Preface
"Heaven and earth are not benevolent, and all things are used as dogs", this sentence comes from Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching", and many literary works like to use this sentence to describe the cruelty of the world and sympathize with the difficulties of ordinary people's lives. In fact, they completely misunderstood the meaning of this sentence.
Everyone knows that the core of Lao Tzu's thought is "Tao", emphasizing "ruling by doing nothing" and obeying the heart, and Taoist thought is not so critical, so it is not right to understand this sentence literally.
So what exactly does this sentence mean, and what kind of dog is a dog?
1. Chic Taoism
In the history of the mainland, there was a period of high ideological activity and freedom, that is, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
It was an era of decay, Zhou Tianzi existed in name only, and the monarchs of various vassal states wanted to rely on their own strength to develop and expand the country, and the growth of a country required strong military strength and capital, as well as a defensible statecraft.
The contention of a hundred schools of thought happened in this era.
Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, Soldiers, and Mohists that we are familiar with were all the mainstream schools of thought during this period, and different schools of thought wrote books and lectures, and students went to various vassal states in the hope of gaining the appreciation of the monarch, and hoping that the statecraft of their own schools could be adopted.
The core of Confucianism is "benevolence", which emphasizes the principle of virtue and people-oriented, and attaches importance to etiquette and morality. Confucianism is good, but it is not applicable in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period when the princes competed for hegemony, and it is more suitable for peaceful and stable dynasties, and is suitable for the period of great unification.
The Mohists pay attention to "both love" and "non-offensive", and the so-called "non-offensive" is against war, which is obviously not suitable for the era of princes competing for hegemony.
At that time, the more popular ones were the military and the legalists, one of whom emphasized the law and the other the military. At that time, the Qin State, which was poor and weak, became strong step by step on the basis of the Shang Dynasty reform.
And the Taoism we want to focus on is not quite the same as the ideas of several other schools.
The founder of Taoism is Lao Tzu, who is a very free and easy person. Lao Tzu's idea of governing the country is called "rule by inaction", the so-called rule by inaction, which means that the monarch should not impose too much of his own ideas on the country and the people, everything has its own law of development, and it is best to go with the flow.
He believes that if you interfere too much, it is easy to make mistakes, and it is better to let things develop on their own. Lao Tzu's thought is suitable for a country that has just ended a chaotic period and rests with the people.
Such a free and easy Taoist will naturally not loudly criticize "heaven and earth are unkind", so how to understand this sentence?
2. Go with the flow
The meaning of this sentence is that heaven and earth will not say whether they are benevolent or not, and they treat everything like a dog, leaving them to fend for themselves.
Therefore, this sentence is not to accuse heaven and earth of unkindness, but to show that everything in the world has its own law of development, and even the "God" in our mouth will not interfere.
In fact, it is not wrong to translate this sentence according to the normal literary translation method, and to understand it as the unkindness of heaven and earth, but when we understand a philosophical sentence, we need to combine its context and context, and we cannot just look at one of them.
This sentence comes from the fifth chapter of the Tao Te Ching, and the last sentence of this sentence is: "Between heaven and earth, its still 橐 (tuó) 籥 (yuè) is void and unyielding, moving and becoming more and more out." It is better to keep the middle than to talk too much. ”
The meaning of these two sentences is that heaven and earth are like a bellows, and the more you move it, the more wind it will have, and it will not dry up if you don't move. It's like governing a country, the more often you issue some decrees, the easier it is for the people to be confused, so it's better to just go with the flow.
Therefore, if you combine the upper and lower sentences to understand this sentence, you can understand what Lao Tzu really wants to express.
So, what is the dog in this sentence? Can it be understood literally?
3. What is a dog?
We all know that in ancient times, people would ask the heavens when they encountered major events or disasters, and sacrifices were needed at this time. And sacrifice naturally requires sacrifices.
Generally speaking, the sacrifice needs to use pigs, cows, sheep and other livestock, and some cruel people will be used for sacrifice.
However, livestock was not only an important property for ancient people, but also the main labor force for farming, and although it could be used for sacrifice, it could show respect for God, but the loss was also relatively large.
Therefore, in addition to the families and emperors, ordinary villages and villagers often use dogs instead of cattle and sheep and other livestock when sacrificing, and poorer places will even directly use grass to weave into the shape of a dog to replace the real dog as a sacrifice, which is the source of "dog", "dog" means grass.
Because the "dog" is not a real dog, its mission is completed after the end of the sacrifice, and naturally it will not attract people's attention again.
So "dog" is often used to describe useless, tiny things or things. And in the eyes of "heaven and earth", all living beings are not like "dogs", tiny and inconspicuous.
Of course, no matter how tiny a existence is, it has its own way of survival, and heaven and earth will not pay too much attention to these tiny things, just let them fend for themselves.
Looking at it this way, Lao Tzu's thinking seems to be a little too cold and ruthless, but in fact, what Lao Tzu actually wants to express is that he hopes that the ruler can give the people space to live.
He believes that a qualified ruler should control the major policies, let the people go with the flow in the details, and give the people a certain amount of freedom.
In ancient times, it was the common people who were most oppressed and exploited, and in many cases the common people were satisfied as long as they could live a life of male ploughing and weaving, and eating and drinking, but the harsh taxation and forced labor often made them miserable.
This is that the ruler intervenes too much in the lives of the common people, so that they cannot live normally, so that there will naturally be contradictions, and after a long period of contradictions, rebellions will erupt, and then wars will arise.
Therefore, Lao Tzu's "rule by inaction" is not a rule of inaction, but a reasonable rule, and the ruler should not take it for granted, change the order at the moment, and ignore the law.
epilogue
Whether it is Taoism, Confucianism, Mohism or even other schools of thought, their ultimate goal is to build a peaceful and stable country, and the common people, as an important part of the country, naturally need to be paid enough attention.
Lao Tzu seems to be free and uninhibited, but from his thoughts, we can still see that his ultimate goal is still to hope that the lives of ordinary people can be better, so that the country and society can be stable.