How Taoism views natural disasters

In essence, Laozi's value orientation of "ecological wisdom", as the essence of China's ancient theory, is the source of a hundred schools of thought contending during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and the root of the values of "harmony between man and nature" and harmonious development between man and nature in China's traditional culture lies in Laozi. Quesnay, the founder of the physiocratic school in medieval Europe, once said in his book The Laws of Nature: "The laws of nature are the basis of human legislation and the highest criterion of human behavior."

But all countries ignore this, except China. This statement is correct. Influenced by the value orientation of Laozi's "ecological wisdom", China people have formed an overall unified world outlook, which embodies affection, righteousness and life. Heaven and earth are full of love, and everything changes. Man and heaven and earth are naturally interrelated and interdependent. The success of heaven depends on man, and man depends on heaven for a long time, which is why the popularization of the whole universe can be realized.

According to the traditional culture of China, Lao Zi thinks that the life emotion of the natural universe is as honest and bright as human beings. "Honesty is heaven", "Heaven is selfless, earth is selfless, and the sun and the moon are selfless." "Lu Chunqiu's unselfishness" naturally endows human beings with perfect moral value, and human beings can understand the true meaning of the natural universe through good moral cultivation. This essence is heaven, which is what modern people call natural law, natural law. Knowing this law, that is, as Zhuangzi said, "the beauty of the original heaven and earth has reached the principle of all things", reaching the highest spiritual realm and "roaming freely" in the natural universe. Or, as Confucius said, "know the destiny" to achieve a thorough understanding of the natural life of heaven and earth.

Because human life is limited and short, and the life of the natural universe is infinite and lasting, to make human life perfect and great, we must connect with the life of the universe and draw wisdom and strength from nature. The ancient sages were not born great, just because they could "learn from heaven and earth, praise the cultivation of heaven and earth" and "understand the virtue of God and love everything". Fu can rule the world because he can look up at astronomy, overlook geography, know everything, understand the law that the natural universe must change, change and remain unchanged, master his ability to change, adapt and re-adapt, and achieve "harmony with heaven and earth, harmony with the sun and the moon, and harmony with the four seasons", so he became an immortal saint.

China's traditional culture has always emphasized "harmony between man and nature", "interaction between man and nature" and "harmony between man and nature". People like lotus because it has pure virtue. Confucius' observation of water has produced a sigh of life that "the deceased is like a husband". Su Shi's view of bamboo has the association of "his body and bamboo" Li Bai has the idea of "sinking back again, I suddenly miss home" and so on. These are all the experiences of heaven and man inducing artistic conception.

In China's traditional culture, the idea of harmony between man and nature has a particularly prominent influence on poetry and painting. There are works everywhere that cherish the scenery, yearn for the pastoral scenery and advocate the beauty of nature. From this, people can observe the creator's career, appreciate the biological weather of the natural universe, and get the kindness of nature. "Living with heaven and earth, belonging to all things" (in Mencius' words) and "living with heaven and earth, shining with the sun and the moon" (in Qu Yuan's words) make people's spiritual realm superb, and the meaning and value of life more perfect and perfect. Man and nature can live in harmony. People are not passive, but active. Because in the whole universe system of "heaven-earth-man", human settlement environment plays an important role.

People and heaven and earth stand at their feet and blend in with them; It is not only restricted by the nature of heaven and earth, but also has the ability to control, command and manage nature of heaven and earth. Man can integrate heaven and earth and bridge the natural deficiency of heaven and earth. What is particularly emphasized here is that the creation of nature by China traditional culture is not blind, utilitarian, coercive and destructive, but "timely". That is, through the understanding and grasp of the natural laws of heaven and earth, clever development and utilization. Xunzi emphasized that doing things should be "consistent with the nature of politics, cultivate its natural feelings and use its natural merits." If so, you know what you are doing and what you are not doing. On Xun Tian Zi, Zhou Li Kao Gong Ji said: "Sometimes, the sky is full of air, the materials are beautiful and the work is skilled. If you combine these four, you can be very good. "This word" Qiao "contains human wisdom, or early technology. China people have always emphasized the favorable weather, geographical location and human harmony. We should not only respect objective laws, but also attach importance to people's positive factors. If so, they can "get twice the result with half the effort" and "make wonderful efforts".

