The narrator said: Ye Yu, why do you always talk about Confucianism when you talk about Taoism?
Ye Yudao: Nearly three thousand years have passed since the hundreds of schools of thought. Among the hundreds of schools of thought, the only ones that are still active today are Confucianism and Taoism. According to historical records, Confucius asked Laozi five times during the Spring and Autumn Period, which shows the origin between Confucian thought and Taoist thought. The reason why we must talk about Confucianism when talking about Taoism is that you can understand that Taoism and Confucianism are like the black and white Pisces in the Tai Chi diagram. They blended and confronted each other, which gave birth to a dazzling Huaxia civilization, and this is also the greatness of Huaxia culture. Therefore, talking about Taoism cannot avoid Confucianism, and talking about Confucianism cannot avoid Taoism. This is the reason
The narrator said: What's the difference between the two?
Ye Feng said: Let’s talk about Confucianism first. Confucianism originated from the Spring and Autumn Period, started from Confucius, and was passed down to Mencius. Its core is to teach us how to be a gentleman, although there are mostly hypocrites in Confucianism in later generations.
If you study Confucianism, you must first study things, seek knowledge, be sincere, and have a correct mind. In other words, you must have lofty moral standards and cannot be "immoral." Be consistent. We must learn to "do not do to others what you do not want others to do to you." Before teaching others, you must first "examine yourself three times", that is, "cultivate yourself, manage your family, govern the country, and bring peace to the world." You must have the ideal of upholding the right path in the world. The will to have unwavering beliefs, but here, it was also mentioned before that Confucianism particularly likes to "do to others what you want to do to others" and likes to force people to "respect others".
Confucianism teaches us that since childhood, we should "be tireless in learning and teaching", "when three people walk together, there must be my teacher", and "learn and practice it from time to time". Confucians especially like to be good teachers, and this is what modern people find most objectionable. However, there is no way. Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, is revered as the "sage and sage teacher". All Confucian people regard Confucius as a model and pursue their whole life. , so it is not difficult to understand that they like to be human teachers, but they only learned the "appearance" of Confucius and did not learn the "inside" of Confucius, so they are disgusting. What's more, the most difficult thing in this world is to change others
When you grow up, you must learn "propriety", learn to restrain your desires, and "How far is benevolence? I want benevolence, so benevolence is the most extreme." Confucianism believes that the biggest difference between humans and animals lies in "property". Animals can only obey desires but cannot control them, but humans can restrain desires and will not become slaves of desires.
When you face the world as an adult, you must avoid becoming a villain, learn to use the correct method to pursue interests, and "you must not be promiscuous when you are rich, you cannot move when you are poor, and you cannot bend by force." Unfortunately, later Confucians have indeed avoided "becoming a villain" , but most of them turned into "hypocrites". And we often say "a hypocrite is worse than a real villain". I wonder what Confucius would think if he were still alive.
When you enter middle age, you must learn to "establish a heart for the world, establish a destiny for the people, carry on the unique knowledge for the past saints, and create peace for all generations." These words may sound like chicken soup, but just imagine, if there are not those ancestors who regard the country as their responsibility , maybe there won’t be the life we have now. But we might as well think about it, if there are no more people who regard the country as their responsibility, what will happen to our country and our people?
There are many people in history who truly "sacrifice their lives for righteousness." As the saying goes, "Life is what I want, and righteousness is what I want. You cannot have both. Those who sacrifice their lives for righteousness." So " "Establishing virtue, meritorious services, and words" has become the only criterion for a saint. But frankly speaking, Confucianism is a bit talkative, unrealistic, and unwilling to do practical things. However, it is undeniable that the feelings of family and country in traditional culture, what we believe in National consciousness originates from the Confucian mentality of sacrificing oneself for others.
Let’s look at Taoism again. Confucianism tells people not to be beasts, but Zhuangzi likes to be with beasts.
Taoism originated from Laozi and was passed on to Zhuangzi. Its core idea is that we should not become gentlemen, but learn to let nature take its course and govern by doing nothing. Mencius talked about becoming a saint, and Zhuangzi said that he became a layman. Confucianism believes in saints, while Taoism hates saints. Zhuangzi said, I just like to be a secular person and want to indulge myself. Life is born with hardships, why can't I live a more relaxed life? How to turn a painful life into happiness, this is the essence of Taoism
At the beginning, Zhuangzi said that Confucianism is a slave to morality and that reputation is too important. This is called "obsession." Later, he directly tore his face and said that Confucianism is just hypocritical benevolence and righteousness. What is benevolence and etiquette are all gone. It has become a weapon of the ruler. Everyone pursues fame, so there will be competition. In the end, some people will never get fame, so there will be troubles. When we praise reading, there will always be people who cannot read books and praise beautiful women. At that time, there were always people who couldn't get beautiful women, and there were always people who respected wealth, but there were always people who were poor, and people who respected virtue, but there were always people who were ungrateful. In fact, it can be understood as the involution we have today. Zhuangzi was the "lying" among all the philosophers. Master of Pingxue"
It can be seen from here that Confucianism and Taoism have a serious antagonistic relationship. Confucianism advocates "benevolence" and hopes that everyone can care for each other, but Taoism advocates unkindness and believes that as long as there is care, there will be preference. This is the source of unfairness. , so the opening chapter of "Tao Te Ching" is: Heaven and earth are unkind and regard all things as stupid dogs.
Confucianism advocates "doing something" and hopes that everyone will become a gentleman and change themselves and the world with something promising. However, Taoism advocates "inaction" and believes that inaction means doing everything. The world that operates naturally does not require you to do something. Confucianism looks at the world from the perspective of human beings, and the whole text is about how people should be, and how people should be, but Taoism looks at the world from the perspective of Tao, which is a concept that transcends the world. This is the antagonistic relationship between Confucianism and Taoism. . What Confucianism does is addition, allowing oneself to learn something, become something, and constantly improve oneself; what Taoism does is subtraction, which is called: "for the sake of Tao, daily loss, loss and loss, to inaction." If you go further, you will find that, Confucianism talks about taking up and taking on huge responsibilities, while Taoism talks about letting go and pursuing individual nature.
Although their entry points are different, they all reach the same goal by taking "people" as the core and exploring how to become a "real person"
We often talk about Tai Chi’s “combination of hardness and softness”. Confucianism is about being hard on the outside but soft on the inside. It looks strong but is soft on the inside. It looks strong but is the most easily corroded. Therefore, historically, soon after Confucianism became popular, it was bound to face difficulties. . Taoism is soft on the outside but strong on the inside, weak on the outside but strong on the inside. It looks weak but is domineering on the inside. Therefore, whenever Taoism takes over, it can always reverse things and get out of trouble. This is the rule of "the rebel will move the Tao"
But in the final analysis, Confucianism and Taoism are just tools. People use tools to achieve a more perfect self, rather than being bound by tools.
