1. It is said that Laozi was born to his parents to see, not only the ears are big, but also so strange, his eyebrows are white, he already has a beard, is also white, you look at the birth of a son, the eyebrows are white, and the beard is white, so called Laozi.

2. Among the Justice of the Historical Records, he has romanticized the idea that the mother of Li was pregnant with a child for eighty-one years, and under the free plum tree, she cut off her left armpit and gave birth, which is very romantic. Lao Zi's mother was pregnant with a baby, pregnant with a big, big, pregnant with a baby for how many, eighty-one years. This baby was in his womb for eighty-one years, and when he was about to give birth that day, his mother came to the plum tree, and how does one give birth to a child of eighty-one years? She then cut open her left armpit, and the little child was born wow, look at this is not called the old man?

Program main content: (original)

Synopsis:

Lao Zi is a great thinker in ancient China, lived in the Spring and Autumn Period, Chu State Bitter County people, his influence on the later generations is mainly a book called "Tao Te Ching", he pioneered the ancient philosophical thought of China. But the records about Laozi himself left little, which gave the descendants to create a huge imagination, some people deify him, some people think he is the old man, about Laozi's legend countless, all sorts of reverie gives Laozi too much mystery, then Laozi in the end what is it like?

Laozi as the founder of Taoism, is honored as the old man, this mythical figure, with and other saints do not have the same name, Laozi, he is different from the ordinary people's title may only be in the myths and legends can be explained.

Myths and legends give Laozi a lot of mysterious flavor, which is a kind of posterity to the former and the sage's admiration. So what was the real Laozi like?

As a state official managing the books, Laozi read a lot of literature, in his management of the books if **** years, the Zhou royal family is weakening, Laozi decided to leave the Eastern Zhou, his decision gave birth to China's earliest philosophical writings, but it also exposed the problem of Laozi's self-contradictory, Laozi said in his Tao Te Ching, "The one who speaks is not as good as the one who knows the silent", that is to say, the one who has wisdom is not as good as the one who knows. In his Tao Te Ching, Lao Zi said, "The one who speaks is better than the one who knows to be silent", which means that people with wisdom must be silent. Lao Zi advocated that people with great wisdom should not speak or write, but why did Lao Zi himself write the Tao Te Ching of 5,000 words, which is not to take one's own spear and attack one's own shield? Is Laozi stupid or otherwise wise?

Out of the Hangu Pass Laozi, in addition to leaving people a "Tao Te Ching", there is no other information, until now, Laozi in his old age, where to go, and finally died in where, are a historical mystery. And his "Tao Te Ching" is also like a mystery book, so that the descendants have endless space for words, "Tao Te Ching" elaborated by the essence of the Tao people may not understand all.

The Tao Te Ching is only 5,000 words, but it covers a lot of wonderful meanings and tells us many laws. Thousands of years ago passed, Laozi and his "Tao Te Ching" have been active around us, the topic about Laozi has been endless research and explanation, Laozi research has almost become a worldwide public **** topic.

(Full text)

Is Laozi relevant to our modern life? Where is he, Laozi? I once did a test on this question. I went to the Xuanmiao Guan in Suzhou, and I met three innocent and lively children, and they were so cute at first sight that I tested them. I said, "Do you know Laozi? They said yes. One of the boys said, "Laozi is my father. Another boy said, "Isn't Laozi the statue in Xuanmiao Guan? The statue of the Taoist priest? I smiled, a little girl smiled sweetly, she said no, no, no, no, no, "Laozi" is a book, my father's desk has this book. I laughed, Lao Zi is not living with us three modern children, and there are three different Lao Zi in the minds of these three children. One, Laozi is my dad, two, Laozi is the statue of the Taoist priest, and three, Laozi is a book. Laozi is really in our lives, it's just that the kind of contact we have with Laozi, sometimes zero distance contact, so it's already in our blood, the distance is zero, so we don't realize it instead.

