What is the application of Taoism to today?

First, the research value Speaking of the sentence "Tao can be Tao, it is extraordinary" [1], many people may know it, but most people may not know what it means. Undoubtedly, Taoism, as a mature religion, has a history of more than 1,800 years [2]. (Baidu Encyclopedia) If Laozi's Tao Te Ching is written as the origin of Taoism, then Taoism has been produced for more than 2,400 years [3]. Therefore, Taoism, as one of the most important ideological systems in ancient China, greatly promoted China's ideological progress. Today, although Taoism is gradually forgotten, we cannot deny that it still has application value in modern society. Many thoughts of modern people actually have traces of Taoism in them, and many modern people have begun to apply Taoist thoughts to their lives. Therefore, the application of Taoist thought in modern society is a subject worthy of discussion. Second, the research summary is to study the application of Taoist thought in modern society. Shao Hanming (1959-) pointed out in the book "Interpretation of Zhuangzi by Famous Scholars" that even today, Zhuangzi Thought still exerts a subtle influence on some people's attitudes and practices in life to varying degrees. In a word, these classic Taoist works, although thousands of years have passed, will still change some modern people's views on things. This paper makes an in-depth discussion on this influence. Although it is impossible to make a complete exposition of the far-reaching influence of Taoism, the author has found some of the most important and basic influences from a lot of exploration. It is also a discussion on the modern application of Taoist thought. In the book A Brief History of Maoshan Taoism written by Taoist Pan Yide, the so-called "harmony between man and nature" of Taoist thought is mentioned. However, the author did not make a deeper analysis of it. This paper will discuss the modern significance of Taoist thought in more detail with the classic works of Taoist thought. Iii. research topic 1. Taoist thought and social phenomenon Taoist thought takes Tao as the core. According to the Tao Te Ching, it can be explained that Tao is not the true Tao [6], that is, Tao is intangible and unknowable. However, Tao also has certain forms of expression, and these forms of expression are various viewpoints put forward in Tao Te Ching. The author makes a brief summary here to discuss the relationship between Taoist thought and human nature. First of all, Taoism pays attention to goodness. What is good? Tao Te Ching mentioned that "goodness is like water" and kind people are like water. Furthermore, it is mentioned that "water is good for all things without contention" [7], that is to say, it is almost in line with moral principles for kind people to give goodwill to people around them without competing with others for profits. In reality, such people can indeed be called kind, but they are more likely to be regarded as fools, because there are too many people who are intrigued in real life, and such good people will only be bullied by everyone. So we have to think about it, what happened to this social humanity with such a developed material life? Maybe there are many qualities that should be lost, and people become only interested, and money is paramount. Looking back, it is really sad that modern people completely ignored such a simple origin of human nature put forward by the ancients thousands of years ago. Secondly, Taoism advocates abandoning wealth and returning to a clean life. There is a saying in the Tao Te Ching that "five colors are blind, five tones are deaf, and five flavors are refreshing", that is to say, too luxurious life will only make people physically and mentally exhausted, and then it is concluded that "saints don't want to find their stomachs, so they will take it elsewhere" [8], that is, the so-called saints just want to eat enough and won't pursue those glitz. What is reflected here is a kind of life attitude, and it is also a kind of life attitude. Obviously, this is what modern people lack. Modern society is a so-called materialistic society, which emphasizes material enjoyment and ignores spiritual enjoyment. In the final analysis, most people are still working and pursuing a rich life. However, if you think about the meaning of wealth, you may find that the so-called material enjoyment is actually not that interesting, and what we really need may not be these. Obviously, we are not saints and can't be saints, but at least we should work hard in this direction. Third, Taoist thought advocates balance and harmony, so it has been put forward in the Tao Te Ching that "heaven has more than enough to make up for it" [9], while "humanity is insufficient to make up for it". In a word, Heaven pays attention to balance, and will make up for the deficiency by reducing the surplus, such as the flow of air and water. However, people are different and will only dedicate the deficit to the surplus. Obviously, this is a satire on the inequality of the rich exploiting the poor in society, which is a very common phenomenon in ancient China society. This phenomenon is not uncommon in modern society. There are often government-imposed charges in the news, or all kinds of unfair phenomena happen from time to time. Some time ago, there was cheating on the sixth serial number of affordable housing, which was the result of collusion between government and business [10]. So we can see that Taoist thought criticized this behavior as early as two thousand years ago, and this phenomenon still exists, which just shows that although human thought has improved, the essence of human nature has not changed much, and greed, bullying and other phenomena will always exist. To sum up, Taoism has put forward many ideas to criticize the disadvantages of the times, and these criticisms are very targeted even in modern society, which deserves our deep thought and reflection. 