Researches Into Laozi And His Posthumous Work

Since the last stage of Qin Dynasty and the first of Han Dynasty, Laozi, the pioneers of Taoist school, and his works, are mystery cases unable to crack in the history of Chinese thought, academic and philosophy.《Zhuangzi? the world》is the best key to solve this mystery. From the chapter of《the world》, Laodan must have other works in his life except the part in the book of《Laozi》. Testing Laozi's thought in the articles of《the world》and other books in pre-Qin and records keeping Laozi's words, we know the《Laozi》written on Chu Bamboo Slips newly unearthed at Guodian,《Tai yi sheng shui》and Shangbo Bamboo Slips《Hengxian》are all Laozi's left works. These books unearthed written by Taoism in Warring States provide precious raw data for us to inspect Laozi's thought, especially the change from the old《Laozi》" to the present《Laozi》.Through studying Laozi and his left works, we could reach the following points:First, on Laozi and the《Laozi》handed down:Laozi is a real person, in the books handed down from ancient times ,he is called LaoDan, or Boyangfu, or Laoyangzi, meaning the same person. Laodan is the main author of《Laozi》;Laolaizi is another Taoist figure ,he is not the author of《Laozi》. As for Taishidan,there was not the person in the history at all, he is fabricated by Qin Person for the unity war. Laozi is a man of Song State. Laozi and Kongzi lived at the same time, it's true that Kongzi consulted Laozi about the ceremony.Laozi's thought is from the doctrine of Xia and Yin Dynasty, but more from Zhouli. Thought of Zhougongdan is the main source to Laozi's. His thought is flowed and devided into Guanyin's"valuing for quiety"and Yangzi's"valuing for himself".The adding of"scripture"to the title《Laozi》was in the period between Si Maqian and Liu Xiang; changed into《the morality》was after the period of Ban Gu, germinated by Bian Shao and Ge Xuan in the last stage of Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms, formed by Wang Bi and Huangfu Mi between the time of Wei and Jin. It is difficult for us to specify whomever between Wangbi and Huangfumi because of the rare documents.Second, on the Guodian Bamboo Slips"Laozi":Some formers say《Laozi》regardless of the chapter originally, and the arguments was arrived limited to the discovery of new materials. The newly unearthed at Guodian《Laozi》is now seen the first version of《Laozi》, the closest version to the original《Laozi》. Therefore we could consider the devision into groups, pieces and chapters of Guodian《Laozi》the same as the origial《Laozi》. Guodian《Laozi》is not only devided into pieces and chapters, but distinguished more detailly. so the origial《Laozi》is .《Laozi》written on bamboo slips unearthed at Guodian although is not the ancestral version to the present or《Laozi》written on the Silk,it is certainly the source to them. There is no the 5000 Statement Book before Guodian《Laozi》. Words of《Laozi》in the present version but not the bamboo which were cited from the books Handed down are incorporated into《Laozi》afterwards.The production time to the three groups of Guodian《Laozi》A, B and C, in broad terms, is that Group A is earlier than B and B is earlier than C. The relationship among the three: Group A is the scripture, Group B and C are commentaries and annotaaions to it. The authors of the three groups are: Group A generated from Laodan wholly, namely, the so-called "book for 19- piece" Laozi wrote for Xi which Ludemeng talked; Group B and C were writen by Laozi mostly, but some of them are scriptures ,notes and explains for the former's scripture writen by Laozi's offspring (that is a major GuanYin, Yang Zhu, etc.)What Guodian《Laozi》's"Juezhiqibian"says is that Laodan cautioned the nobolities must abandon ridiculous, false, cheating,cunning and debating statements in administering the country and people to observe their own"Zhong—zheng". The reason for the evolution from the bamboo version"Jue—zhi—qi—bian"to the current"Jue—sheng—qi—zhi"is that the offspring of Zhuangzi was not dissatisfied with the reality Tianshi overturned the Qi State and modified for the opposition to Yinzi's(that is, Guanyin)"saints""and"wise".Laozi's"severing cunning and abandoning profits, there is no robber or thief"should be separately explained,"severing cunning"cuts"robber"and"abandoning benefits"cuts"thief."What"severing cunning"says is that Laozi warned nobolities removing predatory exploitation means to workers in order to satisfy their own greedy appetites and give them the most basic conditions for survival, they will not be robbers."abandoning profits"is warned the nobilities of not mading"tours"and"fine",namely,"efficient instrument",the law decree public. If the law kept secret, then those"thieves"who attempted to destroy social rules and purse greater would not succeed.Most scholars after Sima Qian regarded Laozi as a person hiddening from the world. Guodian《Laozi》's unearthing proves that this view is wrong, because the bamboo《Laozi》is full of strong ideological accession to the world.Third, on the Guodian Bamboo Slips《Taiyishengshui》:"Taiyi"emerged in the Late Spring and Autumn or the Early Warring States and was a philosophy idea initiated by Laozi firstly. It is earlier than the formation of the book《Lunyu》. Its original meaning is: the big-shaped objects and the first time, as the ultimate origin of all things."Tai—yi—sheng—shui"firstly discussed the thought of"Taiyi"bestowed it the most loftiness and absolutism,thus it was named after the God , and then the Star.Tai─yi─sheng─shui,part of the Chu bamboo slips unearthed at guodian, embodies the important thought of"doing something in chaos'name."Here the"name"in the document refers to"the chaos"when the earth was first separated from heaven."Chaos"means"muddy"or"turbid",which is what""in Tai─yi─sheng─shui means. So""should be interpreted as"chaos", instead of"asking the name"."Doing something in chaos'name"means that we should , in the converse logical order of valuing, tracking down,following and applying the Tao ,trace gradually the origin of the universe and that of the Tao,abide by the Tao ,and then apply it to practice.Fourthly, on the Shangpo bamboo slips "Hengxian":Shangpo bamboo slips"Hengxian"is a long queer Taoist article lost for many times, the number of words is small, but it contains a number of important philosophy ideas of Taoism. Observed from that the seven important philosophical concepts discussed in"Hengxian"can be rooted its thinking source in《Laozi》,"Hengxian"and《Laozi》are closely related."Hengxian"clearly stated that"the gas is the students"of the proposition. From"no"to the bulk of the universe"inaction"of political philosophy,"gas is generated itself"is the theoretical transition. Among the generations of the universe in pre-Qin and the Two Han Dynasties, the formation of the world was usually first heaven and then land. However,"Hengxian"says:"muddy air generates the land, clear air generates the heaven."Here the former is the land and the latter is the heaven. It can be seen that there are two parallel orders among the generations of the universe in pre-Qin and the Two Han Dynasties:or first heaven then land, or first land and then heaven. But with the development of history, the former gradually dominated."Hengxian"put forward four universe formation modes about, such as"doing,walking,coming and generating".The four formation mode, finally have a"complexity"process. However, the"complexity"is merely the operation modes returning to their roots instead of the formation mode."Hengxian"promotes no-fame, nothing, no-desire, without thinking, knowing stopping, no disobeying principles, criticises social etiquette system, puts the hope on those brilliant kings, emperors and bachelors, advocates returning to the"first without a constant Park, static and imaginary. Park, the Park; static, the static; imaginary, the virtual","to have good, and there are no arbitrary rule"to the state. This thinking is in fact same as the bamboo《Laozi》.