The Revelation of Taoist Philosophy

I see Confucianism and Taoism philosophical differences and complementary to turn

Philosophy of life is a very broad concept, as far as its connotation is concerned, the ancient and modern Chinese and Western standards are not all the same, and even very different. As thousands of years of Chinese cultural accumulation of the ancient tradition of Confucianism and Taoism philosophy of life is even more profound, interplay: the mainstream of the internal saint and the external king of the personality, the realm of the view of the insistence on the empty and no view, good death and good end of the concept of life and death, as well as peace and poverty and the cultivation of the road to the view, and so on. Everywhere it reflects the ancient Chinese people's in-depth thinking and unremitting search for the ultimate meaning of life. In a sense, it constitutes the essence of the entire Chinese traditional culture, which reflects the wisdom of the ancient Chinese civilization.

When it comes to Chinese traditional philosophy of life, no one can avoid the two main streams of traditional thought in ancient China - Confucianism and Taoism, which were once revered by emperors as the exclusive philosophy of rule, but also the driving force of the Chinese literati who have been in and out of temples or secluded in the mountains for thousands of years, which are very different from each other and can complement each other. The two are very different and interesting, but also complementary to each other.

The two schools, Confucianism and Taoism, have different ways of thinking, psychological frameworks and value systems, which stimulate each other, absorb each other, and promote the evolution of the national spirit, thus **** together constitute the mainstream of traditional Chinese culture.

I. Masculinity and Femininity The external characteristics of Confucianism and Taoism can be summarized by "yin and yang", an inherent category of traditional Chinese philosophy. Confucianism is characterized by masculinity and Taoism is characterized by femininity.

The representative work of Confucianism, Zhouyi Dazhuan, says: "Heaven walks with health, and the gentleman is unceasing in his self-improvement". This is the attitude of life advocated by Confucianism and a fundamental feature of its doctrine.

In fact, Confucianism's ideal of the commonwealth, the study of the inner saint and the outer king, the idea of righting one's own self and becoming one's own self, and the mentality of "if you are poor, you are good to yourself; if you are rich, you are good to the whole world" all reflect the spirit of being robust and enterprising. This kind of masculine and aggressive thinking has profoundly influenced generations of intellectuals and the lower class. Song scholar Ouyang Xiu did his studies, grasped the time, and made full use of the pillow, the toilet and the horse, representing the mentality of the scholar. It can be said that this is the secularization or popularization of the Confucian philosophy of life. Taoism is another story. It wants to clear the mind, see the vegetarian and embrace simplicity, go back to the society of small country and few people, and appreciate the "world of supreme virtue" in which the same and the beasts live together, and the tribe and all things are together. It advocates ignorance, inaction, desirelessness, non-competition, it is noble and soft, keep female, the main static, unlike Confucianism, the heart is full of "the greatest", "the most rigid" "the vastness of the gas", for the realization of the ideal of life, and strive endlessly, but purely natural and natural, and the ideal of life, and the ideal of life, and strive endlessly. And struggle endlessly, but purely let nature, sip the main body of the ability to use the "soft to conquer" approach to victory. Taoist thinking is reflected in the disillusioned intellectuals in feudal society, that is, Tao Yuanming-style "I was born in a dream, what world is bound by the dust" ("Drinking Wine"), which is quite typical of the mentality of the disillusioned literati in the feudal society, or a considerable part of the literati through the pursuit of a quiet life to entertain themselves and maintain their character, which is the same as Confucianism's "If you are poor, you can only be good to yourself". This is in line with the Confucian idea of "being poor is the only way to be good to oneself".

The external characteristics of Confucianism's "masculinity" and Taoism's "femininity" are in fact based on their attitudes of progress and retreat. Confucianism's human attitude is aggressive and worldly. What Confucius never forgets is to "restrain himself and return to the rites" and to "give to the people and be able to help them" ("Analects of Confucius - Yongya"). In order to realize the ideal of life and become a man of benevolence, one must "not seek life to harm benevolence, but kill one's own body to become a man of benevolence" ("Analects - Wei Ling Gong"). Practicing ethics and morality is the guiding principle in every aspect of life. Mencius firmly believed that one could cultivate one's own righteousness and be able to fulfill one's heart, know one's nature, and know heaven, and use one's doctrine to positively influence the monarchs, so that one's doctrine of benevolence and government would spread to the whole world. Dong Zhongshu, in his exhaustive efforts, constructed a system of theological theories centered on the induction of heaven and man, in order to serve Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in "holding a unification" and to serve the political ideal of the landlord class that "if heaven remains unchanged, so does the way". The Song Dynasty rationalists even took "to establish the heart for heaven and earth, to establish the life for the people, to succeed the great learning for the past saints, and to open the peace for the world" as their boast, and infiltrated a strong sense of subjectivity into the social life. The ancient saying of Fan Zhongyan, "To worry about the world before the world, and to rejoice after the world's happiness", is the crystallization of the positive and enterprising spirit of Confucianism. The Taoist attitude towards life is very different from that of Confucianism. They look down upon all things, "taking death and life as a line, taking the unavoidable as the consistent" ("Zhuangzi - De Chuanfu"). They were in tune with right and wrong, with all things, and "swam beyond the dust" ("Zhuangzi - The Theory of Things"), to be saints, gods, and real people beyond the human world. They feel all kinds of repressions of real life on people, but do not dare and are powerless to change their negative and retiring attitude towards life. After the disappointment in life, the most suitable place to live is the paradise outside the world, "I don't know there is a Han, regardless of Wei and Jin" (Tao Yuanming: "Peach Blossom Garden Records"). Obviously, the relationship between the Taoist philosophy of life and the Confucian philosophy of life is both antagonistic and complementary to each other, giving Chinese culture a philosophical system of life that is comprehensive in scope, complete in level, and belongs to the present world in nature at a very early stage. In this system of philosophy of life obsessed with the present world, embracing different human ecology: there are active in the world, the world's first worries and worries, after the world's happiness and happiness of the benevolent, but also transcendent outside of the world, the lust of silence, self-satisfied with the lonely hermit. Because of this, Confucianism and Taoism can complement each other, and become the regulator that can calmly deal with the advancement and retreat, and maintain the psychological balance. And because both of them put the realization of the pursuit of life value, according to their own way, in this life, rather than in the afterlife or heavenly surroundings, so people growing on the soil of Chinese culture, all to "poor is good to oneself, and to achieve is good to the world" as the psychological framework. Wang Fuzhi, a great thinker of the Ming and Qing dynasties, said, "If you have the will to seek the world, you are good at management and business; if you have no will to seek your own body, you are good at Zhuang and Lie", which is the manifestation of the psychological framework of "poor, alone and good at the same time". If the vitality and development of a culture is based on the premise of the diversity and adaptability of its theoretical ideas in the stereotyped period, then the significance of the relationship between Zhuangzi's Taoist thought and Confucianism in the pre-Qin period, which is both antagonistic and complementary to each other, lies in the fact that it laid the earliest spiritual foundation for the rich and colorful development of the later Chinese culture and the exertion of the ability of self-adjustment.

