"Heaven and earth are heartless, and everything is treated as a straw dog" comes from the fifth chapter of this edition of Tao Te Ching. Meaning: Heaven and earth are merciless. They have no kindness. They treat everything like a dog and let it die. A dog made of grass during ancient sacrifices. Charm: bellows heaven and earth do not distinguish between benevolence and inhumanity, and regard all things as equal. Sages regard all people as equal regardless of benevolence and inhumanity. Heaven and earth are like a bellows. The more frequent the clamor, the greater the reaction, and the more you know, the more you will go to the end of the road. Since ancient times, many people have criticized this sentence of Laozi as insidious, mean and too thorough. Because they explained that the meaning of this sentence is that heaven and earth are indifferent, giving birth to everything and playing with everything as a straw dog. This is a misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Laozi's thought. The "straw dog" here means a dog made of grass. Dogs were sacrifices made by ordinary people in ancient times (because they could not afford such big sacrifices as pigs, cows and sheep). With the evolution of social atmosphere, people no longer use real dogs, but use grass to tie a dog shape instead (which is equivalent to replacing the real pig head with a pig head made of flour at the time of worship). After the straw dog was made, before it was used for sacrifice, everyone attached great importance to it and dared not touch it casually; Wait until after the sacrifice, and then leave it behind. Heaven and earth gave birth to everything, and it did not take credit; Heaven and earth give life to all things, and it does not think it is glorious; Heaven and earth have done good things, making everything endless. Whatever can be done, just do it, without conditions. Everything in the world, like the lost grass dog, is not particularly good to people, especially bad to other things, and does not want to get any reward from everything. The reason why people are poor to everything, and even people help people, is often accompanied by conditions, hoping to return, because of people's selfish concept. Therefore, Lao Tzu suggested that people should follow the spirit of "it doesn't matter whether they are benevolent or heartless" in heaven and earth and cultivate such a mind. This is the true meaning of Laozi's "Heaven and Earth are heartless, taking everything as a straw dog". From the fifth chapter of Laozi's Tao Te Ching: Heaven and earth are heartless, and everything is a straw dog; Saints are heartless and treat the people like pigs. Between heaven and earth, is it still ambiguous? Virtual and unyielding, moving out. It is better to keep the middle than to talk too much and count too little. There is no kindness in heaven and earth, it has no kindness, and it treats everything like a dog, leaving everything to its own devices. Saints are also heartless, and they treat the people like heaven and earth (treating all things and dogs), leaving people to take care of themselves. Isn't it like a bellows between heaven and earth? It is empty but not exhausted, and the more it is encouraged, the more wind it will be, and it will be endless. Numerous decrees are even more confusing and unworkable, so it is better to keep quiet. After the Wenchuan earthquake, where everything is cruel, and everything is cruel, the words of Laozi spread like wildfire. This sentence is "Heaven and earth are cruel, and everything is cruel". People's understanding is probably: "God, you are so heartless, so you are ruining the people!" " Does this understanding conform to the original intention of Laozi? "Heaven and earth are heartless, taking everything as a straw dog; The saints are heartless and regard the people as pigs. " From the fifth chapter of this edition of Laozi. The legendary River Duke (some people think that he was a native of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty) has a note: "Heaven and earth are transformed, not benevolent, but natural." "Everything is born in heaven and earth, and people are the most expensive. Heaven and earth regard it as straw, dogs and livestock, and do not blame it. " The sentence "sage" is like this. It means that heaven and earth don't care about kindness, but let nature take everything as grass and dogs. Wang Bi's note: "Heaven and earth are natural, doing nothing and creating nothing, and everything governs itself, so it is heartless. Benevolent people will make things happen, and they will be kind and promising. If something is made, it will be lost. If there is kindness, there is nothing left. If things don't exist, they are not enough for loading. Heaven and earth don't make straw for animals, but animals eat straw; Not for dogs, but people eat dogs. It is necessary to do nothing for everything and everything is suitable for its use. If Huihui (Tonghui) is built by himself, it is not enough. " (According to Lou Yulie's "Interpretation of Wang Bi's Collection", Zhonghua Book Company, 1999), Wang Bi's intention is also that heaven is natural and does not benefit things. Everything has its own uses, such as animals eating grass and people eating dogs. The world-famous Mr. Hu Shi, in his Outline of China's Philosophical History (Volume I) (the first edition of the Commercial Press in 1919), has an explanation of this sentence of Laozi, and put forward two versions: the first is that Wang Bi said that benevolence is