Zhuang Zhou

Zhuang Zhou (born c. 369 bce, Meng, state of Song [now Shangqiu, Henan province], China—died 286 bce) was the most significant of China’s early interpreters of Daoism, and his eponymous work, the Zhuangzi, is considered to be one of the definitive texts of Daoism. That work is thought to be more comprehensive than the Daodejing, which is attributed to Laozi, the first philosopher of Daoism. Zhuang Zhou’s teachings also exerted a great influence on the development of Chinese Buddhism and had considerable effect on Chinese landscape painting and poetry.

Life

Zhuang Zhou lived during the Warring States period, a time of intense political fragmentation and philosophical flourishing in China. In spite of his importance, details of Zhuang Zhou’s life, apart from the many anecdotes about him in the Zhuangzi itself, are unknown. The “Grand Historian” of the Han dynasty, Sima Qian (died c. 87 bce), incorporated in his biographical sketch of Zhuang Zhou only the most meager information. According to that text, Zhuang Zhou was a native of the city of Meng in the state of Song (now Shanqiu, Henan province), and held a minor official position at Qiyuan in his home state. He lived during the reign of Prince Wei of Chu (died 327 bce) and was therefore a contemporary of Mencius, an eminent Confucian scholar known as China’s “Second Sage.” According to Sima Qian, Zhuang Zhou’s teachings were drawn primarily from the sayings of Laozi, but his perspective was much broader. He used his literary and philosophical skills to refute the Confucians and Mohists (followers of Mozi, who advocated “concern for everyone”).

Zhuang Zhou’s philosophical legacy is encapsulated in the Zhuangzi, also known as Nanhua zhenjing (“The Pure Classic of Nanhua”). About the turn of the 4th century ce Guo Xiang, the first and perhaps the best commentator on the Zhuangzi, established the work as a primary source for Daoist thought. It is composed of 33 chapters, and evidence suggests that there may have been as many as 53 chapters in copies of the book circulated in the 4th century. It is generally agreed that the first seven chapters, the “inner books,” are for the most part from the hand of Zhuang Zhou himself, whereas the “outer books” (chapters 8–22) and the miscellany (chapters 23–33) are largely the product of his later followers. A vivid description of Zhuang Zhou’s character comes from the anecdotes about him in the book’s later chapters.

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Character

Zhuang Zhou appears in these passages as an unpredictable and eccentric sage who seems careless about personal comforts or public esteem. His clothing is shoddy and patched, and his shoes have to be tied to his feet with string in order to keep them from falling apart. Nevertheless, he does not consider himself to be miserable, only poor. When his good friend Hui Shi comes to console him upon the death of his wife, he finds the sage sitting on a mat, singing and beating on a basin. Hui Shi reprimands him, pointing out that such behavior is improper at the death of someone who has lived and grown old with him and has borne him children. Zhuang Zhou replies,

When she died, how could I help being affected? But as I think the matter over, I realize that originally she had no life; and not only no life, she had no form; not only no form, she had no life force (qi). In the limbo of existence and nonexistence, there was transformation, and the life force emerged. The life force was transformed to be form, form was transformed to become life, and now birth has transformed to become death. This is like the rotation of the four seasons, spring, summer, fall, and winter. Now she lies asleep in the great house (the cosmos). For me to go about weeping and wailing would be to show my ignorance of destiny. Therefore, I desist.

When Zhuang Zhou himself was at the point of death, his disciples began to talk about an elaborate burial for him. Zhuang Zhou immediately stopped the discussion by declaring that he did not need the paraphernalia of a great funeral, that nature would be his inner and outer coffin, the sun and the moon his jade rings, and the stars and the planets his jewelry. All creation would make offerings and escort him. He needed no more. Somewhat taken aback, his disciples declared that they were afraid that the crows and the buzzards might eat him. To this the master replied,

Above the ground it’s the crows and the kites who will eat me; below the ground it’s the worms and the ants. What prejudice is this, that you wish to take from the one to give to the other?

Zhuang Zhou’s eccentricities stem directly from his understanding of the processional nature of human experience. Insight for Zhuang Zhou comes with the realization that everything in life is both dynamic and continuous—what he calls dao.

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Philosophy

Zhuang Zhou taught that what can be known or said of the Dao is not the Dao. The Dao has neither initial beginning nor final end nor limitations or demarcations. Life is the ongoing transformation of the Dao, in which there is no better or worse, no good or evil. Things should be allowed to follow their own course, and people should not value one situation over another. A truly virtuous individual is free from the bondage of circumstance, personal attachments, tradition, and the need to reform the world. Zhuang Zhou declined an offer to be prime minister of the state of Chu because he did not want the entanglements of a court career.

The complete relativity of his perspective is forcefully expressed in one of the better-known passages of the Zhuangzi:

Once I, Zhuang Zhou, dreamed that I was a butterfly and was happy as a butterfly. I was conscious that I was quite pleased with myself, but I did not know that I was Zhou. Suddenly I awoke, and there I was, visibly Zhou. I do not know whether it was Zhou dreaming that he was a butterfly or the butterfly dreaming that it was Zhou. Between Zhou and the butterfly there must be some distinction. This is called the transformation of things.

The relativity of all experience is in constant tension in the Zhuangzi with the unity of all things. When asked where the Dao was, Zhuang Zhou replied that it was everywhere. When pushed to be more specific, he declared that it was in ants and, still lower, in weeds and potsherds; furthermore, it was also in excrement and urine. This forceful statement of the omnipresence of the Dao had its parallels in later Chinese Buddhism, in which a similar figure of speech was used to describe the ever-present Buddha (Buddhist scholars, especially those of the Chan [Zen] school, also drew heavily on Zhuang Zhou’s works). Zhuang Zhou was par excellence the philosopher of the unattached individual who is at one with the Dao.