Zhuangzi was born in a poor family, but he despised the official position and hated the dirty officialdom, which laid the foundation for the formation of his philosophy.
First, Zhuangzi's philosophy.
Zhuangzi's philosophical thoughts are rich and complicated. It originated from the pursuit of human spiritual freedom. From this source, Zhuangzi Thought developed in two directions. One is to explore the root of the eternal universe, and freedom is its refuge and the same body with it; First, a cold look at the real society, freedom is to be detached from him and separated from him. In this way, life, nature and society constitute the main and basic aspects of Zhuangzi Thought.
1, natural philosophy
The core of Zhuangzi's thought is his life philosophy. Although Zhuangzi Thought originated from Confucianism, it is different from Confucianism. It mainly observes life from the perspective of the wider universe and nature, not from the perspective of society and ethics. His natural philosophy is mainly composed of three parts: Qi, the transformation of creation and existence of all things, Tao and the foundation of the universe.
(1) Qi is ubiquitous in the universe, and its essence is nothingness. "When you are angry, you are empty and treat things." As far as its basic nature is concerned, there are only two forms of expression: Yin and Yang. When yin and yang interact with opposing qi, the original state of existence of heaven and earth will change and everything will come into being. The endless movement of "Qi" shows the process of the emergence, development and extinction of all things, and also constitutes the whole picture of the universe. He proved this point with the life and death of people: "Who knows the history of life and death, the beginning of death and life! People are born together, live together and die apart ... so they say, "the whole world is in one ear." ("Know the North Tour")
(2) "Hua" is the form of the creation and existence of all things.
Starting from the concept of time and space, Zhuangzi defined the "universe" as infinite and without beginning, and "what is real and has nothing to do with it is also infinite. There are those who are long and have no books, Zhou Ye. " This is the concept that the universe is infinite and has no beginning, that is, time and space. From the concept of change, "Hua" has universality and diversity. "Although heaven and earth are big, their changes are the same." (Heaven and earth) Things and things, things and people can be freely converted, without boundaries and conditions. For example, the story of Zhuang Zhou Meng Die just illustrates this point.
(3) "Tao" is basically embodied in two ways, one refers to "Tao" with concrete content, and the other is "Tao" as an abstract ideological concept. The "Tao" with specific content is what we call "heaven" and "man". "Heaven" is the internal order of nature and the internal law of all things; "Humanism" refers to the laws and norms of society. On this basis, the abstract "Tao" refers to those purely expressed in abstract ideological forms, that is, truth and method. Its ideological significance is isomorphic with "benevolence", which forms the perfect realm of China's philosophy, namely "benevolence". ("Benevolence", Confucius said: Ke has returned the gift as benevolence. )
2. Philosophy of life
The philosophy of life is the core of Zhuangzi's thought, which is mainly about the ideal realm of life and the thinking of practical methods, which is embodied in "Wandering around".
(1) Life Dilemma
Including nature, society and self.
The limit of nature refers to life and death. In other words, death is the first thing in life, and it can't be crossed in the end. Social limits mainly refer to time and life. Life and death are inevitable, which is an inevitability beyond human intervention. This is "fate". "Life and death, life also; This is an ordinary night and a day. What people don't agree with is also the love of things. " (Master) "Time" is an objective force, an external necessity, a factor that constitutes the dilemma of life, and a social environment that includes politics, economy and morality in an era. The limit of nature refers to feelings and desires, that is, feelings of sadness and joy and desire for benefits. You can't resist the mixed feelings of sadness and joy. "People are born with troubles." The desire for benefits is also human nature and cannot be avoided. "There is no unknown person." This lust is a burden to people's spiritual freedom.
(2) the spiritual realm and life practice of ideal personality
Reflected in a very unique way of spiritual cultivation and attitude towards life.
