Yang Zhu was wei ren in the Warring States Period. He opposed Confucianism and Mohism and advocated attaching importance to life and self. His opinions on dissolution can be found in Zhuangzi, Mencius, Everything is Wrong, and Lv Chunqiu. Yang Zhu is an interesting person. He looks like a poet rather than a thinker. It is said that once he went out to a fork in the road, he began to cry, because he thought of the wrong path of life and couldn't help but feel sad. On another occasion, my brother went out in white and came back in black because of the rain. As a result, the dog at home didn't recognize it and barked at him. The younger brother was so angry that he wanted to hit him, but Yang Zhu said, "Don't hit him. Don't you think it's equally strange to assume that the dog is white when it goes out and black when it comes back? " That's it. Some poets in "Yang Zhu" are sentimental, but it is such a person who put forward philosophically famous views such as "for me" and "for himself", which made the argumentative Mencius regard him as an enemy.
Andy took it for me and pulled out a dime to benefit the world, not for nothing. Mozi loves everything and he is eager to help the world.
I refuse to pull out a hair, but I am stingy and selfish.
Mozi, named Zhai, was a great thinker in the Warring States Period and the founder of mohists. He advocated "fraternity" and opposed war.
Almost at the same time as Mozi, there was a philosopher named Yang Zhu who opposed Mozi's "universal love", advocated "valuing life" and "valuing oneself", attached importance to the preservation of personal life, and opposed others' encroachment on himself and himself.
Once, Li Li, a student of Mozi, asked Yang Zhu, "If pulling out a hair on your body can benefit the whole world, will you?"
"The world's problems can never be solved by pulling out a hair!"
Li Li said, "If you can, will you?"
Yang did not answer.
At that time, Mencius, another great thinker and representative of Confucianism, commented on Yang Zhu and Mozi: "Andy advocated' for me', even if pulling out a hair on his body was beneficial to the world, he would not do it, while Mozi advocated' universal love', as long as it was beneficial to the world, even if his head was polished and his foot was broken, he would be willing."
The above is the source of penniless, and the metaphor is more stingy and selfish than pleasure.
Maturity is a unique form of language, but I want to put forward some views today:
First of all, let's affirm that "it's not good to pull out a dime and benefit the world." Yang Zhu's words should be negative and positive, but how many people in this world can understand the great wisdom contained in it. Doing nothing and coming and going freely all exist in theory, but Yang Zhu has his own practice, which is just ignored by the world.
Pull out a hair? Why don't you pull it out? There is no dialectical relationship between meaningless things and using them ... if you can get them dialectically, why bother people in the world? Everything can only be understood in life, some people understand it by accident, but great wisdom cannot be recorded in words, not because they don't want to, but because they can't express it. I think Yang Qiren also has unspeakable pain.
Mozi's "universal love" advocates "valuing life" and "valuing oneself", attaches importance to the preservation of personal life and opposes others' occupation of themselves and themselves.
I want to ask: when you realize "for me", why "for him"? There's no need!
Is the great realm of' for me' so easy to achieve? To this end, a generation of wise men Yang Zhu fell among the pack ... and declined, and then said with such a mentality, "Pulling out a hair is good for the world, but not for it." You can understand it well.
Think again Li Liu asked Yang Zhu and Yang Zhu answered. With Yang's mentality, how painful it is to understand what he said!
According to the Analects of Confucius, while traveling around the world, Confucius met some people he called "hermits" (Wei Zi) and "hermits" (sages). These hermits laughed at Confucius and thought that his efforts to save the world were futile. A hermit called Confucius "the one who knows what he can't do" (ibid.). Lutz, a disciple of Confucius, once replied, "Being an official is meaningless. Festivals for the young and the old cannot be abolished. The righteousness of the monarch and the minister, such as how to abolish it, wants to clean his body, and is it chaotic? The official position of the gentleman also carried out his righteousness. If the Tao is not good, you will know it. " ("micron")
Early Taoists and Hermits
The hermit is such an individualist who wants to lead an honest and clean life. In a sense, they are also defeatists. They think the world is too bad for anyone to help. A hermit said, "an empty talker is everywhere, but who can trade it?" (The Analects of Confucius) Most of these people live in seclusion in the mountains. Taoism may have produced such people.
However, Taoism is no ordinary hermit. It just wants to "avoid the world" and "clean up" and does not want to defend its retirement behavior in theory. Taoists are retired people. We should also put forward an ideological system. Give meaning to their actions. Among them, the earliest famous representative seems to be Yang Zhu.
