There is a very bad view in the current society, that is, people must be strong, not weak, everyone must be a strong person, so we see more and more "strong women".
What is a "strongman"? "Water Margin" said: "This is where the strongmen go." In ancient times, robbers were called strongmen.
Although we cannot say that the current strong women mean the same, but do women need to be strong or weak? Is it better to be a competitive "strong woman" or a gentle "smart woman"? We might as well take a look at what is said in the Tao Te Ching.
The state of Laozi's "Tao De Jing" exceeds that of Confucianism. The realm of Confucianism is "doing", but the Tao Te Ching talks about "doing nothing." Confucianism wants to be upright, so in the end some people have their heads beheaded because they are too upright and don't understand how to overcome rigidity. The Tao Te Ching teaches us not to be upright, but to be gentle.
Master Hanshan said: "Always break the crossbow string first, and it is easy to get hurt whenever you see a steel knife."
The hard, strong, and upright ones are easy to break and break; the soft, soft, and gentle ones can last for a long time and be able to win the final victory.
"Tao De Jing" says: "The highest good is like water. Water is good for all things without fighting, and it is the evil of everyone, so it is more than the way. To live in a good place, a kind heart, and a kindness, good faith, good governance, good governance, good energy, and dynamic Good times. Husbands do not fight, so there is no special." Only when there is no fight with the world, will it not lead to resentment and distress.
Why people have so many worries and sorrows is because they are fighting with others. "Water is good for all things without fighting", so water has no worries, water is the most comfortable, and we must learn from water. Lao Tzu said that water is "more than Tao". Water is basically the same as Tao in the universe. Everything is inseparable from water, but water has always benefited everything and never competed with everything.
"Evil of everyone", the position that everyone doesn't like is low and humble, and the water flows to the low place, where it goes where others don't, it is in the lowest position. However, we all love to go to high places, vying for the first and foremost, so there is competition, troubles, and sorrows. "The husband does not fight, so there is nothing special." How can you worry-free? We must learn from water.
So does humility, low-key, and weakness mean loss and failure? Definitely not. Lao Tzu thinks that it is "softness beats strongness."
He elaborated on this principle in the "Tao De Jing": "The world is weaker than water, and those who attack the strong cannot win, and there is no easy way. Weak wins the strong, soft wins the strong, the world never knows. It works."
Lao Tzu said that softness can actually defeat rigidity, and weakness can defeat strongness. No one in the world doesn't know, but no one can do it. Why? In fact, it is precisely this "weakness" that requires more compassion, wisdom and strength to be able to do it! Lao Tzu also said analogy: You see, my mouth full of teeth has fallen out because of my strength, but this tongue is very weak and still there. The same is true of Tai Chi, which contains the principle of "overcoming strength with softness".
So, being strong, striving to be strong, and being strong is not really strong, so what is truly strong? "Tao De Jing" says: "Keep soft is strong." To be able to hold onto this weakness is to be strong. Don't be afraid that you are weak, you are afraid that you can't do it, you can't hold on to weakness, and those who can do to hold on to weakness are truly powerful people!
You see, dripping water can wear stones. The stone is very strong, but one day it will be pierced by water droplets, but there is nothing hard that can cut the water away. If we want to be an inherently powerful and powerful person, we have to learn to be weak.
Especially in Buddhism, strong and strong is precisely a derogatory term.
There is a very famous saying in the "Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's Original Wishes and Virtue Sutra": "Nan Yanfu mentions sentient beings, behavior and thought are all karma and sin."
Why is this happening? Because "Nanyan Fu mentions sentient beings, they are strong in nature, difficult to adjust and fall down." Therefore, "strong" is not a commendatory term. "Strong is hard to change" means that this person's heart is like a stone, and it is difficult to be influenced and taught well. Therefore, we should not learn to be strong, but to learn to be soft.
Moreover, from the perspective of natural phenomena, softness is the manifestation of life, and stiffness is the manifestation of death.
The Tao Te Ching says: “Man’s life is weak, and his death is strong.”
People who are alive are soft, but when they die, they become hard. The same is true for trees, flowers and plants. Living plants and trees are elastic. When they die, they wither and break. Is it soft or strong?
Lao Tzu said: "So the strong are those who die, and the weak are those who live."
Look at each of us, the younger the body is, the softer the body; the older the body, the harder the body will be completely hard when we die. So being weak means survival, and being strong means death. So whether you want to learn soft or strong, choose for yourself.
Therefore, those who like to be "strong women" should study the weak and humble wisdom in the "Tao De Jing", "the strong will go down, and the weak will go up." Many women now also like to be strong and dominant. In fact, when you are brave and strong, you are already at a disadvantage. It is the weakness that really prevails, and the weakness is the most powerful.
This is the essence of traditional Chinese women's studies. The most powerful secret weapon for women is gentleness. Now many people throw away this powerful secret weapon, and learn how to be strong and how to die faster, which is really a shame.
"Women's studies" is not a great wisdom that ordinary people can understand. If you don’t understand cause and effect, you don’t understand the wisdom of Chinese excellent traditional culture, you don’t understand the Tao Te Ching, you can’t understand women’s studies, you don’t understand why women should be inferior, why women should be humble and weak. "The profound wisdom in ".
People have always like to compare women to water. As a woman, you must learn the qualities of water: to be submissive, compliant, benefit all things without fighting...Only in this way, your blessings can be greater; only in this way, you can have no future Invincible.
"The water will flow even more with a knife." Although water is weak, no matter how powerful a weapon is, it can't deal with water, so gentleness is the most powerful.
The wisdom of women’s studies is also worthy of reference for men. If men are gentle and soft, they will definitely make life happy.