Dream, reality, and others. The Chuang-tzi/Zhuangzi.

1
The Chuang-tzu/ZhuangziWandering on the Way

• The Text
• The Man Zhuang Zhou
• The ZZ in Relation to the TTC
• Its Characteristics
• Zhuanzis exemplary men
• Opposite values
• Equality of things,Follow Nature, Value
  Spontaneity

• The ultimate man
• Life and death
• Deceptive virtue
• Heaven
• Immortality
• Mind, Body, and Understanding of Life
• Dream, reality, and others

2
The Chuang-tzu/Zhuangzi

• A Literary text
• a work of literature with some lengthy dialogues
  on philosophical 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

3
Four Major Strands of Thought

• The text consists of materials from the 3rd and
  2nd 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)

4
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 inner
  virtue
• Ideal society is similar to the small community
  portrayed in the TTC/DDJ 30/80

5

• Syncretists
• refine and theorize the Dao discussed in the
  TTC/DDJ
• Demonstrate integration of the more formalized
  forms of cosmology and worldview into the basic
  understanding of Dao.
• Try to integrate Qi, Yin-Yang, and five phases
  into a fluid system

6

• Hedonists
• Advocate that every aspect of life is positive
  and part of Dao
• Man should live a life of no constraints and no
  restrictions according to the natural impulse of
  Dao
• Satisfy ones personal desires because they are
  expressions of the greater cosmic goodness

7
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

8

• Advocates nonaction without any practical goal or
  purpose
• loves freedom of the individual
• stresses transcendence
• Emphasizes transformation rather than
  production

9

• Zhuangzis View of Life and World
• Wandering on the Way (Free and Easy Wandering
• Freedom understands ones inner quality and
  fulfill ones natural self to attain perfect
  happiness
• evaluates things through the lens of skepticism
  and relativism

10

• Existence of spontaneous flow of life experience
• Holistic, non-dual, non-dichotomy way
• Fasting of the mind (xinzhai ??)
• Qi exercise, completeness of inner virtue,
  realization of mental serenity
• Sitting in oblivion (zuowang ??)
• Acceptance of ones fate
• Transcend ones feeling, go along with heaven

11
The Man (ca. 369-286 BCE)

• Known for beating on a basin and singing upon the
  death of his wife (182)
• Known for seeing death, including his own, as a
  natural process or transformation and a blissful
  state of existence (18 2,3,4)
• Valued spiritual and physical freedom (175)
• Stressed the value of intuitive knowledge (177)
• 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)

12
The Books 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

13
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

14

• Evil is due to peoples failure to recognize and
  develop their innate good, which resulted in the
  loss of good mind
• Learning lies in the process of searching for the
  lost mind
• Learning through reading
• Learning through nurturing this mind (yang qì )
• Personal good?community ?state?humane government

15

• 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 wished to win the
  praise of his fellow villagers or friends.

16
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 that
  artificial goodness is called for
• Example Confucius was emotionally disturbed by
  watching the Daoist swimmer and wanted to save
  him, only to see his worry completely out of
  place. (198, p.182)

17

• Zhuangzi 198, p.182
• Confucius was observing cataract at Spinebridge
  where the water fell from a height of thirty
  fathoms and 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 by himself.
  With disheveled hair, he was walking along
  singing and enjoying himself beneath the
  embankment.

18

• 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 of the 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.
  Thats how I do my treading. What do you mean
  by began with what was innate, grew up with
  your nature, and completed your destiny? asked
  Confucius.

19

• I was born among these hills and feel secure
  among them---thats whats innate. I grew up in
  the water and feel secure in it---thats my
  nature. I do not know why I am like this, yet
  thats how I am---thats my destiny.

20
Reject political involvement

• Zhuangzi 175 (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 sacred
  tortoise that has already been dead for three
  thousand years. The king stores it in his
  ancestral temple inside a hamper wrapped with
  cloth.

21

• Do you think this tortoise would rather be dead
  and have its bones preserved as objects of
  veneration, 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. Id rather be
  dragging my tail in the mud.

22
Zhuangzis Theory of Regimen

• Conserve life follow nature
• Pursuing knowledge endlessly is dangerous (31)
• Forget acquired knowledge and develop innate,
  intuitive ability /knowledge
• Fishnet allegory (2613, p.276)
• Cook Ting/Ding allegory (32, pp.26-27)
• emancipation of the lord (35)

23
Forget acquired knowledge

• Zhuangzi 2613 (p.276)
• A fish-trap is for catching fish once youve
  caught the fish, you can forget about the trap. A
  rabbit-snare is for catching rabbits once you
  have caught the rabbit, you can forget about the
  snare. Words are for catching ideas once youve
  caught the ideas, you can forget about the words.
  Where can I find a person who knows how to forget
  about words so that I can have a few words with
  him.

24
Retrieve and Develop innate ability

• Zhuangzi 32 (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 Chief.

25

• 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. In
  accord with natural grain, I sliced at the great
  crevices, lead the blade through the great
  cavities. Following its inherent structure, I
  never

26

• 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 month because hacks.
  Now Ive 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

27

• inserting something without any thickness into
  an empty space, there will certainly be lots of
  room for the blade to play around in. Thats why
  the blade is still as fresh as thought it had
  just come from the grindstone..

