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The Chuang-tzu/Zhuangzi:

Wandering on the Way

• The Text• The Man: Zhuang Zhou• The ZZ in Relation to the

TTC

• Its Characteristics• Zhuanzi‟s exemplary men • Opposite values• Equality of things,Follow

Nature, Value Spontaneity

• The ultimate man• Life and death

• Deceptive virtue

• Heaven

• Immortality

• Mind, Body, andUnderstanding of Life

• Dream, reality, andothers

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The Chuang-tzu/Zhuangzi

• A Literary text

• a work of literature with some lengthy dialogues onphilosophical issues

• great literature full of wisdom, imagination, wit, and humor

• mixture of prose and poetry• characterized by parables, anecdotes, fiction, paradoxical

statements, allegorical and rhetorical arguments

• rich in allusions, analogy, metaphor, parody, ridicule

• The text represented several Daoist trends• Inspired literary works throughout centuries

•

Aided the formulation of religious visions of various traditions

such as Chan/Zen

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Four Major Strands of Thought

• The text consists of materials from the 3rd and2nd centuries BCE and has 4 distinct

voices/strands:

– Zhuang Zhous’ school (Inner Chapters, chs. 16-17,33) – The primitivists (chs. 8-10)

– The Syncrestists (chs. 11-5,33)

– The Hedonists (chs. 28-31)

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Four Voices

Primitivists (anarchists)

Worldviews similar to that of the DDJ

Emphasize more on simplicity/simple life/wu

Condemns developed social structure and

culture, such as government, technology

Ideal men are men of integrity (te/de ) or innervirtue

Ideal society is similar to the small communityportrayed in the TTC/DDJ: 30/80

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Syncretists

refine and theorize the Dao discussed in theTTC/DDJ

Demonstrate integration of the more

formalized forms of cosmology and worldviewinto the basic understanding of Dao.

Try to integrate Qi , Yin-Yang , and five phases into

a fluid system

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Hedonists

Advocate that every aspect of life is positiveand part of Dao

Man should live a life of no constraints and no

restrictions according to the natural impulseof Dao

Satisfy one‟s personal desires because they

are expressions of the greater cosmicgoodness

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The Zhuangzi in Relation to the DDJ

Similar to the DDJ but no direct quote from it Not interested in establishing some sort of

Taoist/Daoistrule like the TTC/DDJ did

compared with the DDJ:More concerned with mental attitudes

Condemns active political involvement

wants no part of machinery of government Compares state bureacrats to sacrificial ox and

sacred turtle

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Advocates nonaction without any practicalgoal or purpose

loves freedom of the individual

stresses transcendence

Emphasizes “transformation” rather than “production”

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Zhuangzi‟s View of Life and World

•Wandering on the Way: (Free and Easy

Wandering

• Freedom: understands ones‟ inner quality

and fulfill one‟s natural self to attain perfect

happiness

• evaluates things through the lens of

skepticism and relativism

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• Existence of spontaneous flow of life

experience

• Holistic, non-dual, non-dichotomy way

• Fasting of the mind ( xinzhai心齋)

• Qi exercise, completeness of inner virtue,

realization of mental serenity

• Sitting in oblivion (zuowang坐忘)

• Acceptance of one‟s fate

• Transcend one‟s feeling, go along with heaven

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Known for beating on a basin and singing upon the death of his wife(18:2)

Known for seeing death, including his own, as a natural process ortransformation and a blissful state of existence (18: 2,3,4)

Valued spiritual and physical freedom (17:5) Stressed the value of intuitive knowledge (17:7)

Believed that the society and government in his time were corrupting

Saw the authority of the ancient sages could no longer be dependent on

as an adequate guide to the contemporary world Man is not the center of all things (creatures), but one among the myriad

things (creatures)

The Man (ca. 369-286 BCE)

