In order to learn the Zhou rites, Confucius went to Luoyi, the capital of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. He had long heard that there was a university scholar here, called Lao Tzu, so he went to visit him, and the two of them saw each other as they were, and chatted for several days, before Confucius reluctantly returned to Luguo.
The disciples heard that Confucius had seen Lao Tzu and inquired curiously about what kind of person Lao Tzu was, and Confucius said, "It is said that there is an animal called a dragon in the world, which is capable of soaring through clouds and clouds, and entering the heavens and the earth, and only a very small number of people can see its true face." When I saw Lao Tzu, I felt like a dragon, and I can't fully understand some of the truths he said to me now!"
Lao Tzu, named Li Er, is also known as Lao Nie. From an early age, he was clever and studious, and liked to listen to others talk about the rise and fall of the country, the success or failure of wars, and the worship and divination. His family hired a learned scholar to be his teacher.
On this day, the teacher told Lao Tzu the truth of governing the country, saying: "The monarch rules the people in place of heaven, and the people must obey the orders of the monarch, and if they do not obey, they are breaking the law and committing crimes." At the same time, the monarch must also rule according to the requirements of heaven, love the people, and cannot abuse his power, otherwise he will be warned and punished by heaven. "
Lao Tzu felt a little confused and asked the teacher, "The common people do not obey the monarch, I can understand the reason, but I don't understand, why does the monarch not obey the heavens?" Heaven is omnipotent, so why can't the monarch obey orders? The teacher could not answer for a moment.
At night, Lao Tzu asked his family, but he couldn't answer, he refused to give up, and he thought hard about this problem, and even reached the point of sleeping and forgetting to eat.
After teaching for three years, the teacher felt that he was no longer able to teach Lao Tzu, so he resigned and recommended him to go to the capital City of Luoyi to continue his studies. Lao Tzu accepted his teacher's advice, went to Luoyi to study, and after more than ten years of diligent study, became a very learned person, and was appointed by the King of Zhou as the librarian of the Zhou Dynasty.
Taking advantage of his position, Lao Tzu immersed himself in the world of books every day, constantly exploring learning, and gradually formed a unique set of ideas. He believes that everything in the world has its own natural laws, and people should conform to nature; rulers should not interfere in the lives of ordinary people, and if they do nothing, the people can live and work in peace and contentment.
On this day, Lao Tzu received a letter from his family saying that his mother was critically ill, and he immediately asked the King of Zhou for leave, and then rushed from Luoyi to his hometown more than a hundred miles away, and by the time he returned home, his mother had died.
Recalling his mother's kind appearance and nurturing grace, Lao Tzu was devastated, unable to eat, unable to sleep, and sitting on the ground in a daze every day.
A month later, his body was extremely weak, lying in bed, weak. This night, Lao Tzu suddenly felt that there was no need to grieve so much for the death of his mother, his behavior was really stupid! When he got up in the morning, he had a full meal, took a shower, and slept with his head covered.
The servant felt strange, and when Lao Tzu woke up, he asked him, "Master, why did you suddenly come out of your grief?" "
Lao Tzu replied, "I think so, a person has emotions and also has reason, emotions make us feel sad or happy, and reason makes us deal with things intelligently." My mother gave birth to me and raised me, and I was very sad that she died, which is very normal, but if I continue to be sad and cause my body to collapse, this is exactly what my mother does not want to see, so I must use my reason to control the flood of emotions. "
After lao tzu finished his mother's funeral, he returned to Luoyi.
A few years later, there was a civil unrest in the Zhou royal family. King Jing of Zhou's younger brother Ji Chao, who wanted to seize the throne, launched a rebellion, and the two sides fought fiercely in the city of Luoyi, and King Jing of Zhou fled in defeat.
With the support of the Jin state, King Jing of Zhou suppressed the rebellion. When Ji Chao escaped from Luoyi, he collected some important texts and ran away. Lao Tzu, as a classical management personnel, failed to prevent this matter, and was suspected of dereliction of duty, so he voluntarily resigned. He had long wanted to live a life of seclusion and escape from the troubles of the world.
On this day, Lao Tzu sat in an ox cart and left Luoyi, which was full of ruins and broken walls, the farmland outside the city was deserted, but the soldiers on the road were endless, and the galloping war horses rolled up the rolling red dust. Lao Tzu could not help but lament that there was no way in the world and that the people were suffering.
Lao Tzu prepared to go to the remote Qin state to live in seclusion, and soon reached Hangu Pass. The official who guarded the customs was called Guan Yin, who usually liked to read and study. Guan Yin was closing the patrol when he saw an old man with white hair like snow and long eyebrows that drooped down to his cheeks among the pedestrians on the road.
Guan Yin felt that he was not an ordinary person, and was busy greeting him, only to know that he was Lao Tzu. Guan Yin invited Lao Tzu to the official residence to rest, and when he heard that he was going to live in seclusion in the Qin Kingdom, he hurriedly said: "You are a saint in the world today, and now you are going to go to seclusion, so that it is difficult to find those who want to ask you for advice. "
Lao Tzu agreed, and it took him three days to write a five-thousand-word book, divided into two parts, expounding the original meaning of morality, and taking the name of the Tao Te Ching. He handed the book to Guan Yin and left quickly, and no one knew his whereabouts ever since. The ideas expounded in the Tao Te Ching were circulated, and the Taoist school was gradually formed.