The Wisdom of Zhuang Zi: The Inner Chapters and the most important teaching stories from the entire book Zhuang Zhou Translation and some commentary by Patrick Edwin Moran © 2010 Patrick Edwin Moran Chinese title: Author's surname Zhuang Author's given name Zhou Topical Sections A. Favorite Stories 1 B. Main Concepts 1 C. Odd Ideas: 3 D. People 4 E. Favorite Stories 10 F. Favorite Stories 14 G. Attitude toward Death 17 H. Attitude toward Aggression 20 I. Philosophy of Life 21 J. Knacks 28 K. Preparing oneself 33 L. Taking Action 36 M. Names and objects 37 N. Nature of knowledge 39 O. Reflectivity 45 P. Uselessness 46 Q. Higher Human Potentials 50 R. The Way 53 S. Nature of knowledge 60 Chapters chapter 1 65 chapter 2 72 chapter 3 88 chapter 4 91 chapter 5 103 chapter 6 111 chapter 7121 chapter 17 127 1 Introduction The people who wrote the early Daoist texts were writing for the people of their time, and had no thought for the people more than two millennia in their future who would not share their cultural context, so it is difficult to gain a correct understanding of their thought. Therefore I have elected to begin presenting passages that are concrete and have cultural contexts that modern readers are likely to find fairly familiar. Zhuang Zhou lived and taught around 350 B.C. He was a contemporary of the Confucian philosopher Mencius, and possibly even a friend of his. His viewpoint was very different from that of the Confucians. It was much more in line with the shamanic tradition dramatized in the Chu Ci (translated as Songs of the South) by Qu Yuan. The book that bears his name was not all written by him. Some chapters are clearly by later authors, but others are subject to dispute. The last chapter, tiān xià (In the world), describes several other figures of the time as well as Zhuang Zi, and most people believe that chapter to have been written by somebody other than Zhuang Zi. "Zhuang Zi" means "Master Zhuang." Master Zhuang's family name is Zhuāng, and the word for "master" is placed after the surname. The word zǐ has other meanings, but when it follows a family name it generally means "teacher, master." Master Zhuang's given name is Zhōu, which is pronounced about like "Joe." Just as titles such as "mister," "mrs.," etc. come after surnames, given names also come after the family names. So his full name is Zhuāng Zhōu, which is pronounced about like "Jwong Joe." Zhuang Zi is pronounced about like "Jwong Dz" (the "dz" is like the "dz" in "adz," or the "dds" isn "adds"). Most of what can be learned about Zhuang Zi must come from the book that bears his name. Some of the stories are very fanciful, and not to be taken seriously, but their point is always serious. 1 ☀ A.1. Zhuang Zhou and the butterfly. (A story from the end of chapter two.) (.#$0%%,$0 *1/ ,3!44, .#$0/$0 .#//$0! 2 Once upon a time Zhuang Zhou dreamt that he was a butterfly, a freely fluttering butterfly, and felt entirely content. He did not know that he was Zhou! Suddenly he awoke and there he was, self-aware as Zhuang Zhou. He did not know whether he was Zhuang Zhou who had dreamt of being a butterfly, or was a butterfly who was dreaming of being Zhuang Zhou. There must be some distinction between Zhuang Zhou the man and a butterfly, and the existence of this distinction is what is behind the idea of the transformation of things. • ',": Zhuang Zhou lived in the period from 370 to 301 BCE. Some parts of the book bearing his name are believed to have been added somewhat later by people who continued in the same tradition of thought. • In Alice in Wonderland, Alice sometime changes. What makes Alice change in that story, and how is that process different from how Zhuang Zhou changes in this story? Assume, for a minute, that these stories are typical of the thought processes of the recent West and ancient China. If people in these cultures tried to understand somebody's suffering some disease, where would each culture say the disease came from? ☀ B.1. Main concepts: Chapter 22 ) &( 2-+ Dong-guo Zi asked Zhuang Zi: "The so-called "Way," — where is it?" ( 5 Zhuang Zi said: "There is nowhere where it is not." 2 (: ;1. Dong-guo Zi said: "It will only work if you are more specific. 