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The Book‟s Characteristics

No systematic philosophy

Reiterates points in the TTC/DDG

Elaborates on points not stressed in the TTC/DDJ Nature

Spontaneity Freedom

Transformation of things

Equality of things

Diversity rather than uniformity

no absolute reality except for the Tao Anti-rationalism

Relativism--relativity of all values

Intuition

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Contrasting

Mencius/Mengzi

• Successor of Confucius

• His Confucianism is characterized by optimism:

• Key to social harmony is located in the human mind, which

is originally good, as evidenced by “four beginning”

• The feeling of commiseration-------→beginning of humaneness

• The feeling of shame and dislike----→ beginning of righteousness

• The feeling of respect and reverence→ beginning of etiquette

• The feeling of right and wrong---------→beginning of wisdom

• All people possess instinctual or innate knowledge of

the good and have the ability to do good in all social

situations

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•Evil is due to people‟s failure to recognize and

develop their innate good, which resulted in theloss of [good] mind

•Learning lies in the process of searching for the

“lost mind”

• Learning through reading

• Learning through nurturing this mind (yăng qì )

•Personal good→community →state→humanegovernment

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• Thus, Mencius was the active

spokesperson of Confucian ethics:• “No man is devoid of a heart sensitive to the

suffering of others.”

• “suppose a man were, all of a sudden, to see a

young child on the verge of falling into a well,

he would certainly be moved to compassion,

not because he wanted to get in the good

graces of the parents, nor because he wishedto win the praise of his fellow villagers or

friends….

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Taoist/Daoist Mockery of Confucian ethics

• Taoist/Daoist swimmer saw Confucian

morality a symptom of poor insight and

understanding

• Morality only arises when one has allowed

circumstances to deteriorate to the extent thatartificial goodness is called for

• Example: Confucius was emotionally disturbed

by watching the Daoist swimmer and wanted tosave him, only to see his worry completely out of

place. (19:8, p.182)

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• Zhuangzi 19:8, p.182

• Confucius was observing cataract at Spinebridge

where the water fell from a height of thirty fathomsand the mist swirled for forty tricents. No tortoise,

alligator, fish, or turtle could swim there. Spotting an

old man swimming in the water. Confucius thought

that he must have suffered some misfortune and

wished to die. So he had his disciples line up along

the current to rescue the man. But after the man

had gone several hundred yards he came out byhimself. With disheveled hair, he was walking along

singing and enjoying himself beneath the

embankment.

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• Confucius followed after the man and inquired of

him, saying, “I thought you were a ghost, but when

I looked more closely I saw that you are a man.May I ask if you have a special way for treading

the water?” “No, I have no special way. I began

with what was innate, grew up with my nature, and

completed my destiny. I enter the very center ofthe whirlpools and emerge as a companion of the

torrent. I follow along with the way of the water

and do not impose myself on it. That‟s how I do

my treading.” “What do you mean by „began withwhat was innate, grew up with your nature, and

completed your destiny‟?” asked Confucius.

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• “I was born among these hills and feel secure

among them---that‟s what‟s innate. I grew up

in the water and feel secure in it---that‟s mynature. I do not know why I am like this, yet

that‟s how I am---that‟s my destiny.”

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Reject political involvement

• Zhuangzi 17:5 (p.164)• Master Zhuang was finshing in the Pu River. The

King of Chu dispatched two high-ranking officials

to go before hi with this message: I wish to

encumber you with the administration of my

realm.” Without turning around, Master Zhuang

just kept hold on to his fishing rod and said, “I

have heard that in the Chu there is a sacredtortoise that has already been dead for three

thousand years. The king stores it in his ancestral

temple inside a hamper wrapped with cloth.

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• Do you think this tortoise would rather be dead

and have its bones preserved as objects ofveneration, or be alive and dragging its tail

through the mud?”

• “It would rather be alive and dragging its tail

through the mud,” said the two officials.

• “Begone!” said Master Zhuang. “I‟d rather be

dragging my tail in the mud.”

