浅析《老子》中的慈爱思想

A Brief Analysis of Compassionate Love in the Laozi

摘要: 《老子》并非不“慈爱”。通过考察郭店简本与今本中“爱”与“慈”的含义可知：“爱”指向对自身与天下的珍重，其负面效果源于“甚”而非“爱”本身；“慈”作为“三宝”之首，体现为“啬爱”——爱而不用，顺其自然。老子之“慈爱”不同于儒家从亲亲推扩而出的仁爱，而是以道之“生而不有”为根基的无差别的关怀。

Abstract: Laozi does not exclude the idea of “compassionate love” (ci’ai). An examination of the meanings of “love” (ai) and “compassion” (ci) in the Guodian bamboo slip manuscripts and the received text reveals that “love” signifies cherishing both the self and the world, with its negative effects arising from excessiveness rather than love itself. “Compassion”, as the foremost of the “three treasures”, embodies “frugal love” (se’ai)—loving without interfering and following spontaneity. Unlike the Confucian notion of benevolent love, which expands from kinship, Laozi’s compassionate love is grounded in the Dao’s principle of “giving life without possessing” and represents an undifferentiated form of care.