We live in a world full of rules, and these rules require people to do this and do that, and it seems that not following the rules is a great rebellion.
But the rules won't tell you, you should follow your heart and go with nature.
We live in a world full of standards that tell people that they should live this way, they should live that way, and if they don't, they are complete losers.
However, there are no standards in life.
Man is a very magical existence, no rules can define him, there is no standard in life, and the so-called standard is only the self-righteous prejudice of some people.
Such prejudices are prevalent in the world, because everyone has their own prejudices, and some prejudices are shared by most people, forming the so-called "success" standard of the world.
When you can't breathe between these rules, you might as well read Zhuangzi, because Zhuangzi will tell us that there is no standard in life, and the really awesome people never use external standards to demand themselves, but live their own lives and conform to nature.
01
Tao begets one, one begets two, two begets three, and three begets all things.
All things coexist, it doesn't matter whether it is high or low, share the rain, share the rain and dew, and bathe in the sun.
But among all things, human beings are not willing to be lonely, and they are self-righteous, jumping out to set standards, labeling other things, this is useful, that is useless, this is good, that is bad, this is successful, that is unsuccessful.
So, Keiko was troubled by the uselessness of his gourd, and finally simply destroyed the gourd, complaining that his big tree was useless.
This is the pit that human beings have dug for themselves, and the traps they have set for themselves.
In fact, useful and useless are just people's own prejudices, everything has its own meaning of existence, it doesn't matter whether it is used or not, people use various prejudices to look at all things, and also treat themselves with various prejudices, and the world has become a place full of prejudices.
The prejudices created by man himself also bind man himself, making him unable to be free and making him dare not be free.
Chuang Tzu said:
The big knows the leisure, and the small knows the intermittent.
Big words, small words Zhan Zhan.
Those who have great wisdom are broad and elegant, but only those who are small and wise are stubborn and narrow-minded;
People live in their own shallow perceptions, fight for their own selfish interests, and do everything for their own prejudices.
As a result, they negotiate and entangle with the outside world all day long, intrigue day after day, and live a strange life, each with its own limitations.
When they get what they want, they are happy, and if they don't get what they want, they suffer, and they don't know the source of this happiness and pain.
In this concept, people come to this world, although they do not die immediately, but they are also waiting for death in sorrow and attrition, they hurt each other with foreign objects, rub against each other, run on the road to death, exhaust but do not succeed all their lives, tired and sleepy but do not know how to live this life.
This is the situation of people in the world, for fame and profit, but not for themselves, external things dominate people's hearts, so that people cannot really be themselves.
However, those who are really powerful dare to break through prejudice, transcend prejudice, and do not take pleasure in things or feel sorry for themselves, because they know that all things are one.
02
Today, this society sets a lot of standards for people, such as what it means to be successful, and what a person of a certain age should do.
These are all standards set by human beings for themselves, but where do these standards come about?
God can testify that there were no standards in this world at first, but human beings are bored and see the behavior of certain people as good, so there are standards, and the behavior of certain people is seen as bad, so there are taboos.
However, good and bad are only the prejudices of a certain part of the people.
It is precisely because of such prejudice that future generations rush to follow suit, lest they fall behind, so there is a struggle, there is a struggle for fame and fortune, which is the source of suffering.
However, Zhuangzi saw the absurdity of this prejudice, so he said:
If personal preconceptions are used as the standard by which things are judged, then everyone has their own standards, even the stupidest people, have their own standards.
It can be seen that there are no standards in life, because you have your standards, and I have my standards.
But the obvious fact is that some people don't dare to believe in their own standards, so they follow other people's standards, which is to put their own feet in other people's shoes, regardless of whether it fits or not.
If you think about it a little deeper, where does the so-called standards of the world come from? You will find that the basis for making them judge in this way is only a subjective imagination.
Perhaps many people who are taken as a role model of some kind of standard do not understand why!
We all know that the order behind everything is the Tao.
However, because the Tao is obscure, it has the truth and falsehood, and many people in this world feel that the life they understand is correct, but the real "right" thing has never emerged.
Some people are more powerful and see the Tao clearly, but once they describe it in words, the language becomes obscure, and so there is a debate about right and wrong.
Zhuangzi tells us that it is really boring to fight back and forth like this, so it is better to think about nothing and observe things as they are, like a mirror, to reflect all things, but not to judge.
03
Zhuangzi told a story about raising monkeys, which I think is very similar to today's humans.
An old man who kept monkeys gave the monkeys food, and the old man said to the monkeys:
Three liters in the morning and four liters in the evening.
When the monkeys heard this, they were all angry.
The old man changed his words again and said:
That's four liters in the morning and three liters in the evening.
The monkeys listened and were very happy.
The essence of things has not changed, but it has been presented in a different form, but it has aroused the joy and anger of the monkeys, and most people are not like that? The essence of things has not changed, but because of some external changes, all kinds of emotions have arisen.
This life, past and past, is all life.
Some people are sad because they have lost something, and they are ecstatic because they have gained something.
However, your life is still your life, and the most essential thing in life has not changed.
The same food, the same amount, but the subjective feelings of the monkeys changed.
Life is also, joys, sorrows, and sorrows are subjective feelings, and these external things cannot change the inner essence at all.
Zhuangzi has a saying:
For the sake of not using it, it is mediocre.
This means not to be obsessed with the use or non-use of the world, but to see things as they are.
Let all things be all things, and let you be you.
If you do your best, all things will naturally become what they should be.
04
In today's society, knowledge is overflowing, and people know a lot of knowledge, but they still can't live this life.
Why?
Knowledge can make people live, and wisdom can make people live well.
In Zhuangzi's view, the highest wisdom is that people go back to the origin of the universe and know that in the beginning, there was nothing in this world, and there was chaos.
