but in fact implies a biased "only" world view: when there is only joy left in the world, there is no contrast of sadness, is there still meaning to joy? Can it still be called joy? Therefore, many people feel that something seems wrong after seeing this ending, and some "careful thinking and fear" are actually worries about this "single" world.
The so-called "loud voice, elephant invisible" happens to be the embodiment of the opposite philosophical view. It has been identified earlier: "big sound" is the Dao sound, and "elephant" is the Dao image, so the meaning of these two sentences is: the Dao sound is silent, and the Dao image is invisible. Why is it said that "sound" is silent and "image" is invisible? Isn't that against the laws of nature? In fact, we can understand that what we hear with our ears and what we see with our eyes is only the appearance, or the incomplete part, and only by listening and seeing with our hearts can we contact the Tao. The true Word needs to be felt with the whole body.
Whether it is the "white", "square" or "sound" and "image" mentioned in "Lao Tzu", they are all limited existences, individual categories. The Tao, on the other hand, is infinite, existing between and beyond these classes. To find the infinite, we need to touch through the finite, and the relative of the finite and the infinite is also one of Lao Tzu's important ideas.
3. Where to Seek: Nature and Inaction
Having said so much earlier, what exactly is the Tao? How do we seek the way? In fact, the Tao Te Ching has already given us the answer: one is inaction, the other is nature.
There are several sentences in the Tao Te Ching: "It is the saint who does nothing and does what he does without words, who does what he does not say, who does everything without giving up, who is born but does not have, who does not do anything, who does not do anything, and who dwells in achievement." Among them, "Wuwei" and "Silence" are the essence of righteousness. Lao Tzu has always advocated wuwei, whether it is governing the country or governing the body, wuwei is the most appropriate approach, wuwei is to do something, no words is to have words, what is there, doing nothing is doing, as long as the result is achieved, what is the difference between doing nothing and doing nothing?
And the purpose of inaction is to seek nature, to act in accordance with the way of nature. Chapter 25 of the Tao Te Ching says: "The law of man and the earth, the law of the earth, the law of the heavens, the way of the heavens, and the law of nature." "Heaven and earth have their own way of working, moisturizing all things, metabolism, and continuity. Human behavior can only develop steadily if it conforms to the way of nature, that is, the natural law as we understand it now, otherwise it is often clever, self-defeating, and even destroys itself, which is consistent with Marx's view of nature and is also the truth we pursue today.
Different from the Confucian chatter expressing the willingness to "benefit the world at the same time", and also different from the Legalists' fanfare to flaunt the purpose of "rich country and strong soldiers", Lao Tzu's art of governing the country is more like a sharp sword hidden in a scabbard, a heavy fist wrapped in white gloves, the bottom of the river and mountains quietly, the movement of the Qiankun without a trace to seek, generous, elephant invisible, truly entered the superior realm of governing the state and the country, the so-called "easy to do by contract, less and more achievement".
"Governing a big country is like cooking small fresh food", this is Lao Tzu's famous saying, and it is also the logical starting point for building Lao Tzu's concept of governing the country. It has two meanings, first of all, fish is a good thing, or to eat, not not to eat, which in politics is to govern, not really let go and do nothing; Secondly, we must be careful in the process of governing the country, do not do nothing and turn around, otherwise the fish will be broken in the pot, and there is no way to eat it again. The former meaning shows that Lao Tzu's emphasis on governing the country is an inevitable part of his doctrine, Han Feizi painstakingly "Yu Lao" and "Xie Lao", and Sima Qian's inclusion of Lao Tzu and Han Fei into the same biography is by no means a fallacy confidant; The latter meaning shows that Lao Tzu's art of governing the country has its own distinctive characteristics, as a typical "southern art of the monarch", it is still a fusion of "Wuwei" in form and "Wuwei" in essence, and it is seamlessly integrated.
In Lao Tzu's eyes, everything under heaven has its own natural attributes, so the most wise rule should be obedient to objectivity, respect nature, neither do anything, let alone act chaotically, move by reason, all "Tao Law Nature", all "self-transformation without action". This is manifested in several aspects in governing the country:
First of all, the ruler is required to do everything in the sea, be humble, not with the wisdom of one person, but with the wisdom of all, humble, and tolerant: "Good is like water, and water is good for all things without dispute." Lao Tzu's view is that the ideal world should be a "chaotic" state of "indisputability" and harmony, and to achieve such a state, the key is for the ruler who occupies power resources to take the initiative to lower his stature, mingle with the grass people in the downstream, eliminate the gap between each other, and leave the whirlpool of contradictions. In short, the upper one is idle and the lower one is reasonable, each without exceeding the boundary, and at peace with each other, that is, both can coexist harmoniously in a system according to their natural nature.
