Talk about the understanding and views of Confucianism and Taoism

The traditional Chinese culture has a long history and is profound and profound. In terms of its content and structure, the ideas of Confucianism and Taoism are undoubtedly the main body; in terms of its qualities, the complementarity of the ideas of Confucianism and Taoism is the most decisive and typical significance. In the stable cultural structure of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, which was gradually established in the later stage of ancient Chinese society, the intermingling and complementarity of Confucianism and Taoism are in the primary and fundamental position. Therefore, understanding the complementarity of Confucianism and Taoism is crucial to grasping the basic outlook and the deeper underlying meaning of Chinese culture.

The complementarity of Confucianism and Taoism is premised on the fact that there are extensive and obvious differences between the two doctrines in many aspects. These differences are just different concerns and different ways of solving problems, so they are not mutually incompatible, diametrically opposed, and do not constitute a fierce conflict. It is only because of this that the ideas of Confucianism and Taoism have formed a complementary and relative situation in many aspects. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and the strengths of this family are the shortcomings of the other family, and vice versa, thus making the complementarity of the two schools of thought necessary and possible.

This paper is intended to take the thought of Laozi and Confucius as an example, and briefly analyze and discuss the cultural differences between Confucianism and Taoism and the resulting complementary mechanism, as well as other related issues.

I. Cultural Differences between Confucianism and Taoism

Among the ancient Chinese thinkers, the thoughts of Laozi and Confucius have had the deepest, broadest and greatest impact on Chinese cultural traditions. As the founders of two of the most important schools of thought in ancient China, there are obvious differences in their ideas and doctrines, which ultimately formed the different traditions of Confucianism and Taoism, laying the foundation of traditional Chinese thought and culture.

The differences between the thought of Laozi and that of Confucius are very extensive, but in terms of their main aspects, there is nothing more important than the differences in theoretical emphasis and values. These two aspects are discussed separately below.

Generally speaking, Lao Zi favors thinking about metaphysical issues and the relationship between man and nature, which led to the establishment of his ontology and cosmology; Confucius favors thinking about the relationship between man and man, which led to the establishment of his ethics. As far as ontology and cosmology are concerned, Confucius's thought is basically queer in this respect, and as far as ethics are concerned, this aspect is not the focus of Laozi's concern.

Lao Zi put forward "Tao" as the highest category of his doctrine and systematized his arguments. With "Tao" as the centerpiece, Laozi developed his entire doctrine. In particular, his discussion of the origin and essence of the universe, as well as his systematic epistemology and rich dialectical thinking, are "philosophical" ideas with "originality" - not philosophy in the broad sense. Undoubtedly, Laozi's doctrine of Taoism created the tradition of metaphysics in Chinese philosophy, and "Tao" is the undisputed supreme category of classical Chinese philosophy, and the most important concepts and categories in Chinese philosophy are attributed to Laozi, so in this sense, we can say that Laozi is the initiator of Chinese philosophy. Chinese philosophy can be in dialogue with western philosophy, mainly depends on Taoism, especially on the thought of Laozi. In this regard, Mr. Zhang Dainian once said, "Laozi's theory of Taoism is the beginning of Chinese philosophical ontology, which is undoubtedly. ...... In the development of Chinese philosophical ontology, the doctrine of Taoism is dominant." [1]

Confucius, on the other hand, was the pioneer of ethics in ancient China. Confucius put forward "ren" as the highest category of his doctrine, establishing the most basic principles for human moral life, and trying to improve the increasingly tense interpersonal relations with the spirit of benevolence and love, and thus start to rescue the social crisis. With "Ren" as the core category, Confucius proposed a series of moral norms and established a complete ethical and moral doctrine, which is the main content of his own doctrine. Confucius's thought has played a decisive role in the formation of the strong ethical and moral color of traditional Chinese culture.

