Several major misunderstandings that are very easy to fall into when reading Laozi's "Tao Te Ching"! (Part 3) 读老子《道德经》极易陷入的几大误区（下）
This article continues from two articles:
Several
common misunderstandings when reading Laozi's "Tao Te Ching"! (Part
1)
Several
common misunderstandings when reading Laozi's "Tao Te Ching"! (Part 2)
Fifth，About the image of Laozi's "Tao Te
Ching" transcending worldly life
When
many people talk about Laozi, in addition to thinking of Taoism, Taoism,
philosophy, ancient Chinese books, and oriental history and culture, they also
think of images such as leaving the world, practicing, seeing through worldly
affairs, and transcending the world.
It should be said that this makes sense, but transcending worldly life is only part of the spirit of the "Tao Te Ching".
In
Laozi's "Tao Te Ching", there are actually two lines: managing
worldly life and transcending worldly life. In managing worldly life, he is
detached; among those who transcend worldly life, he has the ambition to manage
the world. He advocates building achievements and establishing a career, but is
indifferent to false reputation and material benefits.
The
"Tao Te Ching" says: "... gold and jade fill the room, but no
one guards it. Being rich and arrogant is a self-inflicted fault. When you have
achieved success, you should retreat, which is the way of heaven."
Laozi
does not oppose having wealth and power, but he believes that one should not be
obsessed with possessing wealth, and points out that those who are rich and
powerful should not be proud and complacent, and domineering.
He advocated for achieving success, but was indifferent to wealth and power. He was able to take it and let it go. Neither of them could be missing.
He
said: "Govern the country with justice, use the army with abnormality, and
conquer the world without doing anything." He also said: "The sage
does things but does not have them, and does not live in success." He also
said: "Be simple and honest, and have few private desires."
"Return to the roots" and "return to the mission". He
wanted to save the world and the people, and his name would be recorded in
history, but he did not take credit, enjoy, be greedy, or cling to the past.
"Tao
Te Ching" said: "My words are very easy to understand and very easy
to do; but no one can understand them, and no one can do them."
Combined
with the story of Lao Tzu who saw that the Zhou Dynasty was declining and could
not be helped, so he resigned from his post and went west. This is a story of
Lao Tzu who had a heart for his country but saw that things could not be done.
Although he was unwilling, he immigrated calmly and wisely.
He focuses on this life rather than the afterlife, and his foothold is in the real society. He is like a person who has failed to realize his ambition to save the country in officialdom, but he can see through things and think open-mindedly.
Sixth，About the version of Laozi's Tao Te
Ching
One of
the biggest problems for people reading Laozi's Tao Te Ching is the version
issue. They tend to take the version they have read or believe in as the
"only correct" version.
Researchers
have repeatedly claimed that the version they have collated and collated is the
standard version, which is (or closest to) the original version of Laozi's Tao
Te Ching, and their interpretation is the true meaning of Laozi.
But new research and new unearthed documents emerge in an endless stream, and this "only correct" has been repeatedly "slapped in the face" and denied.
After
all, this classic has been spread for more than two thousand years, and there
is no unified and standardized version. The contents of different versions are
not only different, but even opposite in some places.
Laozi's
Tao Te Ching is profound in thought and concise in expression, and its
expression has the characteristics of prose poetry. In addition, due to its
long history and language changes, its interpretation is diverse, and Laozi
research is in a state of "a hundred schools of thought".
The
same words and sentences can be interpreted in many ways, not to mention that
the original content is not unified!
Under the current circumstances, it is not possible to arbitrarily assume that any version is absolutely correct.
This
is different from contemporary works, where the standard version is easy to
confirm.
The
original text is very clear. Some authors are still alive and the original
manuscripts still exist. Computer typesetting can clearly identify every word,
punctuation and symbol, and the inheritance from the first version, revised
version to various research and interpretation versions is clear.
It is
also different from some ancient books with standard versions.
Some ancient books were officially determined to have a version in ancient times, or a small number of versions with little content difference were inherited. Others have very few or even only one version, so they become the "only correct" version.
According
to existing research, there may be a problem of misplaced bamboo slips in the
inheritance process of Laozi's "Tao Te Ching", that is, the rope that
binds the bamboo slips broke, and the order of the bamboo slips was messed up
after sorting.
Just like
a written electronic document now, naughty children randomly press the keyboard
and mouse, making the whole text very messy, and after sorting, it cannot be
restored to its original appearance.
Second,
there may be a problem of collective creation. The book was not written by one
person at one time, but was written and revised by different authors in
different times.
To make an inappropriate analogy, this is like an entry on Wikipedia, which is jointly created by many people. It may have been created by one person at the beginning, and then people participated in it one after another, and it was changed again and again, and it was no longer the same as the original appearance.
However,
although there are many versions of the book and the content details are very
different, the main idea and writing style are highly consistent. The various
versions are similar, and the form is scattered but the spirit is not
scattered.
It is
a decentralized and diversified version system.
The
lack of a "standard version" has allowed it to preserve more original
texts and unlimited expansion possibilities.
Some
precious ancient books were destroyed by the "great unification",
leaving a tampered or misunderstood version to worship, and lost the space to
return and start again.
It can be expected that before there are more authoritative historical materials and new unearthed documents, there will still be many different opinions and a hundred schools of thought on Laozi's "Tao Te Ching" and his book.
Therefore,
when reading Laozi's "Tao Te Ching", you should not have preconceived
ideas, and do not read one version with a fixed mindset in advance.
Instead,
you should read various versions with the mentality of "filling an empty
cup with water". In the end, you may focus on one or several versions, but
you cannot ignore other versions.