First, starting from the concept of harmony with nature, it leads to feelings of closeness, friendship and love for nature. The concept of harmony between man and nature has become an important goal of the spiritual structure of the Chinese nation. In the harmonious coexistence between man and nature, the mountain forest is the most important spiritual home for literati. Tao Yuanming's description of the Peach Blossom Garden has been integrated into the spiritual pedigree of China people, which has become a lingering dream of later literati. Whether it is a senior official or a literati, "picking chrysanthemums under the east fence and seeing Nanshan leisurely" has always been their yearning.

The ups and downs of the official sea, the gains and losses of fame and fortune, the honor and disgrace of the world, and the joys and sorrows of human feelings are all just passing clouds. Only in the howling of the mountains can a tired heart be comforted; Only in the green of the countryside can the nervous spirit be relaxed. "White-haired fishing fires on the river are used to watch the spring breeze of autumn moon." Therefore, after Fan Li succeeded, he retired to the mountains and went boating in the West Lake. Wei Wang is in the right position, but still often "and sighs the old songs, Oh, back!" ; Su Shi is a leading figure in the literary world, and his official position is Hanlin, but he always wants to "spend the rest of his life in the rivers and seas"; Even Yue Fei, who is strong and strong, showed the willingness to return to the field after drinking Huanglong.

Second, from loving nature to protecting it. The benevolence of Confucianism is the unity of treating people and things. The social management principles and codes of conduct triggered by benevolence are based on ensuring the harmony of personnel, and then the harmony between man and nature and the harmony within nature. For example, Xunzi's "group theory" contains the harmonious balance between people, people and nature, and people and nature. He said: "Jun Shan Qun. If the group is right, everything will get its proper place and all six animals will get their longevity. "

"Xunzi's rule" is good governance, and good governance is good governance. At the same time, Xunzi advocated the combination of using nature and protecting nature to establish a reasonable ecological structure. It is necessary to raise animals well, kill them in time, and pay attention to protecting natural resources. He said: "When the vegetation is lush, the axe does not enter the mountain and does not grow." Only by ensuring that people are at loggerheads with natural resources can "there are countless cannibals, and the inherent surplus is enough to eat people".

The idea of protecting ecological balance is particularly prominent in Chinese traditional agricultural production. Such as agricultural abandonment, leisure and crop rotation, are all important measures to combine utilization with cultivation and maintain agricultural ecological balance. In the past five generations, China has paid attention to preventing overfishing, deforestation and indiscriminate killing. The Book of Rites records that every spring, when the vegetation is lush, the government adopts the policy of "worshipping mountains and rivers, but offering sacrifices is useless". Measures to protect the ecological environment, such as not logging, not nesting, not killing children, insects, fetuses and birds, "inexhaustible rivers, not squatting, not burning forests". In the tradition of China, planting trees, repairing bridges and roads have been praised and strongly advocated by people. Politicians of past dynasties also attached importance to afforestation. For example, Gong Sui, the governor of Bohai Sea in Xuan Di, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, advised the people to plant mulberry trees, Zheng Hun, the governor of Wei County in the Three Kingdoms, ordered people to plant trees as hedges, and Zhu Yuanzhang, a sergeant at Tunbian in the early Ming Dynasty, ordered people to plant mulberry trees 100. In modern times, Sun Yat-sen strongly advocated tree planting. Up to now, we still designated March 12, when Sun Yat-sen died, as Arbor Day.

Thirdly, under the concept of the unity of man and nature, a wealth consciousness with transcendental insight in the real economic sense has been formed. In the eyes of China people, money comes from mountains and rivers, and everything is born on the earth. Everything provided by nature, including mountains, rivers, oceans, grasslands, forests, air, sunshine and so on. , which is what modern people call the whole ecological environment, is a precious wealth and a gift from nature to mankind. Confucius said, "What does Heaven say? What happened at four o'clock? Everything is born. " The Analects of Yang Huo. Nature silently provides mankind with rich means of survival and has the virtue of being a devotee. How can we plunder endlessly? As for the money accumulated by people through various means, compared with the great wealth possessed by nature, it is simply insignificant and not worthy of greedy pursuit, because it will not only damage people's virtue, but also hinder the perfection of natural life.

