Chapter 24: Zhuangzi's Theory of All Things, Vernacular Texts (4)

Therefore! The saint does not go to the bottom of things, does not find out the ultimate origin of things and what will eventually change into them in the future. Instead of pursuing things that are meaningless, we observe and compare things with their current conditions. Put two things together and compare them, and then make the right judgment.

Other words! Human beings imitate the behaviors and virtues of animals, plants, heaven and earth to live, and take the behaviors and virtues of animals, plants, heaven and earth as life guides to guide us to live a healthy and correct life.

Everything includes the other and this, there is the other and this, there is you and me, we are a whole, we can't make ourselves independent, think that only ourselves. Human beings are the same, don't make yourself independent, the world is the only one. Man is only a part of nature, coexisting with all things in nature.

Everything has its own independence and its own unique content. These include the other and the other, right and wrong, you and me, and so on.

What if we subdivide it any further? It will divide into an infinite number of separate entities. If you subdivide these independent entities, you can subdivide them into countless and infinite.

Like people! Man is just one part of nature, just a species, like other species in nature. But when we take it as an independent individual, we become human beings.

And if you subdivide people? It will be divided into limbs, five internal organs, and so on. If you subdivide the limbs and the five internal organs, you can divide into countless and endless.

Do things really have two sides? Is there really no distinction between the other and the other?

In fact! There is no opposition to each other. Because! They are one. It mainly depends on the perspective from which we stand. From a higher point of view, they are one, and from a lower point of view, they are independent. If it is independently, then! There is right and wrong, right and wrong, and so on.

Like people! From the perspective of human beings, there is no distinction between hands, feet, limbs, and internal organs. Because! The hands, feet, limbs, and internal organs all belong to people. And if we look at the problem from a lower point of view, from the perspective of hands or feet or the five organs, then! There is a distinction between hands and feet, and there is a distinction between various organs.

If we can understand these truths, then! It shows that we have attained the Tao.

If we understand the truth, we will look at things differently in the future, and we will see endless changes in things. "Yes" is infinite, and "no" is infinite.

Why? Is "yes" infinite, and "not" infinite? It depends on the stance and angle from which we look at this issue.

For example! Take people, for example! If we take man as an individual, we can divide man into infinite parts. Human beings are made up of limbs, flesh and bones, blood vessels, internal organs, and so on. If you subdivide it, it can be divided into countless parts.

If we look at people from the standpoint and perspective of the Tao, then? Man, like all things, is the Tao. If we stand from the perspective of the earth, man and everything on the earth belong to the heaven and earth.

So! From what angle we should look at the problem? Look at things.

Therefore, don't look at things from the perspective of the individual. It is necessary to look at things and problems from a higher angle and standpoint. Look at things from the perspective of the Tao.

It is better to use a white horse to understand that a horse is not a horse, than to use a non-horse to understand that a horse is not a horse. Horses are not horses, and other things are not things, they are all part of heaven and earth. Just like the five internal organs in our human body, can we still divide each other? They are all part of the human body.

Heaven and earth are one, and all things are part of heaven and earth. So! Where else is there a white horse that is not a horse? Where are the people and things, you and me? Just like the five internal organs in our human body, can we still divide each other? They are all part of the human body.

Do you have to separate each other? Does it have to be subdivided? Divide the other into an infinite number of independent individuals, and then subdivide these independent individuals into each other?

The same reasoning! Do we still have to divide Confucianism and Mohistism? To argue about who is right and who is wrong? At a higher level, the issues debated between Confucianism and Mohism were nothing more than to make human beings live better.

Don't? Every normal person doesn't know how to live better? Do we still need Confucianism or Mohism to guide our lives? Are we stupider than Confucianism or Mohist advocates?

Are we all stupid? Only people who have studied Confucianism or Mohist thought are smart people?

The Tao is formed spontaneously and is not deliberately pursued. And things are subdivided because people have cognition. Before human beings knew it, there was no distinction between things and things, there was no distinction between people and beasts, and there was no concept of things.

What is the right one? It's right to stand your ground. What is incorrect? It is not right to judge and treat others from your own standpoint.

How can you tell if something is right or wrong?

From the perspective of an independent individual, each thing has its own independence and uniqueness, which is different from other independent individuals. Everything is like this, it has its own independence, uniqueness, and distinguishes it from other independent individuals.

So! It's right to stand your ground. It is not right to judge and treat others from your own standpoint.

These examples can be cited to illustrate this: the small grass stalks and the tall pillars, the ugly woman and the beautiful Shih Tzu, the magnanimity, the strange change, the deceitful, the weird, etc., the same grass, the people, the shape, the change, the deceit, the weird, why is there such a difference?

From the perspective of the Tao, they are all one, a part of heaven and earth. Since it is a part of heaven and earth, it is the same as the five internal organs in the human body, what is the difference? What else do you and I have? Isn't it?

It is because we have divided them into grass and trees, into ugly women and beautiful women, and by the shape of things wide and narrow, by the change and non-change of things, by observing the changes of things, by the good and the bad according to the faithful and treacherous, and by the normal and abnormal of things.

It is precisely because we subdivide things and do not look at the root of the problem from the Tao and the whole. If we stand on the principle that human beings and all things are part of heaven and earth, that is, they are part of the human body like the five internal organs in the human body, will we still argue, argue with you and me, and separate each other? Yours and my dispute? A dispute between your family and my family? The dispute between your country and our country? The battle between patriotism and unpatriotism......

So! When we subdivide things, we look at things from a lower, smaller level. So! In this world, there is a debate between Confucianism and Mohistism. So! Human society is in chaos and ruined.

If we look at things from a higher level, we will find that everything is one and the same. Just like the five internal organs in our human body, they are all part of the human body.

Only those who know what the Tao is can understand this truth. So! They don't go into the context of how things change.

Those who get to the bottom of it are using, studying, and it is a good thing, and it is easy for us to understand the reason. When we understand that things come through constant change, this is the beginning of understanding, also known as "attaining the Tao", and understanding the "Tao".

We must not only study it repeatedly, but also study it from different angles and realms. Don't just study from a fixed angle, don't study from the perspective of people, but study from the perspective of the unity of heaven and earth, and from the perspective of the source of the universe. In this way, we will truly "attain the Tao."

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