Introduction to Zhuangzi's Philosophy: What Does Zhuangzi Want to Tell Us and What Does His "Dao" Refer to?

What is the "Dao"(道) of the Chinese pre-Qin "Daoist" school(道家)? Literally, it means "way" or "path". But this is too abstract. What does it refer to, and how can we understand it? In this episode, we will explore the great Dao that belongs to all living beings from the perspective of Zhuangzi. If we separate the concept of "Dao" into "Tian Dao" (天道，the way of heaven) and "Ren Dao" (人道，the way of human beings), we can roughly understand the outline of the Dao. The so-called "Tian Dao" refers to the way in which the universe and all things operate. Although we cannot directly see it, there should be a trajectory of change and movement over a long period of time. We cannot explain what force is maintaining the operation of this world, but we can try to understand the way and trajectory of social operation. Laozi called this the The Way of Heaven.

The so-called "the Way of Human Beings” refers to the operating system of human society. Whether it is a slave society or a feudal society, they all have their own system. Therefore, Laozi(老子) discovered through comparing "Heavenly Dao" and "Human Dao": "Heavenly Dao" is very stable - the sun rises every day, and the night always falls. The cycle of growth, destruction, and regeneration has been going on for countless years and there is no sign of stopping; however, humanity is different. Its system has a lot of loopholes and collapses after only a hundred years of operation. The reason for its collapse is that people's distribution of benefits is too unbalanced and still follows the law of the jungle where the strong prey on the weak. Therefore, Laozi proposed the concept of "Dao" and told rulers to follow "Heavenly Dao".

From this we can see that "Dao" is different from the "laws" or "rules" that Western philosophers are interested in. The "laws" or "rules" themselves are static and unchanging, supporting the movement and change of other things behind the scenes; while the "Dao" itself is constantly changing - the only thing that is always the same is that it is always changing. People can follow it, but cannot fully predict it, and can only adapt their behavior according to the changes of the "Dao" and choose their own way of acting.

Due to the inherent human tendency to seek profit and avoid harm, all actions must consider personal interests, especially for rulers who tend to view the country as their own possession and forget the people who make up the country. This leads to the concept of "governing by inaction" - rulers should avoid acting according to their own nature and instead obey and follow the natural order of the world. Their actions should appear effortless and reactive rather than deliberate and proactive. Therefore, Laozi's philosophy is the way for rulers, and his concept of inaction is the way for kings.

However, Yang Zhu, who followed closely behind, was different. Although he also inherited the moral philosophy, he did not hold any hope for rulers. He believed that the essence of emperors and kings was to exploit the people and would not share their benefits with the poor. They governed the world with the literati and divided the interests of the people. So, forget about shining the sunlight on the moon, they would probably set up a charging board at night to absorb the moonlight, not giving any to the sun. How could this achieve balance? Therefore, Yang Zhu(杨朱) proposed that he would not do anything harmful to the world, but he would also not do anything beneficial to the world. If everyone could be like him and not say those empty words for the world and the people, and could purely focus on themselves, how could there be wars in the world?

Yang Zhu's viewpoint may sound too selfish, but we should understand that ordinary people do not have the ability to take over the world. Yang Zhu's "Dao" is the "Dao" of the noble class. He believed that rulers alone cannot truly control the people, and it is the noble class that causes imbalance in human society. These people always treat the common people like rulers, claiming to care for them but in reality, they are corrupt and unjust.

Next is Zhuangzi(庄子). When he was young, he was also proficient in various schools of thought and had served as a minor official. The King of Chu and Wei wanted to appoint Zhuangzi as his prime minister, but Zhuangzi said that there were two types of cattle in the world: one was a fat and strong cattle that was being raised in the royal garden, waiting to be sacrificed and slaughtered; the other was a nameless and carefree cattle that wandered freely in the plains and fields. He would rather roll in the mud in the fields than become a plaything in the palace. Later, the state of Song where he lived fell into chaos, and the royal family was torn apart. Zhuangzi resigned from his official position and began to focus on Daoist thought. From then on, he lived in extreme poverty, living in a thatched hut and spending his time farming and weaving straw shoes. He would also go to the river to catch fish. However, despite this seemingly poor lifestyle to outsiders, Zhuangzi lived a carefree and contented life.

Zhuangzi didn't have many friends in his life, and only had two close confidants. Apart from his wife, who worked with him on the farm, the other was Huizi(惠子, a key figure in Zhuangzi’s books), who debated with him in the wilderness. In 312 B.C., two years after his wife's death, Huizi also passed away, and from then on, Zhuangzi began to write books and teach his ideas. In 369 B.C., Zhuangzi passed away at the age of 84, and before his death, he specifically instructed his disciples not to give him a lavish funeral. He disappeared into the mountains and returned to the great “Dao” amidst the wild grass.

Zhuangzi was a very strange person. He could have enjoyed wealth and power, but instead chose to live a simple life. Why did he do this? He not only didn't fit in with his own time, but would also be very lonely if he lived in today's world. To understand Zhuangzi's carefree attitude, we first need to understand the pain he saw in the world.

During Laozi’s lifetime, when the power of the Zhou king (the "son of heaven" that all the various states in China followed) was just beginning to decline, and there was not yet the bloody hatred and frequent warfare between the states. Therefore, he still held hope for the rulers of the various states.

