Dull and unwitting, they have no desire; this is called uncarved simplicity. In uncarved simplicity, the people attain their true nature.

If three men are traveling along and one is confused, they will still get where they are going—because confusion is in the minority. Goldin, Paul R. (2001). "The Thirteen Classics". In Mair, Victor H. (ed.). The Columbia History of Chinese Literature. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 86-96. ISBN 0-231-10984-9. What starts out being sincere usually ends up being deceitful. What was simple in the beginning acquires monstrous proportions in the end. He who knows what it is that Heaven does, and knows what it is that man does, has reached the peak. Knowing what it is that Heaven does, he lives with Heaven. Knowing what it is that man does, he uses the knowledge of what he knows to help out the knowledge of what he doesn’t know and lives out the years that Heaven gave him without being cut off midway—this is the perfection of knowledge. However, there is a difficulty. Knowledge must wait for something before it can be applicable, and that which it waits for is never certain. between us and the course(es) of nature. 4.2 The Conceptual Foci of Chinese Daoist Normative TheorizingVictor H. Mair (1994), Wandering on the Way: Early Taoist Tales and Parables of Chuang Tzu, New York: Bantam Books; republished (1997), Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Where there is acceptability, there must be unacceptability; where there is unacceptability, there must be acceptability. Where there is recognition of right, there must be recognition of wrong; where there is recognition of wrong, there must be recognition of right. Therefore the sage does not proceed in such a way but illuminates all in the light of Heaven. Mair, Victor H. (1998). " Chuang-tzu". In Nienhauser, William (ed.). The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, Volume 2. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp.20–26. ISBN 0-253-33456-X. (Google Books)

in Japanese) Kiyoshi Akatsuka 赤塚志 (1977), Sōshi 荘子 [Zhuangzi], in Zenshaku kanbun taikei 全釈漢文大系 [Fully Interpreted Chinese Literature Series], vols. 16-17, Tokyo: Shūeisha. The Zhuangzi is presented as the collected works of a man named Zhuang Zhou, who is customarily known by the title "Zhuangzi" ( 莊子; "Master Zhuang"). Almost nothing is concretely known of Zhuangzi's life. He is usually said to have been born around 369BC in the state of Song, in a place called Meng ( 蒙) near present-day Shangqiu, Henan, and is supposed to have died around either 301, 295, or 286BC. [1] He is thought to have spent time in the southern state of Chu, as well as in the Qi capital of Linzi. [2] The Han-era Records of the Grand Historian includes a biography of Zhuangzi, but it seems to have been sourced mostly from the Zhuangzi itself. [3] The American scholar Burton Watson concluded: "Whoever Zhuang Zhou was, the writings attributed to him bear the stamp of a brilliant and original mind." [4] In spite of this relative popularity, however, Daoism was gradually overshadowed by Confucianism, which won official recognition from the Han emperor toward the end of the second century BCE and was declared the orthodox philosophy of the state, with a government university set up in the capital to teach its doctrines to prospective officials. This did not mean that Daoist writings were in any way suppressed. People were still free to read and study them, and we may be sure that educated men of the Han continued to savour the literary genius of Zhuangzi and Laozi as they had in the past. It simply meant that Daoist writings were not accorded any official recognition as the basis for decisions on state and public affairs. According to some interpretations, this conversation represents Zhuangzi’s view that Yan Hui should not get involved in the politics of Wei. However, I argue that this is a partial reading: the conversation really aims to show how Yan Hui can be in politics while following the Way (道). ‘Confucius’ does not really reject Yan Hui’s being in politics itself, but instead warns against Yan Hui’s original mindset. It is dangerous and useless to remonstrate the ruler with all his moral indoctrinations, hoping to reform politics according to some ideal. In fact, Zhuangzi’s ‘Confucius’ is rejecting the Confucian approach to politics, because it is against the crucial principle of non-action.

