What are the benefits of Taoist thought?

The high development of material civilization in today's society not only brings great convenience and development to mankind, but also leads to serious problems such as ecological crisis, unbalanced social relations, moral crisis and social psychological crisis. The serious alienation brought by material civilization directly threatens the survival and development of mankind. In this regard, many people of insight have long called for the consequences to be unimaginable if the alienation of civilization is not resolved. Therefore, opposing and overcoming this alienation of contemporary civilization has become an urgent task for all mankind in the world. It is in such exploration and efforts that human beings discover and sum up experience. In this respect, will China's traditional culture-that is, the complementary culture of Confucianism and Taoism-inspire people?

Recently, Mr. Xu, a professor of philosophy at Peking University and an expert in Taoist studies, delivered a speech entitled "The Modern Significance of Taoist Thought and Its Relationship with Modern Civilization" on the campus of Peking University, which aroused certain repercussions. After the speech, the reporter visited Professor Xu and asked him to further discuss this issue with strong practical significance.

Reporter (hereinafter referred to as reporter): Mr. Xu, as far as I know, many people have begun to pay attention to the relationship between Taoist thought and modern civilization. However, Taoist thought is undoubtedly a complex philosophical thought. If modern people do not correctly understand the origin of Taoist thought, it will inevitably lead to cognitive deviation. Could you please introduce the background of Taoism in China first?

Xu (hereinafter referred to as Xu): Your question is very good. When we study a philosophical thought and analyze its role in today's society, we must first understand its own background and content.

Wei Yuan, a thinker in Qing Dynasty, once wrote The Original Meaning of Laozi. He believes: "Laozi is also a book of salvation." "I write books, and Ming Dow survives." "This Lao Tzu is also sympathetic to saving the world." Indeed, Lao Tzu's original intention was to save the world. So what kind of crisis is there in Laozi's era, and should we "help the world with compassion"?

As we know, from the ancient Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties to the present Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period, there has been a major social crisis in China, resulting in the so-called "ritual collapse and bad music". What is a "broken ceremony"? That is to say, after the development of three generations in ancient times, especially after the Rites and Music System written by Zhou Gongdan in the Western Zhou Dynasty, a set of civilized systems in ancient China, that is, the Rites and Music System or the Rites and Justice Civilization, is in a crisis of collapse. By the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, there were two different attitudes towards this crisis: one was the attitude of Confucianism, represented by Confucius, which believed that the etiquette civilization of the Western Zhou Dynasty was the most perfect in the world from the standpoint of inheriting and carrying forward the etiquette culture of the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, especially the two-week period. I am from Zhou. "(The Analects of Confucius Bashu) and strongly advocated the maintenance of the system of rites and music, and put forward the ideas of" self-denial and courtesy "and" comity for the country ". The crisis of etiquette, justice and civilization is caused by the destruction of "traitors" In view of the destruction of the ritual and music system at that time, Confucius advocated some transformation within the social culture and put forward "benevolence" to enrich the content of "ritual". It can be seen that Confucius completely stood on the standpoint of affirming the ritual and music culture and transformed the traditional ritual and music civilization with "gains and losses".

The other attitude is the Taoist attitude represented by Laozi. Different from Confucius, Laozi challenged human civilization from the standpoint of denying ritual and music civilization and even the whole human civilization. It can be said that Lao Zi was the first person in China history to seriously reflect on human civilization. He profoundly revealed the negative effects and functions of human civilization, strongly criticized the alienation of civilization, and pointed out that the crisis of civilization was caused by civilization itself. All evils of civilized society, such as poverty, chaos, thieves, wars, struggles, crimes, light death, fame and fortune, and fraud, are caused by the growing civilization, increasing wisdom, increasing weapons for the people, human actions and desires, the system of rites and music, and benevolence and morality. Laozi Zhuangzi saw all this consciously or unconsciously, and thought that to eliminate these evil consequences, it was necessary to eliminate its root-human civilization, so he challenged human civilization and launched a fierce attack.

Reporter: So what are the essential characteristics of Taoist thought?

Xu: Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi's attitude towards the alienation of civilization not only denied the progress of human civilization, but also put forward many valuable ideas and measures to overcome the crisis of civilization. So Wei Yuan said that Lao Tzu was a book of salvation. If it can be said that Laozi is a work to save the world, then Laozi is a book to save oneself in a serious social crisis, especially how to keep one's spirit from being hurt by things, seek spiritual peace and freedom, and create one's own spiritual home. Generally speaking, their ideas are as follows:

Vigorously promote naturalism: advocate returning to nature, not being divorced from nature, and living in harmony with nature. To this end, Lao Tzu put forward the idea of human law and nature. All people's thoughts and actions are in harmony with nature, and they cannot go against nature, let alone destroy the harmony of nature.

Maintain and carry forward people's primitive and simple natural nature: advocate returning to simplicity, honesty and simplicity, and oppose glitz and frivolity. Flashy and frivolous manners are the chief culprit of world chaos. Therefore, people should be "simple, less selfish and less desire" and realize that greed and more selfishness are the root of evil.

Governing by doing nothing: the rulers in the world should govern by doing nothing. "Doing nothing" means "conforming to nature". "Sages have no intention, but take the people's hearts as their hearts." When the saints rule the world, they should conform to the people's hearts, not interfere with the people, and let the people get the natural development they deserve.