It can be seen that Lao Zi and Confucius had their own bias in their thoughts and theories due to the differences in the main issues they focused on and thought about. Mr. Feng Youlan, in his book "The New Original Way", evaluated the ancient doctrines by the criterion of "extremely brilliant and mediocre". When commenting on Confucius and Mencius, Mr. Feng thought that "they have not yet reached the highest standard in terms of superiority"; when commenting on Lao and Zhuang, he thought that their philosophies were "extremely superior", but not sufficient in terms of "the middle way of the road". In Mr. Feng's opinion, the characteristic of the thought of Confucius and Mencius lies in "the middle of the road", which is superior in the field of ethics and morality, while the characteristic and superiority of the thought of Lao and Zhuang lies in the field of "extremely brilliant" philosophy of form. The cultural differences between Confucianism and Taoism, as expressed in the thoughts of Confucius and Laozi, can be said to be different, and each has its own merits, and there is no difference between the good and the bad.

What we need to state here is that this article refers to the metaphysical philosophical thinking around the Tao, not to all the talk about the Tao." The category of "Tao" is not the domain of the Taoists. Tao" category is not the patent of Taoism, pre-Qin schools of thought talk about "Tao", and are not a few, can be said to have Confucianism, Mo have Mo Dao. However, the "Tao" of all schools is a political and ethical category, only the "Tao" of Taoism has a metaphysical and philosophical significance. Confucianism, "Analects" in the word "Tao" where 76 see, mostly for the "Tao", and Confucius never talk about the "Way of Heaven", there is Zigong said, "the words of the husband's nature and the Way of Heaven, can not be obtained and heard also" [2] as evidence. In Confucianism, "benevolence", "righteousness", "propriety" and so on are specific moral principles and norms, while "Tao" has a higher generality, referring to the highest pursuit of Confucianism, or Confucian truth, doctrine. Scholars and gentlemen should "aspire to the Tao", not hesitate to "martyrdom", and even "heard the Tao, death can be carried out" [3]. Road" also refers to all the Confucian ideas, Confucius said "I Road a consistent" [4] is also, it inherently contains all the specific moral principles and norms, and these specific moral principles and norms is the "Road" of different forms of expression and realization of the "Road" of the ways and means. For example, Confucius said: "Doing righteousness to realize the Way" [5], and Mencius also said: "Benevolence is also a human being. Together, the way is also the way." [6] "Benevolence" is the relationship between human beings that is kind and friendly, and to deal with interpersonal relationships with this most basic moral code is the "Way" of Confucianism. Therefore, whether it is Confucius' "killing oneself to become benevolent" or Mencius' "sacrificing one's life for righteousness", both are "martyring one's life for the Way". In short, although both Confucianism and Taoism attach importance to "Tao", but the two respective "Tao" is only the same symbolic form, but the meaning and content are fundamentally different, the Taoist "Tao" to the metaphysical philosophical meaning of the main, Confucianism's "Tao" for ethical, political categories.

There is an influential view that Taoism focuses on the way of heaven and minimizes the importance of human affairs, but this is not the case in reality. Although Taoism is good at thinking in the context of the universe, and although Taoist writings are characterized by talk of heaven and philosophy, they must ultimately be put into practice in society and life. For example, the book of Lao Tzu talks about the way of heaven and philosophy more than any other ancient text, so there is no problem to say that Taoism focuses on the way of heaven. However, I am afraid that it is not true to say that Taoism emphasizes personnel. Taking "Laozi" as an example, the main part of the book is still talking about social politics and life, some of them are directly talking about social politics and life, some of them are from the philosophy of social and political life, or from the social and political life to enhance the philosophy, and some of them are both; even if it is only talking about the abstract philosophical statements, in terms of the whole book of "Laozi," the final is also for the social life of the heavenly view of the basis and guidance. Thus, the Taoism initiated by Lao Tzu is rich in philosophical thoughts about society and life, and it is precisely because of the Taoism's concern for social and life issues and its very different views and solutions from those of Confucianism that it is able to interact with and complement Confucianism in this vast field.

Another major difference between the thought of Laozi and that of Confucius lies in the difference in values.

By and large, the values of Confucianism, pioneered by Confucius, take humanism as their basic orientation, focusing on the perfection of morality and the enhancement of character, and emphasizing the importance of being active and devoted to social causes. The values of Taoism, pioneered by Laozi, take naturalism as their basic orientation, focusing on natural simplicity and inner tranquility and harmony, and advocating transcending the world and letting nature take its course.

