The world is declining, and people's hearts are not ancient.

That is, the atmosphere of the world is gradually deteriorating, and people's minds are no longer as simple and kind as the ancients, but full of deceit and hypocrisy.

I have to say that Meng Zhong's words just happened to say that Zhuangzi's heart was in the heart.

This is also the reason why Zhuangzi strives to advocate "returning the way of the world to the time of the ancient sages", and even persuades him to abandon superfluous things such as "wisdom" and "scheming".

"But...... Can you go back? Meng Zhong asked Zhuangzi.

Zhuangzi was silent.

Although he didn't want to admit it, the truth was that his mind was simply not enough to shake the world.

Just when Zhuangzi was silent, Meng Zhong said cautiously: "Master, I thought this might also be 'Providence'?" ”

"How?"

Hearing this, Zhuangzi looked at Meng Zhong, wanting to hear what this disciple had to say about it.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong pondered for a moment and said: "The kid believes that the 'first evil' lies in selfishness and constant production. ”

Selfishness, as the name suggests, and constant property, refers to the fixed property belonging to the individual, such as wealth, fields, etc.

In the Yao Shun Yu Tang period, Heng Chuan belonged to the whole clan or tribe shared, men cultivated the land for hunting, women engaged in mulberry weaving, and the whole world was very harmonious.

However, once people have selfishness, this harmonious situation is broken.

The Zhou royal family pursued the Zhou rites and implemented the Jingtian system, in fact, it hoped to achieve harmony in the period of the ancient sages under the monarchy. [PS: It is mentioned here that Zhuangzi's boycott of the monarchy is to resist the "superfluous" etiquette and deliberately particular class distinctions under the monarchy, not to resist the model of "the king governing the people". 】

However, in modern times, the Ida system has largely collapsed, and there are two main reasons for this.

One reason is "public land".

The so-called public land was first used by the Zhou royal family to set an example, and to require the princes to set an example and persuade the people of the world to work diligently.

But after several generations, both the Zhou royal family and the princes of various countries have gradually given up farming by themselves, and instead asked the people to farm—and they were not paid.

At this time, the people of the world already have selfish intentions, who would do such a disinterested thing?

As a result, as time passed, the public land gradually became abandoned, and the princes and the people cultivated it privately, but there were more and more "private fields" that were not recognized.

Lu was the first to admit that "private land belongs to constant property", and Lu became strong because of this incident.

Subsequently, the princes followed suit, reforming the state and recognizing that the land belonged to individuals (or clans) as permanent property, so that the well-field system of "ploughing and eating together" was completely dismantled, and the model of "those who do not work will not eat" was transformed into "more work and more and less work and less income", and the selfishness of the world swelled rapidly.

"Confucius once said that those who have a country and a family do not suffer from widowhood but inequality, and do not suffer from poverty but suffer from anxiety. Once people have selfish intentions, they will start to care. Under the system of Idada, some people do more, some people do less, some people are diligent and steadfast, and some people are cheating and cheating, but they get the same amount. How long can such an 'unfair' system last? …… Therefore, the students believe that the collapse of the system of Ida is inevitable, or the inevitability of the operation of the Heavenly Dao. Meng Zhong Zhengse said.

When Zhuangzi heard this, he wrote on a piece of bamboo slip: It is for this reason that we should advocate the world to abandon the heart.

Meng Zhong thought for a while after seeing the bamboo plaque and said: "In the past, there were two people who went to the Jixia School Palace of Qi to study, and one of them was from Lu State, because his family was poor, so he used pickles and porridge to satisfy his hunger every day. And the Song family's family is rich, and they have continuous wine and food every day. Because the two were friends on weekdays, one day the Song people saw that the Lu people ate pickles and cold porridge every day, so they asked the servants to prepare a basket of wine and vegetables and ordered them to give them to the Lu people.

The Lu people thanked the Song people for their kindness, but politely refused those drinks and dishes.

When the Song people asked him the reason, the Lu people replied: Because I have never eaten a good meal, I can still swallow pickles and cold porridge every day, if I eat the delicious wine and vegetables you gave me today, will I still swallow these pickles and cold porridge tomorrow?

……

Master, the people of the world under the rule of the ancient sages were not yet civilized, so people can live in harmony with each other, and people and beasts can also live in harmony, but in today's world, people's hearts are treacherous and changeable, do you want the people of the world to abandon their hearts, isn't it to let that Lu people eat delicious food, and let him eat pickles and cold porridge again? The kid thinks that people who don't have great perseverance can't do it at all. If everyone can do it, wouldn't everyone be a Zhuangzi? ”

Listening to Meng Zhong's words, Zhuangzi closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.

Although the disciple complimented him a little at the end, he was not happy at all, because the example given by the disciple was so thorough.

Yes, human nature is to "get" and "possess", not to "give up" and "give".

Those who have tasted delicious food may no longer be able to swallow cold porridge with pickles; Those who have tasted power may no longer be able to give up power; Even if he is a sage with "wisdom", is he willing to give up his wisdom?

Seeing Zhuangzi sighing, Meng Zhong said cautiously: "My Taoist thoughts are applicable to the ancient times, but I'm afraid ...... Not very suitable for contemporary use. ”

Hearing this, Zhuangzi opened his eyes and glanced at Meng Zhong, raised his hand and wrote on a bamboo plaque: Hui Shi used to laugh at me because of this.

Later, Zhuangzi wrote down the incident between him and Huizi on an empty bamboo slip - this is also the first time that Zhuangzi inadvertently revealed his connections in front of a dream.