Second, it advocates conforming to human nature and applying it according to the rules. Lao Tzu opposed the use of external forces such as moral benevolence and righteousness to forcibly change and regulate anything: "Heaven and earth are not benevolent, and all things are used as dogs", that is, everything under heaven is allowed to fend for itself without any interference. The reason is very simple, if heaven and earth have a loving heart, they will inevitably exert grace on all things with their own will, and change the state of all things according to their own standards, but "strong melons are not sweet", which just destroys the natural law of the survival of all things. For example, wild beasts eat grass, and humans eat dogs, which seems cruel on the surface. But this is the true nature of living things, the natural biological chain of the biological world. If heaven and earth are changed out of benevolence, they will upset the balance of nature. Therefore, heaven and earth must be cold-blooded and "unkind", that is, they will not interfere with the law of the jungle between living things. In the same way, saints should govern the country "unkindly". In Lao Tzu's view, benevolence, righteousness and filial piety are the natural instincts of human beings, which only exist naturally without the need to advocate, and once advocated, it must lead to a large number of pseudo-morality driven by interests, resulting in the loss of true morality: "The road is wasted, there is benevolence and righteousness; Wisdom is born, there is great falsehood; The six relatives are discordant, there is filial piety, the country is in chaos, and there are loyal subjects." Therefore, there is only one choice left for the saint: "Never renounce righteousness, and restore filial piety to the people." ”
Third, it is to advocate extravagance and thrift, and abolish punishment and punishment. Specifically, the first is to be thrifty, "go to the extreme, go to luxury, go to Thailand." Lao Tzu thought that the affliction of people lies in being active, and the cause of doing is that there are too many desires and too much fame and fortune. To correct this deviation, only thrift, cherish life, and save energy, which is in line with natural nature, that is, "destroy the way": "Govern the heavens, Mo Ruoqi". The second is to be content and happy, and then forget both honor and disgrace. Lao Tzu's view is that rulers can only stay away from evil and avoid calamity if they are noble and reliant, and content and happy: "Who is the name and the body? How much is the body and the loan? What is the disease of death or death? Love will cost a lot, and if you hide more, you will perish. Contentment is not disgraced, knowledge is not lost, and it can be long-lasting." The third is to soberly understand the huge limitations of legal and criminal punishment methods in governing the country, and oppose the use of violent coercion to govern. Lao Tzu pointed out that in the face of the increasingly serious phenomenon of "people's hearts are not old, and the world is declining" driven by interests, which is becoming increasingly rampant, and there are no strange crimes that have been banned, relying on criminal punishment methods is useless, and there is no way forward, and it is even opposite and counterproductive. The road is one foot high, the magic is one foot high, "the law is rich, and there are many thieves." In Lao Tzu's view, relying on the coercive force of criminal law in governing the country is a typical act of recklessness, contrary to the nature of nature and good life and love, abandoning the book to the end, picking up sesame seeds and losing watermelons, destined to have no way out. Once the people lose their way of life, cut off hope, and no longer fear death, the ruler loses the last capital to stabilize the political situation, and the total collapse of the entire society is inevitable: "If the people are not afraid of power, they will be mighty"; "The people are not afraid of death, but they are afraid of death." Obviously, Lao Tzu proceeded from the basic position of "Taoism and nature", and regarded political pressure and violent coercion as the biggest failure in governing the country.
The fourth is to emphasize that noble and soft guarding females and controlling the strong with weakness. "Lü's Spring and Autumn Buji" said: "Old Deaf and Guirou". Knowing the male and guarding the female, advancing with retreat, and being weak over being strong is indeed Lao Tzu's treatment of things and mastery of the strategic principle of taking the initiative, and it is also a prominent feature of his governing skills.
According to Lao Tzu's understanding, "the movement of the opposite way, the use of the weak way", the party in the weak and inferior position, in fact, often has the most powerful power, "the world is weaker than water, and the strong can win". On the contrary, everything that is strong actually contains the opportunity for decay and death, that is, the so-called "human life is also weak, his death is also strong, the life of all things is also brittle, and his death is also withered, so the strong die and the weak die." "Something grows old" is a universal law. Based on this understanding, Lao Tzu advocated that guirou should guard the female, "enter the way and retreat", "know its male, guard its female; Know its whiteness, keep its black; Know its glory and abide by its humiliation", advance with retreat, seek extension with yield, and defeat the strong with weakness.
