On the material level, man is doomed to nothing

Chapter TWENTY-THREE is also very important. Each chapter of the Tao Te Ching has its focus, so each chapter has a special use. For example, this chapter is very suitable for contemporary times, and contemporary social life, interpersonal communication, etc., can be handled using the wisdom of this chapter.

Let's start with "Nature".

"Xiyan nature" means less talking, less tossing, less conceptual things. For the ruler, it is to give as few orders as possible. It's a bit like the previous "unspoken teachings." Lao Tzu always said that "if you rule a big country and cook small fresh", governing the country is like cooking a small fish, don't toss around, don't fool around, if you always upside down, you will mash the small fish into a pot of sauce, so you must "say naturally".

"Xiyan Nature" is also a kind of personal cultivation. The other day, I criticized a volunteer because he always felt that he had to communicate with others. He didn't know that a lot of times, communication didn't mean much, it was just a waste of time. There are very few people in this world who can change their personality by communicating. Some communication is a waste. Of course, what I deny is only communicative communication, not learning communication. Communicative communication is just some emotions and thoughts, the other party will soon forget, how good it is, and the meaning is not great. But learning communication can be useful, such as reading books, and it must be a good book, and reading a good book is to communicate with the master in the book, to contact some people that you can't contact in your daily life, and you will benefit a lot from their vision of the world and the way they treat the world. If you are reading a book of amusement and boredom, it does not mean much, because it is still some thoughts and emotions, and after that, it will pass, it will not answer questions, cannot sublimate you, cannot bring you closer to the Tao, but may make you deviate from the right path and aggravate your desires and ignorance. It is better not to read such a book than not to read.

If you want to verify what I'm saying, you can look at the world around you. Many times, life is our teacher, it will tell you everything, but the average person has a hard time having eyes that know how to observe, and tends to easily ignore some details. Because many details are ignored, life loses the meaning of a teacher. At this point, you need someone who knows how to observe, let him be your teacher, tell you how to observe, or tell you what he observes. For example, if I criticized the volunteer for communicating, was his communication really ineffective? Yes, not valid. He spends a lot of time on WeChat and communicates with many people so-called, but the problems that exist before are still there, the problems he wants to solve are still not solved, and the difference between before and after communication is just a waste of some time. Sometimes communication has no effect, it is better not to communicate, which is why the Buddha said that right and wrong are liberated by not arguing.

Chen Yixin asked me, what is the difference between a mediocre person and a genius? I told him that God knows where to use life, and that the mediocre always consumes life in trivial matters. In other words, the wise man knows what he should do and what he should not do in this life, and the mediocre person grabs his eyebrows with a beard, and the latter is busy all his life and consumes his life, but he has not gained anything. Therefore, Lao Tzu emphasized "Xiyan", doing less boring and meaningless things, and wasting less life. Lao Tzu believed that saying too much and giving too many orders was not in line with nature and did not conform to the way.

How do you know what makes sense and what doesn't? Let me tell you a story. There was a man who believed in God and saw God after death. God gave him a basket and said that the contents belonged to him. He thought it must be his wife, but it wasn't, because his wife had become someone else's wife. Is that his property? No, his property has also become someone else's property. Is that his flesh? Still not, his flesh had disappeared and turned to ashes. Next, he guessed a lot of things, such as fame, title, power, official position... But God tells him again and again that no, they have a new owner. Finally, God opened the basket before him, and it was empty. He asked God in tears, "Have I been busy all my life and have nothing?" God told Him, No, there is one thing that belongs to you, and that is the present moment, and everything will disappear except this moment of the present moment, and nothing will belong to you.

You must understand that each of us is like this, it seems that we have a lot of things such as relatives, friends, wealth, jobs, power, housing... But these things will soon disappear, and none of them are ours. To put it bluntly, they are just passers-by in our lives, or we are just passers-by in the world, and life is just a process. What belongs to us is only one moment after another in life, and only the moment of the present, and once it has passed, it has become the past, it no longer belongs to us. On the material level, man is doomed to have nothing, and don't throw away the only thing that belongs to you in order to get a lot of things—the present moment that you can grasp and belongs to you. And don't try to get anything out of words.

Excerpted from "Lao Tzu's Heart Matter- Snow Boiled < Tao Te Ching >" by Xue Mo