Therefore, China people have always advocated frugality and opposed extravagance and waste. This national character should be said to be a kind of advanced national consciousness based on the value orientation of natural wealth, which transcends the real material enjoyment and is a deep cultural identity with nature. This awareness and recognition put the growth of material wealth, economic development and social development under the principle of lasting harmony between man and nature, and * * * growth, * * * enrichment and * * * perfection have standardized people's behavior. It can also be seen from this that China's long-standing idea of "equality" refers not only to the equality of human distribution, but also to the deeper equality between man and nature, emphasizing that human beings should make appropriate use of natural wealth and adapt to the growth of natural wealth in order to realize the synchronous, harmonious and lasting growth of man and nature.

Fourthly, China people's value judgment of science comes from their value orientation of nature. China people believe that the purpose of developing science and technology lies in understanding the relationship between man and the natural universe, grasping man's position, function and destiny in nature, perfecting man's mind and natural life, and realizing the lasting harmony between man and nature. For example, China's astronomy aims to understand the objective laws of heaven and make people better adapt to it; Agronomy lies in understanding the changing laws of geography and seasons. People use this law in time to make everything flourish, which not only enriches natural life, but also provides reliable material guarantee for the enrichment of human life. As for traditional Chinese medicine, it is to link the individual small universe with the whole big universe, adjust the dislocation between human body and nature, find a cure and seek a way to preserve health.

At the same time, China noticed the negative effects of science and technology very early. Taoism's idea of returning to simplicity, and Zhuangzi's idea of abandoning utilitarian consciousness and not serving the material cannot be simply understood as a reaction to science and technology. It is the earliest theory to observe and foresee the negative effects of science and technology in the world, but it is only a premature and advanced theory. But it reflects the wisdom of the Chinese nation, has its reasonable core, and has profound enlightenment to purify life and prevent unethical science and technology.

The highest pursuit of human spiritual life is truth, goodness and beauty, but it has its own national characteristics in the pursuit. Generally speaking, the Chinese nation pursues truth, goodness and beauty and puts goodness first. The meaning of goodness lies not only in human goodness, but also in the inherent goodness of natural life, and more importantly, the deep goodwill between man and nature. Therefore, goodness is the most extensive and all-encompassing. The highest value judgment of scientific and technological development can only be goodness. China's traditional culture has absorbed the essence of Laozi's value orientation of "ecological wisdom", and always regards goodness as the highest value judgment standard of scientific and technological development. It embodies the ultimate concern of the Chinese nation and all mankind for their own destiny and natural destiny.

As a holistic way of thinking characterized by the unity, harmony and communication between man and nature, Laozi's value orientation of "ecological wisdom" has penetrated the heavy curtain of history and transcended the limitations of time and space, which has had a great impact on the way of thinking of westerners, and thus triggered a revolution on natural values or cosmology, and is re-establishing a new relationship between man and nature.

In the western cultural tradition, the concept of home is also based on the natural environment, and the word eco-ecology originally evolved from the Greek root "Oikos" (meaning home and residence). Peter the Great's Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, because it is located in the urban area, can't plant trees everywhere like his Summer Palace. Perhaps just because he can't live without trees, he actually made the whole roof green. From a distance, especially from a height, it looks like a forest. From this point of view, in the spiritual palace of mankind, there is never a lack of natural position. Humans may have known from the beginning that green is the color of life.

Mahatma Gandhi said: "The earth can meet human needs, but the earth can't meet human greed." In the process of pursuing a richer material life, from agricultural civilization to industrial civilization, forests have fallen sharply, species have become extinct, deserts have spread, droughts have occurred frequently, water sources have been polluted, acid rain has raged, the ozone layer has been destroyed, and the greenhouse effect has intensified. Never in the history of mankind have we suffered such merciless revenge from nature. As Engels pointed out, every victory of mankind against nature is a merciless revenge of nature. The harsh reality urges people of insight in the West to look to the traditional civilizations of China and China based on the value orientation of Laozi's "ecological wisdom".

