Reinterpreting the Dao-te Ching of “Follow the Dao of Nature”—Centered on Wu Cheng’s Annotations of the “The Dao-te Ching”

元代吴澄的《老子道德真经注》对“道法自然”的诠释，标志着老学史上一次重要的范式转换。本文通过思想史溯源、文本细读与哲学分析，揭示吴澄如何以理学体用论重构“自然”概念，既回应河上公、王弼等传统注疏的诠释困境，又开创儒道融合的新路径。吴澄将“自然”提升为“道体之本然”，通过“体用一源”框架消解“法”字的语义断裂与逻辑矛盾，并将道家自然观转化为“即体即用”的实践哲学。这一诠释不仅解决了“五大”悖论等传统难题，更在元代三教合流语境下，为道家思想参与主流话语竞争提供理论资源，对明清自然观演变具有深远影响。In the Yuan Dynasty, Wu Cheng’s Annotations of the Daoist Morality Classic (The Dao-te Ching) reinterpreted the Daoist principle of “Follow the Dao of Nature”, marking a significant paradigm shift in the history of the Laozi school. This article, through intellectual history tracing, textual exegesis, and philosophical analysis, reveals how Wu Cheng used the Neo-Confucian theory of Ti (体) and Yong (用) to reconstruct the concept of ziran (自然), responding to the interpretive dilemmas of traditional commentaries by figures like He Shangong and Wang Bi, and pioneering a new path of Confucian-Daoist integration. Wu Cheng elevated ziran (自然) to “the original state of the Dao’s body”, dissolved the semantic rupture and logical contradictions of the word “Fa” through the “one source of body and function” framework, and transformed the Daoist natural view into a “both body and function” practical philosophy. This interpretation not only resolved traditional puzzles like the “Five Great” paradox but also, in the Yuan Dynasty’s context of the convergence of the three teachings, provided theoretical resources for Daoist thought to engage in mainstream discourse competition, and had a profound impact on the evolution of natural views in the Ming and Qing dynasties.