【Main content overview】
In this chapter, Lao Tzu expounded his own governance proposition through the words of the sage, believing that the ruler should do nothing, be quiet, have nothing to do, and have no desire, and must "take the world with nothing", thus distinguishing it from the power politics of Chapter 30 of "strengthening the world with soldiers", the latter is "governing the country with righteousness and using soldiers with odds", and taking power as the correct name, it will form all kinds of taboos and advocate unscrupulous power schemes.
[Common misunderstandings of traditional interpretation]
First, the phrase "governing the country with righteousness, using troops with oddity, and taking the world with nothing" is regarded as three parallel clauses, which are interpreted as three methods corresponding to three scenarios, which seems to mean "prescribing the right medicine for the situation", but in fact introduces the Confucian concept of rule by virtue and righteousness; second, "zheng" is regarded as "quiet and inaction" or "pure and quiet way", so the comments on Confucian politics leading to disputes in the world are replaced by Lao Tzu's thought of non-action; third, "self-transformation" is interpreted as "self-cultivation"; and fourth, "good quietness" is regarded as a personal self-cultivation attribute.
[Original]
Govern the country with righteousness, use troops with oddity, and take the world with nothing. How do I know that? In this way: there are many taboos in the world, and the people are poor, the people have many sharp weapons, and the country is faint, there are many people and tricks, strange things are raised, laws and regulations are promoted, and there are many thieves.
Misfortune and blessing are relied upon, and blessing and misfortune are lurking. Who knows its extreme, its incorrectness, the positive recovery is strange, and the good recovery is the demon. The mystery of people is long-lasting.
Therefore, the sage said: "I do nothing and the people are self-reliant, I am quiet and the people are self-righteous, I have nothing to do and the people are self-enriched, I have no desire and the people are simple."
[Translation of Tao Te Ching: Wu Wei and Freedom (Revised Version)]
Governing the country in the name of righteousness will inevitably lead to the use of strange soldiers, and only the rule of nothing can win the trust of the world. Why do I say that? because:
The more taboos there are in a society (in the name of righteousness), the poorer the people become, the more weapons the people have, the more chaotic the country becomes, the more scheming and clever people are, and the more strange and chaotic things will emerge, and the more numerous the laws and regulations, the more thieves will increase.
Disasters rely on happiness, and happiness lurks in disasters. Who knows what the ideal rule is? That is, instead of taking righteousness as the name, it is strange to talk about "righteous governance," and to talk about goodness (virtue) turns into evil, and people have been confused about this for a long time.
Therefore, the sage said: "I practice non-action, the people develop and evolve independently, I am quiet and constant, the people have their own justice, I do not cause things for no reason, the people are naturally rich, I am selfless and desireless, and the people are naturally simple."
[Governing the country with righteousness, using soldiers with odds, and taking the world with nothing]
The interpretation of the first three sentences is the key, only Wang Bi in the Wei and Jin dynasties in history understood these three sentences as a choice relationship rather than a juxtaposition relationship interpreted by others, except for Wang Bi, all interpretations of "governing the country with righteousness" from ancient times to the present are positive, because the definition of "politics" in Confucian culture is "politicians, righteous people", so in their discourse system, "politics" is the so-called "governing the country with righteousness".
Wang Bi commented: "If you govern the country with the Tao, the country will be peaceful, if you govern the country with righteousness, you will be able to start with strange soldiers, and if you have nothing to do, you can take the world", and explained, "The husband governs the country with the Tao, worships the original and ends with the rest, governs the country with the right, and establishes the end to attack the end. It can be seen that, in his view, the first three sentences of the original text are not juxtaposed, not three solutions for three scenarios, not the right medicine, but the choice relationship, which is the thesis of this chapter. The "righteousness" here is different from the "righteousness" in "Tranquility is the righteousness of the world", but according to the standards set by the rulers, it is "positive", and it is orthodox with power;
At the same time, he also said, "Those who take the world often think that they have nothing to do, and they have something to do, but they are not enough to take the world." Therefore, it is not enough to rule the country with righteousness, and it is not enough to use soldiers with odds." In addition to corresponding to the original text quoted by Wang Bi, the interpretation of "taking the world with nothing" is also in contrast to "I will take the world and do it, but I see that it is unattainable" (chapters 45 and 29 of the Tao Te Ching), indicating that the opposite of "nothing" is "something", and the latter is also promising.
[Common misreading] first, interpreting "zheng" as "righteous way", which is a Confucian cultural term, and "dao" has no correct and strange theory, or it can be said to be "normal", "regular method", "orthodox method", and so on; second, "taking the world" is regarded as "governing the world".