Under the guidance of this strategic principle, Lao Tzu's statecraft must of course have a strong feminine character. The first is to affirm that the setting of the management system and the implementation of management measures require the right time, conform to nature, and "when the time is quiet, the heaven and the earth are with it." Do not rely on subjective thoughts to lead to the opposite of things. At the same time, when necessary, let the concepts and methods of governing the country adjust and change with the changes in the situation and the development of the situation, and "move with the time and change in response to things." The second is to advocate that management should start from small to large, from easy to difficult, step by step, harmonious and mixed, rather than the illusion of overnight and once and for all: "The picture is more difficult than the easy, and it is greater than the fine." What is difficult in the world will be done easily; The great things of the world shall be done in detail"; "For what has not been, to cure before chaos." The wood of the embrace, born of the end of the milli; The nine-story platform starts from the soil; A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." The third is to advocate that the way of governance should be as simple and bright as possible, not pay attention to red tape, do not violate natural nature, do more with less, and put efficiency first. To this end, it is necessary to "unify ten thousand with one thing" and control complexity with simplicity. The fourth is to emphasize that the means of governing the country should be good at embodying the characteristics of static braking and responding to changes without change, so as to achieve the ideal state of "success and success, without knowing the situation". Guard the female festival well, and strike later: "He who desires to be annihilated will be solidified; He who desires the weak will be strong; He who desires to abolish will be revived; He who desires to take it will be stubborn."
In short, it is necessary to be under the comprehensive control of such a "southern art of the monarch", so that the world can be governed in an orderly manner, "do nothing and do nothing", that is, abandon excessive measures, eliminate cruel political actions, respect universal laws, recognize unique personalities, do not bind the heart with vulgar feelings, do not use other things to be burdened, let everything go to nature, guide everything according to the situation, and use indisputable means and postures to achieve the goal of "the world will determine itself". For this reason, Lao Tzu described for us the ideal mode of "ruling without doing anything": "Too high, the lower knows, the second is affectionate, the second is fearful, and the second is insulting." Believe is not enough, there is unbelief! If I say something, the people call me natural." It is superior to Confucian politics that is "pro-and prestigious", and even more superior to Legalist politics characterized by "fear", and it is indeed a powerful tool for governing the country and political wisdom that is not available in the world.
Sun Tzu's rational thinking and leadership art
"Know your opponent and know yourself, and you will not lose a hundred battles", this ancient and incisive military adage has been popular and widely spread for more than 2,500 years. And it is coming from the mouth of Sun Tzu, an outstanding military scientist in the late Spring and Autumn period of China.
Although Sun Tzu's theoretical system of military science is broad and profound, it is more convincing than Sun Tzu's ideological methodology when discussing specific military issues, which is full of simple dialectical thinking and rationality, providing guidance for people to correctly understand and intelligently solve army building and war implementation, and also bringing enlightenment to people engaged in activities in other social fields. Among them, the "perfection" at the ideal level and the "deviation" at the operational level are the manifestations of Sun Tzu's simple dialectical thinking rationality.
In a sense, Chinese culture can also be called "seeking perfection" culture, the pursuit of perfection, striving for perfection, is the ideal goal that people diligently pursue, it permeates all aspects of social life, affecting the mentality and willingness of the general public. Therefore, the most popular word of blessing is "all the best"; The banquet talks about pomp and circumstance, and is willing to put on a "full banquet"; Tonic medicine and tonic wine like to be titled "Ten Complete Tonics"; Even the Qianlong Emperor was keen on posing for music, calling himself the "Ten Perfect Old Man". It seems that only "perfection" and "perfection" can be regarded as the ultimate in realizing the ideal of life and achieving the best development of things.
Under the shroud of such a "seeking perfection" cultural atmosphere, Sun Tzu also has a special love for "perfection". In the thirteen chapters of Sun Tzu's Art of War, Sun Tzu mentions "whole" in more than ten places, such as "knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent, victory is immortal; Knowing heaven and earth, victory can be complete", "soldiers can be completely victorious without suddenness", "self-preservation and total victory", "the whole country is first, the whole army is first" and so on. The status of "Quan" in Sun Tzu's theory of warfare is of great significance, as is the core "ren" of Confucius's theory, the core "Tao" of Laozi's theory, and the core of Mozi's theory of "simultaneous love". In Sun Tzu's view, the implementation of the "total victory" strategy is natural and inevitable. It is the least costly to oneself; Minimal resistance to the other side; For ordinary people, disasters are minimal; For the world, the benefits are the greatest. It is undoubtedly the best choice, the most cost-effective fight. To this end, Sun Tzu logically deduced the best realm in the use of troops: "go to the army to plot for destruction" and "the soldier who submits to others without fighting". It advocates using the strategy of "total victory" to compete with the heroes and win over the world: "The army of the people is not the war, the city of the people is not the attack, and the country of the destruction of the people instead of the long one, will fight for the whole world."
