Hello everyone, here is a small broadcast reading, today we continue to share the "Liezi Tianrui Chapter", earlier we introduced the ontological ideas about Liezi, in short, the Tao is the beginning of all things, the Tao is the law of the cycle itself, the Tao has no beginning, nor the end. The production of all things is a process from nothing, consisting of four stages: from Taiyi, Taichu, Taichu, to Taisu. Next, today we continue to share the content of "Liezi Tianrui Chapter", we share Liezi's concept of life and death and life outlook.
One day, when Liezi came to Weiguo, when he was eating and sleeping on the side of the road, the people in his entourage saw a skeleton that was a hundred years old, and Liezi pointed to the skeleton and said to his disciples, only I know that there is no difference between life and death, do he need to be sad when he dies? Am I alive to be happy? In fact, it is not needed, life and death are just a natural law.
Liezi says that everything that exists will return to the formless, and that the tangible body will become empty. Things that exist first and then die are not entities that exist forever; things that form first and then die are not the Tao itself. What remains, logically, must disappear. What disappears must disappear, just as what remains must remain. The assumption that it is to live forever and not perish is not clear about the laws of nature. The same is true of man, who is made up of spirits and forms. Souls are possessed by Heaven; skeletons are possessed by Earth. The essence of returning to heaven drifts away; the essence of returning to earth gathers when it is heavy. Spirits leave form and return to their origins, hence the name "ghost". Ghosts, which mean return, return to the root of vitality. The Yellow Emperor said, "The soul rises to the Gate of Heaven, and the skeleton returns to the underground, what else do I have?" ”
Liezi also divides a person's life into four stages: baby, young and strong, old age, and death. In infancy, the ambition is single-minded, the vitality is particularly mellow, and external objects do not harm him, because the virtue is complete. In the period of youth, the flesh and blood are strong, the desire is enhanced, and external objects can interfere with him, so the virtue begins to decrease. In old age, desire weakens, the body is close to rest, and external objects are difficult to interfere; by the time of death, man has come to rest and returns to his destination. This is the Taoist view of life and death, they look at life and death as a very natural law, death is not worthy of sadness, even they go beyond life and death and worldly happiness, let's look at two stories.
The first story. One day Confucius went to Taishan to play, saw a person named Rong Qiqi walking, dressed very strangely, and sang while walking, looking very happy, Confucius went to ask him, why is it so happy? Rong Qiqi said that I have many reasons for happiness, all things are born, people are the most honorable, and I am a person, which is the first reason why I am happy. There is a difference between men and women, more men are more honorable, I am a man, this is my second reason for happiness. Human life is short, some people die in the womb, and I live to be nearly 90 years old, which is the third reason why I am happy. Rong Qiqi continued that poverty is the most common encounter for readers, death is the destination of life, I am happy to be poor, waiting for death, what else to worry about? Confucius said, "That's good! Sure enough, he is a person who can comfort himself! ”
The second story. One day Confucius came to Weiguo and saw an old man on the ridge of the field, while picking up ears of wheat in the field, while singing, very happy, Confucius asked Zigong to talk to this old man. The old man, named Lin, was nearly 100 years old and made a living by picking ears of wheat. Zigong asked him, you are so old, you still rely on picking ears of wheat for a living, why are you still so happy, shouldn't you feel very distressed? The old man raised his head and told Zigong: Why should I be bothered? Zigong said, when you were young, you didn't work hard, when you grew up, you didn't compete with the luck of the times, you didn't even have your wife and children around when you were old, and now you still live by picking ears of wheat. Lin Fan laughed and said, The reason why I am happy is that everyone can do it, but you still think it is pain.
Lin Shi went on to say, First of all, because I didn't work hard when I was young, and when I grew up, I didn't compete with the luck of the times, so I could live so long. Secondly, because I am old and have no wife and children, I see that I am about to die, which is why I am so happy. Zigong asked rhetorically, everyone wants to live a long life, but shouldn't we avoid death? Why do you think death is joy? Lin Zhi replied, "Death and life are opposites, so they come and go, and they die here, so how do you know that you are not born elsewhere?" So, life and death are actually the same thing, why should I insist on pursuing life? Where did I know that dying now would not be better than living? ”
Zigong listened, unable to understand what he meant, and went back to tell his teacher Confucius. Confucius said, "I will say that this man can talk about it, and it is true; but he is a man who understands the truth, but he has not yet reached the level of perfection." Confucius meant that this person had not experienced marrying a wife and having children, and his life might not be complete.
Through these two stories, we can actually see Confucianism and Taoist thought, the attitude towards life and death and life, Confucianism looks more at the meaning and value of rebirth, Confucius said "unknown birth, knowing death", and Taoist thought regards life and death as a natural law, and does not hate death because it is more about rebirth, which is the difference between Taoist and Confucian thought in the concept of life and death.
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