Chapter 50 of the Tao Te Ching is far from being as simple as it seems!
Chapter 50 of the Tao Te Ching can be described as broad and profound, but unfortunately it has always been narrowly understood as "the way of health preservation" (I also understood it this way when I first learned it). With the increasing understanding and mastery of the essence of the Tao Te Ching, I slowly discovered the profound truth of "birth and death", which can be said to be applicable everywhere (everything). Share it today——
The text of this chapter can be divided into two layers, each of which asks a question and points out the crux or root cause of the problem: the first asks the question "Why is the rate of death so high?" The answer given is "the thickness of life"; The second layer asks the question "Why are the Good Regency so amazing?" The answer given is "with its deathlessness". It's very simple in terms of text structure.
The difficulty in this chapter is "What is Lao Tzu talking about?" Traditionally, the theme of this chapter has been reduced to the question of "health (or life and death)," because the text of this chapter is too much like health or talking about life and death. But I don't think this chapter is about health, nor about life and death, for the simple reason that "the people of life are three out of ten; Dead apostles, three out of ten; If the sentence "health" or "life and death" is about "health preservation" or "life and death", first of all, this proportion does not conform to the facts: even if the productivity and medical level of ancient times were extremely underdeveloped, it is impossible for the "dead people" to reach the level of "three out of ten" under normal circumstances (without war and epidemic), and it is even more impossible for "three out of ten" to take the initiative to "move to death". The only reason why I rejected the traditional direction of interpretation after repeated thinking is that it does not conform to the facts (as I explained in my previous article: under the premise of not being sure of the essence of Laozi's theme, whether it conforms to the facts is the first judgment and the first criterion).
So what is this chapter about? According to the theme of the Tao Te Ching and the logical relationship between the context and the context, I think this chapter is still about "cognitive and ideological logic construction" (the deep meaning of "Tao can be Tao, name can be named" is how to construct cognitive and ideological logic), and this chapter is about a very important cognitive and ideological logic, that is: how to construct a survival logic that is compatible with development goals and development means.
The "Birth and Death" in this chapter does not refer to natural things, such as human life, but to various "life-like organizations" created and created by human beings, such as countries, political parties, enterprises, units, families, etc. These four simple words exhaust a basic law of the emergence and development of these "life-like organizations": it is an irrefutable fact that a "life-like organization" is on the way to "death" from the moment it is created; Moreover, the law of its survival and development is basically in line with the outcome of Lao Tzu's three-three opening-three-thirty percent that can develop benignly; 30% of the cases cannot develop benignly; Those that could have developed normally, but died out quickly due to subjective reasons, also accounted for 30%. This basic law summarized by Lao Tzu is also in line with historical and social facts.
Why do some things develop benignly? Very simply, if the time and place are favorable, and all the conditions are met, it will develop benignly, and those who can develop benignly are called "living disciples"; Why can't some things develop benignly? It's easy because there are a variety of reasons! There are subjective reasons, there are objective reasons - the objective conditions are not met, and no matter how hard the subjective work is, this is called "dead people"; The objective conditions are there, but the subjective direction of efforts is wrong, which is called "the life of a person, and the death of a person".
You see, what Lao Tzu said clearly? Don't understand? To do something, we must not only consider objective conditions, but also make subjective efforts. When we read the Tao Te Ching, we must read the logic behind the words. Because when the Tao Te Ching was written, the writing conditions were very difficult, unlike the current computer typing, you can type as much as you want, Lao Tzu should make the text as concise as possible when writing, which omitted a lot of words, we must reproduce the logic behind the existing words. In this sentence, the logic that Lao Tzu wants to express is:
- First, whether things can be done or not has objective factors and subjective factors;
- Second, we can't control the objective factors, but the subjective factors are completely controllable;
- Third, we can't control the objective factors, but we must consider everything before doing things, because "the dead are three out of ten", and the risk is objective;
- Fourth, in the case of objective factors, if the subjective thing is messed up, the main reason is "the thickness of life".
- ……
Therefore, the first meaning falls on the "thickness of life". What does it mean to be "thick"? It's simple: to be alive and to be born. To open a restaurant is to open a hotel in order to make money and survive; When you speculate in stocks, you speculate in stocks in order to make money from the stock market......
Therefore, there is no problem with "the thickness of life" at first glance: isn't opening a restaurant to make money? Isn't stock speculation about making money? What is not "born for the sake of living"? However, there is no problem in concept and theory when thinking in this way, but it is problematic in practice. Why? Lao Tzu gave the answer in the second layer of text: Those who are good at taking care of the living, do not meet tigers on land, and do not be armored when they enter the army; There is nothing to throw at its horns, a tiger has nothing to use its claws, and a soldier has nothing to tolerate its blades. Husband? With its deathlessness.
Connecting the two layers of text, the logic is: the thickness of life = death. Why?
What is "dead land"? In contrast to the expressions of modern language, "dead place" is similar to "dead hole", "trap", "pit", and so on.