To have such a realm is undoubtedly a noble idealist, and Sun Tzu is indeed remarkable. But even more remarkable is that Sun Tzu is also a sober realist. In his mind, "seeking perfection" can only be a banner, an ideal, and a slogan; if one clings too much to "total victory," forgets the cruel iron-blooded fact of war and killing, and simply equates "ideal" with "reality," it is inevitable that "far away and wider than things" will inevitably be "far-fetched and broader than things" and self-deception. In other words, Sun Tzu has clearly realized that it is unrealistic to blindly pursue a perfect solution, because "first make a perfect plan, and then make a picture." In fact, the world's things are "not as good as they should be, but people's hearts are the same", it is difficult to have a real perfection, let alone to pursue perfection and strive for perfection and suffer from gains and losses, looking ahead, throwing rats and indecisiveness, so that they miss the fighter, fall into passivity, miss the success, and try to deal with the real disaster.
It is precisely because Sun Tzu has long understood this relationship in his chest, so he has been sharpening the sharp knife of "victory" at the level of specific operation while holding high the banner of "total victory" and pursuing a perfect strategy in concept, and paying attention to the practical effect of "taking deviation". Special emphasis is placed on highlighting the key points and the sword goes sideways; advocate concentrating troops, giving play to superiority, looking for breakthroughs, and breaking through each one; On this basis, to expand the results of the war and defeat the enemy, "Therefore, the matter of being a soldier is to follow the enemy's intentions, and to kill the general for thousands of miles." He pointed out that the biggest mistake of strategists lies in not distinguishing between priority and priority, grasping eyebrows and beards, and picking up watermelon sesame seeds everywhere: "Therefore, if you prepare the front, you will be widow, if you are left, you will be widowed, if you are left, you will be left and right, and if you are prepared, you will be all-encompassing."
It can be seen from this that in the grandson of the "soldier saint", the ideal of seeking "completeness" and the emphasis on "partial" in operation are highly unified. Sun Tzu really understood the truth of "giving up", gain and loss are dialectical, willing to give, in the final analysis, there is a sacrifice to gain, so Sun Tzu emphasized the five "no": "The road is not unexpected, the land is not disputed, the city is not attacked, the army is not attacked, and the king's life is not affected." We must never give up "victory" for the sake of "total victory"; we must highlight the key points, grasp the key, and involve the whole body in one shot, and "win with the right and with wonder." It should be said that Sun Tzu's way of thinking with the sword is full of profound philosophical essence, and Lao Tzu's spiritual purpose of saying "more is confused, less is clear" is in line with Sun Tzu's basic concept of "everything is prepared, everything is less".
The famous British strategist Liddell Hart pointed out in his book "Strategy Theory" that the first characteristic of the wisdom of strategists is the ability to distinguish between what can be done and what cannot be done. The reason why Sun Tzu is revered as a "soldier saint" is that he has the ability to distinguish between what can be done and what cannot be done. Obviously, Sun Tzu's dialectical thinking on the balance and unity of "seeking perfection" and "taking bias" reflects the unity of ideal and reality, and the unity of ultimate goal and stage tasks. This is also very valuable today, and it is not without great enlightening significance. In a sense, it is also a brilliant art of leadership, which reminds people to set a lofty and lofty ideal goal in everything and actively work towards "perfection". However, in the actual operation process, it is necessary to put in a correct position, lower the figure, adjust the mentality, respect the objective reality, and do not make expectations beyond personal ability and level, especially to prevent the emergence of a behavior mode that blindly seeks stability and perfection, and desires perfection in everything, including the formulation of plans and plans in all aspects; In the game competition activities, there is no leakage, exhaustion and fishing; The blame for seeking perfection in the selection and appointment of talents is a ruler. In short, "seeking perfection" can only be an ideal, a banner, a wonderful picture that inspires people and motivates morale; "Taking bias" is the reality, the means, and the choice that can be truly practiced and implemented. This may be called "taking the law from above, getting from it". As for the specific operation process, it is more necessary to learn from Sun Tzu's true art of using troops and the great wisdom of life, so as to achieve "water dominates the flow according to the land, soldiers win because of the enemy, water is impermanent, and soldiers are impermanent", distinguish between priorities and priorities, and distinguish priorities; Develop the key points and grasp the key; Concentrate forces and make breakthroughs in each case; Pick up watermelon first, then sesame seeds. And we must cast nets everywhere regardless of the key points, and use power equally, resulting in the situation of picking up sesame seeds and losing watermelons, or even sesame watermelons losing all light.