We have comrades here like to play taijiquan, morning to the park to play taijiquan, see people's movements soft, but taiji masters, a push hand, can be a big man toppled to the ground. What is the principle? Laozi said, softness is better than strength. You see, some people like to play Go, some people like to practice calligraphy, calligraphers and Go masters often say a sentence, called know white and keep black, who said? Who said that? What does it mean to know white and keep black? Writing calligraphy, the black place is the word, white place is also the word, writing calligraphy people so see. A person who really knows calligraphy can see that black is a character and white is also a character, so he tells you to keep the black and know the white, so you can reach an advanced level. I see the same thing in Go, you have to know the white and keep the black, what is the reason for this? This is to be based on one place, see the whole situation, this is what the realm. So the wisdom of Laozi, melted in the middle of you and me, melted in our lives, actions, ideas, large to do something not to do, as small as we play boxing in the park, playing Go are such, the wisdom of Laozi.

Comrades, if you go to Fujian, there is a mountain called Qingyuan, Qingyuan Mountain, there is a Laojunyan, there is a stone statue of Laozi, very famous, famous in what place? This statue is very large, and this statue is very cartoon, how cartoon law? That is, his two ears are particularly large, comrades think about it, why Laozi's ears are particularly large? Why? Because the old man called Li ear, surnamed Li, so his ears must be characterized, his ears are particularly large. Comrades, let's look at a Chinese character, saint's saint, this is a simplified character, if we reduce it to a traditional character, the left side is an ear's ear, the saint has something to do with the ear. If comrades are interested in writing, not only to see the simplified characters, but also to see the traditional characters, and then go to see an oracle bone inscriptions are more interesting, in the oracle bone inscriptions you see what? Below a person, above a big ear, a person above a big ear, this is the saint of the saint, in the oracle bone inscriptions, this "saint" character also has a way of writing, a person on the head of a big ear, and then a "mouth", what does it mean? What does it mean? It means that the ancients regarded the concept of saints as not only the person's hearing is good, eloquent, so an ear and a mouth, so comrades think about it, and then slowly evolved, the person's hearing is good, eloquent and good, which leads to everything, everything, nothing, nothing, nothing, and then become a saint. So saints and ears related, Laozi is a saint, then we have to ask, Laozi is not really big ears? Chinese culture is amazing, not only have moving folk stories, but also vivid myths, and wonderful fairy tales.

Laozi's mother gave birth to Laozi, a look at this child is very strange, how his ears are particularly large, his dad look, this child's ears are too big, the couple discussed, this child to give him a name? Surname Li called Li ear, today we have modern people where the son of the ear, feet and so on, no, all up a crepe name. Because the ancients were very naive, this is called childish, this is human childhood, so it is very interesting, to the son called a Li ear. So comrades in the future to see the sculpture, go to see the portrait, sculptor sculpture of Laozi, or painter painting a Laozi, you see his ears are particularly large, this is a feature, so now we have another problem. Li Er, I understand, Laozi called Li Er, may I ask why called Laozi? Comrades think about it, Confucius because his last name is Kong, called Confucius. Mencius was called Mencius because his surname was Meng, and he was honored. Han Fei Zi was called Han Fei Zi because his last name was Han. Xunzi is called Xunzi because his last name is Xun. His last name was Li, so why didn't he call himself Li Zi instead of Lao Zi? The question is, Chinese culture is so interesting, why is he called Laozi? It is said that the child was born parents look, not only big ears, and so strange, his eyebrows are white, he already has a beard, also white, you look at the birth of the son, eyebrows are white, and beard is white, so called Laozi.

