Briefly describe Laozi’s theoretical thoughts

Laozi, the great philosopher and thinker in ancient my country and the founder of the Taoist school, was named Taishang Laojun by Emperor Wu of the Tang Dynasty. He is a world cultural celebrity and one of the 100 historical celebrities in the world. Classics" (also known as "Laozi"), the essence of his works is the simple dialectical method, advocating the rule of inaction, and his doctrine has a profound impact on the development of Chinese philosophy. In Taoism, Laozi is revered as the ancestor of Taoism. In addition, the word "Laozi" is used in many ways in spoken language.

Laozi tried to establish a theory that encompasses everything in the universe. Laozi believes that all things follow this law (Tao): The interior of things themselves is not single and static, but relatively complex and changing. The thing itself is the unity of yin and yang. Things that are opposite to each other will transform into each other, which is the transformation of yin and yang. Laozi’s teaching scroll (part)

[3] The method (virtue) comes from the law of things (Tao). Laozi's "inaction" does not take "inaction" as the goal, but "doing" as the goal. Because according to the "Tao" mentioned before, "inaction" will be transformed into "action". The brilliance of this kind of thinking is that although it is not subjectively aimed at obtaining benefits, it can objectively achieve better benefits. From "The sky and the earth move on their own without being pushed, the sun and the moon shine by themselves without being burned, the stars follow their own order without being arranged, animals come into being by themselves without being made by man, this is what nature does, so why bother with man?" (See Laozi's story Confucius asked below. Rites, paragraph 4) It can be seen that the "nature" mentioned by Laozi is not a concept similar to God. The law of all things (Tao) is specified by nature, that is, "Tao follows nature." Some people have misunderstood the meaning of nature here. It should be noted:. In fact, human life is like the existence of the universe, and no one can rationally point out its purpose. Therefore, irrationally choosing a certain goal(s) becomes the only option. I look at the problem from the infinitely high position of Tao. Therefore, Lao Tzu only mentioned the "method" but did not point out the "purpose". This gives us a revelation: why should people suffer so much to deliberately achieve their goals? Doing nothing and being carefree is also a way to live in the world. Regarding Laozi's cosmology, according to the previous Tao, "nothing" and "being" (the existence of all things means "being") will transform into each other. Therefore, Laozi believes that all things in the universe come from nothingness and move toward nothingness. For example: human life and death (please refer to the story of Laozi below: The death of the saint "The life of Lao Dan in the past was from nothing to something", "The death of Lao Dan today is from something to nothing"). Dialectics belongs to methodology, and methodology includes Taoism. Those contents in Laozi's Taoism that are very similar to dialectics have always been praised by people. Compared with the above-mentioned view that Laozi's thought attempts to be all-inclusive, there is another view that Laozi's Taoism belongs to the category of pure methodology. According to the introduction of Guangxi Normal University's "Laozi Enlightenment", its arguments are roughly as follows: 1. In terms of its original meaning in Greek, "methodology" is also "theory of Tao", and the root word meta in Greek means follow, Along, with, hodos means road, and "method" means "the road that people follow." Methodology or theory is a general discussion about goals and ways to achieve them. It is an exploration of how a person or a team should choose a path to achieve their goals. 2. The original meaning of "Tao" refers to the "road" that people follow in order to reach a certain destination. It is the "following of operation", which is extended to the behavioral norms, behavioral norms and methods of doing things that people follow in their behavior and dealings. The organizational paradigm of the system, the procedural rules of operation, and the movement laws of various entities, etc. Talking about Tao means talking about "how we should go" in the process of moving towards the goal. 3. The original meaning of "De" is "the place where the heart and conduct lie" (the zigzag shape of virtue is composed of heart, conduct, and straightness, and leads directly to the Mingdao Palace

value and Zhi). It is about the actor's state of mind, A judgment of where an action reaches or stands in a certain evaluative space. Discussing morality is to evaluate and compare people's "walking level". 4. Taoism is a discussion about Tao and morality, and a commentary on behavior based on an ideal paradigm. Among them, the choice of the road refers to the actor's choice of his own behavior, rather than the delineation of the route outside him; it is the choice of "walking method" or "travel regulations", rather than the environmental road conditions. Or grasp the laws of the world outside oneself. Its focus is to examine the relationship between behavioral methods, behavioral modalities, and behavioral results, and then establish an ideal paradigm for general actors to imitate and follow. It is not about discussing the empirical issues of how the world or objective existence operates. 5. A person can "go" from childishness to maturity, and a country can "go" from autocracy to democracy and peace. "Walking" has a very abstract and broad metaphorical meaning. The essence of Laozi's Taoism is to analogize walking in ordinary three-dimensional space to "walking" in "description space" or generalized "value space". Going to a certain place in the ordinary three-dimensional space is represented by becoming a certain name in the "description space", and it is represented by achieving a certain virtue in the "value space". Therefore, the methodological issue is also the issue of "walking"; what kind of path to take, what kind of existence to become, and what kind of goal to pursue are the basic questions of Laozi's Taoism. Character introduction

Li Er[1] (about 571 BC to 471 BC), named Boyang, also known as Lao Dan (dān), was born in Qurenli, Li Township, Ku County, Chu State (Woyang, Anhui, Lu, Henan) Yi, Lintao, Gansu (there are disputes with each other) people.