According to legend, Zhou Yu's three steps are not as good as Zhuge Liang's three steps and one plan.
Xu Shan: "Lao Tzu" "complains with virtue" and "peace and great grievances" context combing
Synopsis: The first six sentences of chapter 63 of Lao Tzu express the importance of "inaction, nothingness, tastelessness, smallness, lessness, and grievance" in the form of "right words and contrary words". "Repaying grievances with virtue" as a noble feeling, whether from the perspective of concept or from the perspective of practice, is a negation of the vicious circle of "repaying grievances with grievances". At the beginning of chapter 79, "There will be a great grudge, there will be a remnant grievance, and peace can be good", which further believes that "repaying grievances with virtue" can go to a higher level, that is, "there will be no grievances", and no grievances is where the great virtue lies.
The phrase "repay grievances with virtue" appears in chapter 63 of the popular Wang Biben Laozi, while the phrase "peace and great grievances" appears at the beginning of chapter 79, both of which deal with the question of how to deal with "grievances". What we want to discuss in this article is: what is the exact meaning of Chapter 63 "Retribution with Virtue" and Chapter 79 "Great Grievance", how their respective contexts have developed, and what is the relationship between "Retribution with Virtue" and "Great Grievance", so as to deepen the understanding of Lao Tzu's topic of "grievance".
1. Chapter 63 of "Lao Tzu" "Retribution with Virtue" is sorted out
The phrase "repay grievances with virtue" is the sixty-third chapter of Lao Tzu, and the sixty-third chapter of Wang Biben's Lao Tzu is quoted as follows:
For inaction, nothing to do, tasteless taste. Size, how much, complain with virtue. The diagram is more difficult than it is easy, it is larger than its fineness; The difficult things in the world will be done easily, and the great things in the world will be done in detail. It is because the saint is not great in the end, so he can become great. A husband who promises lightly will not be trusted, and how easy it is, how difficult it is. It is difficult for the saints, so it is not difficult in the end. (Chapter 63)
Let's discuss the meaning of the sentences in Chapter 63 and the ways in which they relate meaning to each other.
"For inaction, nothing to do, tasteless taste", Wang Bi's note: "Take nothing as the living, take the silence as the teaching, take the quiet as the taste, and rule the extreme." (1) The first word "for, thing, taste" in "for wuwei, nothing to do, taste tasteless" is the meaning of the noun, and the three short sentences have the same structure, all of which are verb-object structures. "For nothing, for nothing, tasteless", righteousness means to do nothing, to do nothing, to taste nothing.
The content of the phrases "for Wuwei" belongs to the expression of "right and wrong" discussed in chapter 78 of Lao Tzu, and the following is the content of chapter 78 of Lao Tzu:
The world is weaker than water, and the strong can win, and it is incomprehensible. The weak wins the strong, the soft wins the rigid, the world does not know, can not do. It is the sage cloud: "To receive the dirt of the kingdom is to call the lord of society; The kingdom is ominous, and it is for the king of the world. "It's true. (Chapter 78)
Regarding the meaning of "right words are contrary", Gao Yandi's "Lao Tzu's Testimony": "This language does not invent the purpose of the upper and lower Xuan Yan. In all the texts, the so-called 'Qu is complete, vain is straight, depression is profitable, and we are new', 'weakness is better than strength', 'If you do not benefit your life, you will live for a long time', 'if you do nothing, you will do something', 'do not fight for nothing', 'know without speaking, do not know what you say', 'lose and gain, profit and loss', the opposite of words is reasonable, all are 'righteous'. (2) Speak of the righteousness of "righteousness" and gain it.
"Righteousness is contrary," meaning (Lao Tzu thinks) normal speech seems to be the opposite (to secular values), so Lao Tzu self-clarified the way Lao Tzu's "right speech" arose. Lao Tzu is a subversive of secular values, and Lao Tzu's "righteous speech" is produced by negating on the basis of judgments of secular values.
