Heaven and earth are indifferent to kindness. They have no benevolence and treat all things like rotten dogs, allowing all things to fend for themselves. Since ancient times, many people have criticized Lao Tzu's words as insidious, mean, and seeing things too thoroughly. Because they interpreted this sentence to mean that heaven and earth do not matter whether they are benevolent or not. They gave birth to all things and then played with them as if they were rotting dogs. This is a misunderstanding and distortion of Laozi's thoughts. The word "chu dog" here originally means a dog made of grass. In ancient times, dogs were sacrificed by ordinary people for sacrifices (because they could not afford large sacrifices such as pigs, cows, and sheep). With the evolution of social customs, people gradually no longer used real dogs, but instead used straw to tie a dog shape (just like later, when worshiping, a pig's head made of flour was used instead of a real pig's head) . After the cud dog is ready and before it is used for sacrifice, everyone attaches great importance to it and dare not touch it casually; after the sacrifice is held, it is abandoned.
Sages are also devoid of kindness, and treat the people like rotten dogs, allowing people to fend for themselves. Isn’t it like a bellows between heaven and earth? It is empty and inexhaustible. The more the wind blows, the more it grows. Numerous government orders will only make people more confused and unworkable, so it is better to remain quiet.
Heaven and earth gave birth to all things, and it did not take any credit; heaven and earth gave life to all things, and it did not take credit for itself. No conditions. Heaven and earth see all things as being like that lost piece of grass. They are not particularly good to people, nor particularly bad to other things, nor do they want to get any reward from all things. The reason why people treat all things badly, and even when people help others, they often attach conditions and hope for something in return, is because of people's selfish concept. Therefore, Lao Tzu recommends that people should imitate the spirit of heaven and earth, "There is no such thing as benevolence, and there is no such thing as unkindness" and develop such a mind. This is the true meaning of Lao Tzu's "Heaven and Earth are unkind and regard all things as rotten dogs".
From Chapter 5 of Laozi in the "Tao Te Ching":
The heaven and the earth are unkind and regard all things as gullible dogs; the sages are unkind and regard the common people as gullible dogs.
Between the heaven and the earth, is it like a chariot? Virtual and unyielding, moving and out.
It is better to stay focused than to talk too much.
Heaven and earth are unkind and regard all things as stupid dogs
After the Wenchuan earthquake that shattered mountains and cracked rocks and made people cry blood, a sentence from "Laozi" spread like wildfire. This sentence is "Heaven and earth are not benevolent, and treat all things as stupid dogs." People's understanding is probably: "God, you are so unkind, you have abused the people like this!" Is this understanding consistent with the original meaning of "Laozi"?
“The heaven and the earth are unkind, and treat all things as stupid dogs; the saints are unkind, and regard the common people as stupid dogs.” From Chapter 5 of the current version of Laozi. The legendary Lord Heshang (some think he was from the time of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty) has a note: "Heaven governs the earth, not with kindness, but with nature." "Heaven and earth produce all things, and human beings are the most precious. Heaven and earth regard them as grass, dogs, and livestock." , Don't expect retribution." The sentence "Sage" is similar to this. It means that heaven and earth do not talk about benevolence and kindness, but just let nature happen and regard all things as grass and dogs. Wang Bi's note: "Heaven and earth are left to their own devices, without action or creation, and all things govern themselves, so they are not benevolent. A benevolent person must create and transform, and if there is kindness and action, things will lose their true nature. If there is kindness and action, then things will not have their true nature. If things do not exist, they will not be enough to carry. If the heaven and the earth do not produce food for animals, but animals eat food for food; if there is no life for animals, but for people to eat dogs, then everything is suitable for its own use. Wisdom (tonghui) is cultivated by oneself, and it is not sufficient." (According to Lou Yulie's "Wang Bi Collection", Zhonghua Book Company, 1999) Wang Bi's meaning is that the way of heaven is just left to nature and does not benefit things. And all things have their own uses, such as animals eating grass and people eating dogs.
Mr. Hu Shi, who is famous all over the world, in his "Outline of the History of Chinese Philosophy (Volume 1)" (first edition of The Commercial Press in 1919), there are two interpretations of the sentence "Laozi". Explanation: The first one is what Wang Bi said, which is to interpret benevolence as loving-kindness; the second one is a philosophical explanation, saying:
Benevolence means "people". "The Doctrine of the Mean" says: "Those who are benevolent are human beings." "Mencius" says: "Those who are benevolent are human beings." Liu Xi's "Explanation of Names" says: "People are benevolent; benevolence is living things." Not benevolent means not being human. , not like humans. The ancients regarded heaven as a master with will, knowledge, joy and anger, and regarded heaven as the same kind as human beings. This is called the theory that heaven and humans are the same kind. Lao Tzu's theory that "heaven and earth are not benevolent" seems to also mean that heaven and earth are not of the same nature as human beings.
