The source of this sentence is: "Xiaoyao Tour" by Zhuang Zhou in Pre-Qin Dynasty.
I have extracted the original text containing this sentence for your reference:
Little knowledge is not as good as great knowledge, and small years are not as good as big years. What if I know? I don't know the future, I don't know the spring and autumn. There are ghosts in southern Chu, and 500 years old is spring and 500 years old is autumn. In ancient times, there was a big tree, eight thousand years old was spring, and eight thousand years old was autumn. This is also a big year. Peng Zu has a long reputation, and everyone is the best. Don't be too sad!
This article is translated into vernacular as follows:
Xiao Zhi can't compare with great wisdom and short life can't compare with long life. how do you know Fungi in ephemera do not know night and dawn. Summer begets autumn and dies. I don't know a year. This is short-lived. There is a big tree in southern Chu called Ghosts and Ghosts, which regards 500 years as a spring and 500 years as an autumn. In ancient times, there was a tree called Toona sinensis, which regarded 8,000 years as a spring and 8,000 years as an autumn. This is longevity. However, Peng Zu, who lived 700 years, now lives a very long life. When people talk about longevity, they compare it with Peng Zu, which is sad.
It may be difficult to understand the meaning only by reading the article, so it is better to understand it in combination with the creative background of the article at that time:
Zhuangzi was brilliant, intelligent and diligent, and "learned everything". He is not born useless. However, "today, the world is also confused. Although I have a prayer, I can't get it. " On the one hand, the corrupt society that "those who steal hooks will be punished and those who steal countries will be punished" makes him disdain to associate with them; On the other hand, the reality of "princes can't do it" makes him unable to show his ambition. Since the world is so filthy and he can't talk to Zhuang, his soul seeking freedom has to soar in the fantasy world and seek liberation in the realm of absolute freedom. It is in this situation that he wrote the song "Happy Travel", which is the pursuit of suppressing the soul.
Having said that, let's appreciate and comment on this "free trip":
Happy Travel is the first article in Zhuangzi, which represents Zhuangzi's philosophical thought. "Wandering freely" is Zhuangzi's ideal of life and the core content of Zhuangzi's life theory. "Endless travel" means "endless travel without waiting", which is independent of worldly things, integrated with naturalization and free to travel in the world without any constraints. "Free and unfettered", in Zhuangzi, refers to the greatest spiritual freedom that people reach beyond the limitations of secular concepts and their values. "Swimming" does not mean physical swimming, but more importantly, spiritual swimming. After the physical bondage is lifted, you can naturally travel around the world. Wandering is the spiritual realm of independence and absolute freedom above everything else. In Zhuangzi's view, the best way to achieve this state is to "stay in the heart" and "sit and forget", both of which embody a spiritual freedom of harmony between man and nature.
The full text can be divided into three parts.
The first part is the main body of the whole article from the beginning to the "unknown sage". By comparing many examples that can't be "carefree", it shows that to truly achieve the realm of freedom, we must be "self-centered", "reactive" and "nameless".
With a strange imagination, it shows the spectacular picture of Dakun turning into Dapeng, and Dapeng moving from Beiming to Nanming: "The water hits three thousand miles, and those who climb up will go to Wan Li in June." It is extremely described as magnificent, flying high and going far. Then I started two strokes from the sentence "Nine Wan Li": one wrote that it fell from the sky, and nine Wan Li looked at the ground and saw "wild horses, dust and creatures blowing each other"; Looking at the sky from the ground, it is boundless. "It is far away and omnipotent." The abstract Nine Wan Li became a perceptual scene. The second is to explain why Dapeng flies high and Wan Li flies high by analogy. Shallow water can't bear a big ship, and the wind is nine times thicker than ten thousand and can't bear big wings. The reason is obvious and easy to understand. All this seems to be a casual remark, but astronomy that can be proved before and physics that can be proved later all contain brilliant scientific ideas. The reasoning is completely in the image.
Dapeng, who laughs with pigeons, contrasts with Dapeng's wings. After comparing the two, it is concluded that "small knowledge is not as good as big knowledge", starting with "small years are not as good as big years". Korean fungus, flies, ghosts, Toona sinensis, Peng Zu and others, animals and plants, nature and society are all included in the life-span ranking. The question of soup is repeated with the above content, but it is not redundant. The word "Historical Records" shows that it has the function of citation, and makes a big fuss about Xiaoque's ridicule of Dapeng, highlighting the conclusion of "the debate of size" and paving the way for the following.
"Husband" is an inherited word, which means that what is said comes from Xiao Dapeng. People like "knowing the effect is the official" are really leaders with both ability and political integrity in the society, and they are also among the best. Its self-esteem is also "extraordinary". However, the author thinks that "yes" is as ridiculous as disdaining "flying to the right place". They are tired of one official, one township, one king and one country. This is "serving the people, adapting to their needs and not adapting to their own needs" (Master Zhuangzi). Song is better than them. People in the whole society will praise him and will not work harder. People in the whole society will not be depressed if they criticize him. I have a calm understanding of things, right or wrong, honor or disgrace, and to some extent get rid of the constraints of people's reputation. The fierce son who can fly in the wind is outside the cloud nine. They have a higher realm than "knowing the effect as an official", and the comparison between the big and the big is a debate between the small and the big.
