If you are not virtuous (1), you will not quarrel with the people, if you are not expensive and rare (2), if you are not willing to steal (3), if you do not see what you want, (4), so that the people will not be in chaos. It is the rule of a saint, who is humble in his heart (5), solid in his belly, weak in his will (6), strong in his bones, and constantly makes the people ignorant and desireless. If the husband does not dare (7) and the Buddha only does (8), then there is no cure (9).

[Translation]

Those who do not respect the virtuous will lead the common people not to compete with each other, the people will not be deceived if they do not cherish the rare possessions, and the people will not be deceived if they do not show off things that are enough to arouse greed. Therefore, the governing principle of the sages is: to empty the people's scheming, fill the people's stomachs, weaken the people's desire to compete, strengthen the people's muscles and bones, and often make the people have no wisdom and no desire. As a result, those who have wisdom do not dare to do things in vain. If a saint does things according to the principle of "non-action" and does things according to nature, then the genius will not be unpeaceful.

[Notes]

(1) Shangxian: Shang, the same as "Shang", that is, advocating, respecting. Xian: A virtuous and talented person.

(2) Expensive: Valuable, precious. Goods: Property.

(3) Theft: stealing property.

(4) See (xian): through "present", appear, reveal. This is the meaning of showing, showing off.

(5) Emptiness: emptiness, emptiness. Heart: The ancients thought that the heart was the main thought, which refers to the thought, the mind. Empty their hearts, so that their hearts are empty, and they have no thoughts and desires.

(6) Weaken their ambition: make them weaken their ambition. Weaken their intention to compete.

(7) Dare: enterprising.

(8) Buddha is: the same as "non-action".

(9) Governance: governance, which means to govern the world peacefully.

[Quote]

At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period in which Lao Tzu lived, the world was in turmoil, countries fought and annexed each other, large countries dominated and small countries protected themselves, and the rulers recruited talents to govern the country and secure the country in order to maintain their rule. In the social life of that time, the virtuous were admired everywhere, and many schools and scholars put forward the idea of "Shangxian", which was originally for the sake of the country. However, under the banner of Shang Xian, some ambitious people competed for power. The seizure of money has also had a bad impact on the people. For a time, the people's hearts were disordered, thieves were everywhere, and the society was in a situation of turmoil and great changes. In the third chapter, Lao Tzu puts forward the view that he is not virtuous, and at the same time criticizes the desire for material interests caused by "virtuous".

In this chapter, Lao Tzu advocates "not being virtuous" and "making the people ignorant and desireless", and he wants people to return to a state of "non-action" without contradictions. However, the material civilization and spiritual civilization of human society must be constantly developed and improved, so this idea of Lao Tzu is impossible to realize and is negative.

Lao Tzu saw that the ancient social reality was turbulent and unstable, and the contradictions were prominent, which was due to the existence of differences, and Lao Tzu wanted to reduce differences to reduce or avoid social contradictions, which also had his progressive side.

[Commentary]

In the previous chapter, Lao Tzu put forward the concept of "non-action", arguing that it is necessary to conform to the laws of nature and achieve "non-action". In this chapter, Lao Tzu further elaborates on his socio-political thoughts. Lao Tzu's non-action is not to do, but not to act recklessly, not to do. He believed that the "sage" who embodies the "Tao" should not respect the talents and abilities of the people if they want to govern the people, so that the people will not compete for power, fame and fortune. As mentioned earlier, the doctrine of selecting and using talents in the pre-Qin era has become a powerful social opinion, and the competition for the use of talents by various vassal states has also formed an inevitable trend. In this context, Lao Tzu dared to put forward the view of "not being virtuous", which seemed to be out of place to form an opposition to the sons of a hundred schools. However, in Lao Tzu's view, it does not contain the meaning of belittling talents and denying talents. Rather, it is said that the ruler should not give the virtuous too much superior status, power, and fame, so as not to make the "virtuous" a temptation and cause people to compete for power and profit.

In this chapter, Lao Tzu reveals the starting point of his philosophy of life, he neither talks about the good nor the evil of human nature, but says that human nature is originally pure and simple, like a blank piece of paper. If there is a virtuous atmosphere in society, people will certainly not turn a blind eye to this, and it will definitely provoke people's desire for possessiveness and pursuit, which will lead to chaos in the world. If people are not shown what they can covet, then they can maintain their pure nature of "ignorance and desirelessness."

To prevent people from being greedy does not mean to deprive them of their right to subsistence, but to "strengthen their stomachs" and "strengthen their bones" as much as possible, so that the common people can have enough food and clothing in their lives, and that they can protect themselves and support themselves in a healthy body; in addition, they should "be weak in their hearts" and "weak in their wills" so that the people do not have the desire to steal profits and have no desire to compete for the strong. This chapter echoes the previous one, and from a social point of view, everyone returns to the pure, ignorant and desireless nature of nature. In this way, the law of nature can govern personnel, and the world can naturally be governed.

Lao Tzu's "Wu Wei" thought and doctrine had its progressive side and rational factors under the historical conditions at that time. He believes that the development of history has certain natural laws. This law is not arranged or manipulated by God, nor is it governed by man's subjective will, but is objective and natural. This viewpoint played a certain destructive role in the concept of respecting heaven and Dharma ancestors and certain religious superstitious concepts that existed in the ideological circles at that time.

[Interpretation] rule by doing nothing is great rule

The appointment of talents, the enrichment of the country and the strengthening of the army, and then the unification of the countries was originally one of the characteristics of the development of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period from the Shiqing Shilu system with blood relations as the link to the feudal centralized state. The importance of, using, and even studying talents became a hot issue in the pre-Qin society for five and a half centuries. The pre-Qin era was the age of the princes, the age of scholars, and the golden age of intellectuals. Because all countries attach importance to the use of talents, the social status of intellectuals has been greatly improved. They either lobbied the princes, or wrote books and speeches, freely expounding their own views. The pluralistic political landscape and the turbulent and chaotic social reality have provided them with the broadest historical stage for the display of their wisdom and talents. However, it is undeniable that the various ills arising from the great social changes, especially the economic decline and hardship caused by heavy taxes and labor, frequent wars, and the hypocrisy, greed, and cruelty of the rulers, have all given the sons a reflection on them. They want to theoretically explore the reasons for this. As a result, we have studied the nature of human beings from the perspective of social ontology, and have sought the cornerstone of building an ideal society.

Mohists and Legalists made the assumption of "evil" in human nature, and put forward the idea of "advocating virtue and talent" because of this. He advocated the use of positive and fighting methods to promote social reform. They exalted the creative spirit of mankind and played a good and positive role in the development of pre-Qin society.

On the contrary, Lao Tzu believes that human nature is good and innocent. All kinds of ugly human behaviors should be abnormal phenomena caused by the distortion of human nature caused by an irrational and imperfect social system. Therefore, Lao Tzu insisted on removing the false and retaining the truth, and retained the goodness and beauty of human nature and the things that fit the way of nature. The rejection of all things that aroused people's greed, especially the prevailing fashion of the time, which was the most susceptible to sin, was considered to be the most sinful abyss. His political ideas, to today's view, seem incomprehensible. The people of his ideal society, well-limbed and simple-minded, devoid of extravagant material desires, and uninhabited by all sorts of dizzying cultures or knowledge6.

(To be continued.) )