And as I just said, there are folk tales, myths and legends, fairy tales, and among the Justice of the Historical Records, he has romanticized it, saying what? Li mother pregnant with eighty-one plants, free under the plum tree, cut the left armpit born, very romantic. Lao Zi's mother was pregnant with a baby, a big, big baby, for how many years, eighty-one years. This baby was in his womb for eighty-one years, and when he was about to give birth that day, his mother came to the plum tree, and how does one give birth to a child of eighty-one years? She cut open her left armpit, and the baby was born, and look at this, isn't it called the old man? He has been at his mother's for eighty-one years and was born eighty-one years old. Of course this is folklore, this is myth, this is fairy tale, then historians write Laozi, how should it be? So let's look at Sima Qian, Sima Qian, the great historian, spent 18 years of hard work, wrote 520,000 words 6,500 words, to the father of Chinese philosophy, the father of wisdom, to write a review of the biography of the words, it is very poor, only wrote more than 450 words. You see, such a large "History" wrote more than 450 words, such a big philosopher, why? There was no way, the material was not there, there was not enough material, so he was very strict. How did he write it? He wrote 27 words at the beginning, he said, "Lao Zi, Chu Bitter County Li Xiang Qu Ren Li people also, surnamed Li, name ear, word Dan, Zhou Shou Zang room of the history also." These 27 words give an account of his place of origin, his family name, and he says this, Lao Zi, the man, ah, was a man of the bitter county of Chu, the name of the county was Bitter, Qu Ren Li. He said his surname was Li, his first name was Ear, his character was Dan, and his work unit was in the Zhou Dynasty's Shouzang room of the history, what does that mean? It means that he was the chief librarian of the royal state of the Zhou Dynasty, and in the words of our scholars today, he was an official who collected and kept books. Then some scholars say, he is the national librarian. According to my opinion, it is not only a librarian, he should not only have the place of books, but also cultural relics and archives, but also other things, it is like our current National Library and the National Museum, the National Archives. I think these things combined together management of such a curator, so that, if we think y, we find a secret, why he wrote more than five thousand words? Why did he write more than 5,000 words? Became a great wisdom in the world, just five thousand words, why is he so learned? Why is his thought so profound? From his profession, from his job position, we can find the secret of it. Think about it, he was the director of the National Library, the director of the archives, and the director of the museum. One, he saw things far beyond what we ordinary people can see, he saw books, he saw archives, he saw artifacts, of course, greatly exceeding the average person, the average person can not see. So not only did he see tons of things, but he saw many secret things, even confidential things. Secondly, we can think about it, since he was the director of the National Library at that time, the average person at that time could not go there to check out books. Think about it, the people who went to his place were bound to be high-level cultural people, high-level scholars, and he encountered these high-level cultural people, high-level scholars, and often exchanged ideas, and we have a saying that listening to others is better than reading ten years of books. Of course, his knowledge has been enriched in an invisible way. Thirdly, his position was in the capital, and his position was close to the dynasty, the center of power. Think about it, not only was he able to know a great deal of historical information, but he was also able to have frequent contact with the core of the regime of the dynasty at that time, that is to say, he was able to obtain a great deal of information about the era of the dynasty. Coupled with the fact that Laozi's talent was very smart and his understanding was extremely high, think about it, with such wisdom, with such qualities, and in such favorable conditions, of course, the spirituality is renewed, and it will give birth to the father of philosophy and the father of wisdom in China, so he had the ins and outs.

Lao Zi originally did the National Library Director, Zhou Shouzou Tibetan room also, and then look at the decline of the dynasty is too strong. Don't want to do, don't want to do he went out, he wants to go where ah, he wants to go to Qin, he wants to go to the Western Region, to Qin, to go to the Western Region. Must pass through a pass, called Hangu Pass, why is it called Hangu Pass? Why is it called Hangu Pass? It has two mountains on both sides, facing each other, and a deep and dangerous path in the middle. So this road is like the character "函", that's why it's called "Hangu Pass", and you must pass through this pass. On this day, the officer who guarded the pass was called Guan Ling Yin Hei, also called Ling Yin Hei, the officer who guarded the pass, that day he went to the city to look out, and he looked at the sky, and there was a cloud of violet gas, and a cloud of violet gas was coming from Ran Ran. Guan Ling Yin is very powerful, his eyes said today is very good, today there will be a saint to come, and then he looked far away from the pass, saw a man, riding a green ox slowly came, and then look at the ox on the back of the man, the style is extraordinary. So far away that he could not see it, but when he got closer, was it not Laozi, the greatest thinker and philosopher of our time? Happy as a clam, Laozi is here, you see the purple gas floating, Laozi came. Then he asked him, "Where are you going? I'm going to Qin, to the west, I can't stay.

