A Discussion on Laozi Zhigui’s View of Life

Abstract

Lao Zi Zhi Gui was a Taoist work in Han dynasty wrote by Yan Zun, who conducted the annotations and commentary onto Lao Zi. In this work, Yan Zun had elucidated his views of life as well at the same time, reflecting the trend of concerning and discussions on life during Taoist Han dynasty. The purpose of this paper is to explore the Taoist view of life during Han dynasty in Lao Zi Zhi Gui, by analysing the origins of life on earth and its formation process and the principles for nourishing the life. This paper has found that the author of Lao Zi Zhi Gui, Yan Zun had inherited the theory of myriad things derived from Tao from Lao Zi, by agreeing that the human life was originated from Tao, not only that, the continuality and sustainability of human life only become  possible with the existing of Tao, One and shen ming, and its process of formation had went through the stage of One, shen ming, tai he, heaven and earth and yin-yang. Yan Zun also thinks that there is shen ming stay inside the body. To nourish the life, Yan Zun had proposed the idea of being free from lust, safeguarding the spirit and qi; and nourishing the body naturally. Yan Zun extended the idea of no desire and inaction from Lao Zi onto the human life aspects, it could even be said this was a great development and inheritance onto Lao Zi thoughts.