The spiritual realm of ideal personality is beyond the predicament of life, with authenticity, idealism and fantasy. Authenticity refers to a peaceful and quiet psychological environment. Ideality refers to the pursuit of absolute freedom of individual spirit, so it is ideal, that is, the so-called "carefree travel". "If a husband takes advantage of the righteousness of heaven and earth and defends the debate of six qi, he will swim endlessly and be evil! Fantasy: refers to a magical expression that is different from and beyond the secular world, so that the spiritual realm of his ideal personality has some mythical fantasy. " In the mountains photographed in the past, immortals lived, and their skin was like ice and snow, like a virgin. Don't eat whole grains, suck the wind and drink dew. Good clouds, royal dragons, travel around the world. ("Xiaoyao Tour")
(3) Cultivation methods. In order to obtain absolute spiritual freedom, he proposed spiritual cultivation methods: no desire, no wisdom and "Tao". His concept of indifference is conscious, one is the awareness of the individual's position in nature or the relationship with everything, the other is the awareness of the individual's position in society or the relationship with others, and the third is the understanding of the form of desire in the individual's mood. De-intellectualization: abandon wisdom and intelligence, let nature go, maintain a harmonious relationship with nature, and cultivate an indifferent state of mind, which is also the way to cultivate his ideal personality. Body "Tao": it is one of the most difficult ways to cultivate one's morality, and there is a certain mystery.
(4) Attitude towards life: refers to his attitude towards secular life: detachment, seclusion and obedience. His "transcendence" means not moving with things, but swimming outside the dust. The main ideological connotation is contempt for secular affairs and denial of secular morality, which is a manifestation of Zhuangzi's lofty detachment. "Seclusion" refers to wandering in the mountains and living in seclusion. This is an attitude of avoiding the world, which shows his indifference to secular life and also reflects his depressed mood. "Conforming to the world" refers to dealing with the vanity of things and the ups and downs with the world. It is an attitude of conforming to the world and a free expression of the spiritual realm of "Tao".
His three attitudes towards life all have the same logical thinking or content, that is, taking nature as the starting point of spiritual pursuit or theoretical observation, through a negative insight into the political and moral situation of the real society, and finally ending with the acquisition of personal spiritual freedom or the guarantee of life.
Second, the social thought and cognitive structure embodied in philosophical thought.
1, Zhuangzi's social thought:
Zhuangzi's social thought has a critical spirit. In the history of China's thought, the misfortune of people living in a class society full of exploitation and oppression was discovered very early. The Book of Songs? In "Cutting Sandalwood", there is "The crops are not harvested, and they have received 30 billion." Zhuangzi judged this unfortunate reason from a special naturalism theory. Compared with the natural and classless primitive society, he thinks this is unreasonable. Degenerate society, so he advocates no monarch, inaction and returning to simplicity. This thought is the expression of the pessimistic and world-weary thought of the declining slave owners in the Warring States period. Zhuangzi escaped from reality and resigned himself to fate, trying to seek liberation in a pure inaction. This thought is negative to some extent, but the reality denied by Zhuangzi is that the emerging landlord class replaced the slave-owner class rule through the merger war that caused great pain to the people, and it is the reality that "whoever steals the hook will punish those who steal the country". In this way, we can understand Zhuangzi's fantasy of returning to the primitive society without exploitation and oppression, and to some extent, it reflects the working people's strong desire to lift the war and live a peaceful life. So we can't simply think that Zhuangzi is a thinker who advocates restoration and retrogression. He believes that in its ultimate natural nature, human beings are fully capable of protecting themselves, managing themselves and living freely, just like birds and mice avoid harm. "Jun" doesn't need to use "righteousness" to restrict people. Their existence is redundant and unnecessary. "Wren nest in the depths of the forest, but there is only one branch; The mouse drank the river, but it was full. " ("Xiaoyao Tour") "He is the same, weaving clothes, plowing and eating, which is called concentric; If you don't belong to the party, you will be released. " (Horseshoe) On this basis, Zhuangzi expressed that a free life without a monarch or a minister is the happiest wish. "At the time of death, there is no gentleman on the top, no minister on the bottom, and nothing at four o'clock. It is universal to take heaven and earth as the spring and autumn period. Although Wang Le is in the south, you can't cross it. " Since there is no monarch, there should naturally be inaction. Inaction is not only the monarch, but also the fundamental and highest code of conduct for all people with moral cultivation. He first pointed his criticism at "benevolence and righteousness", thinking that "benevolence and righteousness" (the core of Confucianism) hurt human nature, encouraged people's pursuit of "profit" and brought chaos to the world. Therefore, it is believed that social phenomena such as morality, wisdom, laws and regulations, articles and utensils, music and crafts, which constitute the content of human civilized life, are all destructive to nature and human nature and should be prohibited. From this, we can see that his social critical thought is anti-human and anti-civilization. Its essence is that at that time, the happiness brought by civilization was only possessed by the rulers, but the working people who worked hard to create civilization could not enjoy it. Therefore, this is a very unreasonable social phenomenon and should be banned. This is "inaction".