No, if you want to go, you have to promise me a condition. I'm not going to be able to do that, but I'm going to be able to do it. He said, look at you such a great thinker, philosopher, you do not leave us a little writings, leave a little text down. Lao Zi said no, no, no, no, no. Laozi he did not want to stay, no stay no stay. Guan Chang smiled sweetly, you don't stay or not, I don't give you a passport, don't give you a visa, can't pass me, you have to stay a little. So this is a troublesome thing, so Lao Zi to him pestered no way, so Lao Zi wrote this world's strange book, called "Tao Te Ching". Why did Laozi write this book? Just now I said, first, you do not write this book, he did not give you a visa, not give you a passport to sign, you can not get out of the customs, so to get out of the customs have to write. Secondly, Guan Ling Yin's words, Lao Zi is very touching, I have a bellyful of learning, a bellyful of wisdom, why don't I do something good, leave some legacy for future generations? Wouldn't that be a waste? Thirdly, to write a book, you need to have a soulmate. Guan Ling Yin was a person with very high academic knowledge and cultivation. Guan Ling Yin is very learned, comrades think about it, floating through a section of the cloud, we know that the nobleman came, we do not know called the purple gas, not called the purple gas east, not called the nobleman came. Of course this, despite being a legend, Guan Ling Yin was a very learned man. In this way, I met a soulmate, I wrote out something someone appreciated, so there are so several reasons, finally I decided to write, so I spent several days, finished. At first glance, more than 5,000 words, one point eighty-one chapters, divided into two articles. One is called Tao Te Ching, and the other is called De Jing, which together are called Tao Te Ching, or Lao Zi for short. After it was written, Guan Ling Yin was overjoyed to read it, it was marvelous, it was so beautiful. The language is poetic, the meaning is profound, it's wonderful. Guan Ling Yin laughed and said, "Lao Zi, I am not going to be the head of the Guan, I am going to run away with you. It is said that he later quit his job as the head of Guan and went with Lao Zi to the Western Region. Later, people still saw the two of them walking together in the quicksand. Both were learned, both were great scholars, and both lived long lives.

So what wisdom does Lao Zi's Tao Te Ching tell us? When we open his book, the first thing we are exposed to is his Tao, the Way of the Road, and the most exposed to the Tao. So if we modern people are hearing about the Tao, getting the Tao, and practicing the Tao, then we will be able to transform Laozi's wisdom into our wisdom, and the great wisdom of the ancients into our modern wisdom, which is quite a rich treasure.

There are more than 5,000 words in the book Laozi, and there are more than 70 references to the Tao. How much importance he attached to the Tao, even though there is still an ongoing debate about what the Tao is. Now there is still a continuous debate, what is the Tao in the end? But there is a **** common, Tao is the essence of the universe, things all kinds of subtle, are because from the Tao out of the side. If we recognize the Tao, know the mystery of all things, then you see how pleasant a life we live. So where is the Tao? The Tao is in the universe, in a teacup, in my tape recorder, in my watch, in heaven and earth. There is Tao in every blade of grass and every tree, and there is Tao in every utensil. Dong Guo Zi once asked Zhuang Zi, "Sir, what is Tao? What do you mean by Tao? Where is the Tao? Zhuangzi smiled sweetly and said, "It is everywhere, the Tao is in shit. This is a very unpleasant thing to say. Where is the Tao? Where is the Tao? The Tao is in the poop and the poop are all there. At first glance, we wondered how this philosopher could speak so vulgarly. No, it's profound. It's everywhere. If we think about it, is there no Tao in the poop and the pee? Doctors take your stool and urine to see the problem, we see the problem, we watch the Qing dynasty movie, the eunuchs always take the emperor's stool to see, to see the emperor's health, so the road in the shit. How profound, so everywhere, so Laozi is a book of wisdom. He tells people about the Tao, he debates the Tao, and he wants people to get the Tao. If you are in politics, you can learn a lot of Tao by reading his book carefully. If you're in economics, if you're in education, if you're in fitness, if you're educating your children, etc., they're all full of the Tao of Wisdom, and they all give you a kind of enlightenment of Wisdom.

Today, we are in such a high-speed development of the era, Lao Zi is thousands of years away from us, Lao Zi is with us, will be able to cross the gap of this era and communicate with us.

