"Tao Te Ching" is "Tao Te Ching", which was written by Lao Tzu, who was revered as the Taoist ancestor in Taoism and called "Taishang Laojun". He explained the evolution of all things in the universe with "Tao", that is, "Tao gives birth to one, life to two, two to three, and three to all things", and "Tao" is "the life of Fu Mo and is always natural", so "man is the law of the earth, the earth is the law of the sky, the heaven is the law of the Tao, and the Tao is the law of nature". In 1973, a number of ancient books were unearthed from the Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha, including a copy of the Tao Te Ching, which was sorted out and restored, and it was found that there were some differences between this version and the popular version of the Tao Te Ching. Most of these differences are just a few words, but the meaning is very different, whether it is a mistake in copying, or a tampering by someone with a heart to cause different opinions in the world. Now share eight differences, opinions: Silk books: "There is, nothing is born together; Difficult, easy to achieve each other; long and short in contrast; High, low and mutually reinforcing; sound, the harmony of sound; First, then followed, and Heng also. There is not much difference between the two, it is the same "zhi", but the meaning has completely changed. The first understanding of "existence and non-existence" and "existence and non-existence are born together" is that you give birth to me, I give birth to you, each other is its root, and it is self-circulating without consistency. The second understanding is that "existence is born from nothing, and nothing is the root of existence." This understanding corresponds to Chapter 39 of the Tao Te Ching, "The noble is based on the lowly, and the high and the lower are the base", Chapter 40 "All things in the world are born from being, and some are born from nothing", and Chapter 63 "The difficult things in the world must be done, and the big things in the world must be done in the details". The first understanding is mixed with the Confucian interpretation of the Book of Changes, the "Ten Wings", and the interpretation of the Taiji Diagram, and it is no wonder that some people comment that the "Tao Te Ching" is from the "Book of Changes". Inheritance: "The way of the ancients, with the existence of the present, can know the beginning of the ancients, is the way." Silk book: "The way to hold the present, to the existence of the present, to know the beginning of the ancients, is called the Tao." There is only one word difference between the two, replacing "present" with "ancient". According to the understanding of the generations, it is necessary to follow the ancient law to govern the modern age. The so-called "the law of the ancestors is not easy", and the etiquette of Zhou is admired to rule the world. However, when Confucius greeted Lao Tzu, Lao Tzu told him, "Whoever the Son says, his person and bones are all decayed, and his words are in his ears." "What you learn is the talk of someone who has been dead for a long time. What these people said a long time ago, we must learn and apply them, and we must not be obsessed. According to the understanding of the silk book, it is necessary for the law to change from time to time, so as to adapt to the law of the present to govern the present. The method of planting seeds is completely different from the method of cultivating seedlings and caring for mature trees, because the situation and the object have changed, so it is necessary to "protect the present with the way of the present". Heirlooms: "Late bloomers" silk books: "Late bloomers" is also a word difference. One is the meaning of perseverance, which means that most of them are achieved very late; One is to go with the flow of nature, indicating that great talents are not deliberately achieved or artificially created. "Late bloomer" is very abrupt in the "Tao Te Ching" system, and there is no support from the top to the bottom. However, "the big thing is exempt" is the same as the meaning of the whole text. "Tao Te Ching" says that "great ingenuity is clumsy", we always feel that the material of nature is not perfect, and we want to artificially transform it and make it into a tool. But none of the artifacts we make are as delicate as a leaf or a bird in nature. Therefore, the talent of natural achievement is the great talent; Artificial talents are clumsy talents. Trying to shape people into "instruments" is nothing more than turning clumsy into clumsy and beautiful into ugly. Heirloom book: "Do you know or not, on; I don't know, sick. The husband is only sick, but he is not sick. Silk book: "Do you know, on; I don't know, I don't know, I don't know The husband is only sick, but he is not sick. There is a difference between the top and bottom of the word "no", which may be a mistake. In "Zhuangzi", there is a man named Nan Rong, who said: "When a neighbor is sick, and the neighbors ask him, the sick person can explain his illness, and the person who can explain his illness clearly is not seriously ill." This is the difference between "knowing" and "not knowing": a person who can explain his illness clearly is not considered to be seriously ill; I don't even know what kind of illness I have, that's the real serious illness. ”
