If the Tao is everywhere, then virtue is also everywhere along with the Tao. I believe that through this chapter, you will understand the true meaning of this sentence.
Without further ado, let's get straight to the topic, first turning to the thirty-eighth chapter of the Tao Te Ching, which has the most authoritative description of "virtue".
This chapter is quite content, but we may want to divide it into the following sections:
- First of all, Lao Tzu gave the difference between "Shangde" and "Xiade", and we need to deeply understand these two concepts.
- Subsequently, Lao Tzu started with "Shangde", and explained and compared the concepts of "Shangren", "Shangyi" and "Shangli" one by one.
- Then, Lao Tzu made a sequence of the five "Tao, Virtue, Benevolence, Righteousness, and Propriety" and criticized "Li", which seemed to attack Confucianism.
- Finally, Lao Tzu begins with "big husband" as the subject, makes an important conclusion, and concludes the chapter.
Next, I will talk about the revelation of reading the 38th chapter of the Tao Te Ching from the following four aspects.
a) Upper and lower Germany
To be virtuous or not to be virtuous is to be virtuous;
Virtue is not lost, but there is no virtue.
"Shangde" is the supreme virtue, which is the noblest virtue in people's hearts. However, why does Lao Tzu say that "virtue is great" but "there is no virtue"? People with noble character have become immoral? This sentence is really incomprehensible. Not only that, but he went on to say that "under virtue" is not virtuous, but if there is no virtue, is it the opposite? If you don't lose virtue, how can you not be virtuous? This sentence is even more puzzling.
Through repeated research and in-depth study, I finally found the key to open the door to the wisdom of this sentence!
Translations:
People who are virtuous do not think they are virtuous, so they will be virtuous;
People who are virtuous deliberately do not lose their virtue, so they will have no virtue.
What Lao Tzu wants to say is that people who are virtuous will not think that they are virtuous, so they are truly virtuous, which means that they should not take "virtue" to heart and do not care about the so-called "virtue". On the contrary, people who are virtuous always deliberately pay attention not to lose their virtue, and carry "virtue" in their arms every day, so they call their behavior immoral.
You might as well give an example that can be understood by a primary school student for "being virtuous or immoral": learning from Lei Feng to do good deeds without leaving a name.
Lei Feng has no selfish intentions to do good deeds, he is not to get everyone's praise, nor is it to get everyone's money, he just really wants to help others, so Lei Feng is a virtuous person.
People who are virtuous are completely different, for example, when they do charity, they must say loudly to the world how many poor children they have sponsored, how much money they have donated, and even say a little more, their purpose is to beautify their public image and social status, this kind of person is really called a "lack of virtue", not far from "lack of virtue".
Okay, now that we have a clear understanding of the concepts of "upper virtue" and "lower virtue", let's move on to the second part of this chapter.
2) Virtue, benevolence, righteousness, and courtesy
Virtue, doing nothing and doing nothing;
Shangren, for the sake of nothing;
righteousness, for the sake of it;
Salute, for the sake of the response, then throw it with arms.
This part not only has a further explanation of "Shangde", Lao Tzu also gave three other concepts at once: Shangren, Shangyi, and Shangli, and it seems very structured in terms of textual expression, so we all want to fill it out with a form, which may be clearer visually.
"Doing nothing" and "doing it", I think they should be a kind of action, to do or not to do, to do or not to do? But a person who is virtuous must do something, and if he does not do anything, then he cannot be called a person of virtue. Therefore, the "non-action" here is not inaction, the real "non-action" should be the virtuous person in accordance with the way of the Tao, since the "Tao" is the natural law of the development of all things, then "non-action" is also in accordance with the natural law to do. "Wu Wei" is not not not to do, but to "obey the Tao".
Thoughtlessness and thoughtfulness are relatively simple to understand. I think they should be a kind of thought, do it unintentionally or intentionally do it? Similar to the difference between upper virtue and lower virtue, the judgment is based on whether or not the purpose of doing things is in mind.
So, we can translate the above original text.
Translations:
A person who is virtuous conforms to nature and is in the unintentional;
The benevolent person has made a difference and is in the unintentional;
The righteous person has made a difference and is in the heart;
The person who saluted, did something and no one responded, so he rolled up his sleeves and forced the action.