Yang Zhu was born after this period saw that at that time, the warring states frequently invaded and directly annexed other countries, and the wars increased. At this time, the nobles held important positions in the war because they possessed the skills of driving war chariots and shooting arrows, and military leaders also emerged from the nobility. Therefore, he gave up persuading the monarchs and placed his hopes on the nobles of the world.

However, what Zhuangzi saw was different from them. In his time, wars of extermination were already very common. He found that people were not afraid of exploitation, but afraid that they were not the ones doing the exploiting. He was clearer than Laozi and Yang Zhu that it was people themselves who created the loopholes in the "Dao of Human" system. The monarch did not care about the lives of the people, and the nobles did not care about conquest. The upper class pursued power while the lower class pursued profit, and everyone lived in a huge cage.

Therefore, Zhuangzi said that from birth, people are forced and actively involved in a frantic struggle for limited resources. Those around them become objects of comparison, and even familial relationships are determined by interests. They seem to forget that they are waiting for their own demise. They know that this kind of life is problematic, but they have no way to stop it. They spend their lives being controlled by external forces, their bodies gradually deteriorating from prolonged labor, and their spirits already exhausted. No one truly lives their life for themselves.

Zhuangzi believed that those who appear to have ability are like ferocious wild beasts. They may be incredibly fast, but they cannot avoid the hunter's trap no matter how much they twist and turn, and they will eventually return to chaos. Zhuangzi said that life is finite, but knowledge is infinite. It is impossible to find answers to everything in the infinite world with our limited life. In other words, our limited life and intelligence determine that it is impossible to rely on knowledge to understand everything in the world.

The "Inner Chapters" of the book "Zhuangzi" discuss various aspects of human life. The first chapter, "Free and Easy Wandering," talks about how people live too hurriedly and cannot achieve freedom and ease. The second chapter, "On the Equality of Things," discusses how people always compare and only pursue good and reject bad, which traps them and makes them forget what they truly need. The third chapter, "Nourishing the Lord of Life," talks about how people often harm their bodies and minds instead of protecting and strengthening themselves. The fourth chapter, "Man in the World of Men," discusses how people stubbornly believe in their own views and are unwilling to open their eyes to the world. The fifth chapter, "The Sign of Virtue Complete," discusses the hypocrisy of human nature, while the sixth chapter, "The Great and Venerable Teacher," talks about the limitations of humanity. The seventh chapter, "Responding to the Emperor," discusses the confusion people have about their lives. Many people find "Zhuangzi" to be pessimistic and negative because it exposes the problems of life so thoroughly that those who are suffering can find a way to escape, while those who are happy can easily feel pain when they see the difficulties and absurdities of life. However, I believe that pessimism and negativity are not the core of Zhuangzi's philosophy; he is concerned with how to confront the negative aspects of the world.

Unlike Laozi and Yang Zhu, Zhuangzi understood the pain of ordinary people more deeply. Most people's confusion and sorrow are caused by their lack of wealth and power, so he starts with this point. He said that worldly success is nothing more than these two things: wealth and power. Perhaps even Zhuangzi did not expect that after 2000 years, this kind of success would become cars and houses. In any case, achieving this kind of success can gain the recognition of people around you, and it can conform to the wishes of rulers and authorities. But in essence, this worldly success depends on the opinions of family members, friends, neighbors, and the opposite sex. It is a kind of comparison. If I live better than most people, I am happy. If I live worse than them, I am sad. These people never believe in themselves and desperately need external recognition, placing their happiness in others.

Of course, there are also people who do not care about external honor or disgrace, who are not bound by morality, and who can distinguish between internal and external differences. They will not deliberately change their actions because of external voices. Such people naturally do not need to rely on others for happiness. Zhuangzi believes that true morality is not behavior praised by others, but should be a natural state. Otherwise, the morality we admire can easily become hypocritical: for example, I do not really want to give it to you, but because I am afraid of others' comments, I give it to you; I do not really want to help others, but I am afraid of being accused of being selfish, so I help others. Such insincere behavior can only lead to hypocrisy, and can bring unexpected dangers and people's pain.

Similarly, no one is born with the ideal of power and wealth, of houses and cars. These are all "Dao of Humans" shaped by society, and most people are simply forced to participate in it. Therefore, Zhuangzi said that life is not really that painful, but rather we are seeking pain. People cannot distinguish between the boundaries of the inner and outer worlds, always wanting the external world to conform to their inner wishes. In other words, we only live in the world constructed by our own views, stubbornly believing that what we think is right, which leads to the external world never being able to match our inner world. Therefore, regardless of poverty or wealth, high or low, every person has their own suffering.

Therefore, Zhuangzi, like Laozi and Yang Zhu, hopes to follow the "way of heaven". However, Zhuangzi's "way of heaven" is not the "way of the universe's operation", but the "natural and innate way": to be oneself as one should be, that is, the way the world originally shaped you, and to avoid the one-sided views that society, comprised of ordinary people with limited knowledge and inflated desires, imposes on you, so that you can live comfortably.

Acknowledgements

The contents were originally delivered in a video by "Bai Tong Xue You"（白同学呦）on bilibili.com in 2020. Original video was in Chinese.

Original video link: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1ns4y1H7VJ/?spm_id_from=333.337.search-card.all.click&vd_source=bf8d08bee6615a0faf0d7180ef4d0969

This version is translated by CathayViews Studio, partly assisted by ChatGPT. We re-written some paragraphs and added some supplements to make Zhuangzi's idea easier to understand for Foreigners.

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