The world has made it very clear that "a little knowledge is not as good as a little knowledge, and a small year is not as good as a big year." "Not as good as" means there is no difference in size, but there is a difference in size, as Guo Xiang said.
Liezi's waiting, waiting for the wind, waiting for "ten days and five days" is limited and depends on the environment, time and other conditions. Dapeng's cycling is similar in Wan Li. And "the husband resists the debate of six qi with the meaning of heaven and earth. If you swim endlessly, it is evil!" Conform to the changes of nature, not restricted by all conditions, and time and space are infinite. Unlimited Traveler is not a dispute between Dapeng and Liezi, which remains to be seen. The argument between small and big is only the difference in quantity. As far as "necessity" is concerned, it is no different from Song and Liezi's exclusion of Dapeng and knowing it as an official. "waiting" and "evil waiting" are qualitative differences. waiting is a limited journey, not an infinite journey; Unlimited travel is carefree travel and absolute freedom.
The person who can get this endless journey is the noblest, holiest and holiest. Ordinary people are sad! "Once you are formed, you will never die, which is contrary to the tangible blade, and your actions will stop as soon as possible" ("Zhuangzi's Theory of Everything"), while "There is no one but yourself, and God is useless, and saints are nameless", and fame is regarded as nothing, and there is no "I" in your heart, which is integrated with everything in the world. Why not swim? The last few fables are all about futility, anonymity and selflessness.
The second part, from "Yao made the world submit" to "suddenly lost the world", further expounds that "no self" is the only way to get rid of all kinds of bondage and dependence. As long as you really forget yourself and everything, you can reach the realm of freedom. Only "no self" is the person with the highest spiritual realm.
The third part, from Keiko Calling Zhuangzi Yue to the end, discusses what is really useful and what is useless, which shows that we should not be stuck by things, but make useless useful, and further expresses our life purport of opposing active participation in social activities and pursuing leisure travel without any constraints.
The main content of Zhuangzi's carefree travel thought is to achieve the spiritual realm of "doing something" and "doing everything". Zhuangzi used many fables to express the connotation of carefree travel in "Happy Travel", exposing the secular "should be" performance. First of all, Zhuangzi pointed out that big ships can only sail by the depth of accumulated water, while Dapeng can only soar by "repairing the wind", so they are all "waiting for others". For another example, Zhuangzi thinks that Song's thought still stays in the realm of "deciding inside and outside, debating honor and disgrace", and has not completely surpassed the dispute between "deciding inside and outside" and "debating honor and disgrace", but is indifferent to this debate, so it is not a real "thinks lightly". Zhuangzi criticized the secular waiting, put forward the ideal realm of pursuing waiting, and also pointed out the specific ways from waiting to waiting. These are: "No one has himself", "God is useless" and "Saint is nameless". The "Supreme Man", "God Man" and "Sage" here are the embodiment and combination of "Tao" and ideal personality advocated by Zhuangzi. In Zhuangzi's view, only by reaching the realm of "no self", "inaction" and "nameless" can we get rid of all foreign things and experience the real carefree travel from "waiting" to "waiting".
In "Happy Travel", Zhuangzi expounded his views on "uselessness" and "great use" in two dialogues with Keiko on how to treat the use of "great mystery" and "big tree". Keiko said to Zhuangzi: Wang Wei has brought me a great seed. My tree has grown into five stone heads to hold water slurry, but its firmness can't be bootstrapped. If you think it's useless, there's no place to put it, or it's too big, I'll slap it for being useless. "Zhuangzi" is inspired by the story: Song people have a good medicine for turtle hands, and the world must take it as a matter of course. When the guests hear it, please buy its square hundred gold. Zhuangzi said to Keiko, "This son has five stones. Why not worry that it will float in the rivers and lakes, and worry that it is too big for you? Then the master will still have a generous heart and a husband! "! Zhuangzi told Keiko how to "skillfully use" the "five stones" and suggested that he could tie the big gourd into a waist boat and use it to float on the rivers and lakes, which is a free "carefree" realm. It can be seen that Zhuangzi attached great importance to the intrinsic use value of things. "Useless" is the external value of things, and "use" is the internal value of things. Only when it is useless can it be of great use. From the point of view of carefree travel, people should pay attention to the intrinsic life value and self-value, and skillfully use "useless use" to realize self-value.
Finally, I think it is necessary to introduce the author of this article:
Zhuangzi (about 369 BC-about 286 BC), surnamed Zhuang and Zhou, was a Mongolian in the Song Dynasty during the Warring States Period. In the mid-Warring States period, the representative of Taoist school, thinker, philosopher and writer, the founder of Zhuangzi, also known as "Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi". The earliest thought of "sage inside and king outside" had a far-reaching influence on Confucianism. He deeply understood Zhouyi and pointed out that "the Book of Changes takes the way of Yin and Yang", and his thought of "three tones" is consistent with the way of three talents in Zhouyi. His imagination is extremely rich, his language is freely used and flexible, and he can make subtle and unspeakable philosophy fascinating. The representative work is Zhuangzi, among which the famous articles are Free Travel, On Wuqi, Master of Health Care, etc. His works are called "the philosophy of literature, the literature of philosophy". It is said that Zhuangzi tried to live in seclusion in Nanhua Mountain and was buried in Nanhua Mountain. Therefore, at the beginning of Tianbao, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty was named a South China True Man, and his book Zhuangzi was regarded as the South China True Classic.