The Wisdom of Zhuang Zi on Daoism: Translated with Annotations and Commentaries by Chung Wu

459 Pages·2008·6.53 MB·English

by  Zhuangzi.

The Wisdom of Zhuang Zi
on Daoism
american
university
studies

Series V
Philosophy

Vol. 201

PETER LANG
New York ! Washington, D.C./Baltimore ! Bern
Frankfurt am Main ! Berlin ! Brussels ! Vienna ! Oxford
The Wisdom of Zhuang Zi
on Daoism

Translated with Annotations
and Commentaries by
Chung Wu

PETER LANG
New York ! Washington, D.C./Baltimore ! Bern
Frankfurt am Main ! Berlin ! Brussels ! Vienna ! Oxford
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zhuangzi.
[Nanhua jing. English]
The wisdom of Zhuang Zi on Daoism : Zhuang Zi /
translated with annotations and commentaries by Chung Wu.
p. cm. — (American University studies V. Philosophy; v. 201)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
I. Wu, Chung. II. Title. III. Title: Zhuang Zi.
BL1900.C5E5 299.5’1482–dc22 2007024358
ISBN 978-1-4331-0078-9
ISSN 0739-6392

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek.
Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data is available
on the Internet at http://dnb.ddb.de/.

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council of Library Resources.

© 2008 Chung Wu
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Contents
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
A An Overview of Schools of Philosophical Thought
in the Pre-Qin Period in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
B The Impact of Political Instability on the Rise of Private
Tutoring System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
C Resurgence of Daoism as a Way to Spiritual Freedom:
The Life and Work of Zhuang Zi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
D A Brief History of the Zhuang Zi
and Plan for the Present Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