Yang Zhu's date of birth and death is unknown, but he must have lived between Mozi (about 38 BC1) and Mencius (about 37 BC1). Because Mozi never mentioned him, his influence was the same as that of Mohism in Mencius' time. Mencius himself said, "The words of Yang Zhu and Mo Zhai are the best in the world." Liezi is a Taoist work, one of which is called Yang Zhu. Traditionally, it represents Yang Zhu's philosophy. However, modern scholars deeply doubt the authenticity of Liezi, and the ideas in Yang Zhu are mostly at odds with those of Yang Zhu recorded in other reliable pre-Qin materials. Yang Zhu's theme is extreme lust, but in other pre-Qin works, Yang Zhu has never been accused of lust. What is the truth of Yang Zhu Thought? Unfortunately, there is no complete record, so we have to extract it from scattered materials scattered in other people's works.
Yang Zhu's Basic Concepts
Mencius said, "Andy took it from me and pulled out a dime to benefit the world, not for his own sake." (The History of the Three Kingdoms) Lu Chunqiu (3rd century BC) said: "Yang begets oneself." (Introduction to Textual Research) Han Feizi (3rd century BC) said: "Today, some people are here, not in the army, and they don't want to benefit the world, but they are born again." Huai Nanzi (2nd century BC) said, "All talents are faithful and things are never tired: the foundation of Andy." (On Xun Xun)
Among the above quotations, Yang Sheng mentioned in Lv Chunqiu was recently proved by scholars to be Yang Zhu. Everything goes wrong "said" don't take advantage of the world ",it must be Yang Zhu or his disciples, because no one else had this idea at that time. Synthesizing these materials, we can get two basic concepts of Yang Zhu: "for me" and "light things for rebirth". These ideas are obviously opposed to Mozi who advocates universal love. Doing everything wrong and saying that Yang Zhu is not easy to benefit the world is somewhat different from Mencius' saying that one hair of Yang Zhu is not good for the world. But these two statements are consistent with Yang Zhu's basic thinking. The latter is consistent with "for me", and the former is consistent with "light things and rebirth". The two can be said to be two sides of the same theory.
Examples of Yang Zhu's Basic Thought
The above two aspects of Yang Zhu Thought can be exemplified in Taoist literature. There is a story in "Zhuangzi Xiaoyao Tour" that says: "Yao lets the world take charge. ..... Xu You said: Zi governs the world, the world has been governed, and I am still a son. Will I be named? Celebrities are real guests. Will I be a guest? Wren nest in the depths of the forest, but only one; The mouse drank the water from the river, but the river was full. Return to Hugh or Jun? Children are useless, and the world is everything. " The hermit gave him the world, even if he gave it away for nothing, he didn't want it. Of course, he doesn't take advantage of the world. This is an example mentioned in Yang Zhu Thought.
As mentioned earlier, in Liezi's Yang Zhu, there is a story that says; The bird asked Yang Zhu, "What do you think of pulling out a hair from your daughter to save the whole life?" Andy said: The world is not a drop in the ocean. The bird said: False aid, why? Andy responded. The bird said Yang. Meng Sunyang said, Your son doesn't like your master's wishes. Please speak up. If someone violated his skin and got a million dollars, what if he did? Say: for it. Meng Sunyang said: Take a break and get a country. Where's the son? There was silence among the birds. Meng Sunyang said: A hair is slightly smaller than the skin, and the skin is slightly smaller than a section, saving time. However, a hair accumulates to form a skin, and the skin accumulates to form a knot. A hair is one in ten thousand, but how can it be light? "This is another example of Yang Zhu's theory." Liezi Yang Zhu also said: "The ancients lost a dime to benefit the world, and they were harmonious but different; Knowing that the world is full of clothes, I won't take them. Everyone loses nothing, and everyone is not good for the world: the world is ruled. "We can't believe that these words were really said by Yang Zhu, but they well summarized two aspects of Yang Zhu's theory and early Taoist political philosophy.
Yang Zhu Thought in Laozi and Zhuangzi
Lao Zi, Zhuangzi and Lv Chunqiu all reflect Yang Zhu's basic thought. "Lu Chunqiu" said: "I was born today, which is what I own and what I like. On dignity, it is not enough to compare with being the son of heaven. As far as its weight is concerned, it is not easy to be rich in the world. As far as its security is concerned, once it is lost, it will be lost for life. These three are also cautious about those who have the means. " This passage (Meng values himself) explains why things should be reborn lightly. Even if you lose the world, you may get it back one day, but once you die, you can't live anymore. Some words in Laozi also contain the same idea. For example, "you are the world, if you can send it to the world;" Love is the world, if you can trust it. " (Chapter 13) That is to say, in dealing with people, a person who values his body more than the world can give him the world; He who loves himself more than the world can entrust the world to him. Another example is "name and body: who is close?" Physical goods: how much? "(Chapter 44) all show the concept of belittling things and rebirth. Zhuangzi's "Health Master" said; Good has no near name, and evil has no near punishment. The Governor thinks that you can protect yourself, spend your life peacefully, support your relatives and spend your old age peacefully. "This is also the route of Yang Zhu Thought, which the pre-Qin Taoists thought was the best way to protect themselves from the world. If a person's behavior is very bad and punished by society, it is obviously not a complete way of life. But if a person's behavior is too good and gets a good reputation, this is not the way to live. Another article in "Zhuangzi" said: "The mountain wood decays from itself. The paste is fried by itself. Edible in Guangxi, cut. Cut the paint if you have it. "A person who enjoys a talented and useful reputation will have the same fate as laurel and sumac.