2. The cognitive structure of Zhuangzi Thought.
Mainly refers to Zhuangzi's theory of relativity. He regards expensive, size, existence, right and wrong as the result of different understanding. What people can know and think is much less than what they can't know and think, and it is impossible for human beings to pursue and expect omniscience, omniscience and omniscience. "Therefore, the eyes are dangerous to Ming, the ears are dangerous to Cong, and the heart is dangerous to martyrdom. Anyone who can stay in the government is also in danger. If you don't change your merits, you will suffer for a long time. " (Xu Wugui) He does not admit that there are essential differences between things, and thinks that everything is the same in root. "Everything is one" ("Wandering"), even the viscera similar to the liver and gallbladder are different because of different people's understanding, and even developed into a sophistry. For example, the story of the dialogue between Hui Shi and Zhuangzi on Haoliang Bridge can prove this point. "Zhuangzi said:' Fish swim leisurely and have fun.' Keiko said,' If you were not a fish, would you know the happiness of fish?' Zhuangzi said,' If I am not a child, do I know the joy of fish?' "(Zhuangzi Qiushui) He changed from denying the objective standard of knowledge to denying the untrue objective standard, and thus became a skeptic." Zhuang's ""just illustrates this point and makes him an agnostic. But ... the relativity of cognition is certain, which is natural. For example, Know the Cow by Skillful Hands vividly shows the process of understanding the inner essence of things, not perceptual knowledge, but rational knowledge. Although he believes that everything is a unified whole, everything exists in contradiction and opposition, but it is essentially transformed into each other. "Cover the teacher right and wrong, the teacher not disorderly? Even if there is no reason for tomorrow, all things are in love. I can't understand it, but it's still a teacher who has no land in heaven, and a teacher who has no yang. "And his exposition about the mutual change of good and bad luck, which contains simple materialistic factors, are all beneficial components to understand the theory of relativity.
Third, the embodiment of Zhuangzi Thought in literature.
Zhuangzi not only has profound philosophical thoughts, but also has a style that is obviously different from Confucian classics and hundred schools of thought's essays. Gong Zizhen once said in a poem in the Qing Dynasty: "Fame and fame have different dreams, beautiful sentences are engraved with love, and Zhuang Sao's two ghosts go deep into the liver and intestines." Liu Xizai, a literary critic in the Qing Dynasty, also pointed out: "Poetry takes the coquettish as the top and the Zhuang as the bottom. Shaoling is pure and coquettish, Taibai is in Zhuang and Dongpo is out of Zhuang. " From then on, we feel that Zhuangzi, as an important source of China literature, is beyond doubt.
1, the idea is expressed in the fable story.
