Wen | Yan Xiao'er to write a philosophical text
In China's traditional culture, the so-called "saints" are almost the embodiment of "ideal personality", and as far as China's mainstream culture is concerned, Confucian classics and Taoist classics often talk about "saints". Due to space limitations, Yan Xiao'er today will talk about the saint in the eyes of the Taoist "Lao Tzu".
In the eyes of the Taoist "Lao Tzu", the saints naturally exist as "spokesmen" who are close to the "Tao". So is there something that any saints find difficult to do? Proceeding from the philosophical characteristics of Taoism, the so-called "most difficult thing can be said to exist or not to exist."
In the Taoist view, the existence of saints is "one size, one size", and it is precisely because of this harmonious nature that they often "dare not be the first in the world" and "even small things are difficult". And it is precisely because of this style of "the picture is difficult to be easy, and it is greater than its fineness", that under the "difficulty and easy view" of the world, they are "fearless and not difficult to do anything".
In other words, most people have the situation of "being lofty and far-reaching" and despising "small" because of impetuousness, while saints "do not think of small" as "small" and do not covet "great achievements". It is also this "unbiased" attitude toward the world that has achieved the saint of "doing nothing, doing nothing, and tasting tastelessly".
Therefore, as far as the question of "what the saints think is the most difficult thing", from the perspective of the characteristics of Taoist thought, we can know that "some tiny things, the saints are valued, and will not despise them as simple", and it is precisely because there is no distinction between "light and heavy", so that under the "Zhongzheng" of the things that should be done, for the saints, everything is difficult, and at the same time, everything is not difficult. Among them, you can appreciate the philosophy.
1. Lao Tzu's "Difficulty of the Saints"
Friends who know something about Taoist thought should know that "Tao" runs through the entire system of Thought of Taoist philosophy, and "sage" is, to some extent, the title of "enlightened person".
The so-called "saints", understood according to the thinking of ordinary people in the world, are more or less able to do things that the world cannot do. In this regard, it is not difficult to understand that the Taoist "Tao" or the "saint" who is "several than the Tao" is often interpreted as "natural" or "naturally".
In fact, we start from the meaning of the Taoist "Tao", and it is easier to understand the "clever" place of the so-called "saints".
In the Taoist system of thought, "Tao" is often interpreted as the existence of "unkindness" of "taking all things as dogs". The reason why it is "unkind" is because the "Tao" has the characteristics of "one size, one size", that is, there will be no "preference" or "partiality".
Because of "selflessness", there is no such thing as more "care" for anyone. In this way, the "emotion" that exists in selfish desires, such as "who cares more for whom", is eliminated, and thus the "Tao" has the characteristic that "there is no distinction between 'benevolence' and 'unkindness'".
By the same token, there is no distinction between "benevolence and unkindness" in the "Tao", and there is no distinction between "benevolence and inhumanity" in the "Tao", nor is there a distinction between "difficult and not difficult".
In other words, what is "difficult and easy" is still the result of people's self-interest of "seeking advantage and avoiding harm" based on their own position.
In this Lao Tzu chapter sixty-three there are clouds:
"The difficult things under the world will be done easily, and the great things under the world will be done in detail." It is because the saint is not great in the end, so he can become great..... It is difficult for the saints to be difficult, so there is no difficulty in the end. ”
That is to say, in the human world that despises "small" and over-focuses on "great", the saints do not have the situation of "contempt because of smallness" and "impatience because of greatness", and they will still "go along with the flow" and act with an attitude of "doing nothing" without selfishness.
In this regard, as far as the "saints" of Taoism are concerned, because they "value all difficulties", "all difficulties are not difficulties", you can understand it.
2. The Taoist "Difficulty of the Saints" to the impetuous world
"Impetuousness" is not the patent of modern people, since ancient times, at least in the chaotic world where Lao Tzu is located, there is no shortage of impetuous people who are "so ambitious" and "ambitious".
By showing the attitude that the saints of "a few are better than the Tao" and "are not big in the end, so they can become great", on the one hand, they expose the impetuous phenomenon of "being high and far-reaching" in the world; on the other hand, they tell the world that "they have achieved nothing and hit walls everywhere" Many times it may be that they "raise their heads too high" and "cannot see the road under their feet".
In the face of the temptations of the bright and green world, the "desire" brought to us by the visual impact gradually evolves into "desire", if we do not know how to withdraw the heart in time, then we will indulge in the "temptation of the high world", and then begin to "act arbitrarily" and turn a blind eye to the "natural" road under our feet. And if this situation is not contained and prevented, it is only a matter of time before cocooning oneself.
3. Thinking: What is "freedom" in the wisdom and sharpness of "Taoism"
The "clever" place of Taoism, in Yan Xiao'er's view, is also the most "sharp" place of Taoism. In Yan Xiao'er's eyes, the Taoist "saints" responded to the temptation of thousands of flowers and flowers with a pure and flawless "infant state", so that "fame and fortune" had no meaning, only natural things to do.
We learn knowledge and understand the world, and because of the various identities in our bodies, we know that the yearning in our hearts is inseparable from freedom, but we continue to "shackle" ourselves for the sake of the self-interest of "people have no self" and "people have my superiority". In this regard, the so-called "insincere words and inconsistencies in appearance" are almost the "survival rules" necessary for adults.
However, the Taoist "saint" and "freedom" are almost synonymous.
This all shows us that what binds the world is never something external, but the inner "desire" of man. Because of a certain desire for fame and profit, we began to imprison the "body and mind", from insincere words to "forced actions", and finally after the organs of hurting others and harming themselves and taking tea and cold tea were exhausted, we were not satisfied, but everywhere we were overdrawn "powerless".
Yan Xiao'er thought that perhaps it is precisely because of seeing this kind of "impetuousness" that the "Lao Tzu" who is right and right has used the "Tao" as a carrier to help people reflect on how precious the "innocence" and "essence" of unconsciously "abandoning it as if it were", and the essence of what we seek all our lives may be our initial non-hesitation or even the existence of the present. What do you think?
[This article is Yan Xiao'er's original and exclusive release of zhewen, any infringement such as porting, plagiarism, etc., which must be investigated if found]