Then, Hu Shi said: "Among human nature, love is the most common. Therefore, to say that heaven and earth are not the same as humans means that heaven and earth have no kindness." This puts two different statements. unified. Finally, Hu Shisheng promoted his understanding of Laozi's concept, saying: "Laozi's concept broke the ancient fallacy that heaven and man are of the same kind, and laid the foundation for later natural science."
In 1922, Liang Qichao In the preface chapter of "History of Political Thought of Pre-Qin Dynasty" Chapter 2 "The Thought of Heaven" and Appendix 2 "Historical Changes in the Concept of Heaven", it is also believed that Laozi's words showed the wavering of faith in heaven and opened up Xunzi's later thoughts on heaven.
Chapter 3 of the first volume of Mr. Zhong Tai's "History of Chinese Philosophy" has the appendix "
It says: "I have reviewed the whole book of Laozi and know that what he said is grounded in speculation and does not have enough evidence to make a final conclusion." The following will be elaborated from three aspects: First, from a linguistic point of view, the so-called "benevolent person is a human being" The statement is based on its etymology, not equivalent meaning. "The word '人' is an abstract noun, not a concrete noun. Therefore, it is okay to use people to teach benevolence, but it is not allowed to use people to change benevolence." And according to Hu Shi, we can only say "not benevolent", not "unbenevolent" ". What's more, under this sentence there is also the saying "the saint is unkind and treats the common people as stupid dogs". It cannot be understood as "the saint is not a human being", right? Secondly, judging from the entire book of "Laozi", "The sky's network is vast, sparse but not missing" and "The way of heaven has no relatives, but always associates with good people" are all words of Laozi. Therefore, there is insufficient evidence to confirm that Lao Tzu broke the fallacy that heaven and man are the same. Once again, Hu Shi's mistake was to believe Wang Bi's mistaken statement about "cutting down a dog". Wang Bizhi said that cud and dogs are two different things, saying that if the sky does not create grass for animals, the animals eat grass; if the sky does not create dogs, humans eat dogs. This contains the meaning that Heaven regards all things as nothing. In fact, a cud dog is the same thing. "Zhuangzi Tianyun Pian" contains the words of Shi Jin: "If a man's cud dog has not been put out, he will put it in a suitcase, use a scarf with embroidery, and pray for the corpse to fast. If it has been put out, the traveler will trample on its head. "The ridge is just taken by the Su people." (It means: when the mutton dog is tied up but not sacrificed, it is contained in a box and covered with a fine embroidered scarf. After the corpse is fasted, it is sent to the altar. After it was sacrificed, it was abandoned, and walkers trampled on its head and back, and people who gathered firewood picked it up and burned it.) "Treat all things as rudders" means treating all things as rudders, and using them with honor, Discard it after use and let it develop from prosperity to decline. Naturally, this is not about kindness.
It should be said that Mr. Zhong’s statement is relatively correct. But what exactly is a cud dog, what is it used for, and what is its birth and death process? Mr. Zhong didn’t make it clear, for example, saying that a cud dog is a cud spirit. In his book "Fa Wei of Zhuangzi", he elaborated: "If you use thatch to make a human figure and bury it as a sacrifice, it is called a cud spirit; if it is used as a sacrifice, it is called a cud dog. Later generations painted the statues of gods on paper and used bamboo as the bones. And Zhang Zhi is called a paper horse, which is a change of the cued dog. The paper horse is not a horse, and the cued dog is not a dog. Li Yi said: "It is not a dog." Since the Qin Dynasty, the system of cued dogs has ceased. Therefore, people in the Wei and Jin Dynasties no longer knew what a dog was, and they all described it in their own way. ?" (Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1988 edition, page 324)
Actually, "Cudi Dog" is a dog-shaped dog made from grass. It is used to pray for blessings and prevent disasters during epidemics. At this time, it needs to be decorated with ornaments. Fan. After praying, the attendants can enjoy the sacrifices, and the cud dog is abandoned and ridden by people, and then it is used as firewood and burned. We can understand this by looking at the records in Han, Wei, and Jin documents. "Huainanzi Qi Su Chapter" says that when the cud dogs and earth dragons were just cooked, they were decorated with green and yellow letters, covered with embroidery, and wrapped with red thread. The corpses were dressed in pure black sacrificial clothes, and the doctor wore a top hat to greet them. . When they are used up, the earth dragon will be nothing more than a pile of soil, and the cud dog will be nothing more than a pile of grass and grass. Who will value them? Xu Shen made a bet on it: "Cud dog, tied with cud to become a dog, to thank you for blessings. Earth dragon, to ask for rain." Obviously, the cud dog is made of grass to look like a dog, and the earth dragon is made of soil. Jackie Chan's appearance. The cud dog is used to express gratitude and pray for blessings, while the earth dragon is used to pray for rain. "Shuo Shan Pian" also says that "a ruthless dog treats it and seeks blessings." "Shuo Lin Pian" also said: "For example, like an earth dragon in drought years, and a rut dog in the disease, it is the emperor at that time." This makes it more clear. One of the great uses of rut dogs is to prevent epidemics. At that time, it was used to worship gods and pray for blessings. At this time, its position was like that of an emperor. Naturally, throw it away after use.