Because of the difference in value orientation, Confucianism and Taoism have different designs for the development of society and the path of individual life. Confucianism is optimistic about human civilization and social progress, and designs an aggressive life path for the scholar and gentleman. In the view of Confucians, the value of an individual must be realized in a social group, and life is meaningful only if one is committed to social causes. They advocate taking the world as one's own responsibility, taking "cultivating one's body and keeping the family in order, ruling the country and pacifying the whole world" as the goal one should strive for, and advocating that an individual should contribute as much as possible to the state and the society. Taoists, on the other hand, hold a prudent and calm attitude towards the development of society and the progress of civilization. They are keenly aware that the progress of civilization must come at a price, and they are fully aware of the twists and turns of social development, and they are well-prepared for the problems that may be caused by human beings in the process of continuous advancement, as well as the distortions and injuries that may be inflicted on human nature itself. Lao Tzu observed these phenomena, which we call alienation today, at an early stage, attached great importance to them, and put forward the principle of naturalism, seeking to avoid, overcome and correct them by returning to nature. This thought of Laozi is profound, and much of Laozi's doctrine is directed at the phenomenon of alienation in society and human nature. In Lao Tzu's view, the truthfulness and simplicity of human nature should always be the starting point for life's advancement, and neither social development nor life's advancement should be at the expense of the loss of natural harmony and truthfulness and simplicity.

The cultural differences between Confucianism and Taoism, as represented by Laozi and Confucius, should be treated objectively and not exaggerated. In this regard, there are some misunderstandings that need to be clarified here.

First of all, from a general point of view, Confucianism advocates an aggressive life, while Taoism is more transcendent, thus giving people the impression that Confucianism is in the world and Taoism is out of the world, which is actually not true. In fact, Confucianism Kong, Meng and Taoism Lao, Zhuang have both active use of the world and transcendental understanding of the two mentality, but Kong, Meng more use of the world and Lao, Zhuang more transcendent. Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi have a strong sense of cultural mission and social responsibility, only that they appear more often in the face of critics and are different from Kong and Meng. Kong, Meng in the aggressive pursuit of success in life also often have a transcendent mentality, Confucius advocates "the world has a way to see, no way to hide" [7], appreciate the Zeng point of transcendence and openness, "seclusion in order to seek its own will, the line of righteousness to achieve its own way" [8] of the heart of the people, and that "the wise man to avoid the world, and the next to avoid the earth, and the second to avoid the color of the next to avoid the word" [9], and even the emergence of the "Road does not work, the beam floating in the sea! " [10] of the idea, Xunzi also described the Confucius said: "residence is not hidden think not far, the body is not anonymous ambition is not wide" [11]; Mencius also said: "the ancient people get the will, Ze plus in the people, not the will, repairing the body to see in the world. Poor is only good, up to the good of the world." [12] Kong, Meng this ambivalence or flexible attitude is that they have to take a kind of self-regulation and psychological preparation in the social reality of the world is not the way, life is often poor and unambitious, in this regard, they are the same as the old, Zhuang. In the subsequent cultural pattern that was gradually formed and fixed through historical selection, Confucianism's sense of historical mission and social responsibility was strengthened and emphasized, while the original transcendental and flexible mentality of Confucius and Mencius was gradually watered down and even forgotten; on the contrary, Taoism's worldly feelings were forgotten, and its transcendent and enlightened aspect was emphasized, so that Taoism appeared in the world's mind as a bystander, and Taoism was then mainly used to cope with adversity. Taoist thought is then mainly used to cope with adversity and play the role of regulating and buffering in life's progress. In short, the original face of Confucius, Mencius, Lao, and Zhuang and the historically locked Confucius, Mencius, Lao, and Zhuang should be treated differently.

