So who is Zhuangzi or Chuang Tzu and how have his writings formed part of the basis for what is called philosophical Taoism? I made a quick perusal of the internet and offer these brief snippets as a way of introduction.
Chuang Tzu: The Next Voice
Chuang Tzu (399 - 295 B.C.) has always been an influential Chinese philosopher. His writing is at once transcendental while at the same time being deeply immersed within everyday life. He is at peace while at the same time moving through the world. There is a deep vein of mysticism within him which is illuminated by his very rational nature. His style of writing with its parables and conversations both accessible while at the same time pointing to deeper issues.
Chuang Tzu took the Taoist position of Lao Tzu and developed it further. He took Lao Tzu's mystical leanings and perspectives and made them transcendental. His understanding of virtue (te) as Tao individualized in the nature of things is much more developed and clearly stated. There is also a greater and more exact attention to Nature and the human place within it which also leads to his greater emphasis on the individual.
A very interesting and new notion which he brought into Chinese philosophy is that of self-transformation as a central precept in the Taoist process (an understanding that has also penetrated to the heart of Tai Chi Chuan). He believed in life as dynamic and ever changing, making him akin to both Heraclitus and Hegel in these regards. In general, our contemporary understanding of Taoist philosophy is deeply predicated on a very thorough intermingling of the ideas of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu.
Chuang Tzu believed that life is transitory and that the pursuit of wealth and personal aggrandizement were vain follies, which distracted from seeing and understanding the world and contemplating its meaning...
Cosma Rohilla Shalizi -- Carnegie Mellon University
"Chuang Tzu'' means "Master Chuang''; his personal name was Chou, and he was a Taoist philosopher of the fourth century BC, contemporary with Plato and Aristotle. He was, according to the Records of the Historian, from a place called Meng, where he was "an official in the lacquer garden.'' (No one is very sure what that means.) China at the time was fragmented into a number of incessantly-fighting kingdoms --- the era is known as the "Warring States Period'' --- and it is thought that Meng was in the state of Sung. Chuang Chou is also recorded as being a member of the Chi-Hsia academy maintained by the larger and more advanced state of Ch'i, along with many of his most famous philosophical contemporaries, like Mencius and Hui Shih. Beyond this, we know exactly nothing about the life of Chuang Chou.
We don't even know that he composed the book that bears his name. Some of the book is brilliant; some is dreadfully dreary; the last chapter describes Chuang Tzu as one among many other philosophers. The book Chuang Tzu may be the work of several hands, or one person with off days, and a fondness for speaking about himself in the third person. The first seven, or "inner'' chapters, are traditionally regarded as genuine, and certainly are extremely good...
Taoism Initiation Page
We know fewer things about Chuang-tzu than we do about Lao-tzu. The main source of information is once again the historian Ssu-ma Ch'ien.
Chuang-tzu was born in today's Ho-nan province, in the village of Wei. He occupied a minor position in the administrative office of Ch'i-yuan. Apparently, he was a contemporary of Mencius, but what is peculiar is, in fact, that these two great polemists never met each other . Ssu-ma Ch'ien writes about Chuan-tzu:
Chuang Tzu: The Next Voice
Chuang Tzu (399 - 295 B.C.) has always been an influential Chinese philosopher. His writing is at once transcendental while at the same time being deeply immersed within everyday life. He is at peace while at the same time moving through the world. There is a deep vein of mysticism within him which is illuminated by his very rational nature. His style of writing with its parables and conversations both accessible while at the same time pointing to deeper issues.
Chuang Tzu took the Taoist position of Lao Tzu and developed it further. He took Lao Tzu's mystical leanings and perspectives and made them transcendental. His understanding of virtue (te) as Tao individualized in the nature of things is much more developed and clearly stated. There is also a greater and more exact attention to Nature and the human place within it which also leads to his greater emphasis on the individual.
A very interesting and new notion which he brought into Chinese philosophy is that of self-transformation as a central precept in the Taoist process (an understanding that has also penetrated to the heart of Tai Chi Chuan). He believed in life as dynamic and ever changing, making him akin to both Heraclitus and Hegel in these regards. In general, our contemporary understanding of Taoist philosophy is deeply predicated on a very thorough intermingling of the ideas of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu.
Chuang Tzu believed that life is transitory and that the pursuit of wealth and personal aggrandizement were vain follies, which distracted from seeing and understanding the world and contemplating its meaning...