interpreted as kindness; The second is a philosophical explanation, saying that benevolence means "human". "The Doctrine of the Mean" says: "People are benevolent." "Mencius" said: "People are also benevolent." Liu Xi's "Interpretation of Names" said: "People are benevolent; Benevolence, biology also. " Being unkind means not being human and not being of the same kind. The ancients regarded heaven as the master with will, knowledge and anger, and regarded heaven as the same kind of people, which is called the theory of the same kind of man and nature. Laozi's theory that heaven and earth are heartless seems to contain the meaning that heaven and earth are not the same as human beings. Then, Hu Shi said: "among human nature, kindness is the most common, so it is said that heaven and earth are different from others, that is, heaven and earth have no kindness." This unifies the two different statements. Finally, Hu Shisheng pushed this concept of Laozi, which he understood, and said: "This concept of Laozi broke the fallacy of the ancient similarity between heaven and man and laid the foundation for later natural science." In 1922, Liang Qichao also thought that Laozi's words showed the vacillation of his belief in heaven, which opened up Xunzi's thoughts on heaven. Mr. Zhong Tai's The History of China's Philosophy (first edition, 1929) is refuted by the attachment "Lao Zi's unkindness in heaven and earth" in the third chapter. As the saying goes, "I have a comprehensive view of the whole book of Laozi, and I know that what it says comes from penetrating, and it is not enough to be conclusive." It will be expounded from three aspects: first, from the linguistic point of view, the so-called "benevolent, human also" is to seek its etymology, not equivalence. "The word' person' is an abstract noun, not a concrete noun. Therefore, it is okay to train people to be kind, but not to change people. " And according to Hu Shizhi, we can only say "non-benevolence", not "heartlessness". What's more, under this sentence, there is a saying that "saints are heartless and take the people as dogs", which can't be understood as "saints are not people"? Secondly, from the perspective of the whole book of Laozi, "Skynet is slow but not lost" and "Heaven has no relatives and always works with good people" are all the words of Laozi. Therefore, the evidence is insufficient to conclude that Laozi broke the fallacy of the same kind of man and nature. Thirdly, Hu Shizhi mistakenly believed Wang Bi's misstatement about "a straw dog". Wang bizhi said that straw and dogs are two things, saying that the sky does not grow grass for animals, but animals eat grass; Heaven doesn't make dogs, but people eat dogs. It contains the meaning that everything in the sky is dirt. In fact, a dog is a thing. "Zhuangzi Tian Yun Pian" contains Shi Jin's words: "The husband and the dog are not Chen Ye, but they are filled with Yan, the towel is embroidered with words, and the corpse wishes to fast. And he has been in Chen Ye, and the walker has practiced his first ridge, and the Soviet Union has taken it. " (meaning: when the pig is tied up but not sacrificed, it is held in a box and covered with a beautiful embroidered towel. The corpse wishes to fast and send it to the altar. After the sacrifice, it will be abandoned, and people who walk will trample on its head and back, and people who collect firewood will pick it up and burn it.) "Taking everything as a straw dog" means the development process of treating everything as a straw dog, honoring it when it is used, discarding it after it is used, and letting it flourish until it declines. This is naturally unkind. It should be said that Mr. Zhong's statement is quite correct. However, what is a straw dog, what is its use, and how is its birth and death process? Mr. Zhong didn't make it clear either, for example, a straw dog is a straw spirit. In his book "Zhuang Zi Fa Wei", it is also said: "It is called a humble spirit to make a human figure with a thatch and to be buried; Sacrifice is called a straw dog. Later generations painted statues on paper and stretched them with bamboo as bones, which was called paper horse, that is, the change of pigs and dogs. A paper horse is not a horse, but a dog is not a dog. Li Yiyun:' It's a dog to get married.' Not really. ..... Since the Qin Dynasty, the system of straw dogs has ceased to exist. Therefore, people in Wei and Jin dynasties no longer know what a straw dog is, but each said it according to its meaning. I don't know what dogs say, but they use it temporarily, so it is like a dog. "(Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1988, p. 324) In fact, the" straw dog "is a dog-shaped grass, which is used to seek happiness and disaster when the disease is epidemic. At this time, it is necessary to dress up. After the prayer, the worshippers can enjoy the sacrifice, and even if the pig is abandoned, people will tread on the cart and then use it as firewood and burn it. We can understand it by looking at the records in the documents of Han, Wei and Jin. "Huai Nan Zi Qi Customs" said that when the pig and the earth dragon were just finished, they were decorated with bluish yellow, covered with embroidery and wrapped with red lines. The corpse wished to wear pure black sacrificial clothes, and the doctor wore a hat to greet them. When it is used up, the earth dragon is just a pile of soil, and the straw dog is just a pile of dirt. Who cares about them? Xu Shen in its bet: "A straw dog, a bundle of