It can be seen from this that the person who "bows" is the lowest in behavior, doing things by himself, and others do not respond, and he has to roll up his sleeves and force others to do it (even if he works overtime, he has to pull others to force him to work overtime); the best is the "righteous" person, who does things by himself, but has a purpose in his heart (overtime is to earn more overtime pay); the best is the "Shangren" person, they also do things by themselves, but they are relatively simple, but they have no ambition (overtime is to study); the best is "Shangde" people, they do things according to the laws of nature, follow the trend, and have no selfish motives (what is overtime?).
Let's take another example of keeping up with the times.
Just as AI technology is developing rapidly, it has become an inevitable trend, so we take advantage of the trend and use our research on AI technology to make some open source software, and help individuals and companies quickly build AI infrastructure in the form of free. Although you can't make money doing this, and you have to stay up late and work overtime every day, it can promote the vigorous development of domestic AI technology, and you can make yourself happy when you think about it, so this is a "moral" thing.
To sum up, doing things according to objective laws and without regard to returns is "virtue", doing things according to subjective consciousness and without regard to returns is "benevolence", doing things according to subjective consciousness and purposefully is "righteousness", and forcing others to do things according to subjective consciousness is "courtesy".
Let's go into the third part and sort the way, virtue, benevolence, righteousness, and propriety.
3) Taoism, morality, benevolence, righteousness, and courtesy
old
Lost morality and then morality,
Virtue and benevolence,
Loss of kindness followed by righteousness,
Injustice followed by courtesy.
The husband is the one who is faithful, and the first of chaos.
Those who know before are the beginning of the glory and foolishness of the Tao.
Lao Tzu advocated "virtue", Confucius advocated "benevolence", Mencius advocated "righteousness", and Xunzi advocated "etiquette".
Obviously, Lao Tzu, the originator of Taoism, was the most wise, and he used a set of "Shangde" theories to design a framework to reduce the dimensionality of the Confucian theories of "benevolence", "righteousness" and "propriety". Confucianism advocates "knowing what is not possible", while Taoism advocates "doing nothing and doing nothing", which is obviously a higher dimension.
If the Taoist "Tao" and "Virtue", as well as the Confucian "Benevolence", "Righteousness" and "Rites", are put together to make an arrangement, Lao Tzu thinks that the order is like this:
Translations:
So
After losing the Tao, virtue will appear,
After losing virtue will appear benevolence,
Righteousness will come after the loss of benevolence,
After the loss of righteousness, there will be a salute.
It represents the lack of faithfulness and is the beginning of trouble.
Those who have insight in front are nothing more than the gorgeous and stupid beginning of the avenue.
Lao Tzu's old man despises "rites" the most, and his criticism of "rites" can be said to be deeply hated, believing that rites are the first of the disasters in the early Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and the main culprit that leads to moral decline. The "foreknowledge" in the original text refers to those Confucian figures such as Shangren (Confucius), Shangyi (Mencius), and Shangli (Xunzi), and Lao Tzu "praised" them as "the flower of the Tao" and "the beginning of foolishness", which shows the difference between Taoism and Confucianism in thought.
Here, I don't make too many evaluations of Taoism and Confucianism, and I am not qualified to do so. In fact, whether it is Taoism or Confucianism, they are all "everyone" in the history of Chinese philosophy, which is worthy of our admiration and learning. Personally, I also have great admiration for Confucianism, and every time I read the Analects, I can't put it down, and I love Confucius's profound wisdom and open-minded personality.
In the last part, Lao Tzu makes an important conclusion.
4) Thick and thin
It's a big husband
Deal with its thickness, not its thinness;
In fact, it is not in its prime.
Therefore, go to the other and take this.
This is also the first and only time that Lao Tzu used "big husband" as the subject to write aphorisms in the "Tao Te Ching", in addition, they are all for the "saint" and say, let's just think that the big husband is the saint, the saint is the "person who has attained the Tao", so let's see how the person who has attained the Tao will do it?
Translations:
So big husband
Be kind, not disgraceful;
Be realistic, not flashy.
So discard the thinness and keep the thickness.