Pursue spiritual peace and freedom. This is particularly prominent in Zhuangzi's thought.

Zhuangzi lived in the middle of the Warring States Period. Facing the dirty society, he didn't want to go with the flow, aiming at protecting his spiritual independence and not being bound by external things, and pursuing a higher level of spiritual peace and freedom, that is, pursuing the so-called spiritual freedom and finding a stable spiritual home. Its practice is to "wander around, transcend things, and enter the ring", so that people's spirit can remain independent, quiet and free from the interference of social right and wrong. Zhuangzi's detachment thought is naturally a relatively negative philosophy of life, but we should also see that under certain conditions, this thought also has its positive and reasonable contents. For example, it doesn't matter whether people are right or wrong in a meaningless struggle or in the case of fame and profit. Wise people might as well be detached from these disputes, nourish their hearts, maintain their psychological balance, tranquility and freedom, and not be harmed by foreign objects. Zhuangzi's thought can play an important role here.

Reporter: But the Taoists in Laozi and Zhuangzi all reject civilization and progress, which is neither desirable nor possible. What is the reference significance of Taoism to our modern society?

Xu: Metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties, represented by Wang Bi, overcame this defect of primitive Taoism in the pre-Qin period, advocated the organic combination of humanism advocated by Confucianism and natural and simple naturalism advocated by Taoism, and put forward the so-called idea of "focusing on nature" for the purpose of courtesy. Its main spirit is that nature is human nature and etiquette education comes from the outside. It is different from the pre-Qin Taoism's rejection and criticism of Confucianism. Xuanjia in Wei and Jin Dynasties absorbed Confucianism, combined Confucianism with Taoism, and was based on Taoism, so it was a new Taoism.

In this way, I thought about what to do after the moral crisis. For example, at present, it can be said to be a moral crisis to some extent. We should also carry forward the sincere and simple thoughts of Taoism from time to time. Don't pursue luxury, but also have moral education. First of all, human nature should not be lost. If we lose this nature, it will be hypocritical to educate humanity and morality. Therefore, metaphysics is instructive to overcome the current moral crisis. Neo-Taoism established Confucian humanism on the basis of Taoist naturalism, in order to maintain the positive role of courtesy and righteousness civilization without causing the alienation of civilization. This kind of thinking is profound and far-sighted. In my opinion, if we want to establish a contemporary new Taoism, we must take the road of combining Taoist naturalism with Confucian humanism. China's traditional culture is originally a complementary culture of Confucianism and Taoism, and I'm afraid the future new culture will follow this path.

Reporter: Specifically, can Taoism serve us to resist the alienation of modern civilization today?

Xu: I think the modern value of Taoist thought has given us great enlightenment in at least the following aspects:

First of all, Taoism can guide us to adjust the relationship between man and nature in modern society and keep it harmonious. Due to the high development of industry and the rapid development of science and technology in modern society, people have mastered the powerful force of conquering nature and gained great wealth. On the other hand, it has brought great damage to nature, disturbed the harmony of nature, destroyed the ecological balance, brought great disasters to mankind, and mankind is destroying itself. How to protect the ecological balance and the harmony of nature has become an important topic in the world today. This requires us to adjust the relationship between man and nature in modern society.

In this respect, the thought of "Taoism is natural" put forward by Laozi Taoism in ancient times can give us great enlightenment. Laozi said: "People should be everywhere, the land should follow the sky, the sky should follow the Tao, and the Tao is natural." In other words, human behavior should imitate, obey and obey nature, and should not violate or destroy nature. Man and nature should be in a harmonious relationship, so that people can maintain the harmony of nature and the balance of ecology in their interaction with nature, thus protecting the environment and conditions for human survival.

Therefore, every scientific and technological development in today's world must first consider the harmonious relationship between man and nature, and should not violate this principle for quick success or personal, regional and national self-interest. The ancient philosopher Laozi's thought of "Taoism is natural" has been confirmed by social practice. It is also an absolute truth that no matter how powerful human beings are in conquering nature, its wisdom is guiding people to adjust the relationship between man and nature in modern society.

Secondly, Taoism can guide modern people to realize self-psychological adjustment and promote the psychological healthy development of modern people. The mental health of modern people is an important topic in the construction of modern civilization. In modern industrial society, the rapid update of new technologies and the surge of information, fast pace, high speed, environmental pollution, intensified competition, bankruptcy and unemployment ... make people in a state of high mental tension and fatigue all day, which will destroy a person's psychological balance and cause psychological obstacles, thus generally causing modern industrial diseases in society, such as mental illness, mental disorder, heart disease, hypertension and so on. These thoughts can be used to connect with people's psychological cultivation, such as the theory of subjectivity and tranquility and the theory of detachment put forward by Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi. Through these efforts of psychological cultivation, people can adjust their psychology and maintain psychological balance, so that people will not lose their psychological balance and lead to psychological and physical diseases when facing psychological conflicts caused by various complex social contradictions. It can be seen that Taoist psychological cultivation theory will play an important guiding role in realizing self-psychological tuning and promoting mental health of modern people.

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