Too high, the bottom knows; second, kiss and praise; second, fear; second, insult. There is not enough faith, there is unbelief. From the seventeenth chapter of the Tao Te Ching, it means that the wisest ruler, the people only know his existence. A second-class ruler, the people respected and praised him. Once again, the people fear him. More inferior, the people despised him. The ruler's integrity is insufficient, and the people naturally do not believe him.
Lao Tzu spoke of the greatest feature of the Chinese Taoist system, which is called the unity of Taoism and government. Politicians and politicians govern according to the Tao, which we have not seen in other countries.
Lao Tzu divided the king into four levels, the highest rank being Taishang. Taishang refers to the highest class of politics, which is the unity of taoism and government. The reason for honoring Lao Tzu is that we believe that among the many cultivators, the highest rank is Lao Tzu.
"Taishang, I don't know what it is", the people vaguely feel as if someone is governing the country, but everyone does not know who this person is. It's like the relationship between fish and water is natural. The water did not think that the fish was stirring here, nor did the fish feel that the water was supplying it with the best thing. Neither seems to have any special feelings, forgetting each other's inaction, each doing its own thing, each doing its own thing, each living its own life, each in its own place, each enjoying its own pleasures.
"Secondly, be close to each other", the inferior, close to each other, praise each other. This is what Confucianism says about liturgy and peace for the people, and self-cultivation for the people. Therefore, the highest level of Confucianism is inferior to Lao Tzu. The Taoists advocate that I don't pressure you, and you don't pressure me; I don't have to thank you, and you don't have to thank me; we each walk our own path, but we are all on the same path.
"Secondly, be afraid of it" seems to have a bit of a Fa-family feeling. People are afraid of breaking the law, and once they break the law, the government will think that you are wrong and will punish you. The rule of law is not a very ideal politics, the rule of law is the concept of Westerners. Westerners don't know what is ritual rule and what is called the unity of government and government, so they think that the Fa is the highest level, and this is their business.
"Secondly, insulting." The more the government prohibits, the more disordered the society; the more the people resist, the stronger the government pressures; and finally the people are not afraid of death, they begin to protest, and then assemble and march to put more pressure on the government. Almost all of today's Western countries are like this, the government scolds the people, the people scold the government, just like Confucius said, "The king is not the king, the subject is not the subject."
There is not enough faith, there is unbelief. If the king does not pay attention to honesty, and does not cultivate himself with integrity, the people will not believe in the king. In our history, this kind of thing is not uncommon, but fortunately, every time we can return to the original and adjust in time.
Too high, the bottom knows; second, kiss and praise; second, fear; second, insult. There is not enough faith, there is unbelief. The reaction of the common people to the ruler is divided into four types: the best ruler, the people know only that he exists; the inferior, the people approach him and praise him; the first class, the people fear him; and the more inferior, the people insult him. The ruler's integrity is insufficient, and the people do not trust him.
Too high, too low. "Taishang" represents the most intelligent ruler, and "lower" represents the common people. The wisest rulers rarely issued any policies and plans, that is, to let the people rest as much as possible.
In the early han dynasty, the "rule of huang lao" was implemented, similar to this sentence. "Huang Lao" refers to the Yellow Emperor and Lao Tzu, which is not exactly the same as the ideas of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching.
Second, he was praised by the people; the people of the second class were close to him and praised him, because he was serious about his work and took good care of the people, so he was close and praised by the people.
The third is that the people are afraid of him, that is, he uses various laws to restrict the people and make them afraid. If you don't do what I want, I'll give you all kinds of pressures and all kinds of punishments.
Second, insult. In the end, the worst thing is that the common people in turn insult him, despise him, and insult him, because the people think that this ruler has neither principles, nor ethics, nor qualifications as a leader, so he has to be despised and insulted by the people.
Politics in any era has combined these four methods of rule: rule by virtue, rule by etiquette, rule by law, and rule by punishment, but with different emphases. The better the ruler, the more important it is to rule by virtue and etiquette.
The rule of virtue is that the ruler himself is morally high, as an example, like Yao Shun's era, more emphasis on the rule of virtue; the "ritual" of the rule of etiquette is the etiquette, the etiquette of the ritual music, like the Zhou metric system of etiquette, so Confucius admired him and used etiquette to govern; then the legal system, that is, the government issued a lot of laws and decrees to govern the people; the worst is the criminal rule, that is, the use of criminal law to constrain.
Confucius has a sentence in the Analects of Wei Zheng that covers these four methods of rule. "The way is to govern, the same is to punish, and the people are spared and shameless." The way is virtuous, the same is courtesy, shame and dignity. This means that by decree and discipline by punishment, the people are free from sin, but they are not ashamed; they are indoctrinated by virtue, restrained by etiquette, and the people know shame and can go on the right path.
There is not enough faith, there is unbelief. The ruler is not honest enough, and the people do not trust him. This shows the mutual trust between the ancient rulers and the ruled.
