During the past two thousand years or more, among Chinese philosophers, Laozi should be the best of all. We know Confucius well who is our guidance in life for all of us. That is why now everywhere in the world in Chinese society, there are many temples of Confucius for people to worship. But, Confucius was the student of Laozi. Laozi is not popular in our society and we can only find his figure in the temple of Taoism.
It is because Confucius teaching is more easy to apply in our life, but words of Laozi are advanced, only suitable for use in political fields.
But, still, some ideas of Laozi can be applied to our life in good use, such as he said: “Knowing others is intelligence, knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering yourself is a power. If you realize you have enough, you are indeed rich.”
From above we can see that to know other is a kind of intelligence which we need to learn deeply. First of all, we must know others’ hearts first, then we can have ways to deal with those to whom we wish to social.
To “understand ourself” is a word said by Greek philosopher Secrete, known to the world quite popularly. But, this word was said by Laozi already two thousand years ago.
Control ourself is a strength which comes from our inner heart. That is that we must do everything prudently, considering the consequence in what we are doing. That is the strength we need always to bear in mind.