You
should grasp the consensus of various versions, especially some core concepts.
For the differences between the versions, you should be skeptical and coexist,
and you don't have to rashly deny them.
This
is like Laozi's "Tao Te Ching" concept of governing the world, which
is diverse and inclusive, attaches importance to the voice of the mainstream
group, but does not ignore the rights and interests of the minority groups.
Don't
rashly identify the "absolutely correct" version and interpretation,
which must stand the test of the long river of history.
Otherwise,
you will fall into what Laozi criticized in "Tao Te Ching": "those
who look at themselves cannot be clear, those who are self-righteous are not
clear, those who boast themselves have no achievements, and those who are proud
of themselves will not grow."
（End of this article）
本文接前两篇：
其五，关于老子《道德经》的出世形象
很多人谈到老子，除了联想到道家、道教、哲学、中国古籍、东方历史文化，还会联想到出世、修炼、看破俗务、超脱红尘等形象。
应该说，这是有道理的，但出世只是《道德经》精神的一部分。
老子《道德经》中实际存在入世、出世两条线。在入世者中，他超脱；在出世者中，他有经纶天下的抱负。他主张建功、立业，但淡泊于虚名、物利。
《道德经》有云：“……金玉盈室，莫之守也。贵富而䮦（骄），自遗咎也。功述（遂）身芮（退），天之道也。”
老子不反对拥有财富和获得权势，只是认为不要对占有财富心存执念，指出有钱有势者不能骄傲自满、飞扬跋扈。
他既赞成取得一番成就，又对财富、权势淡泊以待，既要能拿得起，又要能放得下，二者不可缺一。
他既说：“以正之（治）邦，以畸（奇）用兵，以无事取天下”，又说：“圣人为而弗有，成功而弗居也”，还说“见素抱朴，少私寡欲。”“归根”“复命”，要救世济民、名垂竹帛，但不居功、不享受、不贪财、不恋栈。
《道德经》中说：“吾言甚易知也，甚易行也；而人莫之能知也，而莫之能行也。”
结合老子见周室衰微不可匡扶，遂辞官西去的《史记》故事，这属于胸怀家国但见事不可为，虽有不甘心但冷静、明智地“润”了。
他着眼的是此生而非来世，立足点是现实社会，像是体制内的不得志者，只是看得透、想得开。
其六，关于老子《道德经》的版本
世人读老子《道德经》，最大的问题之一就是版本问题，容易以自己读过的，或深信不疑的版本作为“唯一正确”的版本。
一再有研究者，声称他整理校勘的版本是标准定本，就是（或最接近）老子《道德经》原本，他们的解读就是老子的真义。
但新的研究、新的出土文献层出不穷，这种“唯一正确”一再被“打脸”、被否定。
毕竟这本经典经过两千多年的传播，早就没有一个统一的标准化的版本。不同版本的内容不仅有差异，有的地方甚至相反。
而老子《道德经》思想深邃而言简意赅，表述方式又有散文诗的特点，加上年代久远、语言变迁，对它的解读多元，老子研究处于“百家争鸣”状态。
同样的字句，都会被解读成很多种意思，何况是原文内容都不统一！
以现有的情况，不能武断地认为哪一种版本就是绝对正确。
这不同于当代著作，标准定本容易确认。
原文是什么很清楚，有的作者本人仍在世，原稿依然存在，计算机排版可以明确一字一词一标点一符号，从初版本、修订本到各种研究、演绎的版本传承清晰。
也不同于有标准定本的部分古籍。
有的古籍被古代官方确定了一个版本，或传承有内容差异不大的少量版本，还有的传承下来的版本极少甚至只有一种，于是它们就成为“唯一正确”的版本。
以现有研究看，老子《道德经》在传承过程中，可能存在一是错简问题，即捆绑竹简的绳子断了，整理后把竹简的顺序搞乱了。
就像现在一篇写好的电子文档，被顽皮儿童胡乱按键盘和鼠标，把全文搞得很乱，整理后，也没能恢复到原貌。
二是可能存在集体创作问题，不是成书于一人一时，而是不同时代、不同作者的撰写、修改。
打个不恰当的比喻，这就像维基百科的词条，是多人共同创作。可能最早是一人创作，后来陆续有人参与，改来改去，和最早面貌早已不同。
但是，该书虽然版本众多、内容细节差异大，但思想主旨、行文风格高度一致，各个版本大同小异，形散而神不散。
它是去中心化的、多元化的版本体系。
没有一个“标准定本”，反而让它保存了更多原典和无限扩展的可能。
一些珍贵古籍，就是被“大一统”则消灭了原典，留下一个被篡改或误解的版本而顶礼膜拜，失去了回归和重新出发的空间。
可以预料的是，在没有更多权威史料、新的出土文献铁证之前，对老子《道德经》其人其书，仍会是众说纷纭、百家争鸣。
所以，读老子《道德经》不能先入为主，不要事先带着固化思维去看一种版本。
而是要以“空杯装水”的心态去读各种不同的版本，最后可能会有所侧重于一种或几种版本，但也不能忽视其他版本。
要把握各种版本的共识所在，尤其是一些核心理念。对于各版本的不同之处，要疑而并存，不必鲁莽地断然否定。
这就像老子《道德经》治理天下的理念，多元包容，重视主流群体的声音，但也不忽视少数群体的权益。
不要轻率地认定“绝对正确”版本和解读，这要经得起历史长河的考验。
否则，就会陷入老子《道德经》所批评的：“自视者不章，自见者不明，自伐者无功，自矜者不长。”
（本文完）
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