"Taishang" is equivalent to what is said in the I Ching: "The metaphysical one is called the Tao." Chinese philosophy has three words, "metaphysical", which is translated from a Western term, but adopts the concept in the I Ching. The "metaphysical one is called the Tao" means that before all things have grown, they are called the Tao. "The metaphysical one is called the instrument", which means that all kinds of things with images have grown, all kinds of things, innumerable, it is called the "instrument world" - the physical world. Before the formation of the physical world, it was called "Tao", which the I Ching called "metaphysical".
The taoist name "Taishang" first appeared in Lao Tzu. In fact, Yin Shang used to have the term "Taishang".
There is a saying in Chinese literature that "too much is forgetting love". The most painful and difficult thing to do in life is to forget feelings, people are animals of feelings, the ancients said: "Ruthless why should we be born in the world, there is a good end to tire this body", there are you and I have feelings, there are feelings there are troubles, there are troubles there are right and wrong, there are right and wrong there are pain. Suffering because of emotion, it is even more difficult to forget. However, "too high and unsentimental" is not ruthless, but great compassion, unbiased and selfless feelings, such as the birth of all things in heaven and earth, equality and no difference, and no return.
Too high, too low. Lao Tzu's "taishang" is too sentimental and seems to be a way of forgetting feelings, and there is only "knowledge of the lower". The so-called "knowledge of the lower" means that there is an inferior person who we think is very stupid, but in fact he is a person who is really wise and has already understood the "Tao". The real philosophers are all out of the country, although they have never read a book in their lives, they are really the same big philosopher and big thinker. When he encountered pain, he cried bitterly and happily, thinking about his own fate.
I often feel this way, especially in remote and backward areas, when I see some old people in the dilapidated huts, dressed in rags, hungry, and those who have not had a meal, and their lives are miserable. You ask him, "Why don't you live in your children's home for the elderly?" He replied very easily: "I am destined to suffer in this life, and I can only confess my fate!" "It was awe-inspiring to hear. He knows the philosophy of life better than anyone, and it is good to "admit it".
Like some of us, who think that they are first-class readers, they are actually not as wise as the fools. They are the religious, the philosophers. On the surface, it seems foolish, but he knows that there is a thing (whether it is called Buddha, Heaven, God, or Fate), and he believes that that thing, until death, can see more openly and openly than others.
Second, praise it. The next class of people believes in burning incense to make offerings, prostrating oneself, admiring one's praise, and repeating it several times a day, which is a religious ritual activity, and is a model of "secondly, personal and honorable".
Second, be afraid. There is a second person, who may not believe in religion or the Word, but there is something terrible in his heart.
Lao Tzu talked about these three kinds of people, focusing on the main point of "great wisdom is like foolishness", in other words, great foolishness is also like wisdom. The most foolish people are often the truly first-class cultivators. I often say that there are two kinds of people who can learn Zen. One is that you don't recognize a word, like a blank piece of paper, and it is easy to cultivate and become enlightened. The other is to be wise and intelligent. Like those of us who are not up and down, half hanging, half through, the most important thing, the cultivation path often achieves nothing.
"Secondly, insult." The next class of people, who do not believe in the Tao, regardless of the height of the heavens, think that the faith is an insult to personality.
"The sergeant hears the Tao, and acts diligently", the truly wise man will realize it as soon as he hears it, and he will practice it one hundred percent.
"The sergeant hears that if he survives, he will perish", this kind of person listens to it, saying that he does not believe it, but every Sunday he must go to church to pray and worship; on the first and fifteenth day of the first month, he will run to the temple and worship the Buddha. Ordinary mediocrity and casualness, as if only that day there are bodhisattvas and gods with obvious spirits, and at other times, it is okay to do whatever is wrong.
The corporal heard it, laughed and walked away." There are also some people, who listen to people preach and say, think that they are the most intelligent, think that others are neurotics, laugh, and then walk away and ignore it, which is the typical example of "secondly, insulting". "The corporal heard it, laughed and walked away", that's it. Later generations added a sentence: "Not laughing is not enough for the Tao", that is to say, if you don't laugh at it so dismissively, is it still a tao? They are stubborn and self-righteous, and how ridiculous it seems.
There is not enough faith, there is unbelief. Man's wisdom is uneven, and some people believe in faith, but they are not complete, half-believing, because he has not thoroughly investigated the truth. Some people don't believe it at all, and insist that "Lao Tzu doesn't believe in evil", and you can't do anything about him. There are so many differences in this that Lao Tzu did not analyze them in detail. This is equivalent to the grading of human innate intelligence, and Buddhism is divided into five "castes" of sentient beings, that is, the so-called "root organs", which are quite similar.
Chapter 17 of the Tao Te Ching
Too high, the bottom knows what is there, second, personally and proudly; second, fearful; second, insulted. There is not enough faith, there is unbelief. Leisurely and expensive words. When the work is accomplished, the people all say: I am natural.