Chapter 23: Zhuangzi's Theory of All Things, Vernacular Texts (3)
Nothing is isolated, it is mutual. You have me, I have you, there is no distinction between each other, the main thing is to see from what angle we stand.
Look at it from my side, then! It's just me and not you! Look at the problem on your side, that is, on my opposite side, then! It's just you, not me. If you look at the problem this way, then! Things become isolated, not mutual.
If? Treat you and me as a whole and look at things and problems from this perspective, then! We are mutual, you have me, I have you, we have each other!
Therefore! There is no need for a dispute between Confucianism and Mohistism! Therefore! The controversy between Confucianism and Mohism and the hundred schools of thought is also unnecessary.
Because! They all discussed issues from their own standpoints and perspectives. They look at problems from the perspective of people and human beings, and deal with problems. And they did not look at the problem and deal with it from the perspective of the unity of heaven and earth.
Originally! It is a question of how man and all other things in nature can survive, and how man can survive in nature. Outcome! After the Confucianism and Mohism and the hundred schools of thought, it became a matter of struggle for survival between people.
So? Has human civilization progressed? Or is it a step backwards?
In fact! Looking at and dealing with problems from the perspective of the unity of heaven and earth is incorrect, one-sided, and wrong! The issue we are arguing about is still a question of survival. It is to jump out of the circle of competition between people for the right to live, and into the circle of competition between man and nature for the right to live.
And the real Taoist is to stand on the height of the Tao to look at survival, life and death!
Isn't the struggle for the right to exist a matter of life and death?
So? How do we view life and death?
How to look at life and death, we must first jump out of the circle of controversy between Confucianism and Mohistism and the hundred schools of thought, and we must also jump out of the circle of the unity of heaven and earth. We must look at life and death from the height of the Tao, and when we understand the source of life, we can go back and think about life, and it is not too late to think about life and death.
All things in heaven and earth, including the universe, stars, the sun and the moon, all come from the Tao. They all went through countless times, countless years, and countless changes, and then formed the later universe, stars, sun, moon, heaven and earth, and all things in the heavens and earth. Man is also one of them, and it has gone through countless times, countless years, and countless changes before finally evolving into the person we are now.
Before the Word! The extinction of a species does not mean that a species is completely extinct when it dies. And just to say! The species perished, but! It continues to exist in a different form.
Take trees, for example! The tree is dead just because the tree is dead. After the tree dies, it still exists in another form, that is, trunk, wood, branches, leaves, roots, etc.
And trunks, wood, branches, leaves, roots, etc., do they "die"? Or are they gone? One might say that if you burn him, you will "die" or disappear! In fact! It still hasn't died or disappeared, it's just changing its existence.
After being incinerated, they become smoke, fire, heat, air, gas of some substance, or other forms and substances! Can we say it's dead?
If we are not convinced, we can continue to divide it! But! No matter how we change, it will not die or disappear completely, it will exist in another form!
The original tree no longer exists, but it continues to exist in another form!
This is the Word!
The Word is ever-present!
We can also see from the example of the tree that everything is interconnected, not independently and isolated. It's all you and me, and I have you! After the tree does not exist, it differentiates into an infinite number of forms of existence, which exist in other species, or merge with other species and then combine into new species, and so on.
This is what "Fang Sheng" said! Fang is born and dies, and Fang dies and lives; Only one can not, only one can not; Because it is because it is not, because it is not because it is.
Birth and death means that one thing is born because of the death of another. For example, timber is born because the tree died.
Death and life refers to the death of one thing and the birth of another. For example, a tree, the tree dies and wood appears.
It means that it is okay to do this, and it is not okay to have it then. For example! If Confucianism is considered to be the best, then? The Mohist doctrine and the doctrine of the hundred schools of thought are undesirable.
Similarly! If we think that Mohist doctrine is the best, then? Confucianism and the doctrines of the Hundred Schools of Thought are undesirable.
So? In the end, which doctrine of Confucianism or Mohistism, as well as the hundred schools of thought, is correct?
In fact! It's not difficult to judge!
As long as we jump out of the controversy between Confucianism and Mohism and the hundred schools of thought, and look at and deal with problems from the height of the unity of heaven and earth and the Tao of Taoism, there is no need for the controversy between Confucianism and Mohism and the hundred schools of thought.
From the perspective of Confucianism and Mohism, as well as the hundred schools of thought, what is being debated is only survival, and it is the struggle for the right to survive between people.
Looking at the problem from the perspective of the unity of heaven and earth, we human beings, like all things in nature, are just one species. What we are fighting for is the right to live with all things in nature.
Look at the problem from the height of the Tao! We will always exist in a material form! We are the Way! I was given eternal life.
If this method is not possible, this is not possible, then! It's definitely okay to change the other way, to change the form. Everything is useful, each does its best, and there is a place and time to play a role.
For example! When Confucianism, Mohism, and the Hundred Schools of Thought do not solve the problem of human existence, why don't we work together to find the root of the problem? Or? Do we have to hold on to Confucianism or Mohism or Zhuzi Baijia?
When Confucianism or Mohism or the Hundred Schools of Thought cannot save the common people of mankind, why don't we give up and look for the correct doctrine and ideas that can save the common people? Why don't we change our mindset?
Because it is because it is not, because it is not because it is.
To admit this thing is to deny the other; Acknowledging the other, that is, acknowledging the thing, must have a reason. For example: if there is wood, there will be no tree, and there will be wood because there is a tree, and wood will come because of the tree!