Source of works
From Zhuangzi's Master of Health Preservation. This is an article about keeping in good health. "Health Master" is the key to health. Zhuangzi believes that the way to keep fit is to conform to nature, forget your feelings and not be trapped by foreign things. Zhuangzi advocated "knowledge/ignorance", that is, knowledge should be clearly distinguished instead of simply saying "the more the better" or "the less the better". By the way, the more you know, the better; By the way, the less you know, the better Therefore, seeking knowledge is not only a process of increasing knowledge, but also a process of identifying whether the acquired knowledge conforms to Tao and eliminating the knowledge that does not conform to Tao. The "Tao" here can be understood as truth.
original work
My life is limited, but so is my knowledge. With the limit, there is no limit, and it is almost there; Knowing what you already know is almost enough. Good has no near name, and evil has no near punishment. The Governor thinks that classics can preserve our health, nurture our life, support our loved ones and last for several years.
My skilled hands, my shoulders, my feet, my knees and my knife are all in harmony. The dance combined with mulberry forest is a chance for quiet life.
Wen said, "Hey! Very good! Is that all? " My master put a knife on him and said, "I am good at what I do, and my technology is advanced." When the first minister solved the cow, he saw nothing but the cow. I haven't seen all the cows for three years. At this time, I met God, not my eyes, and I was responsible for what Zhi Zhi wished to do. According to heaven, nature is a big criticism and a big lesson. Technology and experience are not bad, but the situation is very bad! A good man is a better cutter; There are many knives and many folds in the family month. Today, I killed thousands of cows with my sword for nineteen years, but if the blade is new. He who has a knot has a room, and he who has a blade has no thickness. Without thickness, there is room for recovery. 19 years, the blade is new. Although, as for the competition, I think it is difficult, it is a warning that it is too late to act now. The knife is small, and the solution has been solved, such as land. " Stand with a knife, look around, be ambitious about it, and hide it with a good knife. "Wen Huijun said," good! "I have listened to my master, so I can stay healthy."
Seeing the right teacher, Wen Wenxuan was surprised and said, "Who is it? Is it evil? Heaven and man? " "Heaven is not human. Heaven is born unique, and people's appearance is both. Therefore, it is known that it is inhuman. "
Zepheasant pecks every ten steps and drinks every hundred steps, leaving no livestock in the van. Although God is king, he is not good.
Dead, Qin hung up and came out in three days. Disciple said, "Is it evil not to be friends with Master?" Said, "Of course." "However, what's the point?" Said, "of course. At first I thought he was a man, but now he is not. Hanging to me, there are old people crying, such as crying their sons; Crying less is like crying mom. If he knew, someone would have cried without saying anything. This is the punishment for escaping from heaven when you forget your suffering. At the right time, so is the master; Appropriate, the master is also suitable. " In times of peace, sorrow and joy cannot enter. The ancients called it the solution of the emperor county. "
It means that poverty is the wage, fire is spreading, and I don't know what to do.
Translation of works
Human life is limited, but knowledge is infinite. Pursuing infinite knowledge with limited life will inevitably lead to exhaustion, so it is really dangerous to continue pursuing knowledge! Do what the world calls good without coveting fame and fortune, and do what the world calls evil without facing the humiliation of punishment. Follow the righteousness of nature, as a constant method to conform to things, so as to protect themselves, preserve their nature, and let their parents have no worries and enjoy the rest of their lives.
When the chef slaughters cattle for Wen, the place where his hand touches, the place where his shoulder leans, the place where his foot steps and the place where his knee leans all make a creaking sound, and the brushing sound when he quickly enters the knife is like a beautiful musical melody, which conforms to the rhythm of mulberry dance and the music rhythm of the first song.
