如何面對生命與正視死亡——以老子哲學為例

The Way to Face Life and Death: Based on Laozi's Philosophy as an Example

本文的目的，在於探討老子如何面對生命、正視死亡。這是人必須天天面對的問題。接下的問題是，如何安頓生命？特別是在年老時，這是凡人都必須面對的。然而，人越活越老，經常感慨自己時間已不多，不如放開一切去享樂，這樣的人生，是智慧的嗎？本文探討老子哲學呈現的生命觀，是消極的避世？還是「飽食終日、無所用心」？本文先回到老子的中心觀念—「道」與其他重要概念，如在「德」與「禮」的意義上，展開與孔子不同的比較。比較之後，筆者認為老子對生死學中重視的本質—自然，有了新的體悟，於是他主張回到事物本源處，將人類製造的一切概念，如有無、善惡，以及禮教整個去除。或由有執的分別心，回到文明前的無分別處，即以無分別心重建對生死問題的無執生死觀。最後，使用無執建立一套以知足為中心，不再在乎生命長短的生命境界。

The purpose of this writing is to explore Laozi’s teachings on how to look upon life and to face death. This is something we have to face every day. We now ask ourselves, how can we gain peace in our lives? Especially when we are old, everyone has to face these questions. On the contrary, as people grow old, will often feel that their time is limited and may feel it is better to let go of everything and enjoy their time; Is such a life wise? The view of life presented by Laozi’s philosophy discussed in this paper is to see whether it is a negative avoidance of the world, or to indulge and be carefree. First of all, it advocates a new discussion on Laozi’s central idea, “the Tao” and its significance, such as virtue and etiquette. Moreover, after comparison with Confucius and Laozi, I realize that Laozi’s nature is to be back to the origin of things and to remove everything including human-made concepts, such as existence, good and evil, and the entire ethics. Instead, to transform from a pre-set discriminatory mind back to a non-discriminatory mind as it was prior to modern civilization. In other words, to rebuild our views of life and death with a non-discriminatory mind. It also builds a life state centred on contentment with non-attachment which consequently no longer is bound to cares about the length of life.