What is the difference between the ideal personality pursued by Confucius and Laozi?

[Confucianism] takes "ren" as the root and key of its doctrine. Confucius took "ren" as the highest moral standard and the most perfect virtue. Confucius believed that to achieve "ren" was to attain an ideal personality. "Ren" is a generalization and summary of all the virtues advocated by Confucianism. "Ren" not only includes the content of restoring propriety, loving others, filial piety, fraternal duty, loyalty and forgiveness, but also includes a wide range of virtues, such as respect, loyalty, wisdom, courage, respect, broad-mindedness, trustworthiness, sensitivity and beneficence, etc. Therefore, Confucius believed that the realization of an ideal personality is the achievement of an ideal character. Therefore, Confucius believed that the realization of an ideal personality was a process of learning, contemplating and practicing ren. For Confucianism, moral norms are primary, while human nature is secondary. In order to realize moral norms, one has to restrain one's individuality or even eliminate it. Therefore, Confucianism has a tendency to oppose moral norms to natural human nature, and Confucius believed that all benevolence and righteousness are outside of human nature, to the extent that he said, "Existing in heavenly reason, extinguishing human desires". The [Taoists] regard "benevolence" as a product of the decaying world and a man-made evil. Lao Tzu believed that "the Great Way is abolished, and there is benevolence and righteousness", and that only by "abandoning benevolence and righteousness" and restoring one's own nature, and achieving "constant virtue", is the ideal personality. Therefore, the ideal personality of Taoism is naturalization. Lao Tzu believed that benevolence, righteousness, propriety, etc. were all man-made products of later generations, which were against human nature. Taoism is critical of the Confucian ideal personality. Lao Zi believes that the creation of an ideal personality does not consist in binding oneself with an external, alien norm, but rather in pursuing inwardly, striving to restore, maintain, and give full play to one's own inner natural nature, which is called "Cultivation of the body, the virtue of the body is true" (Tao Te Ching, Chapter 54). This is called "cultivating the body, its virtue is true" (Chapter 54 of the Tao Te Ching), which requires abandoning outward pursuits and learning, and eliminating all man-made aspects, so as to be "noble in the world" and to create an ideal personality. Obviously, on the question of how to create an ideal personality, Confucius and Laozi and Taoism each hold a different view. Confucius emphasized the side of moral norms, with a tendency to suppress individuality, while Laozi emphasized the side of man's natural nature, thus negating the side of moral norms. For thousands of years, on the issue of creating an ideal personality, that is, on the issue of what kind of person to be, Confucianism and Taoism have had their own views and endless disputes, and in the disputes they have learned from each other, supplemented, melted and penetrated each other. To the rulers who held power in the world, of course, they preferred Confucianism because all the criticisms of Taoism would cause people to doubt orthodox thinking and the established moral order, which could easily lead to heresy. (1) Confucius asked Laozi about "rituals" Laozi and Confucius were from the same era, with Laozi being older than Confucius. Sima Qian, the great historian of China, recounted in the Records of the Grand Historian the incident of "Confucius asking Laozi about the rites" in only 161 extremely simple words. At that time, Lao Zi's social reputation was already very big, Confucius went to see Lao Zi to ask questions about "rituals", and Confucius traveled from Qufu in Shandong Province, Lu Kingdom, to the capital city of the Zhou Dynasty. Today, on the north side of Dongguan Street in Luoyang City, there is an ancient monument inside a pagoda that reads "Confucius entered the Zhou Dynasty to ask about rituals", which is a historical record. Legend has it that the day Laozi just washed his hair is drying hair, Confucius entered the door only to see the old man with his hair spread out, standing against the wind, eyes such as open like closed, face like a smile, like a smile, look like waking up non-wake up, hear the sound of immobility, just like a dead tree standing upright. At this time the Laozi entered a silent, nothingness, deep and wonderful world, away from the dust, into the tunnel of time, traveling in the original ecology of all things, the state of mind arrived at the "Tao gave birth to one, a life of two, two gave birth to three, three gave birth to all things" realm. This realm is the highest level of aesthetics, the highest level of happiness, and those who can experience this realm are the highest level of people. Lao Zi met with Confucius and talked with him about learning. Confucius seemed to be brought to a magical sea of wisdom by Lao Zi, so that Confucius heard the sound of waves of philosophy that he had never heard before. Confucius is even more open in front of his eyes, his thoughts are even more extensive, wisdom is even more rich, the image of Laozi in the mind of Confucius has become incomparably taller. It is said that after Confucius met Laozi back, his students found that Confucius a few days do not speak, become silly, in fact, Confucius is in the layer after layer of internal reflection. Later, when Confucius' students asked about their thoughts on the interview with Laozi, Confucius y sighed, "Laozi is a dragon among men! And I am like a tiny flying insect in a jar!" The students asked Confucius why he called Laozi a dragon. Confucius touched the top of his head like a small mound and replied, "If it's a bird, of course I know it can fly; if it's