Tao Te Ching refers to Laozi.
Historical Records: Biographies of Lao Zi and Han Fei: Lao Zi (about 600 years before legend-about 470 years before legend) was an ancient thinker in China. Li Minger, whose name is Bo Yang, is from Qurenli, Li Xiang, Guxian County. Some people say it is also called Lao Dan. The specific names in historical materials are also quite incomplete. "Guan Ling Yin Xi said that his son would be hidden and would write a book for me. Therefore, Laozi wrote a book and talked about the morality of more than 5,000 words. " The Han book Laozi Zhangju consists of 8 1 chapter. The first 37 chapters are Tao Jing, and the last 44 chapters are The Classic of Morality, hence the name Tao Te Ching.
The Classic of Tao Te Ching, also known as the True Classic of Morality, Laozi and Five Thousand Words, was a work written by the pre-Qin philosophers in ancient China before their separation, which was highly praised by the philosophers at that time. According to legend, it was written by Gigi Lai II in the Spring and Autumn Period (it seems to be the masterpiece of the author, annotator and scribe), which is an important source of Taoist philosophy.
Tao Te Ching is divided into two parts. The first part of the original work is the Tao Te Ching, and the second part is the Tao Te Ching, which is divided into 8 1 chapters. This is the first complete philosophical work in the history of China. The original version we can see now is Laozi, 1993 bamboo slips unearthed from Guodian Chu Tomb in Jingmen, Hubei Province. 1973 Laozi, a silk book unearthed from No.3 Han Tomb in Mawangdui, Changsha, is a version of the early Western Han Dynasty. The Classic of Virtue was placed before the Classic of Taoism, which was also valued by scholars.
Tao Te Ching is often classified as Taoism. In fact, the philosophical Tao and the religious Tao cannot be confused. However, Tao Te Ching, as an important part of the basic teachings of Taoism, is regarded as an important classic by Taoism, and its author Lao Zi is also regarded by Taoism as one of the supreme gods of Sanqing, also known as the incarnation of Taishang Laojun. Therefore, it should be said that Taoism has absorbed Taoist thought, and Taoist thought has perfected Taoism. At the same time, the philosophy mentioned above cannot cover the whole picture of the Tao Te Ching (self-cultivation, saving the world, governing the country and being born).
Tao Te Ching put forward the idea of "governing by doing nothing", which became the governing strategy of some dynasties in China history, such as the early years of the Western Han Dynasty. It can relieve people's pressure economically and play a certain role in China's early stability. The Tao Te Ching has been annotated by many people in history, and even several emperors have annotated it.
In the twenty-first year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty (647), Tao Te Ching was translated into Sanskrit and introduced to East Tianzhu. In the 22nd year of Tang Kaiyuan (735), Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty personally wrote Laozi. The famous Japanese emissary invited the old Amethyst and Laozi's "Buddha statue" to return to China, which had an impact on the development of Japanese society.
Taoism is considered as one of the major classics.
Tao Te Ching, also known as moral truth, has 5,000 articles by Lao Zi and Lao Zi. At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Lao Zi (Lao Dan), an official of Zhou Shouzang's government, wrote Two Books of Lu Jue, in which Lao Zi was lured to travel to the west, and Guan Yin of Hangu invited him to write a 5,000-word Shangzhi Jing, that is, this book. Lao Zhang Clause, the old title of the Western Han Dynasty, is divided into 81 chapters, the first 37 chapters are Tao Jing, and the last 44 chapters are The Classic of Morality, hence the name The Classic of Morality.
Laozi (about 600 years before the legend-about 470 years before) was an ancient thinker in China. Li Minger, whose name is Bo Yang, is from Qurenli, Li Xiang, Guxian County. Some people say it is also called Lao Dan. "Guanling Yin yue, the child will be hidden, strong book to me. Therefore, Laozi wrote a book and talked about the morality of more than 5,000 words. " The Han book Laozi Zhangju consists of 8 1 chapter. The first 37 chapters are Tao Jing, and the last 44 chapters are The Classic of Morality, hence the name Tao Te Ching. But 1973 The manuscript of Laozi unearthed from the No.3 Han Tomb in Mawangdui, Changsha, was written by virtue before Taoism.
Tao Te Ching was originally the representative work of Taoism in the pre-Qin period. At the end of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Ling established the Five Mi Dou Doctrine, taking Laozi as his ancestor, taking Laozi's 5,000 essays as the canon to teach those who repent, and made Notes on Laozi Sier to explain Laozi from a religious perspective. Since then, it has become the basic classic of Taoism.