This is the deepest and most thorough understanding, and it is the highest state of wisdom.
Because there is nothing, everything is possible, everything is allowed.
The second is that although we feel that all things exist, we do not distinguish and limit them, and without discrimination, people will not suffer because of external differences.
What's worse is that people feel that everything exists and there are differences, but there is no right or wrong in their understanding, everything is as it is, and there is no imposition on personal subjective judgment.
In Zhuangzi's view, the manifestation of the concept of right and wrong is caused by the loss of the Great Dao.
And the loss of the avenue is precisely because the individual is obsessed with personal prejudice, and the personal prejudice causes the right and wrong in the world, and there are endless arguments between people.
The more arguments, the more divisive.
The more you argue, the more pain and trouble, because if you lose, you will be troubled, but if you win, will you really win? Other people will be dissatisfied, and in order to maintain your position, you will defend these more desperately, endlessly.
So, as long as there is an argument, whether you win or lose, you lose.
Mr. Yang Jiang translated a poem and said:
I don't fight with anyone,
I don't care to fight with anyone,
I love nature,
The second is art;
I keep warm with the fire of life in my hands;
The fire is withering, and I'm ready to go!
Lao Tzu said:
Because it is indisputable, all things cannot compete with it.
But this is a world that is good at fighting, and people want to fight for everything, which is today's involution and today's internal friction.
05
Wang Ni was a man of enlightenment, and someone asked him:
Do you know what all things have in common?
Wang Ni said:
How would I know?
The man asked:
Do you know why you don't know?
Wang Ni replied:
I do not know.
This makes people very depressed:
Then everything in the world cannot be known?
Wang Ni replied:
How do I know? Still, I'll try to say, how do you know that what I say I know is really knowing, and how do you know that what I say I don't know is really not knowing?
To know or not to know, it's all relative.
When people sleep in damp places, they are prone to physical problems, but what about loaches? When people stay in trees, they are frightened, is it the same with apes?
In this way, humans, apes, loaches, which kind of animals know where to live?
A beautiful woman like Xi Shi is beautiful for human beings, but the fish are afraid when they see it, the birds want to fly high when they see it, and the elk want to run away when they see it.
Therefore, right and wrong, beauty and ugliness, good and bad, are actually people's own judgments.
For this world, there is no right or wrong, God allows good people to live, and bad people to live, and the sun shines on the good people as well as on the bad people.
Wang Ni's words were actually very interesting, but the man asked:
If you don't know what's at stake in the world, don't even people know it?
Wang Ni replied:
To the people riding the clouds, riding the sun and the moon, traveling beyond the four seas, death and life can not affect them, let alone such a trivial matter in the world?
So you see, really powerful people never live in these worldly rules, not in worldly right and wrong.
06
Zhuangzi has a wonderful debate about the rights and wrongs of this world:
You debate with me, you win, I lose, you are really right, am I really wrong?
If I win and you lose, am I really right? Are you really wrong?
Is one of them right and one of them wrong? Or are both of them right, or are both of them wrong?
At this point, neither you nor I can know.
Let's find someone to help us argue right and wrong, right and wrong, and who should we turn to?
Find someone who has the same point of view as you to judge, and since the point of view is the same as yours, how can you judge?
Find someone who has the same opinion as me to judge, and since he has the same opinion as me, how can he judge fairly, because he will be on my side and think that I am good.
Okay, let's find someone who has the same opinion as both of us, but since we are both the same, how can we judge?
Then let's find people who have different views from us, but since they are all different from us, how can they judge? I'm afraid that just watching the excitement will not be able to understand us at all.
Therefore, it is impossible to judge this right or wrong.
It's sometimes a fool to think that someone is right and someone else is wrong.
However, many people who live in this world decide the direction of their lives based on something that cannot be judged right or wrong.
In Zhuangzi's view, in fact, there is no need to investigate right and wrong at all, let alone live with the concept of right and wrong, but only need to conform to nature and live according to the most natural truth.
07
Life is a big dream, for us, we can't choose the most correct life, because when we are alive, we don't know whether we choose well or not, and when we die, we still can't know.
So, the only thing we know for sure about life is that we can only keep going through it.
If you want to live comfortably, you might as well jump out of certain rules and then live in style according to your natural nature.
One day, Zhuangzi had a dream that was too famous.
He dreamed that he had turned into a butterfly, flying briskly, and in the dream, he felt so comfortable that he had forgotten who Zhuang Zhou was.
However, Zhuangzi suddenly woke up, and he found that he was obviously Zhuang Zhou lying in bed.
I don't know if Zhuang Zhou dreamed of becoming a butterfly, or if a butterfly dreamed of becoming Zhuang Zhou.
However, there must be a difference between Zhuang Zhou and a butterfly.
Life is a big dream, maybe we are the dream of others, the existence of all things, maybe the same body, no difference.
08
The more we read Zhuangzi, the more we feel that he is some kind of antidote to our tired life.
This world makes us involuted, and personal concepts make us involuted, but Zhuangzi shows us another way, you don't have to care about so many rules, you don't judge life, don't judge the world, what it should be is what it is, live as it is.
That is true freedom.
Of course, there may be no peers on this road, maybe you can only explore it yourself, because walking on this road, there is no reference in your life, there is no example, everything is a kind of beginning, you don't have to fight for anything, and no one will fight with you.
In fact, later you will find that all those who involute are deeply involved in it, and they can come out when they turn around, but after all, they can only be victims of concepts and can only become victims of the world.
Maybe many people will say that the reason why they live like this is because of life.
But what I want to say is that it is because of life that we should live our own lives, because there is no standard in life, everything is allowed.
Those who try to stop our existence, not life, are people.
Source: Daily Light Reading
Editor: Wang Na
Editor in charge: Niu Dong