The fifth hand-me-down: "Between heaven and earth, what is the same?" Void but unyielding, moving and getting more and more. It is better to keep the middle than to talk too much. Silk book: "Between heaven and earth, it is still like a dragon?" Void but unyielding, moving and getting more and more. It is better to be in the middle than to be poor. There is still a difference of one word, one is "more words", and the other is "more and more poor". No matter how much you say and you are poor, it is unlikely to become a poor person. Because the two are very different in terms of glyph and meaning, it is very likely that they were changed by later generations. "Less words" is needless to say, both Confucianism and Taoism advocate it. For example, "talk less and listen more", "say more and lose", "hope to speak naturally", "know and do not speak" and so on. Lao Tzu told us: Don't be confused by the complex changes in the sound and color of external objects and chase after appearances. Because they are endless. A stone can be seen from a variety of angles. Knowledge is taken from all things, and with different cognitive perspectives, there is no limit to innovation. Therefore, do not look outward to seek appearances, but "keep the center" and grasp their roots. In this way, combined with the previous text, "Between heaven and earth, is it still a sloppy one? Void but unyielding, moving and getting more and more. "Isn't heaven and earth like a bellows? The middle is empty but not occluded, and the periphery is stretched but not collapsed. As soon as you pull it, an infinite amount of wind is generated. It's as if as long as the heavens and the earth move, countless things will be derived. There is an obvious contextual correspondence with "more information and more poverty", so "more information and more poverty" should be taken here. Inheritance: "Dwelling in a good place, having a good heart, being kind and benevolent, being kind and faithful, being good in governance, doing good things, and moving in good times." Silk books: "Dwelling in a good place, having a good heart, giving good faith, good governance, good work, and good time." "Tao Te Ching" is critical of benevolence, "Zhuangzi" is also conclusive on this point, how can the handed down version of ** appear a "and benevolence"? What to do with things such as "the road is wasted, there is benevolence and righteousness", "after losing the way and then virtue, after losing virtue and then benevolence", "absolute benevolence and abandonment of righteousness, and the people return to filial piety and kindness"? It was only when the silk book was born that I knew that there was no "kindness and benevolence, good words and good faith" at all, but just a "good faith". The seventh hand-me-down book: "It is the prince who claims to be lonely, widowed, and unstable." Isn't this cheap? Otherwise? Therefore, there is no public opinion. I don't want to be as jade, as jade, as stone. "Silk book:" It is the prince who claims to be lonely, widowed, and unstable. Isn't this cheap? Definitely. Therefore, there is no public opinion. I don't want to be as jade, as jade, as stone. "It should have been deliberately changed here, just changing the tone of the word, and turning the negative into an affirmation. "The princes call themselves lonely, widowed, and unstable" refers to the terms used by the princes and kings to refer to themselves during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Lao Tzu gave the origin of this self-title: what people are evil is, only lonely, widowed, and unstable, and the prince thinks it is called. That is, the princes and kings expressed their willingness to "accept the dirt of the country" and deal with the evil of everyone.
The eighth hand-me-down: "The Tao is born, the virtue is the animal, the form of the object, and the potential is formed." Silk books: "The Tao is born, the virtue is the animal, and the material punishment is made." In ancient times, "form" and "punishment" were universal, but the word "instrumental" was changed to "potential". This is very contextual. Tao, virtue, and matter are followed by verbs, which themselves are the subject: Tao, to begot; Virtue, of animals; Things, forms, and "potentials" cannot be explained. "The object is punished and the instrument is made", and the "thing" here refers to the person who hurts the external object and the person who hurts himself. The way they treat external objects is: pick what they find useful and discard what they think is useless; The way they treat themselves is to keep what is good in their nature and discard what they feel is bad. "Punishment" means to carve or chop. If a piece of wood is carved out of flowers and made into a beautiful object, isn't the part that is cut off and discarded the part that they find useless? Because they have wisdom, they know how to transform tools, make utensils, and let things take shape and form according to their ideas, but this behavior itself is contrary to the Tao. After a detailed comparison by experts, it was found that the unearthed silk book version had been tampered with in more than 900 places compared with the surviving board, resulting in nearly 200 sentences of more than 350 sentences in the original text having undergone major changes. There are different opinions on the reasons for the revision, and the biggest one may be that later generations do not understand the depth of Lao Tzu's view of the problem, do not reach the height of Lao Tzu's thought, and arbitrarily assert the meaning of the text and are self-righteous. But there are also some people who believe that it is a deliberate attempt to conceal the essence of the world.