In Lao Tzu's book, when dealing with various opposites, under the guidance of the principle of "right words are contrary", many different forms of linguistic expression are presented, such as "Qu is complete, vain is straight, Wa is Ying, and we are new" (Chapter 22), "Therefore, the noble is based on the lowly, and the higher is the foundation" (Chapter 39), and "Shou Rou is strong" (Chapter 52). In particular, "if the way is clear, if the way is retreated, if the way is retreated, if the road is invisible, if the valley of the upper virtue, if the great white is humiliated, if the broad virtue is insufficient, if the virtue is stolen, if the quality is true, if the generosity is infinite, if the great instrument is late, the loud sound is shouting, and the elephant is invisible" (Chapter 41), "If the great success is lacking, its use is not harmful." If the profit is rushed, its use is endless. Great straightness, great cleverness, great argument" (chapter 45), and "It is the saint's side without cutting, honest but not sharp, straight but not wanton, light but not shining" (chapter 58), both of which are composed of four-character arrangements.
As far as "doing nothing" is concerned, in the worldly eyes it can only be "doing for doing something", because "for" and "inaction" are opposites. However, Lao Tzu's "righteous speech" is contrary to secular values, and believes that it should be "doing nothing". The three sentences of "for wuwei, nothing to do, tasteless taste" are based on "wuwei", while "nothing, tasteless" comes from analogy.
"For Wuwei, Nothing, Taste Tasteless" is a verb-object structure, and its sentence pattern is characterized by "noun (intentional verb usage) + none + noun", where two "nouns" are homographical. Similar to this sentence pattern is "want or not" and "learn without learning" in chapter 64, which is also a verb-object structure, which is characterized by "verb (intentional verb usage) + not + verb", where two "verbs" are homographical.
"Size, how much", Gao Heng's "Lao Tzu Zhengzheng": "Big and small, big and small, small and think big." How many are more, more are less, and less is thought to be more. Seeing the spark of the stars will set the plain ablaze; See the trickling spring, and the clouds will drift; That is, the meaning of caution. (3) Gao Heng understood the two sentences "size, how much" as the same verb-object structure, that is, the "big, many" in which "big, many" is the meaning of the adjective.
The sentence pattern of the "size, how much" sentence is characterized by "adjective 1 (intentional usage) + adjective 2", where two "adjectives" are antonym relationships. Lao Tzu is full of various pairs of three-dimensional characters, such as "have-have-not", "male-female", "strong-weak", "noble-cheap", etc., in these pairwise antonyms, the secular eye affirms the former while often ignoring the latter. Lao Tzu, on the other hand, while understanding the former, focuses on the latter and fully taps the leading role of the latter.
"Size" is actually converted from "big not big", and "big not big" is consistent with the composition of "for nothing" above. The phrase "size, how much" is intended to emphasize the role of "small, few" as "adjective 2".
"Repay grievances with virtue", Zhang Songru in "Lao Tzu's Explanation": "Mo Ruojing takes the original friendship, as Gao Heng said: 'The big and the small, the big and the small, think big.'" How many are more, more are less, and less is thought to be more. By extension, those who 'complain with virtue', they complain and complain and think that they are virtuous. All this is taken from the opposite righteousness, and it is also in line with the purpose of 'doing nothing, doing nothing, and tasteless'. (4) Zhang said quite insightfully. The deep structure of "complaining with virtue" is the same as the "size, amount" and even "inaction" in the previous article. As far as "virtue" is concerned, "grudge" means "no virtue". Lao Tzu has the view that "virtue is without virtue" (righteousness means virtue without virtue), as in chapter 38: "To be virtuous is to be virtuous." "The structure of "virtue" is the same as "for inaction." When "virtue without virtue" is specifically implemented in "grievances", there are "virtue grievances", and the structure is the same as "size, quantity". "Moral grievance" means taking grievances as morality, and the worldly retribution of virtue is replaced with Lao Tzu's resentment as virtue, so "retribution with virtue" is produced. "Repaying grievances with virtue" as a noble feeling, whether from the perspective of concept or from the perspective of practice, is a negation of the vicious circle of "repaying grievances with grievances".
To sum up, the first six sentences of chapter 63 of Lao Tzu express the importance of "wuwei, nothing, tasteless, small, few, and resentment" in the form of "right and wrong", and "wuwei, nothing, and tasteless" take the "nothing" of "wuwei" as the core, "small, less" involves physical properties, similar to the "nothing" in the previous article, and the "grievance" that belongs to the category of morality, its semantic source is "no virtue", which is still analogous with the "nothing" in the previous article.
The sentences after "repay grievances with virtue" mainly focus on the two antonyms of "difficult-easy" and "large-fine". Lao Tzu's view of the relationship between "difficult-easy" and "large-detailed" has the form of "difficult or difficult, not difficult, big and small" if it imitates the language form used in the first sentences of chapter 63.