To be born for the sake of life is the death hole of life and career development. It's not easy to understand, let's take an example, and take stock speculation as an example - why do I always like to use stock speculation as an example? Because I know that most of my friends who read my articles speculate in stocks, and there are very few people who do business, politics or management, it is more acceptable to use stock speculation as an example. When we speculate in stocks, if we come up just to make money, the stock market will use all kinds of "traps (dead land)" to teach you a lesson, and use the huge pit dug by "the thickness of life" to teach you a lesson. I'll stop talking about this point, and I won't expand on it, because those who understand understand themselves, and those who don't understand don't understand: if the purpose of stock trading is not to make money, you will definitely lose, because when all your operations are around making money, you will ignore the risks, and this reason couldn't be simpler.
Digression: Students who take the college entrance examination for the sake of the college entrance examination will be invalidated when they are admitted to university. Speaking of this, we can think about the connection between "big tools and exemption (late) success": why do you want to become a big instrument (have great achievements) to be exempt or late? Because the achievement of your "instrument" is not the goal, if you take the "instrument" as the goal, the instrument for the sake of the instrument is equivalent to the thickness of life, life stops at this instrument, and your development will "die" here.
And these dead places, dead holes, traps, huge pits...... What is it? It's "risk". The temptation of life will make people lose the ability to discern, control, and escape various risks. The stock market is a place where "temptation" and "risk" coexist, and it is not only the birthplace of dreams, but also a meat grinder and slaughterhouse. The time of your life is also a time when you cannot discern and escape the "place of death".
How can there be no "dead land"? Quite simply, it is to control the "risk". How to control "risk"? Lao Tzu gave the answer: Lu Xing will not meet a tiger, and he will not be a soldier when he joins the army.
These are two parables - especially emphasized: when we read the Tao Te Ching, we must read the logic behind the words, we must read out the omitted content, read out the cause and effect, and read out the meaning and meaning of the metaphorical text...... I find that some learners are too mechanical and old-fashioned, biting words to understand the content, and the interpretation is unrealistic and very funny. Take "Lu Xing does not meet tigers, and when you enter the army, you will not be armoured", is this a literal meaning? Apparently not, because the literal meaning does not correspond to the facts, it is clearly a metaphor. It's like "girls are like flowers", talking about the beauty of girls, not saying that girls are flowers, if it is flowers, is it peach blossoms or apricot blossoms? Isn't it funny to ask like that?
Well, we know that "you don't meet a tiger on land, and you don't get a soldier when you join the army" is a simple metaphor, so what does it mean? It is "risk control". "Traveling on land does not meet tigers" is a metaphor for: to avoid objective unfavorable factors; "Joining the army is not a soldier" is a metaphor for the subjective development of more favorable factors, that is, to make friends and not make enemies. Let's think about it, is it necessary to control these two risks when doing one thing? These two risks can be controlled, the external and internal conditions are in place, the objective and subjective factors are in place, and your career is still worried about not being able to develop smoothly?
Let's take Fat Donglai in Xuchang, Henan Province as an example. Let's first take a look at Fat Donglai's business philosophy, corporate mission and vision:
- Business philosophy: With the tenet of "satisfying every customer", it aims to create a happy shopping home and improve the quality of life of the public.
- Corporate mission: to improve the well-being of employees, customers and society by spreading advanced cultural concepts.
- Corporate vision: treat customers sincerely, sincerely to employees, love to the society, confidence and development, aiming to cultivate a sound personality and achieve a sunny personality life.
You see, is the development of Fat Donglai "thick and thick"? No! In these simple words, the words "customer", "public", "employee", and "society" are very eye-catching and are the key words. The actual situation is that Fat Donglai said so and did it even more, so he is a "living disciple"; And there are many companies that say the same, but what they do is another set, such enterprises are always in danger in the development environment (Lu Xing always encounters tigers), and always make enemies in many ways in the development relationship (entering the army needs to be armoured), so it has become "the life of a person, moving to the place of death".
To summarize the main idea of this chapter, it can be summarized as follows:
First, the purpose of survival and development is not a means, and replacing the means with an end cannot survive and develop for a long time, and it is easy to jump into the development trap;
Second, the means of survival and development is the ability to control risks;
Third, the ability to control risks is reflected in two aspects: one is to control and avoid objective unfavorable factors, and the other is to seek support and help subjectively.
Attached: Revised Translation
Once things are generated, they will inevitably face the end of extinction: about 30% of those who can maintain normal survival and development; About 30% of those who are blocked and trapped in a desperate situation due to unpredictable reasons; Originally, there were various conditions for survival and development, but there were also 30% of those who went to death due to human reasons. Why did it fall into the death of man-made reasons? Because of the excessive emphasis on survival and development for the purpose of survival. I have heard that people who are good at controlling the way of survival will not provoke rhinos and tigers when walking on land (avoiding objective risks), and they will not be stubborn when entering and leaving the military (defusing subjective opposition risks). So the rhinoceros doesn't use its horns, the tiger doesn't use its claws, and the soldiers don't use their weapons. What is the reason for this? Because he will not choose to put himself in a dead place where there are all kinds of risks.