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Zhuangzi’s Theory of Regimen

• Conserve life: follow nature

• Pursuing knowledge [endlessly] is

dangerous (3:1)

• Forget acquired knowledge and develop

innate, intuitive ability /knowledge

• Fishnet allegory: (26:13, p.276)

• Cook Ting/Ding allegory (3:2, pp.26-27)• “emancipation of the lord” (3:5)

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Forget acquired knowledge

• Zhuangzi 26:13 (p.276)

• A fish-trap is for catching fish; once you‟ve

caught the fish, you can forget about the trap. A

rabbit-snare is for catching rabbits; once youhave caught the rabbit, you can forget about the

snare. Words are for catching ideas; once you‟ve

caught the ideas, you can forget about the words.

Where can I find a person who knows how toforget about words so that I can have a few

words with him.

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Retrieve and Develop innate ability

• Zhuangzi 3:2 (pp.26-27)

• A cook was cutting up an ox for Lord Wenhui,

whenever

• His hand touched,

• His shoulder leaned,• His foot steeped,

• His knee nudged,

• the flesh would fall away with a swishing sound.

Each slice of the cleaver was right in tune, zip zap!He danced in rhythm to “The Mulberry Grove,”

moved in concert with the strains of “the Managing

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• “Ah, wonderful!” said Lord Wenhui, “that skill can

attain such heights!”

• The cook put down his cleaver and responded,

“What your servant loves is the Way, which goes

beyond mere skill. When I first began to cut

oxen, what I saw was nothing but whole oxen. After three years, I no longer saw whole oxen.

Today, I meet the ox with my spirit rather than

looking at it with my eyes. My sense organ stop

functioning and my spirit moves as it pleases. Inaccord with natural grain, I sliced at the great

crevices, lead the blade through the great

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• Encounter the slightest obstacle even where the

veins and arteries come together or where the

ligaments and tendons join, much less from

obvious big bones. A good cook changes his

clever once a year because he chops. An

ordinary cook changes his cleaver once a monthbecause hacks. Now I‟ve been using my clever

for nineteen years and have cut up thousands of

oxen with it, but the blade is still as fresh as

thought it had just come from the grindstone.Between the joints there are spaces, but the

edge of the blade has no thickness. Since I am

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• inserting something without any thickness into

an empty space, there will certainly be lots ofroom for the blade to play around in. That‟s why

the blade is still as fresh as thought it had just

come from the grindstone…..

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Humaneness and righteousness may be coreConfucian moral values, but from a Daoist view,they are nothing but ineffective remedies in adegenerated society.

DDJ:

When the geat Way was forsaken

There were humaneness and ighteousness When cunning and wit appeared

There was great falsity

When the six family relationship lacked harmony

There were filial piety and parental kindness

When the state and royal house were in disarray

There were upright ministers (DDJ, 62/18)

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Zhuangzi‟s exemplary men

Congenitally defective, physically mutilated,ugly, deformed, but shinning with Te

Scattered Apart (4:7)

Princely Nag (5:1)

Shent’u Chia (5: 2)

Toeless Nuncle Hill (5: 3)

Nag the Hump (5: 4)

Lipless Glubfoot Scattered (5:5)

Jar Goiter (5:5)

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Rreversal of Common Values• Those useless are useful; those

worthless are worthy, those

inauspicious are auspicious• A carpenter and a chestnut-leaved oak (4:

4)

• Sir Motley and huge tree (4: 5)• Trees have worth got chopped down (4: 6)

• Trees that yield got chopped down (4: 9)

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Equality of All Things

• Equality of All Things

– All beings and things are fundamentally

one

– no absolute value, only relative

• Follow Nature, Value Spontaneity

• Discard knowledge, forget distinctions

– 5: 6

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The Ultimate Men of the Past,

the Ture Man of Old

• The ultimate men of the past first sought to preserve it in themselves

and only after that to preserve it in others (ZZ,p.30)

• The mind of the ultimate man functions like a mirror (ZZ, p.71)

• Only when there is a true man is there true knowledge (ZZ, pp. 52-53) – The true man of old did not oppose the minority

– The true man of old did not dream when he slept….