a fish, of course I know it can swim; if it's a beast, of course I know it can run. If it is a bird, I can shoot it with an arrow; if it is a fish, I can catch it with a line; if it is a beast, I can catch it with a net. As for being a dragon, I don't know how it rides the wind and the clouds and travels through space. So Laozi is a dragon!" Dragon! This is the symbol of the Chinese nation! This fictional totem contains the physical forms of many animals; the head of the unicorn symbolizes might and good fortune and wealth, the body of the serpent shows its aura, the long whiskers of the carp show its cleverness and upward mobility, the horns of the buffalo indicate its industriousness and kindness, the claws of the eagle illustrate its strong and courageous nature, the tail of the sea whale is its longing for freedom, and the full-bodied flowers show the beauty of the motherland. In the world, other countries symbolize the national body totem, are only a single animal and plant, but our Chinese totem is a complex containing many animals. It symbolizes that our Chinese nation is a big family with the unity of many nationalities. Lao Zi and Confucius are the glory of our Chinese culture. One is the big-eared Lao Tzu, a Taoist sage, a dragon, the great dragon of Chinese culture. One is Confucius with a concave head, a Confucian saint, a phoenix, the phoenix of Chinese culture. A Laozi and a Confucius, a dragon and a phoenix, a Taoist and a Confucian saint, interpreted the traditional Chinese culture so brilliantly. In China's long-term feudal society, although since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty listened to Dong Zhongshu "to abolish all schools of thought, exclusive respect for Confucianism", the ruling class in order to consolidate their own authoritarian system, all the Confucianism as the authentic tradition of ruling the country and securing the people, and Confucianism's "Four Books and Five Classics" as the sole examination standard for the imperial examinations. The "Four Books and Five Classics" of Confucianism were used as the only scriptures for the imperial examinations. From then on, if the people wanted to enter the civil service through the imperial examinations, and if you wanted to "turn your life around after ten years of hard work", you had to read through the prescribed Confucian texts. You need to read through the prescribed Confucian textbooks. As a result, Confucianism replaced Taoism, Buddhism, and other schools of thought. However, Taoism with its own philosophical system and Confucianism in the process of resistance, in the process of integration, complementary, on the Chinese philosophy, aesthetics, literature, political science, ethics and so on has produced a huge and far-reaching impact. With the introduction of Buddhist thought, the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism were formed in China. Confucianism provided society with the traditional doctrine of humanism; Taoism contributed the traditional doctrine of naturalism; and Buddhism proposed the traditional doctrine of liberation. Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, ruled the ideology of the entire Chinese feudal society for more than two thousand years and continue to this day. (ii) The Different Educational Methods of Confucius and Laozi The educational methods of Confucius and Laozi were different. The principle of Confucius' teaching was to "teach according to the ability of the student"; to divide students into various categories, to implement education according to the situation of each person, to understand the students first, and then to formulate a corresponding teaching plan. Mention of teaching according to ability people will recall Confucius in the Analects of Confucius, "self-bundle repair above, there is no class of teaching" statement, which shows that Confucius to what kind of students are to be, are accepted. But the teaching methods used are different, but according to the teaching, according to the student's intelligence and temperament to inspire you, you're timid to encourage you, you're reckless to you more precepts pressure beam, your temperament is like silk on your fine wrap, you're like a piece of wood on the hard to split you. Think back then, Confucius disciples three thousand, seventy-two sages, and Confucius on the seventy-two sages is not the same teaching, not using the same textbooks and teaching methods, there are like to dislike, professor has deep and shallow, which is Confucius in the teaching of "teaching according to the material," "according to the teaching of the people! This is what Confucius meant by "teaching according to the material" and "teaching according to the person". Laozi believed that teaching is not the transmission of knowledge, but the enlightenment of wisdom. The teacher's knowledge is exhaustive, while the student's wisdom is infinite. Therefore, Laozi's way of education is different from that of Confucius. No matter what kind of students he faced, Laozi taught the same things, so that different students could realize different spirits by themselves, thus achieving the purpose of education. This is the opposite of the opposite, that is, a variety of different types of people to generalize, find out their **** the same essence, and then give a total key to enlighten your wisdom door. This educational method of Lao Tzu, which is weak when encountering weakness and strong when encountering strength, is also worth studying and exploring. Nowadays, the teaching methods in our schools not only implement Confucius' "teaching according to ability" but also Laozi's teaching method of unifying teaching materials to inspire wisdom. From this, we can see that over the past thousands of years, the two schools of Confucianism and Taoism have been fighting against each other and learning from each other, and have been melting into each other.