Tao Te Ching: What is "Xuande"?

Lao Tzu:

"The Tao is born, the animal is virtuous, the form of things, and the potential is to be virtuous because all things do not respect the Tao."

This chapter of Lao Tzu reveals to us the operating mechanism of the interdependence and mutual restriction of all things in heaven and earth.

The "Tao" is the master of all things in heaven and earth, and the ultimate cause of the universe, so all things are born from the "Tao".

But the "Tao" is only responsible for the creation of all things, and the maintenance and further development of all things depends on the care of "virtue", that is, "virtue and animals".

The function of "virtue" nurturing is played in the form of "potential", and "potential" achieves the different forms of all things.

For example, the spring and autumn name XiangYan Baby once said that "oranges are born in the south for oranges, and oranges are born in the north for citrus".

The same are orange trees, growing in the south can produce sweet and sour oranges, growing in the north can only produce bitter and sour citrus, because there are differences in the climate and water and soil between the north and south.

The same is true of people, and a person's development and achievements are also "inevitable" to a large extent.

Some people are destined to run for the full stomach as soon as they are born, and their belief in life may be to make money to make a good life for their families;

Some people enjoy great wealth and nobility as soon as they are born, so they have developed a vain and extravagant style of life;

Some people are born with no shortage of food and clothing, but they also do not have great wealth and wealth to cover their hearts.

Bearing the pressure of survival but also having a relatively loose living space, they are more willing to rise to the philosophical level to think and explore the essence of life, so they often become "thinkers".

The same croaking falls to the ground, but will walk out of a different life, which is "the success of the momentum".

Our ancestors saw the power of the "potential" and tried to grasp and use it, so there were scheming techniques and martial arts based on "judging the situation and following the trend".

Why Su Qin and Zhang Yi single-handedly crisscrossed the warring states, and why Sun Liu's combined forces burned Chibi and destroyed the Cao army, relied on "potential" all of them.

Therefore, in the concept of our Chinese culture, "potential" has an extremely important position, which also reflects the breadth and depth of the wisdom of our ancestors.

Lao Tzu concluded that "all things are noble and noble", and there is no heaven and earth that does not attach importance to "Tao" and "Virtue".

With "Daosheng" and "Virtuous Animals", all things can be "nurtured for a long time, poisoned by the pavilion, and covered by the cover of the pavilion".

"Pavilion" is balanced development, and "poison" is not poison, but the meaning of governance.

This is like a forest without human intervention, all kinds of plants and trees, animals mixed together to survive, although disorganized, but in a state of interdependence, mutual restraint to maintain the balance of this ecological environment.

All this credit comes from the "Tao" and "Virtue", who created all things and built a harmonious and stable relationship between heaven and earth, but they were "born without being, not ashamed, and growing without slaughtering."

Having given birth to all things but never taking them for themselves, having achieved such a great deed but never boasting of merit, everything is natural, helping all things to grow, but it is not the master of the high, but let everything remain in a natural state.

This kind of virtue Lao Tzu called "Xuande", and it was from here that Liu Bei's characters came from during the Three Kingdoms period.

"Xuan" Lao Tzu explained at the beginning that the state of mutual extinction, interdependence and progressive development of the two forces of existence and non-existence is called "Xuan".

Therefore, the name "Xuande" is very appropriate to describe the state in which all things in heaven and earth are self-generating and developing naturally and in balance.

In this chapter, Lao Tzu explores the virtue of inaction between heaven and earth, and we, as the most unique beings between heaven and earth, largely hold the initiative to get along with all things in heaven and earth.

Therefore, whether in terms of personal cultivation or coexistence with nature, we must not be able to break away from the trend of heaven and earth and put ourselves in a position opposite to the Heavenly Dao.

We must always bear in mind the virtue of "being born without being, being proud of what we are, and not slaughtering when we are long," and egoism will surely lead to its own demise and aggravate the contradictions between people and between people and between people and nature.

Only the virtue of doing nothing can achieve all this harmony and stability, which is the advice given to us by our ancestors, and we should reflect on it well.