First of all, we see that religious people are very fond of Laozi, and in 1788, more than two hundred years ago, a Catholic priest, missionary, he brought the book Laozi to Europe. From then on Lao Tzu, more than two hundred years ago, began to spread abroad in Europe. There was a Roman Catholic priest who was the first to translate Lao Tzu in Latin. We have to mention Japan in particular. The Japanese are very good at studying Laozi; I went to Japan and they are very good at studying Laozi. There was a premier Zen master in Japan in the last century called Suzuki Daikaku. Comrades can look at his name, Suzuki. Japanese. Daikaku. Who? From Lao Tzu. He was particularly fond of this word, called Daikaku. That's why you can see he has Daikaku in his name, he's so fond of Lao Tzu. How did he like it? It's called Suzuki Daikaku on his name. And what about him? Lao Tzu is most concerned with nothing, Lao Tzu he likes nothing. He used to pick up a brush and write the word "nothing" with it. In writing the word "nothing", he expressed his deep wisdom of "nothing". This man lived a very long life, nearly a hundred years old. When he was in his nineties, he was still flying around and giving academic lectures, and his students asked him, "Sir, why are you so healthy? His students asked him, "Sir, why are you so healthy and so long-lived? He smiled and said it was just doing nothing. Religious people like Laozi, and so do literary scholars. Look at Tolstoy in Russia in 1891, such a great man of letters. At that time, a publisher from Petersburg talked to him and asked him, "You are such a great writer, may I ask which writers and thinkers in the world have influenced you? Tolstoy said, he said I was greatly influenced by Confucius and Mencius in China, and tremendously influenced by Laozi. Literary writers are really good at talking, one is called great, the other is called huge, only one word difference, great, huge, you see the different influences protruding out.

Philosophers also like Laozi, the world's philosophers also like Laozi. Hegel such a big philosopher, he said, he is the philosophy of Laozi shall not be, and the Greek philosophy, as the source of the world's philosophy, you see how high ah. There is another great contemporary philosopher called Heidegger. This thought of his is not the same as that tradition in the West, but he is quite compatible with our tradition of thought of Lao Tzu. Lao Zi said, "There is nothing born of each other, Lao Zi said that there is for the benefit of, and there is nothing for the use of", he saw that this kind of thought of Lao Zi is very compatible, very moved. Comrades, let's take an example, students look at this teacup, teacup if there is no water. Then we have to ask everyone, there is something in the teacup? No ah. Our general common sense, Laozi came to be different, Laozi said there. Why not? I saw something. People don't understand, there is obviously nothing in this teacup, how is there? Lao Zi said, "If you pour water on it, it's there. If you put salt in it, it's there. If you put sugar in it, it's there? Don't you put in something else and it's there? Awesome. What does it mean? Precisely because it is nothing, it can be something. Think about it comrades, if this was a solid thing, a lump of wood. Could you put water in it? Can't put water in it. Think about it, comrades. It's because our mouths are empty, they're nothing, so after the lecture, we can eat. Rice can go in ah, if our mouth is full, is there, how to eat ah, so here is a big secret, is this there. It is hidden in this nothing, and this is the wisdom and vision of the philosophers.

So this "nothing" is not really "nothing", but the "something" that is there, this "something" is hidden inside. Comrades think again, we open a window in the wall, open a hole, we open this hole, there is no, no is empty, but Laozi found this wisdom, there is nothing. If our entire room a window are not, not suffocate people? Precisely because of nothing, open window hole, so how comfortable ah, air circulation, this is not there? This kind of thought to Heidegger a look, too match, know. So he was very appreciative of that thought of Laozi, very much in tune with it. He put Laozi's philosophy began to use Western words to translate, often pondering. How to put the Chinese classical words in modern western language, not sloppy over, he wrote two sentences in his office, his study, who can turbid to quiet Xu Qing? That is, who can explain it, it's so profound. Who can take a muddy thing, a messy thing, I can calm it down, slowly calm it down. Who can take something like a stagnant mass of water and stir it up, make it lively, who can? This is the words of Laozi, too profound. Comrades think about this wisdom, a unit, a business in disarray, I go, you go. Remember these two words of Lao Tzu, such a muddy unit, I went to the unit, put it slowly calm calm calm calm down, get well, welfare went up, we are very happy. But if you are happy, you will be lazy and enjoy your happiness, and who will be able to revitalize this calm environment so that it will always be vibrant. So you see how this philosopher, seeing these two philosophical words of Lao Tzu, could not be excited, moved, or impelled. So not only is Lao Tzu with us, but Lao Tzu is with the people of the world. This is all I have to say, thank you.