Wen Huijun said, "Hey, how nice! How did technology reach such a superb level? " The chef put down the knife and replied, "What I like is to explore the laws of things, which is a step further than ordinary technology and skills." When I started to decompose the cow, I only saw a whole cow. A few years later, I never saw the whole cow again. Now, I only touch with my mind, not with my eyes. The senses of my eyes seem to have stopped, and the spiritual world is still running. According to the natural physiological structure of cattle, strike at the big gap between muscle and bone, aim the knife at the big gap between joints, and dissect along the natural structure of cattle; I have never collided with the place where the meridians converge and the flesh and blood are closely connected, let alone those big bones! Excellent chefs change a knife every year because they are cutting meat with a knife; Ordinary chefs change a knife every month because they are cutting bones with a knife. Now I have used this knife for 19 years, and killed thousands of cows. The blade is as sharp as if it had just been ground from a grindstone. There are gaps in the joints and even the joints of cattle, and the blade is hardly thick. Inserting a thin blade between the seam and the joint with a gap is so generous that there is room for blade operation and rotation. So my knife has been used for 19 years, and the blade is still as if it had just been ground from a grindstone. Even so, whenever I meet the intersection of tendons and joints, I find it difficult to cut, so I am extra cautious, dare not be careless, focus on my eyes, move slowly, and use the knife very lightly. The cow is completely decomposed, just like a pile of soil on the ground. " So I stood there with a knife in my hand. I looked for it everywhere. I was so proud of it that I cleaned it up and put it away. Wen said, "wonderful, after listening to the chef's words, I understand the truth of keeping in good health." "
Wen Wenxuan was surprised to see Teacher You and said, "Who is this? Why only one foot? Is it born with only one foot, or is it artificially lost? " The right teacher said, "Heaven made it, not man-made. God gave me such a body, I only have one foot, and people's looks are completely given by God. So knowing is natural, not artificial. "
The pheasant on the edge of the swamp can only peck at one bite of food after ten steps, and can only drink one mouthful of water after hundreds of steps, but it will not pray for animals to be locked in cages at all. Although you don't have to struggle to find food in the cage, even if you are strong, you are very uncomfortable.
Dead, his friend Qin lost. He left in tears. Lao Dan's disciple asked, "Aren't you a friend of our teacher?" Qin Shi said, "Yes." The disciples asked again, "Is it okay to mourn your friends like this?" Qin Shi said, "Good. I thought you had been detached from the teacher for many years, but now it seems that this is not the case. Just now, I walked into the mourning room to pay my respects. Some old people are crying for him, just as parents are crying for their children. There are young people crying for him, just like children crying for their parents. The reason why they are gathered here must be that someone doesn't want to say anything but can't help saying something. He didn't want to cry, but he couldn't help crying. It is against common sense to love life so much and hate death. They all forget that man is endowed by nature and ordered by heaven. In ancient times, people called this practice a fault of deviating from nature. Accidentally came into the world, Mr. your was born in time; He died unexpectedly, and Mr. You died accordingly. Be content with the constancy of nature and obey natural changes, and sorrows and joys will not enter your heart. In ancient times, people called it liberation from nature, as if to relieve the suffering of hanging upside down. "
The candle will burn out eventually, but the fire will continue and never go out.
Creation background
Zhuangzi was written in the pre-Qin period. A total of 52 articles were recorded in Art History and Literature, and there are 33 articles in this edition. Among them, there are seven internal chapters, fifteen external chapters and eleven miscellaneous chapters. This book takes fable, tautology and nonsense as the main forms of expression, inherits Laozi's theory, advocates relativism, despises etiquette and power, and advocates freedom. The inner chapters "On Everything", "Wandering around" and "The Master" all reflect this philosophical thought. Wang Yang's writing style is unrestrained, magnificent and mysterious, which is a typical work of pre-Qin philosophers.
There are different opinions about the age of Zhuangzi's life, which is generally believed to be 369-286 years ago. By the time Zhuangzi died, the State of Song had already perished. There is a saying in Zhuangzi that "the old country and the old capital are easy to see". Obviously, it was called "the old country and the old capital" after the death of the Song Dynasty.
Zhuangzi belongs to Taoism, and it is easy to draw this conclusion from Zhuangzi. Sima Qian commented that "Zhuangzi wrote more than 100,000 words", but now this edition of Zhuangzi has only 33 articles with more than 65,000 words, which are divided into three parts: internal articles, external articles and miscellaneous articles. There are 52 pieces of Zhuangzi in Records of Han Art and Documents, which may be deleted in Guo Xiang's Notes on Zhuangzi in Jin Dynasty. It is generally believed that Zhuangzi was written by Zhuangzi. Every article is basically written by Taoism in the pre-Qin period, and Qin bamboo slips can also prove it. Since the song dynasty, it has become a problem. It is believed that the inner chapter was written by Zhuangzi himself, while the outer chapters and essays were used by later generations. Generally speaking, Zhuangzi's thoughts are unified. Zhuangzi's writing style is unique. He claims to write with an eclectic fable (miscellaneous fable).