28

• Humaneness and righteousness may be core
  Confucian moral values, but from a Daoist view,
  they are nothing but ineffective remedies in a
  degenerated 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)

29
Zhuangzis exemplary men

• Congenitally defective, physically mutilated,
  ugly, deformed, but shinning with Te
• Scattered Apart (47)
• Princely Nag (51)
• Shentu Chia (5 2)
• Toeless Nuncle Hill (5 3)
• Nag the Hump (5 4)
• Lipless Glubfoot Scattered (55)
• Jar Goiter (55)

30
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)

31
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

32
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)

33
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)

34

• 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)

35

• Wander about where things do not disappear
  (nature, way)wandering on the Way, free and easy
  wandering
• Accept ones life as it is to be good at being
  young and good at growing old good at beginning
  and good at ending
• Recognize the inevitable and accept it as ones
  destiny (ZZ, pp. 45, 64-65)
• Understand that death is return to the true

36
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)

37
Heaven/Nature (Tian?)

• Heaven-intoxicated man
• Tian designates the whole scenario of cosmic
  and social functioning, the course of time and
  the pattern of space, or simply natural process
• The position of the sage is the pivot of the
  Dao, the center of the circle

38

• 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

39
Immortality

• Immortality may be possible, but is not the
  primary concern
• Spirit man (13)
• Correct conception of life and death could rid
  one of the fear of mortality
• The ultimate man is spiritous (ZZ, p.21)

40
Mind, Body, and Understanding of Life

• Fasting of the Mind (ZZ 41, p.32)
• Sit and forget (ZZ 69)
• Do what is doable, abandon the world/affairs
• become one with heaven, one with the Tao/Dao (ZZ,
  191)
• guard the purity of ones vital breath (ZZ, 19
  2)

41
Fasting of the mind

• I have nothing further to propose, said Yan
  Hui, 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 its been
  several months since Ive drunk wine or tasted
  meat. May this be considered fasting? This is
  fasting suitable for sacrifices, but it is not
  fasting of the mind.

42

• I venture to ask what fasting of the mind is,
  said Yan Hui.
• Maintaining the unity of your will, said
  Confucius, 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 ones footstep by not walking is
  easy, 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,

43

• it is hard to be false. Ive only heard of
  creatures that fly with wings, never of creatures
  that fly with nonwings. Ive 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
  the mind. Then even ghosts and spirits will take
  shelter with you, not to mention men.

44

• This is how the myriad things are transformed. 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 41, p.32)

45
Sitting in oblivion

• I am making progress, said Yan Hui.
• what do you mean? asked Zhongni.
• I have forgotten humaneness and righteousnes.
• Not bad, but you still havent got it.
• Yan Hui saw Confucius again on another day and
  said, Im making progress.
• What do you mean?
• I have forgotten rites and music.

46

• Not bad, but you still havent got it.
• Yan Hui saw Confucius again on another day and
  said, Im making progress.
• What do you mean?
• I sit and forget. (zuowang, ??)
• What do you mean, sit and forget? Zhongni
  asked with 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 the
  Transformational Thoroughfare. This is what I
  mean by sit and forget.

47

• If you are identical, then you have no
  preferences (wuhao ??). If you are transformed,
  then you have no more constants (wuchang ??).
  Its you who is reallly the worthy one! Please
  permit me to follow you. (ZZ 69, pp.63-64)

48
Acceptance of Fate/Destiny (mìng ?)

• Life and death are destined. Their constant
  alternation, 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 and would sacrifice their very person
  for him. How much more should they be willing to
  do so for what is truer than any lord.

49

• When springs dry up, fish huddle together on the
  land. The blow moisture on each other and keep
  each 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 better
  for people to forget both of them and assimilate
  their ways. (ZZ 62, p.53)

50

• (Mulberry Door and Sir Lute Stretch left the
  corpse of their best friend, Meng Sir Opposite,
  unburied. Confucius heard about Mengs death and
  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?

51

• Zigong went back and reported to Confucius,
  asking, What kind of people are they? They
  cultivate nonbeing and put physical form beyond
  them. They sign in the presence of the corpse
  without the slightest change of expression.
  Theres 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 was
  uncouth of me to have sent you to mourn him.
  Theyre about to become companions of the Creator
  of things, and wander in the unity of the vital
  breath (qi) that joins heaven and earth.

52

• They consider life as an attached cyst, and
  appended tumor, and death as the bursting of a
  boil, the draining of an abscess. Such being the
  case, what do they care about the priority of
  life and death? They lodge in a common body
  composed of diverse elements. They forget their
  inner organs and are oblivious of the sense. Over
  and over turns the seamless cycle of beginning
  and ending. Faraway they are, roaming beyond the
  dust and dirt of the mundane world, carefree in
  the karma their performance of nonaction. So
  how can they be

53

• bothered with worldly rites, merely to look good
  in the eyes of ordinary people!
• Well, sir, asked Zigong, to which realm do you
  adhere?
• I am one of heavens 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,

54

• Mans 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 is a
  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

55
Dream is Reality/Reality is Dream

• Butterfly dream (ZZ 214, p.24)