The first sentence of the fourth chapter of Tao Te Ching
㊣ Original text: Tao is blunt, but using it may be profitable.
(The Great Tao is empty and invisible, but it can never be used fully. )
1.
Chong, the ancient word is "cup" [zh not ng], which is extended to emptiness. Shuowen said:
"The cup is empty."
therefore, the cup refers to the hollow part in the middle of the appliance. Then "Tao Chong" means: < P > "Tao is empty."
2,
or Fuyingya, what does "or" mean? In fact, there are many versions of this word, and I think readers who are familiar with Laozi should be familiar with it. For example:
1. The Jinglong tablet of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty: "Jiu" Fu Ying also.
2. Huai Nan Zi quotes Lao Zi's book: "Being" is full of benefits.
3. The silk book unearthed in Dunhuang is written as "You" and "Fu Ying Ye".
However, this unsolved case has now come to light. After investigation and evidence collection by Mr. Ma Xulun, a modern exegetical scholar,
"Or", "Jiu", "You" and "You" can be interlinked and can be interpreted as "Chang" in ancient times.
due to space constraints, I won't list the specific evidence one by one. So:
"or surplus" means "constant dissatisfaction".
3.
From this, it can be seen that the reasonable interpretation of "Tao rushes, but uses it or enriches it" should be:
Tao is an empty container, and you can never fill it with water.
So what is the nature of Tao that Lao Zi wants to show? One word:
"big".
The Tao is as big as the Pacific Ocean, whether you scoop a ladle of water from it or add a bucket of water to it. For the vast Pacific Ocean, there is no slightest impact at all. In Zhuangzi's words, it is:
"It is beneficial without adding benefits, and it is harmful without adding losses." ②
4.
In fact, isn't the human heart a "container of the Tao"?
If "Tao" is applied to China's entry into the WTO, it is what Mencius said:
Richness and wealth cannot be lewd, poverty and lowliness cannot be moved, and power cannot be bent.
Because when foreign things like wealth, poverty, power and so on are injected into your heart, they are like mud cows in the sea and instantly become invisible, so you can naturally keep your heart "rushing and overflowing".
If "Tao" is applied to "being born", it is what the Diamond Sutra preaches:
You should have nothing to live in and have a heart.
Because when emotions, honors, sorrows, gains and losses, etc. are injected into your mind, it seems that the wind comes to the bamboo surface and the geese fly across the sky and disappear in an instant, so you can naturally keep your mind "empty and dissatisfied".
5.
We regard people's hearts as "containers of the Tao", and its realm is divided into three levels:
The first level is:
"Praise without joy, destroy without anger."
The second level is:
"Honor without joy, shame without anger."
The third level is:
"Born without joy, died without anger."
6.
However, in general, 99% of people may have been isolated from the other side of the road by the first level of "reputation without joy, destruction without anger".
when someone speaks ill of you, your heart will be filled with anger;
a compliment from others will fill your heart with joy.
when the spring breeze is in full swing, your heart seems to be burning around the fire of dreams;
after Qiu Peng lost his will, your heart immediately cooled to the ashes of despair.
why? Because our eyes have been confused by numerous appearances, we can't see things as they really are. Buddhism calls it:
ignorance.
However, there are some wise men in the world who can really achieve a high degree of "rushing to make profits" or "having no place to live".
7.
The first level:
Honor without joy, destroy without anger.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a famous man named Fu Bi, whose talent and morality were excellent, but his poetry was rare, so his reputation was not very great. Fan Zhongyan praised him as a "talented person in Wang Zuo", and Su Dongpo combined him with Han Qi, Fan Zhongyan and Ouyang Xiu to become "four outstanding people". Yan Shu is the load, directly let Fu Bi do his own son-in-law (5). Fu Bi's greatest feature is that he is generous and his temper is infinitely close to Maitreya. A frivolous scholar once asked him,
What would you do if someone scolded you?
Fu Bi replied:
"I will pretend not to hear."
The scholar laughed and left. Unexpectedly, a few days later, they met again in the street.
The scholar said loudly:
"Fu Bi is a little puss-head!"
An acquaintance reminds Fu Bi that the scholar is scolding you. Fu Bi said:
There are so many people with the same name in the world, how can they scold me? ⑥
So he went on walking, and the scholar was bored and had to walk away. Many people don't understand. Why didn't Fu Bi respond?
9.
