At the same time, many of Laozi's expositions in Tao Te Ching, such as "Tao gives birth to one, life gives birth to two, life gives birth to three, and life gives birth to all things", "Specializing in qi can make babies soft" and "the mysterious is mysterious", have been used by Taoist scholars in the process of communication, and have become Taoist ways of thinking and behavior, forming a long-standing religious ceremony!
In fact, if we study Zhuangzi's works carefully, we should find that the core ideas of Taoism are basically drawn from Zhuangzi. Do not believe you can understand from the following three key points, Zhuangzi at large is the true ancestor of Taoism!
First, the ideological basis of immortality was put forward by Zhuangzi!
Anyone who knows Zhuangzi, or has only heard of Zhuangzi, must have heard of Zhuangzi's "carefree tour", which is the life goal pursued by Zhuangzi. In his own words, it means "enjoy yourself between heaven and earth"!
How to achieve it? Zhuangzi pointed out two paths, one is "no equality" and the other is "no self".
The word "wait" means "expect" and "rely on". Zhuangzi said that all expectations and dependence on the world are actually limitations. Many people have been pursuing freedom and getting rid of all kinds of restrictions all their lives, but they have never thought about all the restrictions, but actually come to everything they expect and rely on!
Zhuangzi's writing style is very elegant. He used fables as an example. Dapeng's flight depends on strong winds. Legend has it that Liezi can also fly by the wind for half a month. Strong winds have become a prerequisite for flying. Since we have to expect and rely on the wind, it is bound to be limited by the wind!
The wind had to turn; When the wind is small, you have to slow down; The wind stopped and had to stop. In fact, besides wind, flight depends on many other conditions, such as geographical conditions, seasons and climate. People expect to fly freely, in fact, they expect flight conditions.
However, as long as there are conditions to "wait", it will inevitably be "controlled" by conditions. Even if it does fly, it is not really free to fly. Zhuangzi pursues a pair of wings in his heart, so he can fly without expecting strong winds. This is "nothing to wait for"!
"No self" not only does not expect the outside world, but also does not expect itself. Most people think that if you don't rely on the outside world, you have to rely on yourself. However, Zhuangzi said that relying on oneself is actually relying on a set of life standards, which have accumulated too many desires, hobbies and habits, and become a frame of life, only restricting freedom!
Zhuangzi believes that "no self" can be a real person. In his article "The Master", he described this real person in detail. The so-called real person is "not rebellious, not masculine, not ignorant; No dreams, no worries, no addiction; Not evil, not happy, not refusing; Everything is in a natural way. Don't add anything, reject anything or pursue anything by yourself. This is "no me"!
This is an ideal and beautiful form. According to his own personal experience, Zhuangzi advocated the method of "forgetting" to cultivate himself into "real people". This later Taoist enlightenment is basically a concept.
Second, Zhuangzi found that the ultimate Tao lies in man himself!
Zhuangzi inherited Laozi's thought and thought that the origin of the world was Tao, but at the same time he carried it forward and created it. Zhuangzi thinks that this Tao is a kind of power from itself, and it is innate, that is, the ultimate creativity!
Zhuangzi famously said, "Things are not things". Among the "things", the first "thing" is a verb, and the second "thing" is a noun, which translates as "making things into things", that is, the creator. "Non-matter" is not matter, and the creator is not matter. What is that? Zhuangzi said, that's the way!
"The thing that makes things become things is not things in itself", which is an embarrassing sentence, but it illustrates Zhuangzi's point of view: "Tao" is not things, but creates everything!
How to understand? Zhuangzi wants people to observe the created things from the standpoint of the creator, not from the standpoint of the created things, that is, to look at things from the Tao rather than from things.
Viewing things by Tao, there is no distinction between things; On the other hand, if things are discussed in terms of things, there must be a comparison to divide the noble and the poor. So Zhuangzi came to a conclusion: if we stand on the position of Tao, the world will be integrated and live in harmony; If you stand in the position of things, you will cheat and even become a prisoner of things!
That is, Zhuangzi said, "Heaven and earth coexist with me, and everything is one with me". It turns out that the Tao is in ourselves! Only by understanding this truth can we gain unparalleled freedom and get rid of things as creators of all things, that is, "things are not things"!
So there is a famous fable: Zhuangzi dreamed that he became a butterfly, but it is also possible that the butterfly dreamed that he became himself. So, are you dreaming of butterflies or dreaming of butterflies?
Zhuangzi felt that there was no answer to this question. He said: "My life is limited, and my knowledge is limited. With the limit, it's almost there! " . Zhuangzi adopted two possible parallel storage methods, which are called "two lines".
According to the "two lines", all right and wrong can be coordinated and neutralized, forming a state of natural balance, that is, "Tianjun" and "two lines" are everywhere, each in its place, reaching a balance and forming "Tianjun", which is the unity of man and nature pursued by Taoism in later generations!
Third, Zhuangzi pioneered the way of keeping in good health and practicing!
In The Master, Zhuangzi described the image of "a truly enlightened person" in imaginative language: "Respect height but not chestnut, enter the water without being wet, enter the fire without being hot"; "Don't sleep in MUBI, be carefree, don't want to eat, don't want to take a deep breath", which is really a typical real person pursued by Taoism!
Not only that, Zhuangzi also described the god man on the lonely snake mountain in Wandering: "The skin is like ice and snow, graceful as a virgin;" Don't eat grains, suck the wind and drink dew; Riding on clouds, resisting flying dragons and traveling around the world "is a model of" becoming immortal "that Taoist believers yearn for!
Zhuangzi not only described the image of a real person and a fairy, but also practiced it. Zhuangzi lived a life of wandering in quietism, and has been practicing health. Zhuangzi put forward the way of "Xin Zhai" for keeping in good health, discussed the experience of getting through the second pulse of Ren Du among the masters of keeping in good health, and analyzed the reasons why the old man is not old in the old gentleman!
In a word, Zhuangzi, who has been pursuing freedom all his life, has, in a sense, come close to becoming a real person, a fairy and a man of god. His appearance has enabled Taoist communicators to find a cultural idol, an alternative ideology and culture in which a hundred schools of thought contend, and he is the true ancestor of Taoism!
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