The Tao Te Ching written by Laojunyan in Qingyuan Mountain, Quanzhou is a verse and philosophical poem. Zhuangzi Tian Xia Pian contains its purpose: take it as essence, take things as coarseness, take product as emptiness, and live alone in Shenfu. ..... nothing to build, the ether of the Lord, with humility as the table, and the immortality of everything in the air as the truth. Generally speaking, he took "Tao" as the origin of the universe and the highest principle of the universe, and as the ultimate, he invented self-cultivation to govern politics and others. As the saying goes, "man is everywhere, the earth follows the sky, the sky follows the Tao, and the Tao follows the nature", so human beings should learn from the earth and study the origin and essence of the Tao. The principle of Tao has two sides: nothing and two sides. Tao is often absent, nameless and intangible, and it is the beginning of all things in heaven and earth before the ghosts and gods in heaven and earth. The Tao is always there, giving birth to everything in the world and using it endlessly. The principle of Tao runs through all things, which is manifested as the fundamental law of the relative existence of all things, and the extremes of things will eventually return. And useful, often based on nothing, "out of nothing." The sage's body has no way, and the way is naturally inaction, so as to cultivate one's morality, be quiet without desire, be careless and empty, be unconscious, be conceited and not stick to it, succeed without being born, be kind and thrifty, practice and go to China, so as to rule the world, and achieve "teaching without doing anything, without words", return the sword, leave the war, not Shang Xian and not expensive. "The opponent knows how to move, and the weak can use it." Therefore, people who know how to keep women humble, give in humility, resolve disputes, sit with the light, and overcome the strong with the weak. Taoist views on knowing and doing, politics and ethics are generally divorced from the old system. If the Confucian classics say "to be empty, to be quiet, to believe", "to be spiritual, to be soft" and "to get rid of the metaphysical feeling", then it is the root of various Taoist cultivation techniques, such as nourishing the heart, forgetting to sit, being convinced, and inner alchemy. Taoism is cited as the origin of immortal life theory, such as "immortality" and "death without death" in the theory of "returning to the original" and "resurrection". Inner alchemy has played a philosophical foundation for the inner alchemy to be refined into truth and integrated with Taoism.
Tao Te Ching, a magical book known as the King of All Classics, has had a far-reaching impact on China's ancient philosophy, science, politics and religion. It has played an inestimable role in the formation of Chinese national character and political unity and stability, and its world significance is becoming more and more obvious. More and more western scholars spare no effort to explore the mysteries of science and find the source of human civilization.
There are many editions of Tao Te Ching, and the following edition of Tao Te Ching (Wang Bi Ben) is the most common. In addition, the bamboo slips Lao Zi unearthed in Guodian and the silk book Lao Zi (A and B) unearthed in Mawangdui Han Tomb show the different styles of the early Tao Te Ching, which are highly valued by most scholars today, with bamboo slips Lao Zi and Guben School as reference.
[Edit this paragraph] Understand the main points of Tao Te Ching
Laozi's Tao Te Ching has 5,000 words, and there are more than 700 interpreters at home and abroad. But it goes without saying that it is difficult to find a person who can interpret with modern thinking and abandon the language of Tao, Fa and Mystery.
I don't have a deep study of Tao Te Ching, but under the guidance of Buddhism and Taoism, I have some experience in practice for more than ten years. As a medical student, I have dabbled in medicine, philosophy, psychology, neurobiology and molecular biology for many years in order to explore the principles of Buddhism and Taoism (I wrote the book Psychology and Aging-Trinity Structure of Life and Its Adjustment Mechanism, published by Beijing Traditional Chinese Medicine Press in May 2004), and I am confident that I have a good understanding of Buddhism and Taoism, nothingness and internalization. Therefore, I have always wanted to translate the Tao Te Ching and explain Buddhism with modern science, but because of the time, I have no confidence in whether the world will believe it, so I have been dragging my feet.
At this international Taoist academic conference, Sister Yin Shan asked me to write an article about Tao Te Ching. Although I don't know much about the Tao Te Ching and the articles I write are not like papers, the Buddha said, "There is no limit to the merits of doing things only by law." I should also do my bit to promote Tao Te Ching, and sincerely hope that Tao Te Ching can bring prosperity to modern people.