At the beginning of the 20th century, German sociologist Max Weber put forward a famous theory after investigating Chinese and western cultures. He believes that the rationalism of China culture is a reasonable adaptation to the world; The rationalism of western culture is a reasonable slaughter of the world. It should be said that the natural value orientation of China culture is suitable for contemporary environmental protection and social development, so it is reasonable; The natural value orientation of western culture, the slaughter of the world, especially the slaughter of nature, is true and therefore unreasonable. Edward Goldsmith, a contemporary British ecologist, called the utilitarian slaughter of nature by human beings the Third World War. Because of this war, "nature is collapsing and dying, and the speed is so fast that this trend continues to develop, and nature will soon lose its ability to support human survival."

Peck Cousy, a contemporary Finnish scholar, pointed out from another angle that human beings have been carried away by irrational development beliefs. The unified market economy dominated by ruthless competition has twisted us into the gears of its big machinery, so we have fallen into the coldest whirlpool of civilization.

Painful reflection is accompanied by the change of ideas. In the west, the relationship between man and nature has been re-evaluated, the concept of conquering nature is being corrected by the concept of protecting nature, and the tradition of opposing man and nature is being replaced by the consciousness of harmonious coexistence between man and nature. Also at the beginning of the 20th century, the philosophy of life represented by Bergson and Whitehead first put forward the concept that the natural universe is a living organism. In the 1920s, albert schweitzer put forward the philosophical concept of "reverence for life", which broke through the limitation of "anthropocentrism" and endowed all living things on earth with equal living status. Then, in 1930s, Leo Polder put forward the idea of earth ethics, warning the pollution and destruction brought by human beings to the earth.

Due to these cultural achievements, an "ecological ethics" movement focusing on protecting nature has gradually emerged in the West. Therefore, in 1972, that is, more than 2,000 years after Laozi put forward that "Taoism is natural" and human beings should do nothing in front of nature, the Rome Club, which devoted itself to studying and solving the "complex of human problems", published its first report, The Limit of Growth, and put forward a "doomsday model" that shocked the world, slamming the unrestrained demand for nature and the opposition between man and nature. By 1987, the Norwegian Prime Minister, Mrs. Brundtland, clearly stated in her report entitled "Our Common Future" that economic development and environmental protection should be unified.

Five years later, more than 100 heads of state and politicians from all over the world gathered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and seriously discussed the issue of sustainable development for the first time. The concept of "sustainable development" takes into account the coordinated development of society, economy and environment in a balanced way, and gives a fair position to the interests of contemporary people, future generations of mankind and all biological species on the earth. This new trend shows that a new concept of returning from destroying nature to protecting nature has gradually become a kind of knowledge, and human beings will also enter a new stage of ecological civilization after agricultural civilization and industrial civilization.

It is the above background that urges people to realize quite strongly after entering the 2 1 century that the future of human beings depends entirely on how to learn to adapt their basic functions to the great natural process and whether human beings can establish an affinity relationship with nature. As a result, people have a strong interest in the values of harmony between man and nature advocated by Laozi's value orientation of "ecological wisdom".

Laozi's idea of creating the universe, that is, "tangible life", has deeply influenced Hawking, a famous theoretical physicist in contemporary Britain. As far as the origin of the universe is concerned, the "Tao" in the first chapter of the first chapter of the bamboo slips Laozi is intrinsically consistent with the concept of "singularity" used by Hawking in expounding the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe.

To sum up, Laozi's naturalistic "ecological wisdom" can best represent the ancient tradition of "eternal division between man and nature". Although this tradition, like Confucianism, advocates "the unity of man and nature", the difference is that it does not think that man is any special difference, nor does it advocate "making nature with animals", but regards man as a part of nature and emphasizes the harmonious coexistence between man and nature. This attitude towards nature advocated by Laozi's "ecological wisdom" undoubtedly has important reference significance and wide application value for protecting the environment, taking the road of sustainable development and realizing the theme of ecological civilization.