Confucianism and Taoism, as local cultures in China, are rigid, flexible, yin and yang, social and natural, active and passive, responsible and liberated. They are both opposite and complementary, which have jointly created the traditional virtues and life spirit of the Chinese nation and merged into an inexhaustible source of oriental thought and wisdom.
I man and society, heaven and nature
For people and society, Confucianism says: worry about the world first. Taoist thought talks about the nature and heaven of "picking chrysanthemums under the east fence and seeing Nanshan leisurely"
Confucianism emphasizes human nature, Confucius advocates restoring to Zhou, Mencius advocates restoring to Yao and Shun, and Confucianism advocates rectifying the world with "virtue" and seeking Tao with great virtue. Taoist thought focuses on Heaven. Laozi advocates returning to primitive clan society, reorganizing the world with "Tao", being perfect, being good at thinking under the background of the universe, but finally putting himself into society. Just like Laozi, the main space is still talking about society, politics and life, and some are directly talking about social politics and life. In the end, it is also necessary to seek the basis and guidance of the concept of heaven for society, politics and life. Therefore, the enthusiasm of Taoism for this concern is comparable to that of Confucianism. At the same time, Taoism became a supplement to Confucianism. Confucianism pays attention to people and society, which is an eternal topic of mankind. However, it still has its own explanation of various phenomena in the universe. It thinks that all kinds of moral etiquette in the world are derived from the metaphysical laws of the universe, and people achieve the unity of heaven and man by practicing these moral etiquette.
Second, there is action and inaction.
Confucianism is "being" and Taoism is "nothing". The logical relationship between Confucianism's "being" and Taoism's "nothing" is irreversible, otherwise, Taoism's "nothing" becomes meaningless; Different from Hegel's point of view, Confucianism's "being" is unconsciously transformed into "nothing" because of its lack of stipulation. On the contrary, it is precisely because there are too many regulations that we need to use "nothing" to resolve and realize a historic return.
Confucianism talks about doing something after China's entry into WTO, while Taoists talk about doing nothing. However, Confucianism's "promising" and Taoism's "inaction" are essentially the same, and both advocate letting nature take its course and let it go. The difference is mainly the "time" of the argument. One "era" is to govern the world, and the other is troubled times.
The Confucian "promising" performance is positive when there is a way in the world. The so-called "promising" is actually "inaction", that is, "doing something" or "inaction", because the Confucian "promising" is to conform to the requirements of nature, or to compare with nature. "Tian Xingjian, the gentleman is constantly striving for self-improvement; The terrain is Kun, and the gentleman carries things with morality. " It is the best annotation of this "promising". Because according to the meaning of this sentence, the reason why a gentleman strives for self-improvement is because of "Tian Xingjian"; The reason why a gentleman carries things with virtue is because of his "boundless land". It can be seen that the reason why a gentleman is active is not to play the so-called "subjective initiative" in modern times, but to conform to nature and follow the law.
Taoism's "inaction" is manifested when there is no way in the world, that is, in troubled times. The so-called way of the world is the rule of the world; The so-called no way in the world is chaos in the world. The so-called "inaction" means not to "run amok", that is, not to increase people's vain behavior in the process of maximizing nature, that is, to pursue selfish desires and interests, thus undermining the overall harmony and life, but to require all people's behaviors and values to conform to and obey the maximization of nature, harmony with nature and harmony with the group. The influence of Taoism seems weak, but it is not, which has a lot to do with the inaction thought upheld by Taoism as a whole. In history, many Confucian scholars and officials used Confucianism when they went to court, but they worshipped Buddhism and Taoism after they left court. Huang Lao's philosophy and quietness are also the nature of many people in China. Taoism is doing nothing and doing everything. Third, human responsibility and human liberation.
"Every man is responsible for the rise and fall of the world!" It is the proposition of Confucianism's responsibility to human beings, while Taoism mainly focuses on the smallness of politics and the eternity of art, focusing on the pursuit of human liberation. The most fundamental thing of Confucianism is that it pays attention to the secularity of ethics, that is, its purpose is to formulate a rule for the secular society, but the core of Taoism is not here. Taoism is more of an idea of individual settlement. The Confucian outlook on life takes the achievement of moral personality and the cause of salvation as its value orientation, and takes self-cultivation, enriching benevolence, helping the people and governing the country as its outside, which is the way to be sage inside and king outside. He has a positive attitude towards life. He has a strong concern for social reality and a sense of historical mission. He takes the world as his responsibility and is sympathetic to his peers and others. Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you. He wants to be a person. If he is ambitious, he is good at making a factory. If he is poor, he will stay aloof and not follow the crowd. When there is a contradiction between life and ideal, he would rather die than do justice. Taoism's outlook on life takes transcending the secular interpersonal network and obtaining personal inner peace and comfort as its value orientation. It opposes the mind as a service form and does not care about the success or failure of social undertakings. As long as they conform to nature and do not interfere with each other, they will inevitably move towards a harmonious and peaceful society. It is better to forget the Jianghu than to be a child. His attitude towards life is negative and self-protective, with avoiding the whole life as the lowest goal and taking care of his own life as the highest goal. Or in the mountains, or in Shi Lang, there is an obvious tendency to be born. The outstanding figure of Confucianism is a man with lofty ideals, and the typical figure of Taoism is a hermit.
Dong Zhongshu, a great scholar in Han Dynasty, quoted the theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements and established a theological system with "the feeling between heaven and man" as the core. He is not only a supernatural theologian, but also an advocate of immortal magic. He not only echoed the Confucian classics with the mysterious theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements, but also created the practice of praying for heaven and rain and going to the altar, which made people confused whether he was a Confucian scholar or a Taoist. This typical example just shows that although Confucianism and Taoism are two different ideological and cultural schools, opposition and exclusion are only one aspect, and more are complementary structures of interdependence, mutual absorption and mutual integration.
Confucianism represented by Confucius and Taoism represented by Laozi are complementary in philosophy. The complementation of Confucianism and Taoism has influenced the whole China culture, making China culture have a humanistic spirit tradition different from western culture for more than two thousand years, making China culture have the characteristics of emphasizing the harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and promoting the development of China culture in a profound direction.