– The true man of old knew neither fondness for life nore aversion to death

– The true man of old was towering in stature but….

• Example:

– Master Hu (pp.68-70,#5)

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Life and Death

• Life and death are destined, due to heaven (ZZ, 53-

55) and belong to the transformation of the Tao

– Like alternation of day and night. (ZZ, 53,58-59)

– Dictated by heaven, men are unable to interfere• Life is:

– an attached cyst; and appended tumor

• Death is: – the bursting of a boil, the draining of an abscess

(ZZ, 60)

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• What should men do with life and death?

– Understand “oneness of life and death and of

existence and non-existence (ZZ, pp. 57-58)

– Be compliant with what Nature (Tao/Dao)

commands you (your lot)

– Be in accord with the spontaneous and not add to

life (ZZ, p. 49) – Go along with the transformation of things (which is

due to the Tao/Dao)

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– Wander about where things do not disappear

(nature, way)—wandering on the Way, free

and easy wandering

– Accept one’s life as it is: to be good at being

young and good at growing old; good atbeginning and good at ending

– Recognize the inevitable and accept it as

one’s destiny (ZZ, pp. 45, 64-65) – Understand that death is “return to the true”

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Inaction and Deceptive Virtue

Deceptive virtue in ruling: by canons, patterns,

rules, and regulation (ZZ, 67)

Good ruling and enlightened kings: following along with the nature of things

wanders in nonexistence (wu, nonbeing) (ZZ,

68)

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Heaven/Nature (Tian )

• Heaven-intoxicated man• “Tian” designates the whole

scenario of cosmic and social

functioning, the course of timeand the pattern of space, or

simply natural process

• The position of the sage is the“pivot of the Dao”, the “center of

the circle”

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• The perspective of the sage is

the perspective of the heaven – “The sage does not subscribe to

the view based on single

perspective, but see things in the

light of heaven/nature – The course of nature is “ziran”

(self-so), “natural”; it has its own

course

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Immortality

• Immortality may be possible, but is not

the primary concern

– Spirit man (1:3)• Correct conception of life and death

could rid one of the fear of mortality

• The ultimate man is spiritous (ZZ, p.21)

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Mind, Body, and Understanding of Life

Fasting of the Mind (ZZ 4:1, p.32)

Sit and forget (ZZ 6:9)

Do what is doable, abandon the world/affairs become one with heaven, one with the Tao/Dao (ZZ,

19:1)

guard the purity of one’s vital breath (ZZ, 19: 2)

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Fasting of the mind

• … “I have nothing further to propose,” said YanHui, “I venture to ask you for a method.”

“Fasting,” said Confucius. “I shall explain it for

you. If you do things with your mind, do you think

it will be easy? Bright heaven will not approve

one who thinks it will be easy.” “My family is

poor,” said Yan Hui, “and it‟s been several

months since I‟ve drunk wine or tasted meat. Maythis be considered fasting?” “This is fasting

suitable for sacrifices, but it is not fasting of the

mind.”

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• “I venture to ask what „fasting of the mind‟ is,”

said Yan Hui.

• “Maintaining the unity of your will,” saidConfucius, “listen not with your ears but with your

mind. Listen not with your mind but with your

primal breath (qi ). The primal breath, however, [is

what] awaits things emptily. It is only through the

Way that one can gather emptiness, and

emptiness is the fasting of the mind.”…

• “to eliminate one‟s footstep by not walking iseasy, but to walk without touching the ground is

hard. If you are impelled by human feelings, it is

easy to be false; if you are impelled by nature,

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• it is hard to be false. I‟ve only heard of creatures

that fly with wings, never of creatures that fly with

nonwings. I‟ve only heard of people knowing

things through awareness, never of people

knowing things through unawareness. Observe

the void---the empty room emits a pure light.Good fortune lies in stopping when it is time to

stop. If you do not stop, this is called „galloping

while sitting.‟ Let your senses communicate

within and rid yourself of the machinations of themind. Then even ghosts and spirits will take

shelter with you, not to mention men.

