Long and unsubkilled Xuande
Lao Tzu's thought is for the sake of the princes, the princes are the chiefs or monarchs who rule the people, there are various ways to rule the people, and Lao Tzu's method is to be long and not to be slaughtered. He said, "The beast that is born, born without being, for the sake of not being ashamed, and growing without slaughtering, is called Xuande." Tang Xuanzong once had a very accurate explanation for this: "It is said that the law of the people and the king is quiet, so that each thing can be born, and the thing can be nurtured as much as possible." "Making things come into their own hands is the method of rule advocated by Lao Tzu, and its fundamental idea is to make the people's production and life self-sufficient without interference." This kind of inaction will certainly achieve considerable results, but the prince does not take this as his own merit, this is Xuande. There is a great virtue, but it does not appear, so it is called Xuande. The prince should have this kind of mind in order to govern the country well. This is the governing principle designed by Lao Tzu for the princes in reality.
However, in reality, princes are often unable to practice Lao Tzu's thoughts, and they have a lot of arrogance, so the realization of Lao Tzu's ideas is not an easy task. Not only that, but the ancient feudal state system also fundamentally hindered the realization of Lao Tzu's ideas. Therefore, in order to achieve the real rule of inaction, it is also necessary to carefully consider how to transform the existing state system to conform to the political ideal of rule by doing nothing.
In the feudal era, sometimes under certain conditions, it was also possible to achieve the rule of inaction to a certain extent. For example, the rule of Wenjing in the Han Dynasty is the famous rule of inaction that rests with the people. This was also recognized by many thinkers and politicians of the feudal era and the princes. For example, Ming Taizu, when he read this passage of Lao Tzu, once said: "Resting with the people's livelihood and saving it is the animal that is born." "However, the princes often cannot suppress the heart of great joy and merit after recuperating, and soon they will embark on the old road of laboring and hurting the people and money, so fundamentally speaking, the feudal system determines that Lao Tzu's idea of doing nothing cannot be truly realized.
Different versions of Lao Tzu in the Tang, Song, and Qing dynasties