He is one of the greatest philosophers and thinkers in ancient my country. He is respected as the ancestor of Taoism and a world cultural celebrity. Later generations called him "Laozi" (in ancient times, the pronunciation of the word "Lao" was the same as the word "Li"). "Historical Records: The Third Biography of Laozi and Han Fei": "Laozi was born in Qurenli, Li Township, Chuku County. His surname was Li, his given name was Er, his courtesy name was Boyang, and his posthumous title was Dan. The history of Zhou Shou's Tibetan Room." ① "Laozi Ming" written by Bianshao of the Eastern Han Dynasty says: "Laozi, whose surname is Li and whose courtesy name is Boyang, was born in Xiangxian County of Chu. ... Xiangxian County is desolate and is now suffering, but the old city still exists, in the east of Laixiang, on Woishui River. It is located in the Yangtze River. "Volume 23 of "Shui Jing Zhu" contains: "Wuoshui also bends to the east, south of the old city of Jingxiang County." According to this, Laozi's birthplace, Xiangxian County, and Taiqing Palace should be on the north bank of the Wohe River. ② In the first year of Yongxing of the Eastern Han Dynasty (1537), Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty ordered Wang Fu of Changsha to erect a stele saying: "I was born in a vortex." Cao Pi's "Linwo Fu" mentioned the vortex: "The tall trees are shaded by the vortex, and the breeze is The rising water increases the waves." ③Jin Gehong's "Biography of Immortals" records: "(Lao Tzu)'s mother was pregnant after feeling a big meteor. I lived in the Spring and Autumn Period, and served as a collector (equivalent to the director of the National Library) in Luoyi, the capital of the Zhou Dynasty. He was erudite. Confucius was a man of many talents. When he traveled around the world, he paid tribute to Laozi. In his later years, Laozi went west on a green ox and wrote the 5,000-word "Tao Te Ching" (also known as the "Tao De Zhen Jing") at Hangu Pass (located in Lingbao, Henan Province today). Directly called "Laozi", or "Laozi's Five Thousand Wen"), it is said that Laozi enchanted Yin Xi, the commander-in-chief of Hangu Pass, at this pass and then traveled westward to Wuxi (now Zhouzhi County, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province) to visit this place. Surrounded by mountains and rivers (Zhongnan Shantian Valley River), there are undulating peaks, so I stopped here and tied grass to practice Buddhist scriptures. It has been passed down to this day as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units and a national AAAA level tourism. The scenic spot contains more than 300 inscriptions and inscriptions by literati and poets of all dynasties. It is known as the birthplace of Taoism. After his death, Laozi was buried in Xilou Temple, 8 kilometers away. The existing "Tao Te Ching" contains rich dialectical thoughts, Laozi philosophy and. Ancient Greek philosophy together constitutes the two sources of human philosophy, and Laozi is also revered as the "Father of Chinese Philosophy" for his profound philosophical thoughts. Laozi's thoughts were inherited by Zhuangzi, and together with Confucianism and later Buddhist thought. It constitutes the core of traditional Chinese thought and culture. After the emergence of Taoism, Lao Tzu was revered as "Tai Shang Lao Jun", and Taoism said he was the eighteenth incarnation of Tai Shang Lao Jun. Since the "Biography of Immortals", Lao Tzu has been revered as "Tai Shang Lao Jun". Respected as a god. There are more than a thousand foreign versions of "Tao Te Ching", and it is the most translated Chinese book. Laozi's ideological proposition is "inaction", and Laozi's ideal political realm is "neighbors look at each other, like chickens and dogs." Hearing each other's voices, the people will not interact with each other until old age and death. "Laozi" uses "Tao" to explain the evolution of all things in the universe. "Tao" is an objective natural law, and at the same time it has the characteristics of "independence and unchanging

, Zhou Xing "Laozi" contains a large number of simple dialectical views, such as the belief that everything has positive and negative sides, "the opposite is the movement of the Tao" and can be transformed by opposition, "the right becomes strange, Good things turn into monsters", "Misfortune lies on the back of blessing, and blessing lies on the misfortune." He also believes that things in the world are the unity of "existence" and "nothing", "existence and non-existence are interdependent", and "nothing" is the The basis is, "Everything in the world is born from existence, and existence is born from non-being." "The way of heaven is to make up for the excess when there is damage, but the way of man is not the same. If there is not enough damage, there will be more than enough."; "The hunger of the people is due to food tax." "The people despise death because they seek to survive"; "The people are not afraid of death, so how can they fear death?" ". His teachings have had a profound impact on the development of Chinese philosophy, and its content can mainly be found in the book "Laozi". His philosophical thoughts and the Taoist school founded by him not only made important contributions to the development of ancient Chinese thought and culture, but also The development of my country's ideology and culture over the past 2,000 years has had a profound impact. Some people think it was Lao Laizi, who was also from the Chu state. At the same time as Confucius, he wrote fifteen books to promote Taoism; others think it was Taishi Dan of Zhou Dynasty ( dān), lived more than a hundred years after the death of Confucius. The famous historian Sima Qian stated in his "Biographies of Laozi and Han Fei" in "Historical Records" that there were two speculations about Laozi and who he was. Said: Lao Laizi is also Lao Laizi. He wrote fifteen chapters on the use of Taoism. He said this at the same time as Confucius. "At that time, Sima Qian also suspected that Lao Tzu was Lao Laizi. Now many scholars adopt the first theory, believing that Lao Tzu is Li Er, who lived in the late Spring and Autumn Period.