People usually always say that Confucianism has a positive and active spirit, while Taoism is often seen as negative and inactive. The reason for this misunderstanding has to do with the special way of expression in the writings of Taoism represented by Laozi and Zhuang. In fact, Laozi, like Confucius, had the same ambition to rule the country and secure the state, and thus a large proportion of the book of Laozi talks about the way to rule the country. Laozi's "Wu Wei" is not an end in itself, but a special means. The essence of "WU WEI" is to advocate natural behavior, to oppose presumptuousness, not to be forced to engage in, and to exclude unnecessary and inappropriate behavior. Lao Tzu's "doing nothing without doing nothing" is to achieve the result of "doing nothing without doing nothing" through "doing nothing". Lao Tzu's "Doing nothing and doing nothing" is to "do" with an attitude of "doing nothing" and to "do" with a way of "doing nothing". Lao Zi said: "rule a big country, if cooking small food", obviously means that the country still need to rule, small food still need to cook, but also to rule well, cook well, which need to take the way of quiet and do nothing to achieve the purpose. Lao Zi advocates "birth and not have, for and not rely on", "success and not live", here "birth", "for", "success" is obviously a positive attitude. Laozi's famous words "for and do not fight" is not a negative attitude, but to let nature, not forced to engage in, so that on the contrary, "do not fight but good victory", to achieve the best results. Visible, Laozi Taoist doctrine on its essence or advocate positive behavior, only to take a different approach. Compared with the kind of straight-line thinking, Laozi's reverse thinking is quite inspiring, with practical value and theoretical significance can not be ignored.

People tend to regard Laozi as a representative of hermits and think that hermits are a group of people who escape from reality, which is also inaccurate. The fact that Laozi is said to be a hermit stems from the fact that the Historical Records of the Grand Historian (史记-老子韩非列传), which refers to Laozi as a "hermit gentleman", says that Laozi was "a hermit". When the Historian said that Laozi's "learning was to conceal himself and remain nameless", he was referring to the content of Laozi's book as being subtle and unobtrusive, not as being passive and out of the world. In addition, Lao Zi has long been the Zhou's "keeper of the hidden history", and only in his later years did he become a "hermit", but even this is not a departure from the world, but a wise move to withdraw from the field of profit and fame after "accomplishing a great deal". It is even more inaccurate to say that the hermit escapes from reality. Hermits live in seclusion in order to "seek the will", they have not forgotten the world, they are always observing the society, the world in mind. As Zhuang Zi said: "The so-called hermits in ancient times were not hiding their bodies and not seeing them, not closing their words and not coming out, not hiding their knowledge and not sending it out, and the fate of the time was also very wrong. When the time life and great behavior in the world, then the opposite of nothing; not when the time life and great poverty in the world, then the roots of the deep Ning pole to be. This is the way to survive." [13] From this point of view, the common saying that the so-called hermit escapes from reality is obviously inappropriate. Hermits are not escaping from reality, but rather they have a different view of reality and a different attitude toward it. It is true that they had strong dissatisfaction and disappointment with reality, believing that the world was in such a mess that it could not be saved. But dissatisfaction and disappointment with reality is not the same as escaping from reality, and the belief that the world is beyond redemption is not the same as not caring about the society. Attacking the current politics, reflecting on the traditions and criticizing the secularism are the unique ways of the hermits to care about the society, and the reclusion is the necessary condition for them to become the main bearers of the social critical consciousness. Thus, to be precise, they were not escaping from reality, but only escaping from politics. Further, there can be different ways of caring for politics, not only by going into politics. The hermit's avoidance of politics is only that he does not directly engage in politics from the front, i.e., he does not serve in the government. But not taking up a post is not the same as not participating in politics, still less the same as not caring about politics. In fact, they are unwilling to be in the same boat as those in power, do not cooperate with those in power, keep a sufficient distance from the political center, and participate in politics and care about politics in the capacity of a critic or in an antagonistic stance. For any society, especially one that has fallen into serious pathology, hermits who participate in politics from the opposite side and scholars who devote themselves to politics from the front are indispensable.

