<h1>Image excerpt from the internet (if there is infringement, please contact to delete).</h1>
When it comes to knowing and stopping, the most common explanation is that it is "moderate and stop", reminding people to understand the enough and accept it when they see it. The so-called moderate can be stopped, too much. However, just from this aspect of the analysis of "knowledge and stop" is inevitably too biased, some hope for the literal meaning.
Regarding "knowing and stopping", both Taoists and Confucians have very classic expressions.
The book of Rites and Universities begins by saying: "The way of the university is in Mingmingde, in the people, and in the ultimate good." Knowing and then having concentration, being still and then being able to be still, being quiet and then being able to be at peace, being able to be at peace and then being able to worry, worrying and then being able to get. Things have an end, and things have an end. If you know what you have done, you will be close to the road. ”
"Lao Tzu" has a saying: "Contentment is not humiliating, knowledge is not lost, it can last a long time." "The Tao is often nameless. Although Park is small, the world can not be chen. If the prince can keep it, all things will be at his own mercy. Heaven and earth are united, and they are self-equalized by the order of the people. The origin is famous. The name is also there, and the husband will know it. Knowing can not be lost. "The University"
<h1>Confucianism ends in neutralizing the state of the highest good</h1>
What is "Knowing"?
Then first of all, we must know what is "stopping", and stopping is stopping, which in the Confucian view is "supreme goodness". As for the knowledge, "University" has been fully expanded below. "Poetry" Yun: "Bangqi is thousands of miles, and the Uighurs stop." "Poetry" Cloud: "The yellow bird of the yellow bird, stops at the corner of the hill." Zi Yue: "In the end, knowing what it stops, can people be inferior to birds?" "The stop here has the meaning of to, to, and to stop, and the bird still knows where the stop (perch) is, is man still inferior to the bird?" Obviously, the cessation here is not a degree of cessation, but a person should have a clear goal and direction. Then it specifically enumerates the contents of the stopping, "To be a king, to stop at benevolence; to be a subject to respect; to be a son of man, to stop at filial piety; to be a father, to stop at kindness; to befriend the people of the country, to stop at faith." To be a prince is to stop at benevolence, to be a subject to respect, to be a son of man to be filial piety, to be a father to be kind, and to be honest in dealing with the people.
Everything in the universe has its own "stop" and has its own place of existence. These are the connotations of "stop" defined in terms of specific identity. Confucianism is the study of gentlemen and the study of sanctification, Zhu Xi believes that the university is the "study of adults", Wang Yangming further explained, in his masterpiece "University Question", focusing on the study of saints is "the study of adults", the way of saints is "the way of adults". The opening chapter of "University" also explains, "The way of the university is in Mingmingde, in the people, and in the ultimate good." The first step in the way of the university is to enlighten one's own virtues, to brighten one's own virtues, and to restore its natural nature. Then the final foothold is "the highest good".
What is the "supreme good"?
Wang Yangming explained in the "University Question": "The nature of the Mandate of Heaven is purely good, and its spirit is not ignorant, and the development of its supreme goodness is the essence of Mingde, and the so-called conscience is also." The Supreme Good, then, is the essence of Matilda, the "Tao" of the root of all things. "The Middle Way" has a cloud: "The destiny of heaven is sex, and the willfulness is the tao." The Tao has no good or evil, is neutral and impartial. Through the "Three Programs" and "Eight Articles" of the "University", the self-cultivation and perfection are completed, so that the obscured Matilda is presented, so as to reach the ultimate state of the supreme good, which is the saint. That is, the so-called "Tao Sheng Virtue is supremely good, and the people must not forget it."
Therefore, the first step of the "Eight Articles" is to "know the end" and understand what the ultimate goal of self-cultivation is, so that there will be no bias. So the "supreme good" is the ultimate state of knowing.
<h1>Taoist, stop at nature to the state of simplicity</h1>
Although the perspectives and contents of The Taoists and Confucians differ in their exposition of "Zhizhi", their inner core essence is the same.
Chapter 32 of the Tao Te Ching says, "The Word is always nameless. Although Park is small, the world can not be chen. If the prince can keep it, all things will be at his own mercy. Heaven and earth are united, and they are self-equalized by the order of the people. The origin is famous. The name is also there, and the husband will know it. Knowing can not be lost. As we can see above, Confucianism believes that knowing is the first step in self-cultivation, and the most end is the supreme good. Lao Tzu, then, proposed that knowing and stopping can "not perish." In the twenty-fifth chapter of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu also clearly said: "When things are mixed, they are born in heaven and earth." Lonely, independent and unchanging, circumnavigating without dying, can be the mother of heaven and earth. I don't know its name, but the strong word is called 'Tao', and the strong word is called 'Big'. Obviously, only the "Tao" is truly "immortal." The Tao, which originally had no name, we called it "the Tao" is reluctantly for it. But the "Tao" does exist, and its characteristics are simplicity, that is, there is no carving, no selfishness, no distinction, no shape, the heavens and the earth live according to it, and no force can transcend and dominate this "Tao."
So what is Lao Tzu's "knowledge of stopping"?
Because it is "famous", it is necessary to "know the end". Name refers to the name phase, and all kinds of visible and tangible substances belong to the name phase. The more names, the more differences, the more differences, the more separations, the farther away from the Path. Therefore, Lao Tzu admonished the world to eliminate distinctions, to return to simplicity, to simplicity, to tranquility, and only in this way can you act closest to the Tao and stay away from danger. Therefore, Lao Tzu's cessation is the highest principle of life, that is, the Path that was born from heaven and earth.
Similarly, the same expression is made in chapter 44 of the Tao Te Ching: "What is the name or the body?" How much is there in the body and goods? What is the disease of death or death? Therefore, if you love very much, you will spend a lot, and if you hide more, you will die. Contentment is not humiliating, knowledge is not lost, can be long-lasting. "Name and body, body and goods, gain and death, their essence is all images played by the "Tao", and their essence is the same. If one is abandoned, it will incur "fees" and "deaths". How can it be long-lasting? Only by seeing the true ontology behind all the "names", eliminating distinctions, eliminating dualistic opposites, returning to simplicity, and returning to the innate natural state, can we be immortal for a long time.
Looking back at the Confucian and Taoist descriptions of "knowing and stopping", although the way the two are expressed is different, Confucianism proposes that the "stop" of a gentleman's self-cultivation should fall on the ultimate goal of "supreme goodness", that is, the ultimate goal of neutralization without good and no evil; The Taoists propose to eliminate dualistic opposites and return to the natural nature of the Tao, which was born in the heavens and the earth, and is natural and simple. However, both emphasize the need to always be vigilant, correct deviations and corrections, and be the same as the Heavenly Dao.
Therefore, "knowing and stopping" is a kind of wisdom, a kind of virtue, and the ultimate state of life cultivation.
<h1>Source: Confucian everyone</h1>