Second, the 79th chapter of "Lao Tzu" "And the Great Grievance" is sorted out
The phrase "and great grievances" appears at the beginning of chapter 79 of Lao Tzu, and the following is the content of the popular chapter 79 of Wang Biben's Lao Tzu:
And great grievances, there will be resentments, can peace be good? It is the saints who hold the covenant, not the blame of others. There is Descchi, there is no Descher . Heaven has no relatives, and is always with good people. (Chapter 79)
At the beginning of the chapter, "There will be great grievances, there will be remnants", and the official note on the river: "Those who kill people die, and those who hurt others are punished, and they are rewarded with peace." Those who are tortured will lose their favor, and they will have grievances against the good people. (5) Wang Bi's note: "If you do not understand the reason, so that a great resentment has come, and virtue and peace, its wounds will not be restored, so there will be a resentment." (6) "An can be good", the first book of the book "Lao Tzu" is "Yan can be good", (7) "An and Yan" have the same meaning, which means "He", indicating cross-examination. In the "An can be good" under the river public note: "If one person calls for a word, he loses his heart, and An can be good with grievances?" "
"Peace with great grievances, there will be remnants, peace can be good", righteousness is to reconcile great grievances, there must be remnants of grievances, how can (peace grievances) be counted as doing good? Chapter 79 begins with "great grudges," but in what way is it "reconciled"? The beginning of chapter 79 of Lao Tzu does not explicitly say. If it is used in the way of complaining and repaying grievances, it is impossible to talk about "reconciling with great grievances", so combined with the existing "retribution with virtue" in Chapter 63, it can be seen that the "great grievance" in Chapter 79 is actually "great grievance" with virtue. However, even if Yide "and great grievances", there will still be "residual grievances", that is, great grievances are difficult to completely get rid of, so Lao Tzu has the rhetorical question "An can be good", and the Heshang Gong's note "An can be good with grievances" should be followed.
From chapter 63, "Retribution with Virtue," we can see that "retribution with virtue" has entered a new realm compared to repaying grievances, but in chapter 79, Lao Tzu himself questioned the "great grievances" in the form of "retribution with virtue", that is, this practice is still not considered a "good act".
"It is the saint who holds the left contract, but not the blame to the people", the first version of the book "Lao Tzu" is "with the saint [人] the right jie (contract), not to blame people", the second book of the book "Lao Tzu" is "with the saint holding the left qi (contract), not to blame people", (8) The bamboo simplified book "Lao Tzu" in the middle of the Western Han Dynasty in the collection of Peking University is written as "it is the saint who holds the left contract, not the blame for others". (9) Chapter 79 of Wang Biben's book, "It is a saint who holds the left contract, not to blame people", according to the simple book unearthed in this school, "it is a saint who holds the left contract, not to blame others".
After the proofreading, "the saint holds the deed, not the blame for the other", that is, the saint holds the contract stub, but does not take it to collect debts from others. Wang Bi made a bet on "the left contract with the saint": "The left contract is the place to prevent grievances." Today's Jiang Xichang's Lao Tzu School Decree believes: "'It is the saint who holds the left contract and does not blame others', and it is said that the saint holds the left contract handed over by the person without asking for his reward." In this case, there is no reason to complain, and what is the reconciling? (10) The "yes" in "is the covenant of the saint, not the blame" is the language mark of inference. As mentioned above, the "great grievance" in the form of "repaying grievances with virtue" already exists, and although efforts are made to "reconcile", they are still of a remedial nature, and the measures to draw wages from the bottom should first be made without complaints. The generation of people's "grievances" will involve various situations, "it is the saint who holds the left contract, not the blame for the person" is an example of the situation that the "grudge" in the contract may arise and how to achieve no grievance, that is, "the saint holds the left contract" and "blames the person" may cause the debtor's "grievance", and "the saint holds the left contract, not to blame others", giving and not asking for repayment, thus achieving a state of no complaint, which can be regarded as "for good". In the last chapter of Lao Tzu, chapter 81, "the saint does not accumulate, since he thinks that the more he has himself, the more he has with himself", in which the posture of "saint", "for man" and "with man" is consistent with chapter 79 "The saint clings to the left agreement, but does not blame others".