However, what we should ask more is:
Fu Bi was not a coward, so why should he respond?
if you respond, you are proving. Why do you want to prove it? Because you need to convince others. Why do you need others to believe? Because you are not confident. Why are you not confident? Because your heart is too small. Your heart is like a small shallow puddle, throwing a stone casually can stir up a thousand layers of turbid waves, which is the root cause of a person's anger.
1.
First of all, we are angry because we don't see clearly the nature of those who call names and those who are scolded.
why didn't Fu Bi respond? There is a simple reason.
Will Bill Gates respond to a beggar and say that he is poor?
Will Tai Sen, the boxing champion, respond to a patient and say that he is weak?
Will Einstein respond to a mentally retarded person and call him stupid?
of course not! So who is the real puss-head, the scholar or Fu Bi? The poor scholar is! Because he didn't dare to face his failed life, he wanted to find his sense of existence by insulting celebrities. Fu Bi, on the other hand, is not afraid of people's words, and sticks to his true nature. His brain can automatically shield the external emotional interference.
That's why he is really brave. This is a kind of courage that is not afraid of being called cowardly by others.
11.
Secondly, we are angry because we don't see the essence of "cursing". There is a story in the Buddhist classic Forty-two Chapters:
Every time Sakyamuni preaches Buddhism, he is basically insulted and reviled. But he never gets angry, and always listens to the other person's scolding quietly. He asked calmly, "If you want to give someone a gift, but they refuse to accept it, do you want to take it back?" The other party replied: "Since people don't want it, of course I want it back."
Sakyamuni said:
"Now I don't accept the bad words you gave me. Then of course you have to take it back, so don't you scold yourself ⑦ "
The other party was speechless. Therefore, if you respond when others scold you, it is equivalent to someone giving you a gift you don't like and you give it back. Because you have virtually recognized his words and accepted his rules, you have been dragged into the negative emotional mire set by the other party.
In other words, when you are abused for no reason and choose to be silent, those words that scold you will eventually fall on the face of the person who calls you names, just like spitting in the sky.
12.
Third, we are angry because we don't see clearly the essence of "time discontinuity". There is an incisive analysis of this in the Buddhist classic "Youposai Jiejing":
"It's a curse word, which is not born at the moment. When the first word came out, the later word was not born. After the word was born, the first word was destroyed. If not, what is the cloud? It's always the wind What am I angry about? ⑧
What do you mean? For example, someone called you "shrinking turtle":
When the other person said "shrinking", the last three words didn't appear. Can this be called scolding? When the other person says "head", "shrink" has disappeared, and the last two words have not appeared. Can this be called scolding? When the other person says "Wu", the "contraction" and "head" have disappeared, and the last word has not appeared. Can this be called scolding? When the other person says "turtle", the first three words have disappeared. Can this be called scolding? It's equivalent to "wind". Why should I be angry?
but why do we think this is an insult? That's because we haven't seen clearly that everything is an illusion of "being born or dying", so we are imprisoned in the "prison of time and space" of the past and don't want to come out.
Therefore, we have always been confused and deceived by the appearances of "people", "things" and "time". So that I can't see the essence of this world all the time, so I am stubborn and don't return. If we can see the essence of people, events and time, then we can naturally do it: < P > "Praise without joy, destroy without anger."
13.
The second level:
Honor without joy, shame without anger.
In Japan, there is a well-known story about Zen master Bai Yin:
Not far from Zen master's temple in Bai Yin, there was a family whose daughter got pregnant out of wedlock. Parents forced their daughter to ask whose child she was pregnant with, and her daughter knew that her parents opposed it and dared not tell the truth.
But she knew that her father always respected Jackson Bai Yin the most, so she thought,
"The baby in my belly belongs to Jackson Bai Yin."
When my father heard this, he was both angry and shocked. I didn't expect Jackson Bai Yin to be such a shameless villain! So the family went to Bai Yin's Jackson theory. After hearing this, Jackson Bai Yin said faintly:
"Is that so? Pet-name ruby "
When they saw Bai Yin's serene manner, they stopped pestering him. After the child was born, the father took the child to the temple and threw it to Zen master Bai Yin, saying, < P > "This is your bastard, and I'll give it back to you!"
As soon as this story got out, the whole people were buzzing, and Jackson Bai Yin lost his reputation. But he didn't argue a word, still holding the child every day in the abuse of everyone to make milk and baby products.
