For westerners, the answer to this question is God. God created all this, and mankind also created all this. God created a paradise for mankind, waiting for mankind to go. The purpose of living is to believe in God and act according to his instructions, so that people can return to God. If we continue to ask, since God created man and heaven, why did he throw him into the mortal world and let him suffer? Why not let him stay in heaven forever? The Bible records that Adam and Eve, the ancestors of mankind, committed crimes and were expelled from the Garden of Eden by God. Therefore, the purpose of human suffering is to atone. In addition, God is merciful and sent his only son, Jesus, into the world to wash away human sins with his blood. Therefore, you must invite the spirit of Jesus into your heart, remove the filth from your heart and stop sinning, so that you can be chosen by God and enter heaven. So, do you think life is hard? This happens to be your way to heaven.
In Taoism's view, the origin of the world is Tao, which produces everything, including people, but people and everything are always in Tao, which is the genius of Taoism.
"Tao is natural", nature is what you are, just like what it is. In other words, Tao is self-caused, it is absolute, eternal and infinite, which is beyond Tao. This is no different from most religions in the world. Any religion has a supreme existence, such as the God of Christianity and Brahma of Hinduism, but the distinctive feature of Taoism is that Taoism is internal.
The immanence of Tao means that Tao is among all things. Zhuangzi said, Tao is in rubble, Tao is in barnyard grass and Tao is in shit. Tao is inseparable from things, and Tao is everywhere. For Christianity, God is God, and God is completely different from everything. God is the creator and judge, and he is completely different from the created thing. However, Tao is among all things, and it can never be said that everything has Tao. If there is a Tao in everything, a Tao with flowers and grass, and a Tao with thousands of Qian Qian in Qian Qian, Tao can't be an absolute existence, so it can't solve the ultimate source and destination problem.
Tao has both transcendence, the source of all things and immanence, which is really difficult to understand among all things. But this is the secret of Taoism. You realize that you can get a kind of strength, a kind of happiness and a kind of liberation now, instead of enduring the pain of practicing all your life like Christians, praying for God's forgiveness and waiting for endless doomsday judgment.
The immanence of Tao is realized through virtue. Tao Te Ching says, "Everything respects Tao and is virtuous". Expensive, cherish meaning, there is nothing in the world that does not hesitate to be virtuous. What is virtue? Everything gets virtue from Tao, that is, endowment and talent. Everything can grow and develop only if it is blessed by the Tao. Virtue is the same as Tao in essence, and it is the relationship between individual and whole, particularity and universality. For example, any magnet has the property of adsorbing iron, and any point cut from the magnet has the same property as the magnet.
Therefore, virtue cannot be separated from Tao. It comes from the Tao, but it never leaves the Tao. Everything has virtue and develops beauty in various ways, but it is in the Tao after all. This is the key to understanding Taoist thought.
Everything has virtue, and everything develops according to endowment. Flowers must grow into flowers and grass must grow into grass. Lions must be lions, even if they are raised by sheep, they are still lions. Really? Some people will say, look at the lion in the zoo, can't you even bite a chicken? This is a man-made result. If you train the lion well and put it back into the wild, it will soon regain the glory of the king of the grassland.
However, there seems to be something wrong with human talent. He gained the ability to think freely from Tao. His ability can block rivers, refine minerals and domesticate livestock. He regards nature as his private property and takes whatever he wants. When human beings get unprecedented satisfaction, it has caused great interference to nature. For example, there are trees in central Australia. When the British came, they thought these trees were ugly, so they all cut them down and planted trees brought from England. As a result, they did not adapt to the local salty and hot air, and died in large numbers, resulting in desertification. There are countless incidents in which human beings abuse their abilities like this. We don't have to ask, is Tao's gift to mankind to let mankind run amok? Human beings are also very poor, and he will say, you gave me this ability. You can't blame me for the consequences when I use this ability.
Wait, can humans really do whatever they want? Do humans really have freedom? The ancient cave of Angkor is now deeply hidden in the virgin forest, but 800 years ago, it was the capital of Angkor Dynasty. His destruction was that Angkor people blindly reclaimed land, resulting in bare soil, and everything disappeared in a huge mudslide. Hundreds of years later, the felled forest came back and gradually surrounded the ancient city. ...
Tao has its inherent law, "when things are strong, they are old, which means that there is no way, and there is no way for a long time." Humans think they are smart and free, but they have always been in the net woven by Tao. "Skynet is long, sparse and not leaking."
People should be enlightened when they are alive. The enlightenment of Tao lies in:
First, everyone is equal before the Tao. Everyone comes from the Tao and is endowed by the Tao, so we should accept our situation and appreciate everything we have, instead of blindly admiring others and imitating them. The most important thing is not to see what others have, but to cherish what you have.
Second, we must maintain a state of balance and harmony. Not only should we maintain harmony with nature, but inner harmony is the key. Laozi said, "It belongs to the baby." The baby's state is a perfect and harmonious state. Our body can't go back to the baby's body, but our mind can go back, be simple, be selfish and be carefree.
Third, we should underestimate the gains and losses. Zhuangzi often said, "I have to." I just can't help myself. Everything goes with the flow, as if something is pushing me away. But this is not negative, but the conditions are not mature, so you should have a correct judgment. Zhuangzi said, "If you don't tie the boat, where will you land?" It is not necessary to have subjective will to achieve it, but to conform to the trend and law. Isn't it chic?
Fourth, everything is worth appreciating. Because everything comes from Tao and has its own reasons for existence. Su Shi said: "Everything must be considerable, and there must be cola. Don't blame the magnificent. " For human beings, nothing exists. If we give up the people-centered world view, everything will be beautiful.