I The Inner Series
逍 遙 遊
1 A Leisurely and Blissful Journey [ ] (three sections). . . . . . . 23
齊 物 論
2 On Equality [ ] (seven sections) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
養 生 主
3 Nurturing the Spirit [ ] (three sections) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
人 間 世
4 The Mundane World [ ] (seven sections) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
德 充 符
5 The Fortitude [ ] (six sections) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
大 宗 師
6 The Grand Tutor [ ] (10 sections). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
應 帝 王
7 Governance by Non-Action [ ] (six sections) . . . . . . . . . . . .111
II The Outer Series
駢 拇
8 Webbed Toes [ ] (two sections). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
馬 蹄
9 Horses’ Hoofs [ ] (two sections) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
vi THE WISDOM OF ZHUANG ZI ON DAOISM
胠 篋
10 Stealing Trunks [ ] (two sections) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
在 宥
11 On Being Content and Comfortable [ ] (five sections). . . . . . .145
天 地
12 Heaven and Earth [ ] (14 sections). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159
天 道
13 The Way of Heaven [ ] (eight sections). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177
天 運
14 Heavenly Revolutions [ ] (seven sections). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189
刻 意
15 Sharpening the Will [ ] (three sections). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
繕 性
16 Polishing the Natural Disposition [ ] (three sections). . . . . . .211
秋 水
17 The Autumn Rain [ ] (seven sections) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217
至 樂
18 Extravagance [ ] (six sections). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .231
達 生
19 Understanding Life [ ] (12 sections). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .241
山 木
20 The Mountain Tree [ ] (nine sections) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .253
田 子 方
21 Tian Zifang [ ] (11 sections). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .267
知 北 遊
22 Zhi Wandering North [ ] (11 sections). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
III The Miscellaneous Series
庚 桑 楚
23 Gengsang Chu [ ] (12 sections) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
徐 無 鬼
24 Xu Wugui [ ] (15 sections) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .311
則 陽
25 Zeyang [ ] (11 sections). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .331
外 物
26 Things External [ ] (13 sections). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
寓 言
27 The Allegories [ ] (seven sections). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .359
讓 王
28 Abdication [ ] (15 sections). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .367
盜 跖
29 Zhi, the Brigand [ ] (three sections). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
說 劍
30 A Discourse on Swords [ ] (two sections). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
漁 父
31 The Old Fisherman [ ] (two sections). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
列 禦 寇
32 Lie Yukou [ ] (12 sections) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .413
天 下
33 All Under Heaven [ ] (eight sections). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Epilogue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
Index of Personal Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
Introduction
A. An Overview of Schools of Philosophical Thought
in the Pre-Qin Period in China
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” In the long history of
China, the period from ca. 730 to 221 B.C., known to the historian as the
era of pre-Qin philosophers, stands out as the most prolific and prominent
period in the founding of many leading schools of philosophical thought. I
shall begin with a survey of the more influential schools of thought, each with
its leaders and their central beliefs. As some of them were contemporaries of
Zhuang Zi, formerly Chuang Tzu, he referred to them often in his writings.
The reader will find from time to time the following brief descriptions to be a
useful source of information for easy reference.
The Confucianists. The foremost scholars in this pre-Qin period were the
Confucianists, led by Kong Qiu, better known as Confucius (551–479 B.C.)
and his followers, Meng Ke, better known as Mencius (ca. 380–295 B.C.), and
Xun Qing, also known as Xun Zi1 (ca. 313–221 B.C.).2 Confucianism centers
on ren– the noblest form of love, filial piety, loyalty, and forgiveness. In this
book, many spurious conversations have been written between Confucius and
his disciples and others.
Before Confucius, the mainstream philosophical thought in China was
loosely covered in the term Ru, meaning elegance and scholarship based on the
five classical works, namely the Books of Poetry, History, the Yi, Rites, and
Music. Since Confucius edited these existing classics and elaborated on them,
and founded his own school of philosophical thought, the term Ru has continued
to be used for his teachings in China to this day. “Confucianism” is simply an
English equivalent of Ru and “Confucianist,” an English equivalent of Ru Jia.
2 THE WISDOM OF ZHUANG ZI ON DAOISM
The Daoists.3 Undoubtedly, Lao Dan, better known as Lao Zi (b. ca. 571
B.C.), was the founder of Daoism. His ideas, as presented in the Dao De Jing,
were so original and revolutionary that we do not know where they came from.
The center of his teachings is: Live by the law of nature. According to Chap-
ter 33:54 near the end of this book, there was a man named Guan Yin at the
time of Lao Zi. But nothing about him has passed down to us. There is a book
called the Guan Yin Zi, but it is an outright forgery. Adding to the confusion
is the fact that the two characters guan yin mean the title of an officer of a pass
at that time. A story tells when Lao Zi resigned his office as an archivist of the
Zhou dynasty, he intended to leave the capital city and go to a land of wilder-
ness. As he traveled through a pass, its guan yin asked if he would like to leave
some words to posterity. Lao Zi obliged and wrote what is now known as the
Dao De Jing, and then disappeared. That is why his death date is unknown to
us. We have the insolvable conundrum in this case whether guan yin could be
the title of a pass officer who had spoken to Lao Zi or the personal name of a
presumed Daoist or both.
A little later than Lao Zi, there was Lie Yukou, also known as Lie Zi,
who lived in the fifth century, B.C. Unfortunately, most of his writings were
lost. What is available to us is a collection of parts of his thought. About two
hundred years later, came Zhuang Zhou, also known as Zhuang Zi (369–286
B.C.). As we shall see soon, Zhuang Zi quoted Lao Zi’s words many times in
his writings. He also mentioned Lie Zi from time to time in his book, such as
Chapters 1:1, 7:5, 21:9, and 32:1. We do not know of any other Daoist of fame
who lived between the time of Lao Zi, Lie Zi, and Zhuang Zi. At this time in
history, Daoist ideas were greatly overshadowed by Confucianism. Not until
five hundred years later, did Daoist teachings gain some respectful attentions
under the pen of Wang Bi (34), who annotated the Dao De Jing of Lao Zi. The
first annotation of the Zhuang Zi came a little later (see below).
The Mohists.5 What we now know of Mohism comes from the Mo Zi, a
compilation of the philosophy of Mo Di6 (ca. 490–403 B.C.). Qin Guli was a
better-known disciple; others were Sui Chao and Hu Fei. Mohism preaches
love without distinction and is against any offensive war. The Mohists were
energetic practitioners of their belief. They were a group of ordinary people,
well organized and well disciplined. They toiled tirelessly, often beyond their
physical strength, to dissuade warring kings from committing cruelty to the
common people. They were second in number only to the Confucianists.
Hence, in this period, Confucianism, Daoism, and Mohism formed the three
Introduction 3
legs of a tripod of the major philosophical thought of China. However, by the
end of the pre-Qin period, Mohism had lost most of its influence.
The Legalists. One of the earliest was Guan Zhong (ca.720–645 B.C.).
He was prime minister of the Qi State. The book, Guan Zi, is a collection of
essays on political matters presumed to have come from his ideas, if not his
pen. Confucius had kind words about his administration. Deng Xi (d. 501
B.C.) practiced law and was well known for his schemes and tricks in argu-
ing his cases in court. For the latter, he is considered by some historians to be
a logician. Later, Gongsun Yang, also known as Shang Yang (d. 338 B.C.),
Shen Buhai (d. 337 B.C.), Han Fei (ca. 280–233 B.C.) also known as Han Fei
Zi, and Li Si (d. 208 B.C.) were prominent in this period. All of them were
deeply involved in politics as a means of experimenting and executing their
own favorite policies in serving their princes, but at the same time making
numerous enemies within the establishment. Some of them were executed
after their mentor princes died. More than administrators, they were also
authors, especially Han Fei, a prince by birth, who summarized the contem-
porary legal thought in a book bearing his name, the Han Fei Zi.
The Logicians. The most prominent in this school were Hui Shi (ca. 370–300
B.C.), also known as Hui Zi, and Gongsun Long (b. ca. 340 B.C.), also known
as Gongsun Long Zi. Both of them were contemporaries of Zhuang Zi. Unfor-
tunately, Hui Shi’s writings were completely lost. What we now know of his
famous ten propositions comes from a section in Chapter 33 of this book. For
example, he wrote, “Heaven is as low as earth and mountains are at the same
level as wetlands. The moment the sun reaches its zenith, it reaches its nadir; the
moment a living thing is being born, it is dying.” Gongsun Long was famous for
his two arguments: a white horse is not a horse and a stone may not be called
white and hard at the same time. Apparently, some people talented in eloquence
developed the art of sophistry to the fullest and applied it to political and mili-
tary maneuvers to fulfill personal ambitions in such an extraordinary, turbulent
period. Read what follows.
The Framers of the Vertical and Horizontal Axis. Near the end of the Warring
States period, China was ruled by seven feudal states, the strongest being the
Qin State.What the other six weaker states should do to avoid being conquered
by Qin was of paramount importance to them. Of course, a combination of
the natural resources, manpower, and land areas of the six states exceeded by
far those of Qin. Could the six ruling princes agree on one single strategy?
First came Su Qin (d. 316 B.C.), a unifier of the six states against the Qin