The literariness of Zhuangzi's thought mainly means that his profound philosophy of life is not expounded by theoretical logic, but expressed by fable. There are more than one hundred fables in Zhuangzi, which is a collection of fables. There was a special fable collection Aesop's Fables in ancient China, but in literature, most of the fables were kept in different classic works, and there was no special fable collection. Among these numerous works that preserve fables, Zhuangzi has the most fables. To some extent, Zhuangzi can be regarded as a collection of fables in China literature. Sima Hu once said that Zhuangzi "wrote hundreds of thousands of words, which is probably a fable." ("Zhuangzi? The basic style of Zhuangzi's fables is the imagination of spiritual freedom and the metaphor of the way to reach this realm.
(1) Imaginative expression of spiritual freedom
Zhuangzi believes that the highest pursuit of life is to reach the "carefree" realm of ideal personality. Zhuangzi? Xiaoyao once said: "If you don't know how to be an official, you can compare yourself to a township and combine morality with the monarch. Those who levy the country also take the country as their own. " Song still laughed: the world's reputation without persuasion, the world without love, depending on the internal and external points, fighting for the realm of honor and disgrace, has long gone forever. There are countless others in the world. Although, there are still trees. Husband Liezi goes against the wind, the cold is good, and then it will be five days. The blessed don't count. Although this is off-line, there are still things to do. If a husband resists the debate of six qi with the meaning of heaven and earth, he will swim endlessly and be evil! "
This fable says that an unshakable secular reputation like Song is noble. Xiang Liezi can ride the wind and is very clever, but he is still a long way from "freedom". Song is also divided into "honor and disgrace", and Liezi still has to "guard against the wind", that is, he still has a burden and something to do, but he has not reached the realm of "swimming endlessly and doing nothing". It vividly shows the mysterious and unspeakable spiritual realm of "doing nothing" pursued by Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi's expression of "governing by doing nothing" is also expressed by an image fable. For example, "Dream of Butterfly in Zhuang Zhou" and "Walking on clouds without drinking or eating" are an unconditional and unlimited absolute freedom, which means "omnipotent". When you have something to wait for, you get tired, and you can't achieve "freedom", not spiritual freedom.
(2) Image cultivation methods.
Zhuangzi's spiritual cultivation method and attitude towards life are also expressed through fables.
For example, "the emperor of the South China Sea is the emperor of the North Sea, and the emperor of the Central Plains is the emperor of chaos. You and Sudou meet in a chaotic place, and chaos is good for you. Tong and Hu suddenly asked for revenge, saying,' Everyone has seven things to eat and listen to, and this is the only one. Try to chisel it. "If you dig a hole during the day, you will die in the chaos on the seventh day. "("Ying Di ")
"The Yellow Emperor swam to the north of Chishui, climbed the top of Kunlun Mountain and looked south, and came back, leaving his Zhu Xuan, which made him not know what to do, so that he could not leave Zhu Suo and he could not eat it. It's useless to use images, and images are useless. The Yellow Emperor said,' What a difference! Is it possible to get an elephant without it? "(heaven and earth)
"Ze pheasant peck ten steps, drink hundred steps, don't care about the beast. Although God is king, he is not good. " ("Health Master")
"In the past, seabirds stopped in the suburbs of Shandong, and Lu Houyu attracted to the temple and played ideas. It was too strong. The bird was so sad that it didn't dare to have a drink, and it didn't dare to have a drink. It died in three days. " (Gameloft)
In these four stories, chaos died of being chiseled; The Yellow Emperor lost Zhu Xuan, and only the ignorant elephant Wang Can got it back. A pheasant in a ravine can find a grain in ten steps and drink a drop of water in a hundred steps. Although it is difficult, it is full of vigor and health. Lujun's favorite bird lived in a temple, ate too fast and died of fear in three days. They come to the conclusion that "sex is often beneficial to health" from both positive and negative aspects, which embodies his way of keeping in good health.
(3) The allegorization of social critical thought.
