The old boy led the people to the place where their family gathered, and at the same time told Mai Ke and the others about their customs and habits.

A few people listened to it, and while relishing, they were dumbfounded!

Xindao, this must be Li Dan's descendant, otherwise, how could he be so eclectic? so unique? so incompatible with customs and habits? so disdainful of the things that most people in this world follow?

For example, when they ride a green ox upside down, they have a head, and there are a lot of heads.

Zhang Guolao rode a donkey upside down, and he was alone and shocking to the world, and the public thought that only immortals were so perverse.

But what about the old boy's family, everyone is like this.

I heard the old boy say that their family has 100,000 green oxen, and these green cows are the same as the one that Lao Tzu rides, and they have never been mixed with other cattle breeds.

Therefore, the descendants of Lao Tzu, everyone rides a green ox, which is not only their means of transportation, but also their partner.

Why ride upside down?

According to the old boy, this is a concentrated reflection of the thoughts and behaviors of the old ancestor Lao Tzu.

Lao Tzu rode the bull to the west, in fact, it is a concentrated embodiment of the return to the ancients, therefore, riding the bull upside down represents that the thoughts and behaviors should be in line with the standards of the ancients.

That's because Lao Tzu believed that in ancient times, human beings were pure by nature, closest to the state of unpolluted nature, and the result of human development was more and more corrupt, and the dynasty in which Lao Tzu lived, the Central Plains of Hangu and the state of Chu, where he himself was an official, were corrupt and luxurious, far from the moral standards he admired.

Therefore, he resolutely abandoned the country and went out of the valley, but went to the uncivilized land of Huyi.

Listening to the old boy's words, Mai Ke knew. Lao Tzu himself, Lao Tzu's family since Lao Tzu, everyone's thoughts and standards are not only incompatible with future generations, especially modern people, but also the opposite!

Later generations think that the more modernized, the better, but Lao Tzu thinks that the more modern, the worse!

No wonder Lao Tzu escaped from the prosperity of the world, no wonder all the descendants of Lao Tzu rode the green ox upside down!

This simple weird behavior. It turns out that there are so many deep ideas and standards hidden.

Mai Ke and the old boy talked speculatively, and unaware that there was a place, far away from Hangu, there was a field, surrounded by mountains, on which the pines and cypresses were lush, even in early spring, everywhere were withered yellow weeds, and those woods were resolutely lush.

After walking for a while, there was a light in front of me. A vast wilderness.

At the root of the mountain, there are two thatched house areas on the left and right, and there is a tall stone tablet on the right, which is engraved with four big characters - Yin family.

The old boy said that this residential area was all when Lao Tzu went out of the customs, and the then chief of the customs was the Yin Xi family.

Yin Xi is the one who insists on keeping Lao Tzu, and he must wash out his thoughts and opinions. Otherwise, he will not be released.

As a result, Lao Tzu came to a hurry and made do with more than 5,000 words. I hurried out of the customs.

This temporary handover volume is the "Tao Te Ching", which later became popular, and it is said to have become the second most read book in the world after the Bible.

Therefore, if the Tao Te Ching is a book, the author Lao Tzu is certainly the key, because these ideas are all from its unique brain; If there is no Yin Xi, the Tao Te Ching will remain in the head of the source forever.

No matter how unique his mind is, no matter how high-end his thoughts are, only he knows and cannot pass them on to others. It cannot even be passed on to his descendants.

Therefore, Yin Xi is like discovering Maxima's Bole, just like discovering a star scout, and has made a special contribution to the preservation and dissemination of Lao Tzu's thoughts.

Therefore, the descendants of Lao Tzu were very grateful to this commissioner, and of course he himself became a student of Lao Tzu.

Because of this relationship, or the two families have lived next to each other for generations, supporting each other and maintaining the traditions and ideals of Lao Tzu.

Between the two families, there is a big house, with three big characters of "Taichu Palace" written on it.

This Taihe Palace is related to Yin Xi's request for Lao Tzu to write a book, but when Lao Tzu wrote the book, there was no Taichu Palace, which is a descendant

In order to commemorate this event, the Taichu Palace was built in the place where Lao Tzu wrote the scriptures.

Taichu Palace is a palace-style classical building.

On the edge of the temple ridge and the eaves of the gable, there are rare birds and beasts such as unicorns, lions, tigers, chickens, dogs, etc., and they have both gods and shapes.

The flying beams on the top of the hall are vertical and horizontal, the rafters are uneven, although the roof truss is complex, but it is a rule of its own, the temple is wide, there is no pillar in it.

The main gate of Taichu Palace, there are two stone tablets, one pass stands in the four years of Yuan Dade, one pass stands in the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, and it records the story of Lao Tzu riding a green ox through the Hangu Pass.

The one on the right is where the descendants of Lao Tzu live, and there are about 1,000 households.

The building materials of the houses are basically grass, wood, and stone, which are very close to nature.