The reason for the incident was that the king of Wei rewarded Hui Shi with some gourd seeds, and Hui Shi planted these gourd seeds and harvested some large gourds.

Later, when he met Zhuangzi, he used these big gourds to ridicule Zhuangzi's thoughts, saying that he had made these big gourds into containers for scooping water, but the walls of the gourds were too thin to bear the weight of themselves (plus water), and they were easy to break; The longitudinal section is made into a scoop, and it is too big, and you don't need such a big scoop to scoop water, wine, and soup. He thought about it and felt that although the gourd was big, it was too big to be useful, so he smashed it with a hammer and threw it away.

Zhuangzi understood at a glance: this is satirizing me!

So Zhuangzi also told a story, saying that there was a family in the Song Dynasty, who had been squatting by the river for generations, and drifting silk cotton for a business, because they learned to make a kind of ointment for skin care, and if they rubbed the medicine with their hands, they could avoid chilblains. Later, a guest came to visit the family and paid a high price of 100 gold to buy the secret recipe of the medicine.

The whole family of the Song people felt that they had been drifting silk for generations, and they had worked hard for a year to earn a few gold. Now sell the secret recipe of the ointment, and you can earn 100 gold in a day. So they sold the secret recipe.

After this guest bought the secret recipe, he traveled to Wu Kingdom, met Wu Jun, and gained trust. Later, the Yue invaded the Wu State, and the King of Wu sent him to lead the army to participate in the winter water war, and his soldiers were covered with skin care ointment, so that their hands and feet did not have chilblains, so they defeated the Yue army. The king of Wu rewarded him, gave him land, and made him a marquis. You see, the same hand does not crack, a big use, a soil seal, a small use, a lifetime of drifting silk cotton. [PS: This allusion is from Zhuangzi's "Getaway". 】

Seeing that Zhuangzi was looking at himself intently after writing this story, Meng Zhong was stunned and asked puzzledly, "Is Master worried that the students will think that my Taoist thoughts are useless because of this?" On the contrary, students think that if Confucianism produces gentlemen, and Taoism produces sages. ”

"Confucianism produces gentlemen, Taoism produces sages?"

Zhuangzi blinked, his heart was very useful, but he still picked up the pen and wrote a few words on the bamboo plaque to correct Meng Zhong's statement: There are no sages in Taoism, only sages in the wilderness.

Yes, unlike Confucianism, which claims benevolence and righteousness and respects sages, Taoism emphasizes that "sages are nameless", so they never respect sages.

"What the Master said is very true." Meng Zhong arched his hand.

Subsequently, the master and apprentice once again turned the topic back to "Confucianism" and "ingenuity".

During this period, Meng Zhong said to Zhuangzi: "Because the old days cannot be traced, my Taoist thought may not be applicable to the current world, and at this time, Confucianism advocates the 'etiquette system' and uses the 'etiquette system' to restrain the world. …… In the past, Bole tamed horses, because the king of horses was unruly, so the rest of the horses did not give in. At that time, two people offered advice to Bole, and one of them said that if he killed the king of horses in front of the horses, the horses would be afraid and obedient. The other said that as long as the king of horses was forcibly shackled, the king of horses and the horses would obey as time went by. …… The master thinks that it is better to kill the king of horses, or to put shackles on the horses? ”

Zhuangzi took a deep look at Meng Zhong, and of course he alluded to Legalism and Confucianism in this allegory.

From the point of view of his heart, of course, he felt that it was best to release the herd of horses—this is Taoist thought, but in the case that "Taoism is not applicable to the current world", Zhuangzi has to admit that Legalism is better than Confucianism in terms of comparison with Confucianism.

After all, other scholars and Confucians are both to maintain the stability of the country, but the essence of Legalism is coercion, deterrence, and "fear", and Confucianism's "etiquette" is nothing more than using benevolence, righteousness, and etiquette to restrain the world - one is to be killed, and the other is to erase the edges and corners, if you choose between the two, Zhuangzi can only choose Confucianism.

That night, Uncle Zhuang learned that Zhuangzi and Meng Zhong were arguing in the main house today, so he asked with a smile while serving Zhuangzi: "Master, what do you think of Meng Zhong's son?" ”

Zhuangzi pondered for a moment, and wrote on the bamboo plaque: Very wise, extraordinary.

Seeing that Zhuangzi actually gave Meng Zhong such a high evaluation, Zhuang Bo felt quite surprised, and in addition to being surprised, he told Zhuangzi everything he had heard about Meng Zhong in the past few days.

For example, Meng Zhong was out of phase when he was born, he didn't cry or make trouble, which was different from ordinary people.

For another example, when Meng Zhong was studying at the village school in his Meng clan, he was quite studious, and he had already finished reading the Analects at a young age.

Hearing this, Zhuangzi suddenly realized: I said how this kid knows so much about Confucianism.

Thinking of this, he fell into deep thought again.

Although today's exchanges with Meng Zhong have forced Zhuangzi to admit that Confucianism's "ingenuity" may also have its merits, he still instinctively resists Confucianism.

But the problem is that in addition to Taoism, Confucianism has the greatest influence on Meng Zhong, which makes Zhuangzi a little worried.

If he Zhuang Zhou did his best, but in the end he taught a Confucian disciple, wouldn't that make the world laugh off his big teeth?

After thinking about it, Zhuang Zhou decided to teach Meng Zhong about other schools of thought besides Taoism, hoping to dilute Meng Zhong's favor of Confucianism.

But which academic should I teach?

After brushing his beard, Zhuangzi had an idea in his heart.

Famous!

That is, to teach him the writings of his best friend Hui Shi!