View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship Repository THE IDEA OF NATURE IN THE DAOIST CLASSIC OF LIEZI BY YIN-CHING CHEN DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in East Asian Languages & Cultures in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2012 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Zong-qi Cai, Chair Associate Professor Rania Huntington, University of Wisconsin-Madison Associate Professor Alexander Mayer Associate Professor Brian Ruppert ii ABSTRACT The Liezi is regarded the third of the Daoist classics following the Laozi and the Zhuangzi. Dating from the pre-Han period (ca. 4-5 century B.C.) to the Six Dynasties (229-589 A.D.), the Liezi constitutes a rich collection of more than a hundred and forty parables, mystical accounts, and philosophical treatises. This dissertation explores the Liezi’s idea of nature in four aspects: (1) cosmology; (2) view of life; (3) the way to attain harmony and union with nature; and (4) social and political view of human-nature relations. Chapter one explores the Liezi’s cosmology, which presents a holistic and organic worldview based on the theory of qi (氣). This chapter first explores the meaning and concept of qi, which is the common medium of all beings in nature. Life begins from the gathering of qi and ends in disperse of qi. As the dispersed qi gathers again, new life is born. Accordingly, different forms of lives, based on their common endowment of qi, are interrelated in a chain of metamorphoses. The Liezi thus presents a holistic and organic worldview in which the boundaries and categorizations of human, animals, plants, and matters, dissolve. Chapter two analyzes the Liezi’s view of life, which supports an anti-anthropocentric and egalitarian view of all beings in nature. Since all lives are formed by the common medium of qi, they have no difference in nature and are equally noble and vile. Accordingly, humans are not superior to other species, but all beings have equal value. Be it humans, animals, plants, or mater substances, all are indispensable in their participation in the metamorphoses of qi, and thereby are equally meaningful in their existences. Chapter three discusses the Daoist ethics of life that is nature friendly and sustainable. Regarding practical way of life, the Liezi not only inherits Laozi and Zhuangzi’s ideas of simplicity, frugality and humility, but also shows an intriguing connection to certain mystic iii beliefs and practices. The notions of faith and belief in the correspondence between human and nature reflect the Liezi’s mystical and religious approach to the ultimate goal of union with the Way. Chapter four explores the Liezi’s political thought and its implication to environmental policy. The Liezi’s political thought synthesizes various theories of Confucianism, Legalism, and the Huang-Lao school, with the Daoist ideal of non-action as its most basic principle and ultimate goal. It is noteworthy, however, that “non-action” does not means doing nothing literally. In fact, the Daoist idea of non-action, or non-interference when applied to environmental policy, requires humans to attentively observe, understand, and follow the way nature works. Only when people act according to what is opportune and expedient can they live and prosper together with all beings in nature. The concluding chapter summarizes the key points and central ideas of the Liezi in comparison with major principles of environmental philosophy to evaluate the Liezi’s potential contributions to contemporary ecological thought. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisor, Professor Zong-qi Cai, for his mentoring and encouragement during my graduate years at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. Professor Cai is all rounded not only as a model teacher, but also as an academic advisor, and as a dissertation committee member. In his graduate seminars and courses, Professor Cai has been very supportive and receptive to differing viewpoints and opinions, so I can freely express my ideas and develop my research interests and approaches. During the process of my thesis writing, Professor Cai has also generously given his time reading the numerous drafts of my dissertation and giving me detailed and important feedbacks. I also thank my committee members: Professor Rania Huntington for her wonderful courses of Chinese zhiguai literature, her valuable time and many discussions with me on the Liezi’s parables of dream. I am especially thankful to Professor Alexander Mayer for his instruction of Chinese religion, thought-provoking questions, and detailed comments. My sincerest gratitude goes to Professor Brian Ruppert, in whose courses of East Asian religions my survey of mythology began. All the more thanks to Professor Gary Xu, in whose inspiring seminar I began to think about classical Daoist literature in light of contemporary environmentalism. I am appreciative for access to National Taiwan University Library during the last two years of my dissertation writing and research. Its rich collection of Chinese books and journals enabled me to do in-depth research with great efficiency. Finally, my deepest gratitude to my family, who went through thick and thin with me over the years. I am truly blessed for Juni and Judy, born to me during my graduate years. I am most indebted to my husband and parents, without whose loving support I could not recover from v severe back pain and finish the dissertation. I would like to present this dissertation to my mother, an extinguished scholar and persevering person who never loses hope in me. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................1 I. The Text...........................................................................................................2 1. The Philosopher Liezi and the Book of Liezi.............................................2 2. Controversy over the Text’s Authorship and Authenticity........................4 II. The Liezi’s Value in Philosophy, Religion, and Literature..............................7 III. Method of Study ............................................................................................11 CHAPTER 1: THE LIEZI’S COSMOLOGY: The Liezi’s Holistic Worldview.....................................................................16 I. Introduction to Chinese Cosmology ..............................................................16 II. Meaning of Qi................................................................................................18 III. The Liezi’s Theory of Qi................................................................................22 1. Qi as Life Forces......................................................................................26 2. Qi as the Medium of the Cosmos.............................................................28 IV. Transformation of the Qi into Myriad Things ...............................................30 V. Continuity between Diverse Forms of Things...............................................38 CHAPTER 2: THE LIEZI’S VIEW OF LIFE: Equality of All Species ..................................................................................43 I. Problems concerning the Liezi’s Chapter of “Yang Zhu” .............................46 II. On the Body ...................................................................................................54 III. On Offspring ..................................................................................................56 IV. On Things in Nature.......................................................................................58 V. On Human and Other Animals ......................................................................61 1. Egalitarian View of All Living Things ....................................................61 2. Uniqueness of Each Species ....................................................................63 VI. On Life and Death..........................................................................................65 VII. On Destiny .....................................................................................................71 VIII. On How to Live .............................................................................................79 vii CHAPTER 3: THE LIEZI’S MYSTICAL THOUGHT: Returning to the Original Union with Nature ................................................86 I. Mankind’s Fall from the Original Union with Nature...................................86 II. The Way to Returning to Nature....................................................................90 1. Following the Nature (xing 性) of Things ...............................................90 2. Purification and Concentration of the Mind (xin 心)...............................98 3. Journey of the Spirit (shen 神)...............................................................114 4. Faith (cheng 誠) and Belief (xin 信) ......................................................147 5. Correspondence between Human and Nature through Music ...............159 6. Becoming One with the Way.................................................................162 CHAPTER 4: THE LIEZI’S POLITICAL THOUGHT: The Liezi’s Political Thought and Its Implication to Environmental Policy ....174 I. The Liezi’s