straw for a dog, to thank for the blessing. Earth dragon, please rain. " Obviously, a straw dog is made of grass to look like a dog, and a soil dragon is made of mud to look like a dragon. The straw dog is used to thank for blessing, and the earth dragon is used to beg for rain. "Talking about the Mountain" also said that "pigs wait for it and seek happiness". "Talking about the Forest" also said: "For example, if the earth dragon is dry and the pig is sick, it is time to be emperor." This makes it more clear that one of the great uses of straw dogs is to sacrifice to God and seek happiness when the plague is prevalent. At this time, its position is like an emperor. Naturally, throw it away after use. Before the sacrifice, the position of the pig was respected and it was extremely glorious. After the sacrifice, it was immediately abandoned and the car was burned, as mentioned above. It is also very interesting to show the three processes after the sacrifice of the pig by saying "Three Dreams" in the Propaganda of the Three Kingdoms Wei Zhi Zhou. It is said that Zhou Xuan is good at divination, so someone deliberately came to test him, saying that he dreamed of a straw dog, and Zhou Xuan said that he would get delicious food. Traveling soon, I really met a rich meal. Later, he said that he dreamed of straw dogs again. Zhou Xuan said, "Be careful, you will fall off the car and break your feet." Soon, as he said. The third time, he said that he dreamed of a straw dog. Zhou Xuan said, "Pay special attention, your house will catch fire." The house really caught fire soon. The person who asked later said, "In fact, I didn't dream of a straw dog three times. Why is it so effective?" Zhou Xuan said: "This is what the gods told you to say, and it is no different from a real dream." The person who asked said, "I said three times that I dreamed of a straw dog. Why is the result so different?" Zhou Xuan said: "A straw dog is a sacrifice to God. At the beginning of the sacrifice, the sacrifice can be divided into people, so you get delicious food. After the sacrifice, the straw dog was crushed by the car, so it would fall off the car and break its foot. After that, the broken pig will be taken to the fire, so it will catch fire. " (Xuanyue: "A dog is a sacrifice to God. Therefore, you begin to dream, and when you have more food. When the sacrifice is over, the pig will be trampled by the car, so the dream is to fall off the car and break its foot. After the dog is on the chariot, it will be thought as firewood, so it will be worried about the fire after the dream. " These materials clearly explain the shape, materials used, uses and the process of birth, residence and extinction (to borrow Buddhist language) of the pig. This process is a natural process. When used, it is expensive, when used, it is abandoned, and everything in the world is so. "Heaven and earth are unkind and take everything as a straw dog", that is, heaven and earth do not show kindness, but just let everything go through the process from glory to abandonment like a straw dog. This is also the meaning of "saints are heartless and take the people as pigs". Here, there is no meaning of ruining the people. Mr. Li Weiguo, in the article "Semantic Evolution of" Man Will Overcome Heaven "(published in Wen Wei Po on July 2, 28), also put the" Tao of Heaven "in Laozi into practice, that is, to win without dispute, to respond without saying anything, to come when summoned, but to be resourceful. Skynet has a long history, but it is sparse without losing "(chapter 73 of this biography) and" Heaven and earth are heartless, and everything is a straw dog; Sages are heartless, treating the people as pigs ",explaining:" Heaven and earth are heartless, and they are still like the "dream of heaven" in the Book of Songs. Heaven is good at winning, but it is still like the Book of Songs. ..... These words of Laozi should be familiar to Shen Baoxu, and they can also be regarded as a source of' many people conquer nature, and nature will conquer man'. " It is understood that "heaven and earth are heartless" means that the way of heaven and earth is blocked, and the righteousness disappears. Although there is a saying in Volume 12 of Lin Li's Book of Changes in the Song Dynasty, "If there is no justice, the heaven and earth are blocked, everything will be destroyed, and the virtuous and the foolish will be easy to take their place. If there is no justice, only people will listen to themselves." Therefore, Lao Shi has the saying that heaven and earth are heartless, while Shen Baoxu has the saying that "many people conquer nature". Fang at this time, the heart of heaven and earth, why see zai "as the basis, but Lin Li's understanding is to elaborate his own point of view, which is not in line with the original intention of Laozi. Heaven and earth are cruel, and everything is a straw dog! Huang Yi, the famous author, was the first to add this sentence to the novel, which appeared in two works, Broken Void and Overrain, and Xiao Ding probably borrowed it from it. This sentence is also the central idea in Xiao Ding's famous novel Zhu Xian, that is, in the Tao Te Ching, "Heaven and earth are heartless, and everything is a straw dog". The explanation in this novel is that heaven and earth have no feelings, and they will not pay attention to human grievances, and treat everything in the world as a dog made of grass! This sentence is one of the reasons why Zhu Xian became one of the most famous online novels in 26.