主編:詹石窗
出版:香港蓬瀛仙館
ISSN 1728-7642

Daoism Studies ›› 2022, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (2): 23-34.

• HEAVEN COLUMN:A STUDY OF TAO TE CHING • Previous Articles     Next Articles

“Confusion and Breaking: Anti-involution Thought in Tao Te Ching

Wu Zijia   

  • Online:2022-12-10 Published:2022-12-27
  • About author:Wuzijia, undergraduate, Dalian University of Technology, Department of Philosophy; Address:Dalian University of Technology, Ganjingzi District, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China; Postcode: 116033; Email:nakale910@163.com.

Abstract: "Involution" has become a severe problem faced by young generation today. Being born out of the academic research of anthropology,it refers to the development state of internal refinement due to the stagnation of external development. At present, it has become synonymous with the vicious circle of meaningless competition and internal consumption of resources in the eyes of the public. According to different scholars' descriptions, there are many opinions about the causes of involution, which can be summed up in two aspects: external resources and internal desires. However, none of them raised the anti-involution abstractly to the ultimate concern level of society, but only stayed in the specific and accidental single event analysis. In Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu has long been aware of the problem of involution. He believes that people's infinite desire for fame, wealth, power and worldly knowledge will inevitably lead to confusion and competition, which is not in line with the nature of Tao. Correspondingly, he puts forward the idea of Tao's law of nature. As the ultimate concern of Tao, "nature" encourages the natural harmony among all living individuals in human socicty, and builds the foundation of anti-involution thought from two aspects of values and methodology. Through the excavation of this ideological resource, we can sort out the mechanism of the formation of inner volume in Tao Te Ching, and from this, we can extract the wise ways to crack the inner volumc, such as keeping one's mind pure and lustful, keeping one's own self-discipline, and opening up the blue ocean.

Key words: Tao Te Ching, Involution, ultimate concern, Daofaziran (道法自然), Renwenziran (人文自然)