A year later, the girl who was condemned by her conscience told her parents the truth. The girl's parents were full of guilt and couldn't sleep well, so they went to Bai Yin Jackson to accompany them. After listening to this, Jackson Bai Yin said faintly: < P > "Is that so?"
I returned the child to the family as if nothing had happened. Why is it that the unbearable shame for mortals seems to be just a "dream of spring without trace" in the eyes of Zen master Bai Yin? Because in his view,
the people, events and times in the world are just a mirage, and the right and wrong, reputation and honor of the outside world are all equal to a dream bubble. Only I am qualified to be my own plaintiff and to be my own judge and judge.
In the words of Sakyamuni, this is called:
"Heaven and the world, I am the only one. ⑩ "
In Wang Yangming's words, this is called:
" I am self-sufficient, and I don't want to be outside. ⑾ "
So whether the outside world injects dirty water or clean water, boiled water or ice water, sugar water or poisonous water into Jackson Bai Yin's heart. He can accept it safely and disappear without a trace. This is:
"Honor without joy, shame without anger."
14.
The third level:
Live without joy, and die without anger.
In 65 AD, there was a most notorious tyrant named Nero in the history of ancient Rome. After killing his brother and mother, he suspected that Seneca, his teacher, had participated in a court mutiny. Although there was no evidence, Nero used it as an excuse and ordered the teacher to commit suicide. Seneca's wife and students all burst into tears when they heard the news.
Seneca looked as usual and asked,
"Where is your philosophy? Where's the spirit of staying calm that you've inspired each other for years? ⑿ "
In the end, like Socrates in ancient Greece, he remained calm and died peacefully. How did he do it? As we all know, Seneca is one of the representatives of the Stoic School in the late period, and the Stoic School's outlook on life is:
Everything in the world is a natural law, including illness and death. Therefore, people must learn to accept fate, especially the fate of "loss".
That is to say, if a person can accept all the "losses" calmly:
losing fame, profit, health, beauty, relatives and friends, until one day losing his life. Then by that time, he will have nothing to lose, but he will never lose it again.
As Laozi said in the thirteenth chapter of Tao Te Ching,
"Why do I have a big patient? Because I have a body, and I have no body, what's wrong with me?"
Seneca, as one of the most important tragic writers in ancient Rome, also has a thorough understanding of life. He said:
A wise man will lose nothing, and everything is ready for him. A wise man is self-sufficient. If he loses his hand because of war or his eyes because of accident, he will still be satisfied with what fate has left him.
In fact, the subtext of this sentence is:
Even if one day God takes the life of a wise man without warning, he will still be content to have lived.
So, this attitude towards life is:
Born without joy, died without anger.
15.
So "Tao" is actually teaching us to subtract from our lives and lose weight in our lives.
desire is equal to the fat of thought.
Too much desire will also hinder our thinking and lead to lack of oxygen, thus endangering our mental health. So Socrates has a famous saying:
The less you need, the closer you are to God.
And this unattainable state of "God" is called
empty and dissatisfied in Buddhism.
In Taoism, it is called:
Rushing is full of surplus.
Therefore, Lao Tzu said, "Tao is blunt, but it is profitable to use it."
References:
1. Ma Xulun's Lao Zi's Interpretation? Volume first? Chapter III
2. Zhuangzi? The foreign article Journey to the North No.22
3, Mencius Teng Wengong
4, The Diamond Sutra? The tenth product? Solemn Pure Land Division
5. Song History? Volume 313? Biography of the Seventy-second, Su Shi's Collection of Fan Wenzheng's Official Documents, Shaw's News and Records? Volume 9
6. (Ming) Zheng Xuan's Compilation of Yesterday's Unfamiliar Day
7. Forty-two Chapters? Chapter 7
8. "You Po Sai Jie Jing?" The twenty-fifth article of the paramita
9. (America) The story of Zen by Paul Lips? Second,
1, "Long agama? Volume 1
11. (Ming) Qian Dehong's Wang Yangming Chronicle? XIX
12. Tacitus (ancient Rome) Chronicle? Volume 15 "
13, Seneca" On a Happy Life? 7, 11, 25
14. Alain de Botton's The Comfort of Philosophy: Chapter 3? Comfort for setbacks
15, (ancient Greece) diogenes? Larxiu's "A Record of the Words and Actions of Famous Philosophers"? Volume two? Chapter five? Socrates "Author: Purple Xia Wolf, after 9, the words are crazy, the night is like ink, and the moonlight is like me.