There are two most acute conclusions in the prominent content of Zhuangzi's social criticism thought: the country without a monarch is the happiest. ("Supreme Happiness") "The law of sacred knowledge is guarded by thieves" ("Tian Wen"). Zhuangzi also expressed this theory in the form of fables. "Zhuangzi" wrote: "The Chu of Zhuangzi, seeing an empty skeleton, looked tangible (xiáo) and beat it with a horse, so he asked:' Why is the master greedy and unreasonable? The son must have the matter of national subjugation, and the axe must punish it, and for this reason? Will the son have a hard time and be ashamed of the ugliness of his parents and wife? Why? The child will be hungry and cold, so what should I do? Is the spring and autumn of Gyangze that far away?' So he made a speech, held the skeleton and lay on his pillow in the middle of the night. When the skeleton sees a dream, he says,' A son's words are like debaters. According to the children, everyone is tired, and death is nothing. What if my son is eager to smell death? Zhuangzi said,' naturally.' The skeleton said:' When you die, there is no monarch in the world and no minister in the world; There are no so-called four seasons, but it is common to take heaven and earth as spring and autumn. Although Wang Le is in the south, it is impossible to cross it. "Zhuangzi not letter, said,' I brought Siming back to life in the form of a child, is the skin of his son's flesh and blood, his parents and wife don't know. What is his wish? The skeleton frowned deeply and said, "Can you abandon Wang Le in the south and return to work on earth?" "("Joy ")
This fable, through a skeleton, shows many factors such as politics, economy, morality, human natural physiology itself, which constitutes the dilemma of life and forms the "fatigue of life" Obviously, death is a detachment from the dilemma of life and a release of "the fatigue of life". To live in a free and pleasant environment without any burden, "no monarch" is the first condition. It shows Zhuangzi's sharp criticism of the real society.
Zhuangzi said again:
Confucianism buries with poetry ceremony. The Confucian scholar said, "What happened when I was working in the East?" The little Confucian said, "My skirt has not been untied, and there are pearls in my mouth." There is an inherent saying in the poem:' Green wheat gives birth to Yuling. Live without giving, how can there be pearls when you die!' Pick up his temple, press his chin (with the same beak), and the Confucian digs his head with a golden vertebra, leaving no bead in his cheek wound! ("foreign body")
This book is about a tense and terrible robbery scene, but the author writes it with ease and liveliness. Through the witty dialogue between Confucianism and Confucianism, the "ceremony" of Confucianism was sharply satirized, which confirmed the social critical thought of "knowing the laws of saints and keeping them by thieves"
From the above, we know that there is a philosophical conclusion behind every fable of Zhuangzi, which contains a philosophical thought. Zhuangzi? The fable once said, "Fable 19 is borrowed from the outside. The father is not the media, the father is praised, not the father. " Zhuangzi believes that a viewpoint is hard to be believed and accepted if it is not proved by some objective examples outside itself. Therefore, the purpose of using fables is not to express a certain idea in the form of fables, but to demonstrate a certain idea, which is a completely conscious process.
2. The image expression of philosophical concepts in literature.
Abstract theoretical concepts, ideological categories and spiritual realms in Zhuangzi's philosophical thoughts are often reflected in literature in the form of images.
Conceptual category and personification of metaphor in spiritual field
"Easy Travel" puts forward such a topic: something waiting is not "easy travel", and "easy travel" must have nothing to wait for. The metaphors of Kun Peng and others that move with the wind show that it is not a "carefree tour", and by comparing Kun Peng with "wild horse" and "dust", the metaphor of water carrying a boat is cited to prove that it is not a "carefree tour", and the metaphors of Kun Peng, Turtledove and other fools are used to illustrate the differences in understanding, but as long as it is waiting, it is not a trip. Here, Kun Peng, Kun and Turtledove are all personified. Because of the disparity in knowledge, Zhuangzi also put forward the view that "a little knowledge is not as good as a little knowledge, and a small year is not as good as a big year", taking mushrooms, turtles and big Toona sinensis as metaphors to illustrate the disparity in age, experience and knowledge, but they all have something in common, that is, they all make a difference. Although Song was praised by the world, it shows that he still made a difference. Going out to the restaurant to keep out the wind, although you don't have to walk, you still have to rely on the wind and wait. How to "do nothing" is to conform to the temperament of all things, master the changes of Yin and Yang, wind, rain, Yin and Ming, and roam freely in the airspace. This is "Changyou". Those who can do this are those who have nothing to do, the god of reactive power, and the nameless saint. This vividly shows Zhuangzi's philosophy of absolute freedom and relativism in cognition, as well as his highest spiritual realm, that is, the realm of "inaction" and "freedom", that is, absolute spiritual freedom. Whether this idea is correct.