Lao Tzu believed that those who have attained the Tao should be honest and honest, upright and reliable, and this behavior should be retained, and for those who are despicable and gorgeous, they look down on people and pay attention to appearances, and should discard this behavior.
In fact, Lao Tzu's description of "moral benevolence and righteousness" is not only this, he also published this conclusion in the eighteenth chapter of the Tao Te Ching:
Translations:
Only when the avenue is abandoned can there be benevolence and righteousness;
When ingenuity appears, there is cunning;
Family discord is the only way to have filial piety;
When the country is in turmoil, there are loyal ministers.
Lao Tzu was in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when the country was in chaos, the people were struggling to make a living, and the avenue was abandoned. That's when "benevolence" and "righteousness" appeared, you have benevolence to me, and I have righteousness to you. Obviously, "benevolence" has a purpose, but "Tao" has no purpose, and "Tao" is the natural law of development of things. In addition to the emergence of "benevolence and righteousness", wisdom and ingenuity also appeared, and people were playing their own little calculations in their hearts and using their own cleverness, so at this time cunning behavior was everywhere. There was also discord within the family, and the six relatives did not recognize each other, and it was only then that people began to advocate benevolence and filial piety. In the country, traitorous ministers are in charge, and etiquette is bad, and then those who claim to be loyal ministers stand up and fight against the evil forces.
Therefore, benevolence, righteousness, loyalty, and filial piety are not as good as Tao and virtue, and what Lao Tzu advocates is: under the premise of the law of "obeying the Tao", advocating "Virtue", collectively known as "Obeying the Tao and Virtue".
5) Respect the Tao and Virtue
In order to illustrate the relationship between "Tao" and "Virtue", Lao Tzu said this sentence in the twenty-first chapter of the Tao Te Ching:
Translations:
The appearance of noble character, which is consistent with the Tao.
In other words, the basic relationship between Tao and Virtue is: "Dao" leads "Virtue", and "Virtue" obeys "Dao".
Because "Tao" gives birth to all things, "virtue" will also nourish all things, so Lao Tzu put forward the principle of "respecting Tao and honoring virtue" in Chapter 51 of the Tao Te Ching:
Translations:
The Tao gives birth to all things, virtue nourishes all things, all things take on various forms, and the environment makes all things grow.
Therefore, there is no one who does not follow the Tao and cherishes virtue.
Obey the Tao, cherish virtue, do not instruct others, but follow nature.
Therefore, the Tao gives birth to all things, and virtue stores all things.
that all things may grow, and that all things may be protective,
to make all things quiet, to make all things stable,
Nourish all things and renew all things.
It can be seen that "virtue" is not only the virtue of people, in fact, everything has "virtue". Confucius said in the Analects: "Heaven has the virtue of a good life, the earth has the thickness of loads, and a gentleman has the beauty of an adult." "Heaven, earth, and man are all their own "virtues", and "virtue" is a characteristic and a kind of beauty.
To respect the Tao is to understand the laws of all things, because the Tao is internal, and to be virtuous is to use the value of all things, because virtue is explicit.
In order to deepen people's understanding of the importance of "Tao" and "Virtue", Lao Tzu described "Fellow Dao and Virtue" and "Lost Morality" in Chapter 23 of the Tao Te Ching:
Translations:
Those who respect the Tao can have the Tao;
Those who are virtuous can have virtue;
He who loses his virtue loses everything.
He who obeys the Word, the Word is pleased to be received by him;
The virtuous man is also willing to be obtained by him;
He who loses the Tao and virtue will also be willing to lose him.
"Obey the Tao" can have the "Tao", "Virtue" can have "Virtue", and if you lose the Tao and lose the virtue, you will lose everything. This passage is Lao Tzu's warning to us, reminding us that we must be honorable and virtuous.
At this point, the relationship between Tao and virtue is finished, you only need to remember: everything has "Tao", all things also have "virtue", we must respect and insight into the "Tao" of all things, but also cherish and use the "virtue" of all things, this is the basic quality of becoming a saint.
It turns out that being a saint is so simple, is it enough to respect the Tao and honor?
Of course it is not enough, we will enter the core of the Tao Te Ching in the next unit - "Wu Wei", from then on we will open the wisdom of "Wu Wei", and learn the skill of "Wu Wei and Wu Wei" like Lao Tzu.
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