How do I know that? In this way: there are many taboos in the world, and the people are poor, the people have many sharp weapons, and the country is faint, there are many people and tricks, and strange things are raised, and laws and regulations are promoted, and there are many thieves.
Then, Lao Tzu started from the problem of "governing the country with righteousness", "there are many taboos in the world" refers to all kinds of taboo behaviors stipulated by those in power, as long as there is the incentive of "Shangxian", correspondingly, there will be many "taboo" suppression, they take power as justice, set up so-called moral standards to force the people to comply, depriving themselves of personal value autonomy, so as to lead the society to a situation of "profit out of a hole", which is also "governing the country by virtue" or the characteristics of theocracy, which will inevitably tie the hands and feet of the people, so that they lose their freedom and creativity and fall into poverty, so it is said that "the people are poor".
At the same time, the poverty of the common people will lead to the deterioration of the social security situation, so there is the problem of "the people have many sharp weapons, and the country is fainted"; the people have "sharp weapons" either for the purpose of violating others or for self-protection, and no matter what the situation is, it shows that public safety is not guaranteed, and that is a phenomenon of troubled times; and in order to seek personal success in a disorderly society, a large number of speculators with "many people and many tricks" will emerge, that is, "strange people", who will use unscrupulous means to "breed strange things"; The "law" here refers to the law of the emperor, which is different from the law formed by "taking the hearts of the people as the heart" (chapters 74 and 49 of the Tao Te Ching), which is the will of power rather than the will of the public, so it is only a tool for "governing the country with righteousness".
[Common misunderstandings] first, interpreting "the people have more sharp weapons, and the country is fainting" as "the more advanced tools there are among the people, the more the country will breed chaos", and second, interpreting "laws and regulations are flourishing, and there are many thieves" as "the more numerous and detailed legal orders, the more thieves will appear", and it is obviously impossible for legal provisions to be "directly proportional" to the number of thieves.
[Where misfortune and blessing are relied upon, blessing and misfortune are lurking. Who knows its extreme, its incorrectness, the positive recovery is strange, and the good recovery is the demon. The mystery of people is long-lasting. 】
If this passage is retained in Chapter 58 of the popular version, there is a logical fault problem, and moving it to this chapter can well explain the transformation relationship between positive and strange, echoing the thesis at the beginning of "governing the country with righteousness and using soldiers with strangeness", that is to say, the reason why people are difficult to determine is mainly because of their power and promising, which is manifested in the name of righteousness, and the society is full of conspiracies and struggles that surprisingly win; on the contrary, if "the world is won by nothing", or "the world is visited by the Tao", it will not be unpredictable and the good and the strange will be difficult to distinguish, then it can be "its ghosts and not gods" ("" Tao Te Ching, chapters 58, 60), so that the ghosts and gods lose the market.
[Therefore, the sage cloud: "I do nothing and the people are self-reliant, I am quiet and the people are self-righteous, I have nothing to do and the people are self-rich, I have no desire and the people are simple"]
Finally, Lao Tzu summarized the four basic principles of the relationship between the government and the people in a Taoist society: "I do nothing and the people are self-reliant, I am quiet and the people are self-righteous, I have nothing to do and the people are self-enriched, I have no desire and the people are simple." Among them, the way of "inaction" is the root of value (virtue), power does nothing and does not infringe on the people, the people can develop freely, that is, "the people are self-righteous"; power is "quiet" because "tranquility is the righteousness of the world", and "tranquility is the restless king", and only by "keeping quiet" can the ruler avoid capriciousness, so as to "the people are self-righteous"; "Nothing happens, does not consume people's wealth and people's power, and power does not destroy social values, thus bringing "the people become rich"; "No desire" is the basic attribute of the Tao, "often no desire can be named small" ("Tao Te Ching" chapters 45, 26, 16, 34), power has no desire, there is a Tao in the world, only then can the people's nature return, thus bringing "the people are simple".
First, "wu wei" is interpreted as "doing nothing", "no desire for selfishness", and so on, and even equates it with the Confucian doctrine of moral education, that is, the so-called vertical arch rule, so that "self-transformation" is said to be "self-cultivation", "self-submission", "natural Hue", "self-purification", "natural education", etc., and second, "good quietness" is regarded as a personality description of self-cultivation culture, for example, "inner tranquility", and "self-righteousness" is interpreted as "naturally becoming of good character" or "self-righteousness is on the right path" , are all Confucian rhetoric. In short, the four pairs of government-people interaction models mentioned in the original text are understood as Confucian model thinking, which is the Confucian culture of rule by virtue, and the "non-action" mentioned by Confucianism, not the non-action of Lao Tzu.