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• This is how the myriad things aretransformed. It is that to which Yao and

Shun bound themselves, and that which

Fuxi and Jiqu exercised all their lives. All the more is it suited for the masses.

• (ZZ 4:1, p.32)

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• “Not bad, but you still haven‟t got it.”

• Yan Hui saw Confucius again on another day

and said, “I‟m making progress.”

• “What do you mean?”

• “I sit and forget.” (zuowang , 坐忘)

• “What do you mean, „sit and forget‟?” Zhongni askedwith surprise.

• “I slough off my limbs and trunk,” said Yan Hui, “dim

my intelligence, depart from my form, leave

knowledge behind, and become identical with theTransformational Thoroughfare. This is what I mean

by „sit and forget.‟”

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• “If you are identical, then you have no preferences(wuhao 無好). If you are transformed, then you have

no more constants (wu’chang 無常). It‟s you who is

reallly the worthy one! Please permit me to follow

you.” (ZZ 6:9, pp.63-64)

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Acceptance of Fate/Destiny (mìng命 )

• Life and death are destined. Their constantalternation, like that of day and night. It is due to

heaven. What men are unable to interfere with

are the attributes of all things. They particularly

regard heaven as their father and love it with their

very person. How much more should they love

that which surpasses heaven! Men particularly

regard their lord as superior to themselves andwould sacrifice their very person for him. How

much more should they be willing to do so for

what is truer than any lord.

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• When springs dry up, fish huddle together on the

land. The blow moisture on each other and keepeach other wet with their slime. But it would be

better if they could forget themselves in the

rivers and lakes. Rather than praising Yao [sage]

and condemning Jie [tyrant], it would be betterfor people to forget both of them and assimilate

their ways. (ZZ 6:2, p.53)

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• (Mulberry Door and Sir Lute Stretch left the

corpse of their best friend, Meng Sir Opposite,

unburied. Confucius heard about Meng‟s deathand sent Zigong to participate in the funeral.

When Zigong arrived, he found Mulberry and Sir

Lute playing musical instruments and signing.)

• Zigong hurried in and said, “I make bold to ask

whether it is in accord with the rites to sing in the

presence of the corpse.”

• The two men looked at each other and smiled,saying, “What does he know about the meaning

of the rites?”

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• Zigong went back and reported to Confucius,

asking, “What kind of people are they? They

cultivate nonbeing and put physical form beyondthem. They sign in the presence of the corpse

without the slightest change of expression.

There‟s no way I can describe them. What kind of

people are they?”

• “They are people who wander beyond the spatial

world,” said Confucius, “while I wander within it.

Beyond and within are incompatible. It wasuncouth of me to have sent you to mourn him.

They‟re about to become companions of the

Creator of things, and wander in the unity of the

vital breath (qi ) that joins heaven and earth.

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• bothered with worldly rites, merely to look good

in the eyes of ordinary people!”

• “Well, sir,” asked Zigong, “to which realm doyou adhere?”

• “I am one of heaven‟s condemned,” said

Confucius. “Nevertheless, this is something we

share in common.”

• “I venture to ask their secret,” said Zigong.

• “Fish delight in water,” said Confucius, “and

man delights in the Way. Delighting in water,fish find adequate nourishment just by passing

through their ponds. Delighting in the way,

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• Man‟s life is stabilized without ado. Therefore, it

is said, „Fish forget themselves in the rivers and

lakes; men forget themselves in the arts of the

Way.‟”

• “I venture to ask about the oddball,” said Zigong.

• “The oddball may be odd to other men, but he isa pair with heaven. Therefore, it is said, “The

villain in heaven is a gentleman among men; the

gentleman among men is a villain in heaven.”

• ZZ 6: 6, pp. 59-61

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Dream is Reality/Reality is Dream

Butterfly dream

(ZZ 2:14, p.24)

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