Chapter 33 of Tao Te Ching
Author: Li Er
He who knows others is wise, and he who knows himself is wise. The winner is strong, and the winner is strong. The contented are rich. Those who are strong have aspirations. Don't lose its position for a long time. People who die but don't die are still alive.
Notes to Chapter 33 of Tao Te Ching:
1, strong: strong and decisive.
2. Force: Perseverance and perseverance.
3. Death without death: Although the body is dead, the Tao still exists.
Translation of Chapter 33 of Tao Te Ching;
Being able to understand and know others is called wisdom, and being able to know and know yourself is called cleverness. Being able to overcome others is powerful, and being able to restrain your own weaknesses is powerful. People who know how to be satisfied are rich. Perseverance and unremitting efforts are aspirations. Only those who do not lose their duty can live long, and those who die and "Tao" still exist are the real longevity.
Interpretation of Chapter 33 of Tao Te Ching:
There is a saying in China that "people have self-knowledge". Laozi was the first to express this sentence. "Know yourself and know yourself, and fight every battle" means being able to know yourself clearly and treat yourself. This is the cleverest and most valuable. In this chapter, Lao Tzu raised the issue of spiritual cultivation. Ren said that this chapter "promoted a series of negative, conservative and reflective spiritual cultivation views" and "also promoted the law of spiritual victory, saying that death without death is longevity. These are idealistic thoughts. " (As the New Translation of Laozi)
Some scholars disagree with this view. For example, Zhang thinks that Laozi's view is "Why idealism? Is' immortality' a ghost theory? " He thinks this is a matter of different opinions, and everyone has his own heart. He believes that personal spiritual cultivation can make people have intelligence, wisdom, strength, strength, wealth, ambition, longevity, longevity and other qualities, which are of positive significance. Laozi strongly advocates "immortality", which is his consistent ideological proposition and embodies the ideological theme of "inaction". "Death without death" is not to promote the theory of ghosts and gods, nor to promote the immortality of the soul, but to say that although the human body has disappeared, the human spirit is immortal and eternal, which can of course be regarded as longevity.
Liang Qichao, a famous scholar who also studied the Tao Te Ching in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, once said that a person's physical life span is only a few decades, and it is impossible for him to live forever, but his spirit can live forever, because although his body has disappeared, his theory, his thoughts and his spirit will have a long-term impact on people now and later. In this sense, people can "die but not die". Liang Qichao's viewpoint should be said to be mainly influenced not by Buddhism, but by Laozi's thought.
On the Thought of Tao Te Ching;
Tao in Tao Te Ching can be understood in connection with virtue. Tao Te Ching mainly discusses two issues: "Tao" and "morality". "Tao" is not only the natural way of the universe, but also the method of personal practice, that is, cultivation; "Virtue" is not the usual morality or virtue, but a monk's special world outlook, methodology and way of dealing with people. The general part puts forward the methods of monasticism, mostly discussing the "virtue" of monasticism. The Tao Te Ching summarizes the contents of the full text in three words.
The content of Tao Te Ching is difficult to understand, but the understanding of its content in different versions of Tao Te Ching is quite different. For example, the contents of moral classics are described as ways to treat people, manage families, manage countries and so on. Laozi's original intention should be to teach people how to practice Buddhism. Morality is the foundation, and Taoism is the sublimation of morality. Without the foundation of virtue, you are likely to fail in dealing with people, managing your family and governing the country, and you will not be able to "cultivate Buddhism." Therefore, cultivating "virtue" is to create a good external environment for monasticism, which may also be needed by people; Being a monk requires a quiet mind and a detached life, which is also indispensable for virtue. The moral part of Tao Te Ching accounts for a large part of the Confucian classics, which is the basis of monasticism. Everyone has different views on the contents of Tao Te Ching.
At all times, there are countless people who study and annotate the Tao Te Ching, and they have different opinions from the perspectives of health, philosophy, politics, art of war and natural science. These understandings are both one-sided and reasonable. "Tao" is the simplicity of the whole. From a certain point of view, it is obviously one-sided to treat "Wan Qi Gate" as a local thing. This is a blind man touching an elephant. On the other hand, "Tao" generates everything and is also included in everything. Tao is in things, things are in Tao, and everything leads to Tao through different routes. Understanding from this aspect also has its reasonable side.
According to the concept of western philosophy, some people unilaterally interpret Tao as "thing", "god" or "law". These explanations are not in line with the original meaning of Lao Tzu. Tao is not only a tangible substance, a thoughtful spirit, a rational law, but also an invisible and intangible cosmic source, which leads to all this. Material, spirit and law are all derivatives of Tao. Tao is inherently infinite. Tao is the ancestor of nature, the source of all things in the universe and the foundation of all things in the universe. Only by correctly understanding "Dao" can we correctly understand "De", thus taking it as the key to correctly understand the whole book of Tao Te Ching.