Zhuangzi's articles are rich in imagination, changeable in style, full of romanticism, humorous and satirical in the form of fables, which have a great influence on the literary language of later generations. His extraordinary imagination and unpredictable fables constitute Zhuangzi's unique and peculiar imaginary world. "Beyond the dust, strange things happen." (Liu Xizai's A Brief Introduction to Art and Literature) Zhuang Zhou, his disciples and later scholars wrote Zhuangzi, one of the Taoist classics (regarded as a southern classic by Taoism). There are 52 Zhuangzi articles recorded in the Records of Han Shu Literature and Art, and only 33 exist. Zhuangzi is of great philosophical and literary research value. Mr. Lu Xun once said, "His style of writing is Wang Yang's, and his manners are graceful. The works of the philosophers in the late Zhou Dynasty should not be the first. " Famous articles (Outline of the History of Chinese Literature) include Free Travel, Theory of Everything, Master of Health, etc. "My Skillful Understanding of Cattle" in Master of Health Preservation is especially popular in later generations.
Historical Records introduces Zhuangzi in a few simple sentences, saying that most of his books are fables, such as The Fisherman, The Foot Stealing, The Story of the Horse, etc. These are all used to identify Laozi's thoughts.
The structure of Zhuangzi's article is very strange. It doesn't look tight, but it often comes suddenly. You can do whatever you want and stop whenever you want. Wang Yang is reckless and changeable, sometimes seemingly irrelevant, jumping up and down at will, but his thoughts can run through. Sentences are also rich and varied, whether they are smooth or inverted, long or short, with richer vocabulary, detailed description, irregular rhymes and great expressiveness and originality.
Zhuangzi's Wang Yang is unrestrained, imaginative, moist and broad-minded, giving people a sense of being extraordinary, noble and wonderful. This is unique in the history of China's literature. His essay system has been separated from the record form, which indicates that the pre-Qin prose has developed to a mature stage. It can be said that Zhuangzi represents the highest achievement of pre-Qin prose.
Zhuangzi's thoughts.
Main idea
His thought contains simple dialectical factors, the main idea is "Heaven does nothing", and he thinks that everything changes. He believes that "Tao" is "the place of life" and it is closed from the beginning of "Tao" (that is, "Tao" has no boundary difference). Advocate "inaction" and give up everything.
Relativism and opposition to fatalism
It is believed that although the essence of everything has different characteristics, its "one" is the same, it is smooth, it is carefree, it is poor in justice and morality, and even it is fatal.
political propaganda
Politically, it advocates "governing by doing nothing", opposes all social systems, and abandons all hypocrisy, benevolence and hypocrisy.
works appreciation
The full text is divided into three parts.
The first part goes to "Can do all the years"
It is the general outline of the whole article, pointing out that the most important thing of health preservation is "thinking about classics as the source", that is, adhering to the virtual Tao in things and adapting to the changes and development of nature.
The second part "How to keep healthy"
Taking the decomposition of cattle by kitchen workers as a metaphor for people's health preservation shows that life and life should be "nature-oriented" and "sky-oriented", and only by taking virtual "space" can we be "comfortable", thus avoiding the entanglement between right and wrong and contradictions.
The rest is the third part.
It further shows that saints don't indulge in things, keep pace with the times, swim their hearts, go with the flow, be harmonious but different, do their best in their righteousness and even die. This is basically understood by Wen. However, Zhuangzi wanted to express much more than that.
The center of Zhuangzi's thought is, on the one hand, helpless freedom, and on the other hand, opposing letting nature take its course. Although this article talks about keeping in good health between the lines, it actually reflects the author's philosophy and life purport.
Brief introduction of the author
Zhuangzi (about 369- 286 BC), Han nationality. Zhou Ben's name was Zixiu, and later he was called "the South China Real Person". During the Warring States Period, Song Guomeng (now Minquan County in the northeast of Shangqiu County, Henan Province, now Mengcheng County, Anhui Province) was born. A famous thinker, philosopher and writer, a representative of Taoist school, the successor and developer of Laozi's philosophical thought, and the founder of Zhuangzi school in pre-Qin. His theory covered all aspects of social life at that time, but the fundamental spirit still belonged to Laozi's philosophy. Later generations called him and Laozi "Laozi", and their philosophy was "Laozi's philosophy".