9 FG Zhuang Zi said: "It is in ants." $ # {Dong-guo Zi] asked: "What about beneath that level?" IJ "It is in millet and tares." $= # "How about even less significant?" K "It is in roofing and decorative tiles." $=2# "Even more insignificant than that?" -> "It is in shit and piss." (: D9 5 &CE5'ABH ! = )68L4*?31 "<%, +7@$0 Dong-guo Zi made no response. Zhuang Zi said: "Sir, your question did not get to the substance of the matter. It's like the questions put to the Market Superintendent by the Rector of Acquisitions about treading on the shin of a hog [to measure how fat the animal is]: the farther down you go the clearer the answer. You have no special need pertinent to yourself alone. There is nothing to escaping from creatures. The highest Way expresses this, the greatest speech also does the same. All the way around and in the three domains, there are different names for the same reality. The referent for the words "all around," universal," and "all" is one and the same. • 8</: According to Zhuang Zi, what is the referent for these three words? 3 ☀ C.1 Odd Ideas: cf. Watson, Chapter 19, p. 198 - 199. When a drunken man falls from a carriage... O-L%Q5 :FK!4K=&7 3 , L , UT & 102+! W';)9!B21! *;)GR)0>8E @Y- #X QV- .S 1 "0Z$PDZ<N-I A drunken person who falls from a chariot will not die even at high speeds. His bones and his joints are the same as other people, but the injuries suffered are different. The reason is that [the drunken person's] spirit is whole. He was unaware while he was on the chariot, and he was also unaware when he fell off. Alarm and fear over whether he might die never enters into his bosom. For that reason he encounters creatures yet does not react. He has become complete because of alcohol and still he remains as before [the fall from the chariot], and how much the more would such be the case if he had attained completeness by means of Heaven (i.e., the natural)? The sage is treasured away in Heaven, and so there are none who are able to injure him. Now adversaries do not [seek to] break Mo-gan (the Chinese Excalibur). and even aggressive people do not hate a sailing roofing tile. For that reason All Under Heaven is equalized, so that there will not be the disorder of attacks and warring or the punishments such as executions. These consequences follow from the Way. C!CC-MC-H J& ()? &6 Do not make blossom forth a human version of nature, but instead let blossom forth a natural version of nature. Those who let a nature uncontaminated by the human blossom give birth to virtue. Those who let human-contaminated nature blossom give birth to destructivity. Do not loath anyone's uncontaminated nature and do not overlook anyone's human-motivated factors. Then the the people will be almost at the point of being genuine. • >A/: Is it really true that drunken people make it through automobile accidents with fewer fatalities than sober people? Some authorities maintain that drunkenness is no protection. 4 • Why, then, do some people break their bones, particularly the bones in their hands and forearms, when they slip and fall on the ice, but people with Aikido training are not likely to break anything even if they fall while moving at greater speeds and from greater heights? • What is Aikido? Hint: The Japanese way of writing this word is ,9. That's read "ai" (to rhyme with "bye bye") "ki" (which sounds like "key"), "do" (which sounds like "dough"). Ki is the lifebreath that animates one's body. Ai means to unite. So the compound term means "the way of uniting (and keeping united) the lifebreath." The first thing that one learns in Aikido class is how to fall. See whether you can fill in some more information on your own that might fit in with this passage from the Zhuang Zi. ☀ D.1 People cf. Watson, p. 269. Zhuang Zi remembers his friend. Hui Shi. Hui Zi (Master Hui), was a person skilled in argumentation and the use of language. He followed a career similar to that of the sophists of Plato's time. 2 .6:3 <IE1&/ 0>%C@)HF$ K 8*JK?0C 5/ +! A ;7(= (';-KG4D " L(D"LB#" Zhuang Zi was going to someone's funeral, and on the way he passed the tomb of Master Hui. He looked at the scene and said to those who were accompanying him: "A man in the city of Ying used to put a plaster of whitewash on the tip of his nose that was only the thickness of a fly's wing and then he would have an axe man chop the plaster off. Axeman Shi wielded his axe so rapidly that it created a wind. You could hear it as it took off the whitewash completely but without injuring the man's nose.