3. Poetic nature of language
Fang Qing Shu Dong said: "The poems about Taibai are as wonderful as Zhuangzi's poems, but they don't follow the words and have no thoughts, like white clouds rolling in the sky, which have no shape."
This is a main feature of Zhuangzi language: poetry.
Zhuangzi's language is different from the works of other philosophers. It is not a logical exposition with words and meanings connected, but a language with ups and downs. Liu Xizai once said, "For example," Happy Travel "suddenly said Peng, and suddenly said that it was a break to learn from pigeons to repel turtles; The next step is to say' this little difference is also', then the above-mentioned reimbursement will continue. " Liu Xizai's exposition will undoubtedly help us understand Zhuangzi's language, especially reading Zhuangzi's works, which is the characteristic of Zhuangzi's language. It can be said that his prose has poetic artistic conception and poetic language. These are ups and downs caused by incoherent words, which can provide people with a broad space for imagination and thinking. Wu Shuo, a literary critic in Qing Dynasty: "Zhuangzi's articles are the most ingenious and wonderful."
Fourthly, the influence of Zhuangzi Thought on later literature.
1. The influence of Zhuangzi's thoughts on the thoughts of later writers.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, China's prose made brilliant achievements. Historical prose and essays, with their different ideas and styles, had a great influence on the politics, economy and culture of the society at that time. Not only that, but especially this kind of thought has a greater influence on later generations. Confucianism of Confucius and Mencius is the most prominent influence of the pre-Qin philosophers on later generations, followed by Taoism of Laozi and Zhuangzi. The spirit of Confucianism's entry into WTO is positive, but the preaching of maintaining feudal order is negative. Taoism's cynicism, non-conformity and non-cooperation with rulers are of positive significance in a specific historical period. Influenced by these two thoughts, later generations showed different attitudes towards people. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Confucianism gradually lost its dominant position, while Taoism became popular. The appearance of metaphysics has highlighted this point. The so-called "metaphysics" refers to a philosophy established with Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi as the core. (Metaphysics: Laozi, Zhuangzi and Zhouyi) At that time, Wang Bi and Yan He put forward the ontology of "inaction" according to Laozi and Zhuangzi's "emphasizing everything". Confucianism and Taoism have different understandings of the ideal personality-"sage". Confucianism believes that people with high moral cultivation and high social merits can be called "saints", while Taoism believes that Laozi says: "saints do nothing" (Chapter II). "The saints are heartless" (Chapter 5). Zhuangzi said that "saints don't do things" (the theory of everything), "high without heart, action without righteousness, governance without name ... this sage's virtue is also" (deliberately). This thought directly influenced metaphysics. Ji Kang once said, "Laozi and Zhuang Wuzhou are also teachers." "Reread Laozi and Zhuangzi and increase the release." In Ruan Ji's Biography of Mr. Adult, the ideal personality is called "sage", and the highest spiritual realm depicted is "worrying about the week". This is obviously influenced by Zhuangzi's "sage is god" ... and he travels all over the world "(The Theory of Everything). In the metaphysics of Wei and Jin Dynasties, Ji Kang and Ruan Ji were most influenced by Zhuangzi's thought. After that, Tao Yuanming lived in the era when the theory of Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi prevailed and was deeply influenced by it. The love for nature and Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi played a decisive role in the formation of his temperament and interest. His ideals and ambitions gave Confucianism the upper hand. When there is a contradiction between reality and ideal