Cosma Rohilla Shalizi -- Carnegie Mellon University
"Chuang Tzu'' means "Master Chuang''; his personal name was Chou, and he was a Taoist philosopher of the fourth century BC, contemporary with Plato and Aristotle. He was, according to the Records of the Historian, from a place called Meng, where he was "an official in the lacquer garden.'' (No one is very sure what that means.) China at the time was fragmented into a number of incessantly-fighting kingdoms --- the era is known as the "Warring States Period'' --- and it is thought that Meng was in the state of Sung. Chuang Chou is also recorded as being a member of the Chi-Hsia academy maintained by the larger and more advanced state of Ch'i, along with many of his most famous philosophical contemporaries, like Mencius and Hui Shih. Beyond this, we know exactly nothing about the life of Chuang Chou.
We don't even know that he composed the book that bears his name. Some of the book is brilliant; some is dreadfully dreary; the last chapter describes Chuang Tzu as one among many other philosophers. The book Chuang Tzu may be the work of several hands, or one person with off days, and a fondness for speaking about himself in the third person. The first seven, or "inner'' chapters, are traditionally regarded as genuine, and certainly are extremely good...
Taoism Initiation Page
We know fewer things about Chuang-tzu than we do about Lao-tzu. The main source of information is once again the historian Ssu-ma Ch'ien.
Chuang-tzu was born in today's Ho-nan province, in the village of Wei. He occupied a minor position in the administrative office of Ch'i-yuan. Apparently, he was a contemporary of Mencius, but what is peculiar is, in fact, that these two great polemists never met each other . Ssu-ma Ch'ien writes about Chuan-tzu:
Chuang had made himself well acquainted with all the literature of his time, but preferred the views of Lao-tzu, and ranked himself among his followers, so that of the more than ten myriads of characters contained in his published writings the greater part are occupied with metaphorical illustrations of Lao's doctrines.
Even more, Chuang-tzu becomes an indefatigable critic of Confucius and of his disciples. His critical work brilliantly combines satire and sophism.
Scientific Pantheism
From a literary point of view the Chuang Tzu is one of the richest texts in all of philosophy. At times the language has a diamond-like density in which every word counts. At times it is extended, full of dialogues, parables, stories, examples and images based on the whole of human life from low to high, and on natural phenomena.
The book was probably written by a number of followers of Chuang Tzu. It expresses a deeply compassionate insight into human weaknesses and sufferings, and a refreshing concern with common folk and the poor which is unusual in ancient texts.
Chuang Tzu was a full precursor of scientific pantheism. Like Heraklitus he accepted the reality of constant flux, and the full reality of physical death. Like most Chinese philosophers he did not believe in an afterlife.
He did not believe in any creator God, or any God at all in the Western sense. But he did believe in an underlying Tao, Way or One, from which the Heaven and Earth derived. This One transfused everything in the universe from the lowest to the highest.
The individual could attain mystical unity with this One by achieving complete emptiness or - a timeless state free of worries or selfish desires, open to impressions but transcending all individual material objects.
Much of the Chuang Tzu focuses on the benefits of inaction. On this it followed the Tao-te-Ching, but took its philosophy to extremes. People should abandon concern for fame, power and wealth and follow a simple life. They should distrust ethical and political schemes and follow their instincts....
Scientific Pantheism
From a literary point of view the Chuang Tzu is one of the richest texts in all of philosophy. At times the language has a diamond-like density in which every word counts. At times it is extended, full of dialogues, parables, stories, examples and images based on the whole of human life from low to high, and on natural phenomena.
The book was probably written by a number of followers of Chuang Tzu. It expresses a deeply compassionate insight into human weaknesses and sufferings, and a refreshing concern with common folk and the poor which is unusual in ancient texts.
Chuang Tzu was a full precursor of scientific pantheism. Like Heraklitus he accepted the reality of constant flux, and the full reality of physical death. Like most Chinese philosophers he did not believe in an afterlife.
He did not believe in any creator God, or any God at all in the Western sense. But he did believe in an underlying Tao, Way or One, from which the Heaven and Earth derived. This One transfused everything in the universe from the lowest to the highest.
The individual could attain mystical unity with this One by achieving complete emptiness or - a timeless state free of worries or selfish desires, open to impressions but transcending all individual material objects.
Much of the Chuang Tzu focuses on the benefits of inaction. On this it followed the Tao-te-Ching, but took its philosophy to extremes. People should abandon concern for fame, power and wealth and follow a simple life. They should distrust ethical and political schemes and follow their instincts....
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