Confucianism's sense of worry is often praised, as if only Confucianism has a sense of worry, in fact, Taoism also has a sense of worry, Confucianism and Taoism's sense of worry have their own aspects of concern, and the value of the two can not be replaced by each other. Nature is the highest value of Taoist doctrine. Taoists advocate that all human activities should follow the principles of naturalism, be natural, go with the flow, and enhance nature as much as possible. This naturalistic value reflects Taoism's reflection and sober awareness of the progress of human civilization; it is actually a deep sense of worry. Confucianism is more concerned with the future destiny of the state and the nation, while Taoism is concerned with the ultimate future destiny of the whole human race. The most profound thing about the thinking of Lao and Zhuang is that they keenly saw the negative effects of the development of human civilization at the early stage of its development, and reflected y on it and put forward a countermeasure, that is, to use naturalism to correct and remedy the deviations and mistakes of human behavior. Lao and Zhuang's sense of worry based on the value of naturalism stood at the height of all mankind and even the entire universe to think about the problem, and thus had a vision different from that of Confucianism, and the problems they raised and thought about were often more universal to mankind, and were worthy of serious consideration and reference. Second, the historical evolution of Confucianism and Taoism

Overall view of the development of ancient Chinese thought and culture, Confucianism and Taoism can be said to be always a main line of development. The pre-Qin period, a hundred schools of thought, academic prosperity, after the Qin and Han dynasties, the decline of the various schools of thought, really in history, the influence of a long time, constituting the core of traditional Chinese thought and culture of the doctrine, in fact, only two Confucianism and Taoism.

The complementarity of thought between the two schools of thought actually began with their founders, Laozi and Confucius. As recorded in the Records of the Grand Historian, Confucius asked Laozi about his manners, and the first dialog between the two schools of thought already foreshadowed the content and direction of the future development of Chinese culture. During the nascent period of Confucianism and Taoism, Taoist thought showed a tenacious penetration into Confucianism with its unique academic tenets, cultural concepts, and philosophical directions. The influence of Laozi's thought on Confucius is expressed in the founding work of the Confucian school, the Analects. [14]

For more than two thousand years after Confucius and Laozi, the complementarity of Confucianism and Taoism has been the mainstay of the historical evolution of Chinese culture. During this long period, with the changes in historical and cultural conditions, the complementarity of Confucian and Taoist thought has shown phases, roughly experiencing two climaxes.

The first large-scale and deep mutual influence and mutual complementarity of the two schools of thought occurred in the academic environment of the hundred schools of thought in the middle and late Warring States period. The theoretical achievements of the complementary Confucianism and Taoism in this period were mainly manifested in the Taoist school of Huang Lao. The Huang-Lao school was an important achievement of the Hundred Schools of Thought, and had the theoretical advantage of integrating the strengths of all schools of thought into one comprehensive theory. The Huanglaodaoists (mainly the Huanglaodaoists of Jixi) absorbed the Confucian doctrines of benevolence and righteousness and the culture of ritual and governance in their ethical thinking and political advocacy, while Mencius and Xun of Confucianism were influenced philosophically by the cosmology and naturalistic outlook of the Taoists, mainly through the intermediary of Huanglaodao's school. [15]

Early Confucianism, as a systematic doctrine, had its main deficiencies in terms of philosophical thinking such as the view of nature, cosmology, epistemology, and dialectics; it was long on ethics but short on philosophy, and it was difficult to give people rational fulfillment from the height and depth of discernment. In the pre-Qin period, a hundred schools of thought with Confucianism, mostly political and ethical doctrines, but only the Taoist both political and ethical, but also long in philosophical thinking, with its deep philosophical, meticulous thinking, novelty of the doctrine of the realm, the extraordinary said, superb dialectic overwhelmed the hundreds of schools of thought, the people were not to talk about the subtle Taoism to decorate their own doctrines. To a certain extent, it can be said that Taoism taught people how to think philosophically, and Taoist doctrine played a philosophical enlightenment role at that time. Confucianism also benefited greatly from this trend of thinking about metaphysics and Taoism. The doctrines of Mencius and Xunzi during the Warring States period can be said to have started from scratch in terms of philosophical thinking when compared with those of Confucius during the original period, thus changing the face of Confucianism to a certain extent, and providing important experience for the great development of Confucianism in the Song and Ming periods.

The second climax of the complementarity of Confucianism and Daoism took place in the Song and Ming periods. During this period, the further introduction and absorption of Taoist thought by Confucianism had a more important role and significance in rebuilding the new system of Confucianism.