The Order Theory of Pre Qin Taoism:From the Realm of Hundun to the World Regulated by Etiquette and Law
In the pre-Qin Taoist thinking about the world order,the concept of hundun can be described as its logical starting point.Pre-Qin Taoism divided the world into two types:the world of hundun and the world of non-hundun.In the world of hundun (the primitive hundun),all things self-cultivated and coexisted harmoniously.Therefore,it was a world without governance,and there was no problem of youwei or wuwei.Due to the reckless actions of the rulers,the world of hundun disintegrated,and all things lost their simplicity,resulting in the world losing its natural order.In order to solve this problem and restore the world to its state of hundun,Taoism believed that it is necessary for the sage to govern by wuwei.However,there were also ideological differences in pre-Qin Taoism about how to understand wuwei.In Laozi's thought,the so-called wuwei mainly means inaction,and the world of hundun under the rule of saints is quite simple.In the thought of Zhuangzi school,the so-called wuwei has both the meaning of inaction and the connotation of yinying (to be conforming to do),and the world of hundun it describes shows the existence of everything in its proper place leisurely.As for Huanglao Taoism,although their so-called wuwei is mainly manifested in the meaning of yinying,due to the utilitarian characteristics of their studies and the situation at that time,their ideal of governance has been biased towards emphasizing that kings use etiquettes and laws to control and standardize everything.So,although "one" is used to refer to the unity of ideal governance,the "one" in Laozi and Zhuangzi' thoughts still retains the natural existence of all things,while the Huang-Lao Taoism emphasizes the order of etiquette and law,and its so-called "one" represents the unity of strict etiquette and law in the world.