It is deduced from the "great grievances" method of "retributing grievances with virtue" that first of all, there should be no grievances, and this way of thinking is similar to Confucius's attitude towards "litigation" mentioned in the Analects of Yan Yuan. "Analects of Yan Yuan": "Zi Yu: 'Listen to the lawsuit, and I am a Jew.'" It will also be free of lawsuits! The translation of Yang Bojun's Analects reads: "Confucius said: 'In hearing a lawsuit, I am similar to others. It is necessary to completely eliminate the events of the lawsuit. (11) Lao Tzu's intention to "hold the covenant of the covenant with a saint and not to blame others" can be imitated by the phrase "must also make no complaint".
"There is a virtue in the contract, there is no virtue in the division", where the "che" is the tax law of the Zhou Dynasty, which means that the virtuous person is in charge of the contract, and the immoral person is in charge of the tax. "There is virtue" inherits the above, specifically the method of "the saint holds the left contract, but does not blame others", such a "goodness" without complaint is "virtuous"; On the contrary, immoral "masters" often complain when collecting taxes. Therefore, the existence or absence of "grievance" lies in the difference between "virtuous" and "immoral": "virtuous" means no grievance, and "immoral" has grievances. That is to say, to be free of complaints, the prerequisite is to become a "virtuous" person.
"Heaven's way has no relatives, always with good people", righteousness means that heaven's way has no favoritism, and often helps good people. "The saint holds the covenant and does not blame others." There is a "virtuous person", in which the "saint" is the "virtuous" person and also the "good person". "Good people" and "not to blame others" are actually "constant" others, and such "good" actions should be affirmed by the "way of heaven", that is, the righteousness of "heaven's way" and "always and good people".
The Invisible Elephant: From Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, Chapter 41. When Lao Tzu talked about the supreme and extreme realm of the "Tao" in the Songshan Mountain celestial phenomena and all things on earth, he quoted the sayings such as "great whiteness is humiliating, generous, late bloomer, loud sound, elephant is invisible", which means: "The whitest thing seems to be dirty, the grand square (image) generally cannot see the edges and corners, the grand (human) material (thing) apparatus generally matures late, the grand rhythm often sounds thin, and the grand imposing scene does not seem to have a certain shape." "Elephant invisible" can be understood as: the world's greatest, magnificent, sublime and magnificent scenes and realms, often not bound to certain things and patterns, but show the "meteorological" appearance and scene.
The "elephant" mentioned here is not a "long-nosed elephant". "Only the heavens are great", the big should be the heavens, and to Lao Tzu's "elephant is invisible", Wang Bi of the Wei and Jin dynasties further said: "If it is tangible, it is also divided; If there are points, it is not warm and cool. So elephants, not elephants. "The elephant is invisible", and his "elephant" is associated with the concept of "nothing". "Those who are like elephants are not elephants. There are two interpretations of "elephant" in the "Zhou Yi Zhizhi", one refers to various natural phenomena between heaven and earth that are considered to give mystical meaning, that is, the phenomenon of the same kind of feeling that appears in Dong Zhongshu's "heaven-man induction" theory; The second refers to trigrams, that is, gossip, which are summarized by the saint from specific objects such as astronomy, geography, and human beings. The role of "elephant" is very emphasized in the "Zhou Yi", and the trigrams of the "I Ching" are basically "borrowing the meaning of the image". "Image" is not the thing itself, "the image of the saint is full of intention", and "image" is the expression of the meaning of the saint, and it is also the medium and carrier of communication between heaven, earth and people. It can be seen from this that "image" mainly refers to natural phenomena and specific objects mainly based on celestial phenomena, meteorology, and stars. As early as the Xia Dynasty, the ancestors looked up at the heavenly phenomena in the "Yudu Yangcheng" under the Song Mountain, and formulated the calendar "Xia Xiaozheng" to guide agricultural production, which became the earliest and most complete calendar in Chinese history, which has been passed down to this day, and the current lunar calendar is still called "Xia calendar".
The so-called elephant man, the "Ci Yuan" is explained as the origin of all things, and later cited as the feudal emperor's domination of the world. Therefore, the elephant is an authority, a centralization, or an effective control of resources. According to modern economics, elephants should be enterprise groups that can control the industry market and have strong market influence in products, capital channels and means of production. The impact of an elephant is first and foremost visible, it has products, it has staff, and it has all kinds of advertising campaigns. But at the same time, the influence of elephants is even more invisible, it has a magic power that affects every group endlessly. Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching" said that "elephants are invisible", which also covers this meaning, and the invisible point of elephants is the absolute control of the market, from the control of thinking, awareness and behavior. The ancients: Hold the elephant, the world goes. Every person, every group or class, is trying to find the right entry point, hoping to become the leader of the elephant.