The Study Of Lao-tzu's Religious Spirit

The world view and cultural view in Chinese traditional culture is different from the west.Western culture emphasizes the relations between people and things,between man and god are fractured.However,the Chinese culture emphasizes " heaven and man unite as one".The Chinese religious spirit that closely contacts with the humanistic spirit therefore has its unique characteristics.Religious spirit actually is the ultimate care for people,a kind of lasting and complete care that has eliminated the opposition between subject and object.Different from the western point that "this side" and "other side" being separate,the spirit of Chinese religion emphasizes the transcendent and absolute root.And the absolute world is not isolated from the world of people and on the "other side",but fells upon people to tell a sense of reality about morality.As a result,China's "religiousness" and "humanism" is together." As the source of the Chinese Taoist culture,"Lao zi" has contained a strong religious spirit,this is the underlying cause that Taoist culture became a source of Taoist theory in the Eastern Han Dynasty.On the basis of trying to close to the original works,this thesis investigates the religious spirit that contained in the book of Lao zi.The first chapter of the paper defines what are religion and religious spirit.Comparing to religious spirit and humanistic spirit more fully shows the tolerance and reality of Chinese religious spirit.The second chapter introduces that as a philosophy classic,"Lao zi" containns the profound religious spirit,which is the unique place different from other schools.The third chapter focuses on the detailed discussion for religious spirit of Lao Tzu.He founded the "tao" as the core system of metaphysics,and the establishing of the ultimate,transcendental "Tao" for the purpose of seeking a stable basis for the experiential world,so "tao" has the characteristics of "internal transcendence".This paper will analyze the religious spirit of "Lao zi" from four aspects,that is "the spirit of beyond","the spirit of fear","the spirit of equality" and "the spirit of mercy".The fourth chapter mainly discusses the historical influence and modern value of religious spirit of "Lao zi".Lao zi's religious spirit has profound influence on the later Taoism,and Taoist;It has important guiding significance for the modern humans to break out of the material world,and return to the natural and harmonious situation;It also provides power and possibility for arousing the moral practice of the modern people.