2. Taoist thought and health care The so-called health care focuses on nourishing the heart, which is the basis of Taoist health care. Undeniably, the fast pace of modern society has seriously affected the health of many people, so more and more people begin to pay attention to health preservation after work, and many young people have joined the ranks. In addition to the superstitious elements in Taoist health preservation, many Taoist health preservation theories have great application value even in real life. The first is about the theory of health preservation in Taoist thought. The Tao Te Ching says that "three out of ten people are born and died of old age" [1 1], that is to say, three out of ten people are busy living and finally die. The reason is that they have gone too far to make ends meet [12]. Generally speaking, it is also very common to die because of overnutrition or too rich life. Obviously, so many diseases of the rich and noble (such as hyperlipidemia, obesity, etc. ) is the best embodiment of this idea in modern times. People who damage their health because of too much indulgence can be seen everywhere. They just don't understand the basic way of Taoist health preservation, that is, paying too much attention to health preservation itself is not conducive to health preservation. Another theory is good at protecting life [13], good at avoiding disasters, and keeping in good health with a quiet rather than competitive attitude. From a modern point of view, living with too much intrigue is not good for health. It's meaningless to compete with others all day, except for losing both sides. If you want to live a long life, keeping a calm mind is obviously an important factor. Monks live long because they want nothing, which we ordinary people can't do naturally, but less competition is not only beneficial to others, but also to our health. The second important health care application is the famous Tai Ji Chuan. As a widely spread fitness gymnastics, its movements also contain many classic Taoist thoughts, and the most important thing is to use soft thinking. In the original text of Tao Te Ching, "The world is not weaker than water, and the strong are invincible, which means that water is the weakest thing in the world, but nothing hard can break it or replace it.". Furthermore, the conclusion that "weak ratio is strong, soft ratio is strong" is deduced [15]. Tai Ji Chuan is the concentrated embodiment of this thought. Its movements seem to be weak and slow, but it has profound motivation. As Taoist thought says, weakness is used to control power. It is precisely because of its small amount of exercise that Tai Ji Chuan, as one of the basic sports of physical exercise, is widely welcomed by middle-aged and elderly people. When practicing Tai Ji Chuan, you should be calm, which is also the basis of keeping in good health. To sum up, we can see that the idea of health preservation in Taoism has a very important application in modern society. It can be said that the theory of keeping in good health in modern society originates from Taoist thought and develops it. 3. Taoist thought and nature protection The concept of nature in Taoist thought mentioned here is different from the modern concept of green environmental protection, but it is inextricably linked. To sum up, it is harmony with nature and kindness to nature. In the Tao Te Ching, there is a saying that "people everywhere, the earth follows the sky, the sky follows the Tao, and the Tao follows the nature" [16]. In short, people's ultimate behavior should conform to nature. It can be inferred that human behavior should respect nature, which is similar to the modern concept of environmental protection. Obviously, many behaviors of modern people do not conform to the concept of nature. Overgrazing and unreasonable development have had a great impact on the environment. Some environmental problems, such as grassland degradation, land desertification and forest decline, are the results of human disrespect for the environment, and the ultimate victims of these problems will be human beings themselves. Another important Taoist thought related to environmental protection is the harmony between Yin and Yang. This is closely related to the health preservation in the second part above, but from the perspective of environmental protection, it is self-evident that human beings should pay attention to the harmony of Yin and Yang in the process of development. If the development is excessive, we should stop; if the governance is insufficient, we should strengthen the governance. The so-called "all things are negative and embrace Yang, while rushing to think that they are harmonious" [17] means that everything is harmonious in the balance of Yin and Yang. The current situation is that areas that are overexploited, continue to develop at will, and lack governance and development are still barren. This is that people don't understand the function of the balance of yin and yang, but only pay attention to their own interests, and the final result will inevitably be that the yang flourishes and the yang declines, and over-exploitation will inevitably become the root of environmental problems. And those places that have not been developed and managed still maintain a harsh environment. Perhaps, those developers here should experience the essence of Taoist thought, so that further development may be more scientific and more in line with the laws of nature. Therefore, we can see that although Taoist thought does not directly mention the content of environmental protection, its essence has implemented a very clear concept of nature and balance, which is exactly what modern environmental protection needs and what people lack. Four. Conclusion To sum up, after thousands of years, Taoism still plays a very important role in life. In many people's imagination, many thoughts at that time are still very valuable and meaningful in modern times. They are still exerting their vivid vitality and gradually integrating into people's lives. This paper attempts to make a detailed analysis of the classic works of Taoist thought (mainly Tao Te Ching) in combination with real life, and emphasizes the application of Taoist thought in social phenomena, health preservation and environmental protection. However, Taoist thought is profound and profound, and it is impossible to understand the whole picture only by studying classic works. Therefore, this paper is only a phased achievement, and the practical application of Taoist thought is still worth exploring.