On The Taoist Life-cultivation Thoughts In The Pre-Chin-Dynasty Period

This dissertation tries to sort out the Tao of life-cultivation in the Pre-Chin Taoist thoughts from the point of view of metaphysics, which include the works by three of the primary Taoists who are Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Lie Tzu and the later Taoist school named Huang-Lao Taoist.The thought of the primary Taoists succeeds all the time and is characteristic of preferring life to fame and gain. It insists that longevity lies in the fostering of Soul and that one must follow the Tao and Moral and behave in natural and inactive way. In detail, Lao inherits the old fashion in female-clan society, which admires Yin and keeps the female while the male is known, values the mother and deepens the root. He praises the virtue of the baby that is soft and thriving and thus proposes that softness should be reached by concentrating the primary Qi, and also follows the principle that the contrary is the destination of the Tao and the weak the employment of the Tao, which results in the fact that the positive is expressed in an opposite way and the weak the employment. In the meantime the principle that being is benefit and nothing employment is well recognized, as a result of which, nothing is employed, and voidand inaction is desired. In addition, he wishes for the condition in which there is small country and less people who are simple and easy to satisfy and entertain. At last, the Tao is treated as the superlative and the nature should be obeyed. Chuang Tsu deserts wit, stops thinking and makes the heart vacant and forgetful about everything. He is so peripatetic and independent as to roam with the heaven and earth. In his eyes, all is equal to one. He also advised that one should know the nature and fate so well that he could behave tranquilly and accordingly, and that one should obey the nature and the Great Change naturally. As for Lie Tzu, he is so void that he always fits himself in with the world. There is no idea in his mind, let alone the difference between the right and the wrong.While the books the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine and the Yellow Emperor's Latent Accordance Classic reflect the law that the nature and the human being is connected in one body, the former book insisting that the human behavior should accord with the four seasons and the latter that the human way should fit in with the natural.The Pre-Chin Taoist thought of life-cultivation has a far-reaching effect on later Taoist breathing exercise, especially shapes its theoretical substance in the direction of the guide of keeping the soul and having One, of the virtue of purity and void, and of the Tao of the nature and inaction. Besides, it influences the life style of the traditional Chineseintellectuals, who are always tied with a natural feeling connected with the wild nature, typical of an eremitic culture in which life is respected, and of the state of mind with freedom and ease.What is more important, the Pre-Chin Taoist thought should enlighten us contemporaries to try our best to live naturally at the time of getting busy with making money all day, and learn to stop at where we are with harvest, and be satisfied with what we have with happiness. Besides, we should rethink of health, ease the Soul and adjust our minds, return to and be established in ourselves and consequently restore our self-adjusting capacity, keep a ever-young heart and fill ourselves with childish interests, and recognize the life principle that "Be a man of mould in sequence and reach a saint in the contrary". As far as the Chinese contemporary intellectuals are concerned, they should "Learn longevity first, be a professor later", combine movement and stillness in an appropriate way and avoid anxiety to success. In addition, they are warned not to become the slaves of knowledge but turn the written knowledge into living wisdom. Thus can they keep healthy.Different from other life-cultivation works, this dissertation sorts out the Pre-Chin Taoist thoughts mainly from the point of view of metaphysics so as to upgrade the life and health ideas and make people rescan the value and meaning of life. In my opinion, life cultivationshould include all the Tao, the reason and the methodology that can help cultivate life, but unluckily, it is generally regarded as only the detailed methodology or technique that helps cultivate corporeity. In this way, life cultivation can deserve its name with life instead of corporeity. In fact, the concrete practical method is as important as the theoretical guide in the mind, neither supposed to lose balance. This is the combination of the Tao of metaphysics and the method of practice, i.e. the combination of philosophy and life.Many of he thoughts in the dissertation are picked up by me. As for those aspects concerned about Taoist breathing exercise, they are also concluded for myself. In addition, the section about contemporizes and intellectuals is what I feel and get in daily life.During explaining the original materials, I interpret the method " 啬 " 法 into the meaning "plant and harvest", far from the ordinary explanation "stint".