Mai Ke couldn't help asking: "It has been more than 2,000 years since your ancestor Lao Tzu, is it only this 1,000 households? Or is there another place to live in other places?"

The old boy said: "Yes! There are only so many! The ancestors advocated small countries and widows, which naturally did not allow them to have children on a large scale; therefore, most of the family members were in the same lineage. ”

I see! The simple idea of a small country and a widow actually needs family planning.

When it comes to this, Mai Ke has a lot of questions to ask, but he still controls his curiosity, they still have business to do.

Mai Ke suddenly thought that since these two families contributed to the advent of the Tao Te Ching, perhaps they still have the authentic manuscript of Lao Tzu!

The old boy let Mai Ke into a house with a little bigger in the middle, and after entering, each person was given a straw mat and sat directly on the ground.

The old boy told everyone that this is the largest house in the family, mainly used for family meetings, and inviting everyone to come today is actually the first time in history that people from outside the family have been invited into the family area.

"Mai Ke, you and your people have a certain understanding of our family, because your answer is in line with the Tao of the ancestor Lao Tzu in a certain way, so I make an exception to invite you to come to our clan as a guest; Mai Ke, you, or your companions, I will ask you three questions, and if the answers you give meet our standards, I will give you something. Do you hear me doing something for you?"

"What's it, what's it?" asked Li Xiucheng, who was so young after all.

"What's it? Of course it's a good thing, it's unique! Something, of course it's a good thing, you can't do it. We can succeed if we go out of the way. If you win and give you something, I will do it for you, so there is no need to say it; if you lose, let alone say it!

"Well, you're right, so be it!" Li Xiucheng fell silent depressedly.

Several other people on Mai Ke's side. In addition to Li Xiucheng, Gavin, Wei Li, Mu Teng'e, E Shun'an, Fu Anjian, host Zhishen, Tusi Zuo Mountain Tiger, and Fu Anjian and host Zhishen are more familiar with the "Tao Te Ching", and the rest have read it well.

And Fu Anjian and Zhu Zhishen, one is a student of Confucius and Mencius, and the other is a student of Buddhism, and their understanding of Taoist classics is essentially the level of understanding of their class at that time.

The core is to find the parts that are acceptable to everyone. And then accept it, that is, the monks and Taoists penetrate each other. You have me, I have you, forming a hodgepodge.

Of course, the original "Tao Te Ching" does not mean this, so don't be ugly in front of the old boy with a red seedling.

Therefore, everyone's eyes are on Mai Ke, and only he can answer the question!

But. While holding on to hope, everyone also has insufficient confidence in Mai Ke!

You're good at other things, you can't even be proficient in these side ways, right?

"Question 1: The first sentence of the Tao Te Ching mentions the Tao and also mentions the name, so what is the relationship between the Tao and the name?" the old boy asked.

The answer to this question. It depends on the understanding of the words 'Tao' and 'name'. According to Lao Tzu's own description in the Tao Te Ching, the 'Dao' is the primordial and fundamental existence of all things in the universe, and Lao Tzu called this thing the 'Dao', and all things in the world are produced from this 'Dao'.

"'Name' is the name, it is the reflection of this existence zài, the initial and fundamental existence zài, and its name is 'Tao'.

Therefore, the relationship between 'Dao' and 'Name' is that they speak of one thing, Dao, which is the actual existence of zài, and name, which is the title of this actual existence, that is, the description given to this existence under the premise of people's understanding. ”

Mai Ke's words not only made those who didn't understand the "Tao Te Ching" suddenly realize, but even the old boy himself, but also suddenly enlightened.

That's exactly what the old boy was taught, but not as clear and easy to understand as Mai Ke.

Shocked, the old boy muttered, "Who is the old boy? Why do you seem to be an outsider more like me?"

He shook his head, and came on!

"Question 2: What is the general purpose of the Tao Te Ching, that is, what is the general direction it points to?"

Unexpectedly, Mai Ke grinned and said: "This is simple! Why is it called the Tao Te Ching? Because it contains two contents, one is 'Tao' and the other is 'Virtue', and the two together are 'morality'." As mentioned earlier, the Tao is the fundamental existence of this world, and the most fundamental meaning of "virtue" is 'get', 'get' what, 'get' 'Dao'! And the subject of this 'get' and 'Dao' is people! People get 'Dao', that is, they have 'virtue'! Therefore, people get 'Dao', and with virtue, they become virtuous people, that is, 'Dao' extends to people, and the purpose of the Tao Te Ching is realized! In other words, people have virtue, which is the embodiment of the Tao in people's people!

While everyone listened, they vomited, this is still simple? If this is simple, there is no complexity in the world!

However, this can be said to be simple for the old boy, because the relationship between the two is the focus of the special instructions left by Lao Tzu, for fear that the children and grandchildren will not understand!

And there is no need to quote scriptures at all, just solve the problem with one solution!

"The third question ......".

(To be continued......)