Customer reviews

Graham, A. C. (1981). Chuang-tzu, The Seven Inner Chapters and Other Writings From the Book Chuang-tzu. London: George Allen and Unwin. ISBN 0-04-299013-0. Master Lai said, “A child, obeying his father and mother, goes wherever he is told, east or west, south or north. And the yin and yang— how much more are they to a man than father or mother! Now that they have brought me to the verge of death, if I should refuse to obey them, how perverse I would be! What fault is it of theirs? The Great Clod burdens me with form, labors me with life, eases me in old age, and rests me in death. So if I think well of my life, for the same reason I must think well of my death. When a skilled smith is casting metal, if the metal should leap up and say, ‘I insist on being made into a Moye!’ he would surely regard it as very inauspicious metal indeed. Now, having had the audacity to take on human form once, if I should say, ‘I don’t want to be anything but a man! Nothing but a man!’ the Creator would surely regard me as a most inauspicious sort of person. So now I think of heaven and earth as a great furnace, and the Creator as a skilled smith. Where could he send me that would not be all right? I will go off to sleep peacefully, and then with a start, I will wake up.” It is generally agreed that the seven “inner chapters,” all of which are translated here, constitute the heart of the Zhuangzi. They contain all the important ideas, are written in a brilliant and distinctive—though difficult— style, and are probably the earliest in date, though so far no way has been found to prove this last assumption.

Since Laozi, the Daoists have always rejected action (为) and championed non-action – active actions are ineffective and would cause harm, while non-action is in accordance with the Way. As per the interpretation of Guo Xiang, the collector of the Zhuangzi, to follow nature is ‘non-action,’ while all artificial/civil desires and changes belong to ‘action.’ ‘Confucius’ opposes Yan Hui’s original plan because he believes that Yan Hui has not yet understood the Way and is motivated by fame and glory – all his policies, plans, and teachings are actions that can achieve nothing. Said Lao Dan. “ If the Way could be presented, there is no man who would not present it to his ruler. If the Way could be offered, there is no man who would not offer it to his parents. If the Way could be reported, there is no man who would not report it to his brothers. If the Way could be bequeathed, there is no man who would not bequeath it to his heirs. But it cannot—and for none other than the following reason: If there is no host on the inside to receive it, it will not stay; if there is no mark on the outside to guide it, it will not go. If what is brought forth from the inside is not received on the outside, then the sage will not bring it forth. If what is taken in from the outside is not received by a host on the inside, the sage will not entrust it. After Carpenter Shi had returned home, the oak tree appeared to him in a dream and said, “What are you comparing me with? Are you comparing me with those useful trees? The cherry apple, the pear, the orange, the citron, the rest of those fructiferous trees and shrubs—as soon as their fruit is ripe, they are torn apart and subjected to abuse. Traces of the Zhuangzi 's influence in late Warring States period philosophical texts such as the Guanzi, Han Feizi, Huainanzi, and Lüshi Chunqiu suggest that Zhuangzi's intellectual lineage was already fairly influential in the states of Qi and Chu in the 3rd centuryBC. [9] During the Qin and Han dynasties—with their state-sponsored Legalist and Confucian ideologies, respectively—the Zhuangzi does not seem to have been highly regarded. [9] One exception is Han dynasty scholar Jia Yi's 170BC work " Fu on the Owl" ( 鵩鳥賦; Fúniǎo fù), the earliest definitively known fu rhapsody, which does not reference the Zhuangzi by name but cites it for one-sixth of the poem. [39] Confucius said, “Make your will one! Don’t listen with your ears, listen with your mind. No, don’t listen with your mind, but listen with your spirit.The best way to approach Zhuangzi, I believe, is not to attempt to subject his thought to rational and systematic analysis , but to read and reread his words until one has ceased to think of what he is saying and instead has developed an intuitive sense of the mind moving behind the words, and of the world in which it moves.

He maintains a state that Zhuangzi refers to as wuwei, or inaction, meaning by this term not a forced quietude but a course of action that is not founded on purposeful motives of gain or striving. In such a state, all human actions become as spontaneous and mindless as those of the natural world. Man becomes one with Nature, or Heaven, as Zhuangzi calls it, and merges himself with Dao, or the Way, the underlying unity that embraces man, Nature, and all that is in the universe.Fame is something to beat people down with, and wisdom is a device for wrangling. Both are evil weapons—not the sort of thing to bring you success. Though your virtue may be great and your good faith unassailable, if you do not understand men’s spirits, though your fame may be wide and you do not strive with others, if you do not understand men’s minds but instead appear before a tyrant and force him to listen to sermons on benevolence and righteousness, measures and standards— this is simply using other men’s bad points to parade your own excellence. You will be called a plaguer of others. He who plagues others will be plagued in turn. You will probably be plagued by this man.