Confucianism and Taoism, determined by their respective ideal personalities and attitudes, are politically oriented, with the former devoted to the temple and the latter to the mountains and forests. The first one is the one with the most important and most important thing is the one with the most important and most important thing is the one with the most important and most important thing is the one with the most important and most important thing is the one with the most important and most important thing is the one with the most important and most important thing is the one with the most important and most important thing is the one with the most important and most important thing. Confucius traveled around the world in order to participate in politics. Mencius once claimed, "If I want to rule the world, who else can I be in today's world? Fan Zhongyan of the Song Dynasty, "living in the height of the temple, then worry about its people," although a little bit of mass concept, but still in the court as an official as a basis. In short, the end of the feudal society, the Confucians are not to inquire about the Son of Heaven, living in a high position as an honor

In contrast to Confucianism, Taoism is "downplaying the psychological aspects of being an official". A considerable part of the landscape poets, practicing the Taoist philosophy of life. They take the python robe for the loss of natural nature. Jian'an seven sons of Jikang said, "non-Tang Wu and thin Zhou Kong" (: "and the mountain Juyuan book"), "more than the name of the religion and let nature" (Jikang, "interpretation of the private theory") Strictly speaking, the mountains and temples, in the feudal society, and there is no impenetrable boundaries. Really want to be hidden earth, after all, is a very small number. The majority of intellectuals, only in the disillusionment of the Taoist doctrine to vent their dissatisfaction with reality, as a comfort for the trauma of the soul. It can be said that when they are on stage (temple and court), they are Confucians; when they are off stage (mountains and forests, rivers and lakes), they are Taoists. This is why Confucianism and Taoism will "complement each other", two different philosophies of life why will long-term **** exist and prosper.

Third, the constant and change in the development of social history and life course, Confucianism and Taoism vision is very different. Confucianism sees the steady state of things, is the "scripture", is the "constant". They have a fully affirmative attitude towards the meaning of real life. In terms of social and historical development, what they see is that "the unchanging nature of a hundred kings is sufficient for the Tao to be consistent" (Xunzi. The theory of heaven is that "if heaven remains unchanged, so does the Way". Even if there are changes, they are only additions to the unshakeable "constant". In terms of the meaning and value of life, what Confucians see and hope for is that through the efforts of the main body, the value of the individual can be reflected in the realization of the overall interests, and thus their own achievements can be integrated into the accumulation of history and culture, so as to seek spiritual eternity. They take the realization of benevolence as their own responsibility, "correcting their friendship without seeking their benefits, clarifying the way without counting their achievements" (Han Shu - Dong Zhongshu Biography), "living in respect and exhausting their reasoning", suppressing the "heart of the human mind", and promoting the "heart of the Way". "The ultimate goal was to "bring peace to the world". This is mainly because they firmly believe that life has its constant intrinsic value, and this value will not change and disappear due to social changes and different life situations. Taoists see the other side. The things in their eyes are fluid and without qualitative stability. They marveled at the transience of life and its incessant changes, saying, "Things are born as if they were sudden and unchanging; there is no movement without change, and there is no time without movement." ("Zhuangzi - Autumn Water"). Of course, they also believe that there is something constant, and this constant thing is the "Tao" which has "no end and no beginning". It is "from the root, not heaven and earth, from ancient times to solid existence; God ghosts and gods, born in heaven and earth; in the Taiji of the first but not high, in the six poles but not deep, the first heaven and earth is born but not for a long time, long in the ancient times, but not for the old" ("Zhuangzi" - the great masters). Sadly, the more the Taoists flaunt the eternity and absoluteness of the Tao, the more they realize the transience and relativity of the human world, and thus the more they hold an attitude of "wandering the world". This is just like the thinking tendency of Confucian philosophy of life.

The differences and complementarities between Confucian and Taoist philosophies of life are very different and interesting, and will always shine in the brilliant cultural starry sky of traditional Chinese philosophy.