Yang Zhu's philosophy of life is an extreme egoism. He said: "Therefore, wisdom is precious, and saving me is also precious." All living things have a "nature of saving me", not only people, but all living things have evolved because they want to save themselves. He also said: "The power is cheap, and the invasion of things is cheap." Is that he thinks that infringing on others and other things is the most despicable thing. Therefore, it is concluded that "the ancients lost a dime and benefited the world, which is not the same." Knowing that the world is full of clothes, I won't take them. Everyone doesn't lose a penny. If everyone is bad for the world, the world will be ruled. " The ancient people hurt a hair for the benefit of the world, but he refused to give it; He doesn't want all the property in the world to support his body. Everyone doesn't hurt a finger on himself, and everyone doesn't work for the interests of the whole world, so the world will be peaceful.
It can be seen that Yang Zhu's egoism is not selfish at the expense of others. He values "saving me" and "invading things"; Don't do things that harm others and benefit themselves, and don't do things that invade the world and support yourself. What he wants is "self-interest, not harm others."
Why do you have such an idea? This is related to his pessimistic view of life and death. He said: "All different people are born. People who are with you will die. Life is virtuous, stupid and noble, which is different. When you die, the stench disappears, and the same is true. " All living things in the world are different when they are alive. The same thing is death. When people are alive, there are differences between smart, stupid, noble and lowly, but after death, they are all stinky, and finally there is nothing. He also said: "Ten years will not die, and a hundred years will not die; The benevolent sage dies, the fierce fool dies. Born as Yao and Shun, died as rotten bones. Rotten bones, who knows the difference? Were you interesting when you were alive after Yi Xi died? " After death, who will know the difference before death Therefore, it's better to take care of what happened before death and leave it alone after death.
This negative and world-weary thought has a lot to do with the social reality at that time. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the feudal lords were in melee, and people's lives and property were at stake, so two extreme thoughts appeared: the thought of saving the world with painstaking efforts like Mozi and the extremely pessimistic thought like Yang Zhu.
Starting from the view of life and death, Yang Zhu put forward his own idea of "keeping in good health". He said: "Touching from the heart does not go against nature; ..... swim from nature, not against everything. " Follow one's inclinations, without violating natural preferences; Play according to the nature of nature, not against the preferences of everything. This is similar to Taoist thought, but what he pursues is a compromise. Hu Shi said: "Yang Zhu's health theory should not be too poor or too rich. Too poor to die, too rich to die. " This concept (the history of China's ancient philosophy) is worth pondering by modern people.
Yang Zhu added: "You can live happily, but you can run away. Therefore, those who live well are not embarrassed, and those who escape well are infertile. " A happy life and a comfortable body. Therefore, people who are good at making life happy will not be poor, and people who are good at making themselves comfortable will not go to sea. Yang Zhu only pursues two things, namely "a happy life" and "an easy life". He doesn't pursue immortality, he doesn't seek immortality, as long as he lives happily and comfortably.