Original works:
Thirty spokes * * * and a wheel hub. When you are away, there is a car. Think of it as a device. When it is useless, it will be useful. Carve the family into a room, and when it has nothing, it has a room. Therefore, thinking is beneficial, but thinking is not. (Chapter 11)
Comment on words and phrases:
(1) spoke: the wooden strip connecting the axle center and the rim in a wheel. In ancient times, wheels were made up of thirty spokes. This number is taken on the 30th of every month.
② Hub: Yingu is a wooden ring in the center of the wheel, with a round hole and an inserted shaft.
(3) When there is nothing, there is a car: there is a hollow place in the hub and there is a car. "None" refers to the empty space in the middle of the hub.
4 planting: planting, and; Plants, soil. It is a vessel made of clay for people to eat and drink.
⑤ Household: doors and windows.
⑥ It is beneficial to have something, but it is useless to have something: "Being" brings convenience to people, and "Nothing" also works.
Vernacular translation:
Thirty spokes converge into a hole in a hub. Only when there is a hollow place in the hub can the car play its role. Knead clay to make utensils. Only when there is a hollow place in the container can it function as a container. Dig doors and windows to build a house, and use the empty parts in the doors and windows walls to have the function of the house. Therefore, "having" brings convenience to people, and "not having" plays a role.
Appreciation of works:
This chapter is about the dialectical relationship between "nothing" and "being". "Nothing" and "Being" are contradictory and interdependent. There is neither "nothing" nor "being", they are the relationship of unity of opposites. It must be clearly pointed out that "nothing" and "being" here are completely different concepts and categories from "nothing" and "being" mentioned in the first chapter.
Lao Tzu gave three examples to illustrate the problem. There is nothing in the middle of the wheel, which can be used to put the axle, thus playing the role of a car; There is nothing in the middle of porcelain, which can be used to hold things, thus playing the role of porcelain; There is nothing in the middle of the house, which can be used to live people, thus playing the role of a house.
The same examples are too numerous to mention. Through these three simple and easy-to-understand examples, Lao Tzu explained the truth that any tangible place of an object is only for the convenience of achieving a certain purpose, and what really works is its nothingness. He regards "nothingness" as the main antithesis and has great one-sidedness. If there are no tangible objects such as wheels, porcelain and houses, where does the hollow "nothingness" exist? How does it work? Therefore, it is unreasonable to unilaterally emphasize the role of "nothing".
About the author:
Laozi, whose real name is Li Minger, whose name is Bo Yang or Bo Yang, was born in the late Spring and Autumn Period. His date of birth and death is unknown, and his native place is also controversial. According to historical records, Laozi was born in Chu or Chen. China was an ancient thinker, philosopher, writer, historian, founder and main representative of Taoist school, and was also called "Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi" with Zhuangzi. Later, he was revered as the ancestor by Taoism and called "the old gentleman on the throne". In the Tang Dynasty, he was regarded as the ancestor of Li. It is listed as a world cultural celebrity and one of the world's top 100 historical celebrities.
Laozi served as a Tibetan shepherd in the Zhou Dynasty and was famous for his erudition. Once, Confucius went to see Zhou and asked him for a gift. At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the world was in chaos, and Lao Tzu wanted to abandon his official position and retire, so he rode a green cow westward. When I arrived at Lingbao Hangu Pass, I was invited by Yin, the Commissioner of Customs, to write Tao Te Ching.
Laozi's thought has a far-reaching influence on the development of China's philosophy, and its ideological core is simple dialectics. Politically, it advocates teaching by doing nothing and teaching without words. Politically, pay attention to the truth that extremes meet. In the aspect of self-cultivation, paying attention to the practice of modesty and sincerity without competing with others is the ancestor of Taoist double cultivation.
Laozi's masterpiece Tao Te Ching (also known as Laozi) is one of the most widely circulated works in the world.
World influence:
Laozi's works and thoughts have become the precious wealth of the world historical and cultural heritage. The influence of Laozi's thought is unparalleled not only in Taoism, but also far-reaching outside Taoism. Its influence not only includes philosophy, religion, politics, economics, sociology, aesthetics, ethics, literature and art, psychology, education, logic and rhetoric, but also involves many fields such as medicine, health preservation, qigong, military affairs, management, architecture and gardening. According to the incomplete statistics of the Yuan Dynasty, since the pre-Qin period, there have been more than 3,000 kinds of research and annotation works in the Yuan Dynasty.
As early as18th century, some western countries had many versions of Laozi. By the forties and fifties of the 20th century, there were more than 60 translations of Tao Te Ching in Europe. World-renowned scholars such as German philosophers Hegel, Nietzsche and Russian great writer Tolstoy all made in-depth research on Tao Te Ching, and all of them had monographs or monographs. Laozi is one of the three great saints in the East in the eyes of westerners. After Jaspers put forward the theory of "axial period", Socrates, Buddha, Confucius and Jesus were listed as "creators of thought paradigm" and Laozi as "original metaphysics" in the book The Great Philosopher. Laozi's thought has already broken through national boundaries and become the spiritual wealth of all mankind.
Major achievements:
Laozi's achievements are mainly reflected in the book Laozi. Laozi, also known as Tao Te Ching or Tao Te Ching, the Book of Changes and The Analects of Confucius are considered to be the three masterpieces with the most profound influence on China people. Its completion date was controversial in the past, but it is still uncertain. However, according to the date of Laozi, a bamboo slip unearthed in Guodian in 1993, it was written at least in the middle and early Warring States period. Some scholars believe that Laozi was not written for a moment, but for a person. This book * * * is about 5,000 words, originally named "Laozi", without the name of "Tao Te Ching". Later, it was called Tao Te Ching, with a total of 8 1 chapters, which was divided into two parts, the first part with 37 chapters and the second part with 44 chapters. The ideological structure of the book is: Tao is the "body" of virtue, and virtue is the "use" of Tao.
Historical evaluation:
Confucius: "Birds, I know they can fly; Fish, I know it can swim; Beast, I know it can walk. Pedestrians can be useless, swimmers can be nylon, and fliers can be clumsy. As for the dragon, I don't know, it took the wind and cloud to heaven. I saw Lao Tzu today, and he is still evil! "
Sima Qian: "Laozi's noble way is nothing, and his writing is subtle and difficult to understand, because he responds to change and inaction." ?
Yang Xiong: "I must accept what I say about morality." When it comes to benevolence and righteousness, I will never learn etiquette. I have no choice but to listen. "
Han Yu: "Lao Tzu is small in benevolence and righteousness, and small in eyes."
Zhu: "Lao Tzu's skills must be very stable at home before he can do it;" If you find it inconvenient, you won't do it. "
Lin: "If Laozi calls it governing by doing nothing, it will not win, not according to my book.". The difference is that those words that particularly stimulate the world are sometimes too harsh. "
Wang Fuzhi: "It is unfair that people in the world provoke vulgarity, and vice versa;" If you see happiness occasionally, you won't live it; It is ominous to count it with wisdom. The loss of the three, Lao Tzu is both. "
Hu Shi: "Laozi's greatest contribution lies in transcending heaven and earth. Don't assume a' Tao'. "