The ancient Mawangdui is divided into the first chapter "Moral Chapter" and the second chapter "Tao Chapter". The modern popular edition consists of 8 1 chapters, the first 37 chapters are Taoist chapters, and the last 44 chapters are German chapters. Tao Te Ching, a magical book, is known as the king of all classics and one of the greatest masterpieces in China's history, which has had a far-reaching influence on China's philosophy, science, politics and religion. According to the statistics of UNESCO, the Tao Te Ching is the most widely translated and published cultural masterpiece except the Bible.
Tao Te Ching is a philosophical work,
First, the beauty of phonology.
Tao Te Ching is a poetic text with neat sentence patterns and rough rhymes. It is catchy to read, easy to memorize and easy to remember. It embodies the phonological beauty of Chinese characters in China. For example, "whether there is mutual development, the difficulty is complementary, the length is different, and the height is oblique" (Chapter 2), "empty its heart, strengthen its abdomen, weaken its will, and strengthen its bones" (Chapter 3), "frustrate its spirit, resolve its disputes, and reconcile its light and dust" (Chapter 4), "its politics is boring, and its people are pure" (Chapter 58) Reciting scriptures is a kind of beautiful enjoyment, and we can appreciate profound philosophy in the beauty of phonology.
Second, pay attention to rhetoric.
The language of Tao Te Ching is very artistic, and various rhetorical methods are used to make the text accurate, vivid, well-founded and infectious.
First, duality. Such as: "Tao, Tao, extraordinary Tao; Fame is unusual ","Nothing is the beginning of heaven and earth, existence is the mother of all things "(Chapter 1)," What is expensive is cheap, and what is below is high "(Chapter 39)," Misfortune is a blessing; Happiness lies in misfortune "(Chapter 58)" Everything is difficult and easy; World affairs must be done in detail "(Chapter 63). Paired sentences look neat and eye-catching, sound sonorous and pleasant, and are easy to remember and recite.
Second, the proportion. Parallelism can enhance the momentum and motivation of language. There are many parallelism sentences in Tao Te Ching. Such as: "five colors are blind; Five tones are not deaf; Five flavors are refreshing; Galloping and hunting makes people crazy; Strange goods can make people uncomfortable "(Chapter 12)," Happiness is complete, waste is straight, depression is full, we are new, we get less, and we are confused more "(Chapter 22)," People who see themselves are unknown, but not obvious. Self-criticism is useless, and pride is not long "(Chapter 24)," Generosity without horns, late bloomer, loud voice, elephant invisible "(Chapter 4 1).
Third, metaphor. There are also many metaphors in Tao Te Ching. For example, "The immortal is called Xuanzang. The gate of Xuanzang is the root of heaven and earth. If it is continuous, it is not commonly used "(Chapter VI), taking Xuanzang as a metaphor for" Tao "to create everything. Another example is: "Goodness is like water, and water is good for all things without dispute" (Chapter 8). From beginning to end, water is used to describe people, personify water, and praise the noble qualities of those who have reached the Tao. Another example: "Expertise can soften a baby" (Chapter 10), "I am alone, like an unborn baby" (Chapter 20) and "Returning to a baby" (Chapter 28) all use babies to describe the purity, innocence and simplicity of Taoist priests. Another example is, "the folded wood is born at the end; Nine-story tower, tired of soil; A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step "(Chapter 64), using three metaphors to illustrate the truth of starting from childhood. These metaphors enhance the vividness of language and deepen the impression of readers.
Fourth, ask questions. Such as: "What is humiliation? If you act coquetry, you will be surprised if you get it, if you lose it, you will be surprised if you act coquetry. What do you mean if you are in trouble? I have a big patient, because I have a body, but I don't have a body. What is my problem? "(Chapter 13)," Only the same, what's the difference? " What is the difference between good and evil? "(Chapter 20) and" People are not afraid of death, why should he be afraid of death "(Chapter 74). These rhetorical questions and rhetorical questions increase the waves of language and arouse people's attention and thinking.
Verb (short for verb) Julian. Julian, also known as the truth, is a rhetorical device that uses the words after the previous sentence as the beginning of the latter sentence to let the language continue. For example, "Man practices the earth, the earth practices the sky, the sky practices the Tao, and the Tao practices the nature" (Chapter 25), and another example is "The Tao gives birth to one, one, two, three and three things" (Chapter 42). The couplet beads make the tone coherent and the structure tight, which better reflects the organic connection of things.
Third, the language is incisive
Some languages in Tao Te Ching are extremely incisive and wise, and they are still idioms, aphorisms and aphorisms. For example, Forever (Chapter 7), Good as Water (Chapter 8), Selfishness without Desire (Chapter 19), Weakness is not as good as strength, softness is not as good as strength (Chapter 78), and Dissatisfaction is the greatest disaster, and it is hard to fill the gap (Chapter 46). Some original sentences have evolved into epigrams, which are widely circulated. For example, Success, Fame and Retirement (nine chapters), and now Retirement after Success; "Know its white and keep its black" (Chapter 28), and now it is "Know its white and keep its black"; "If you are clumsy, you will argue" (Chapter 45), which has evolved into "the wisest man is foolish"; "Skynet grinds long, but it is sparse without leakage" (Chapter 73), and now it is "Skynet grinds long, but it is sparse without leakage"; "contentment is always happy" (chapter 46), and now it is "contentment is always happy"; "If you are surprised at being humiliated" (Chapter 13), now it is "Don't be surprised at being humiliated".