I. Overview of Tao Te Ching
Tao can be Tao, very Tao; The name can be named. It's very famous. Nothing, the beginning of the world; Yes, the mother of all things. Therefore, there is often nothing and I want to see its wonders; Often, I want to see it. Both of them have different names. They are both called Xuan. Mysterious and mysterious, the gate of Wan Qi.
For this passage, people of all ages have interpreted this "Tao" as the way of the universe, the way of heaven and earth, the way of nature and so on. However, it is not linked to "morality". In fact, Tao Te Ching only discusses two issues: "Tao" and "morality". "Tao" is not the natural way of the universe, but the method of personal practice, that is, cultivation; "Virtue" is not what we usually think of as morality or virtue, but a special world outlook, methodology and way of treating people. Modern people regard Buddhism and Taoism as mysterious cultures because their practice methods are very special and require monks to have special "morality". People who practice in the past dynasties know that they need to cultivate special "morality" first, but few people finally understand what "Tao" is. The general part of Tao Te Ching puts forward the method of self-cultivation, but most of the latter parts discuss the "virtue" of self-cultivation, so it is difficult for people who only cultivate themselves but don't know the "virtue", and it is even harder for people who only understand Tao as the way of the universe from words. Only those who can understand what is going on can know that "Tao" and "virtue" are integrated, and the three words of Tao and virtue have really summarized the content of the full text.
Therefore, it is very insightful for predecessors to divide the Confucian classics into two parts: Taoist classics and Taoist classics. For those who have not practiced or practiced the virtual combination of the Tao Te Ching, the content of the Tao Te Ching is difficult to understand, or it can only be understood without words. But no one can tell what this law is, so there have been more and more translations of Tao Te Ching for thousands of years, but people have more and more arguments about what to say in the classics.
Similarly, the contents of moral classics are described as methods of treating people, managing families and governing the country. It makes no difference. Laozi's original intention is to teach people a whole set of methods of individual cultivation, with Tao as the foundation and Tao as the sublimation of morality. If a person does not have the foundation of virtue, he is likely to fail in dealing with people, governing the country with small things, and governing the country, so that he can no longer practice Buddhism. Therefore, cultivating "virtue" is to create a good external environment for monasticism, which may also be needed by people; On the other hand, monks need to have a quiet mind and a detached life, which also requires "virtue". Hey! Few people can understand Laozi's painstaking efforts, but they think that he is weak, uncontested, willing to live in the world, and an idealistic avenue of empty talk. I don't know that "virtue", which is regarded as worthless by modern solipsists, is an indispensable thing for monks. Without it, it is impossible to cultivate. These things, if you have not personally experienced monasticism, are simply incomprehensible.
Second, the part of Tao Te Ching.
In addition to the general introduction, the Tao Te Ching also includes: the key sentence in the fourth chapter is "Harmony with its light and its dust"; Chapter VI "Valley Immortal" refers to Xuanzang. The gate of Xuanzang is the root of heaven and earth. If it is continuous, it will not be used often "; Chapter 10 "Holding the camp spirit, is there separation?" Committed to softness, can you be a baby? Can we get rid of the mysterious point of view and achieve perfection? "Chapter 14 is about some requirements for monks in color, sound, touch and meaning. Chapter 15 "What can be turbid? Quiet Summer Xu; Who can live long? Touched Xu Sheng "; Chapter 16 "Be empty, be quiet. Everything works together, and I will see it again. Everything must be traced back to the source "; Chapter 21 "Tao is a thing, but it is just a dream. "Very embarrassed, there are elephants; I was in a daze, and there was something inside. Rudder, rudder, rudder, rudder, rudder, rudder, rudder, rudder, rudder, rudder, rudder; 33333333333; Chapter 25 "Things are miscellaneous and innate. Lonely, independent, but not dangerous, can be the mother of the world "; Chapter 42 "Tao gives birth to one, life gives birth to two, life gives birth to three, and life gives birth to everything." Everything is negative and positive, thinking of harmony "; Chapter 52: "Stop the exchange, close the door, and never be diligent for life"; Chapter 56 "Block the exchange and close the door; Frustrate their spirit and resolve their disputes; Its light, its dust. It means "Xuan Tong" and so on.
Thirdly, the part about moral classics in Tao Te Ching accounts for a large part of the scripture, which is the basis of monasticism and is by no means dispensable. If I understand this, I think the contents of Tao Te Ching are inseparable and there is no need to explain them one by one. Everyone can have different opinions, and many places may be modified in today's society. However, in any case, we must understand the internal relationship between moral education and monasticism through practice. Therefore, this article is written for these.