Before the sacrifice of the cud dog, it was in a respected position and full of splendor. After the sacrifice, it was immediately abandoned and burned, as mentioned above. The "Three Kingdoms·Wei Zhi·Zhou Propaganda" mentions three dreams to show the three processes after the sacrifice of the rut dog, which is also very interesting. It is said that Zhou Xuan is good at divination, and someone deliberately came to test him. He said that he dreamed of a cud dog, and Zhou Xuan said that he would get delicious food. I traveled soon and found a great meal. Later, he said that he dreamed of a cud dog again. Zhou Xuan said, "Be careful, you may fall into the car and break your leg." Soon, it was true as he said. The third time he dreamed of a cud dog, Zhou Xuan said, "Be especially careful, your house will catch fire." The house was indeed quickly caught in a fire. The person who asked later said, "Actually, I haven't dreamed of a cud dog three times. Why is it so effective?" Zhou Xuan said, "This is what the gods asked you to say. It is no different from a real dream." The person who asked said, "I They all said they dreamed of a cud dog, but why were the results so different? "Zhou Xuan said: "The cud dog is a sacrifice to the gods. At the end of the sacrifice, the sacrifice can be divided among people, so when the sacrifice is over, the cud dog is used as a car. If it is crushed, it will fall off the car and break its legs. After that, the broken pieces of the dog will be burned, so it will catch fire. After the sacrifice is over, the dog will be trampled by a cart, so in the dream, it will fall into a cart and break its leg. p>
These materials clearly explain the shape of the rut dog, the materials used, its purpose, and the process of birth, existence, change and death (borrowing Buddhist language). This process is a natural process. It is valuable when it is used, but it is discarded after use. Is this the case for everything in the world?
"Heaven and earth are unkind and treat all things like a stupid dog." It means that the heaven and earth are not kind and kind, but just let all things go through their own process from glory to obsolescence like a stupid dog. The following sentence "The saint is unkind and treats the common people as stupid dogs" also has the same meaning.
Here, there is no meaning of ruining the people.
In the article "The Evolution of the Semantic "Man Can Defeat Heaven"" (published in "Wenhui Po" on July 20, 2008), Mr. Li Weiguo also described "The way of Heaven" in Laozi: "Be good at winning without fighting." He responds well to words, comes without being called, and is good at making plans. The net of heaven is vast, sparse but not lost." (Chapter 73 of the modern biography) and "Heaven and earth are unkind, and treat all things as stupid dogs; sages are unkind, and regard the people as their own. "The Chu Dog" treats both parties, and explains: "The unkindness of heaven and earth is just like the saying in the Book of Songs that "the sky is a dream". ...These words of Lao Tzu should be well known to Shen Baoxu, and they can also be regarded as a source of "people conquer heaven, and heaven is destined to conquer humans." "Heaven and earth are not benevolent" is understood to mean that the way of heaven and earth is blocked and the right principles are eliminated. Although there is a saying in Volume 12 of Lin Li's "Collected Commentary on the Book of Changes" of the Song Dynasty, "Fang Qi has not recovered, the heaven and the earth are blocked, all things are destroyed, the wise and the foolish change their places, good and evil follow their own orders, if there is no natural law, only humans can listen to themselves." Therefore, Lao Dan has a saying that "Heaven and Earth are not benevolent", and Shen Baoxu has a saying that "people conquer the sky". At this time, how can we see the heart of heaven and earth?" However, Lin Li has this understanding. It is explaining my own point of view and does not conform to the original intention of "Laozi".
Usage in "Zhu Xian":
The central idea in Xiao Ding's famous novel "Zhu Xian" is the "Heaven and Earth are not benevolent, and treat all things as stupid dogs" in the Tao Te Ching.
The explanation in this novel is that heaven and earth have no emotions, they don’t care about the grudges and hatreds of the world, and they regard everything in the world as just dogs for manipulation!
This sentence made "Zhu Xian" the most famous online novel in 2006