So there are some words in Zhuangzi that praise is useless. In the article "The World on Earth", it is said that big oak trees are useless and craftsmen don't cut them down. The oak tree said to the craftsman in a dream; "Nothing is available for a long time. Some died, but now, it is of great use. Giving is also useful. Do you have to be so evil? " The article finally said; "Everyone knows what is useful, but they don't know what is useless." Useless is the law of life. People who are good all their lives should not do more evil, but they should not do more good. He must live between good and evil. He tried to be useless, but in the end being useless was of great use to him.
Development of Taoism
This chapter is about the first stage of the development of Taoist philosophy in the pre-Qin period. There are three main stages in the development of Taoist philosophy in pre-Qin period. Those thoughts belonging to Yang Zhu represent the first stage. Most of the ideas in Laozi represent the second stage. Most of the ideas in Zhuangzi represent the third and final stage. I said most of the thoughts of Laozi and Zhuangzi, because Laozi also had thoughts representing the first and third stages, and Zhuangzi also had thoughts representing the first and second stages. Like other books in ancient China, these two books were not written by one person, but by different people in different periods. They are actually a compilation of Taoist works and speeches.
The starting point of Taoist philosophy is to avoid harm for life. In order to avoid injury all his life, Yang Zhu's method is "avoidance". This is the method of ordinary hermits, who escape from the world and hide in the mountains, thinking that they can avoid the evils of the world. But no matter how complicated things are in the world, no matter how well you hide them, there are always some evils that are inevitable. So sometimes, the "avoidance" method is still useless. Most of the ideas in Laozi express another attempt, that is, to reveal the law of the change of everything in the universe. Things are changing, but the law of things is unchanged. If a person understands these laws and follows them to adjust his behavior, he can make things develop in his favor. This is the second stage of the development of Taoism in the pre-Qin period.
But even so, there is still no absolute guarantee. There are always some unexpected factors in the changes of nature, society and things. Be careful. There is still the possibility of being victimized. Laozi put the words straight: "I have a big patient, because I have a body, I have no body, what's wrong with me!" " (Chapter 13 of Laozi) This profound statement is played in many places in Zhuangzi, resulting in the concept of life and death and the theory of one thing and one thing. It means to look at life and death from a higher angle, look at me. Seeing things from this higher perspective can transcend the real world. This is also a form of "avoidance"; However, not from society to mountains, but from this world to another world. This is the third and last stage of the development of Taoism in the pre-Qin period. There is a story in Zhuangzi's Mountain Tree, which shows all these developments. The story says, "Zhuangzi walked on the mountain and saw Ye Sheng Mao, a big branch of wood. The woodcutter stopped by and asked him why. Say: Nothing is available. Zhuangzi said, "This wood is not made of wood.
"Master mountain, he is in an old friend's house. The old friend was happy and ordered the upright man to kill the goose and cook it. Lizi, please say: its
One can sing and the other can't: Please kill? The master said; Kill the mute. Tomorrow, the disciple asked Zhuangzi: "Yesterday's tree in the mountains ended without material;" Today's master's goose, dead without material: where will Mr.
Zhuangzi said with a smile: Week will be between material and immaterial. Between material and immaterial, it is similar, not too, but too tired to let go. If the husband rides morally, it is not. No fame, no pride, one dragon and one snake, keep pace with the times, no one wants to do it; Up and down, with harmony as the quantity, floating in the ancestor of all things; Things and things are not things, then Hu can get and hate! "
The first part of this story shows Yang Zhu's life theory, and the second part is Zhuangzi's theory. The "material" mentioned here is equivalent to the "doing good" mentioned by the "health master" quoted earlier. "Incompetence" is equivalent to "doing evil". "between materiality and immateriality" is equivalent to "the fate of the ruler thinking about the classics." But if a person can't see the problem from a higher angle, then none of these methods can absolutely guarantee that he won't be hurt. However, looking at things from a higher perspective means canceling yourself. We can say that Taoism in the pre-Qin period was used by me. It's just that later development led me to the opposite side and canceled myself.