Can you tell me about Zhuangzi? Everyone expresses his or her own opinion

Category: Culture/Art>>Literature>>Novel

Analysis:

Zhuangzi’s situation is mainly based on the "Historical Records" and his "Biography" combined From Laozi, the complete record is below:

Zhuangzi is a Mongolian. He was named Zhou, and Zhou was appointed as the official of Mengqi Garden. At the same time as King Hui of Liang and King Xuan of Qi. His knowledge covers everything, but it must be attributed to Laozi's words. Therefore, he wrote more than 100,000 words, most of which are fables. He wrote "The Fisherman", "The Robber's Foot" and "The Sui" to slander Confucius' disciples and to illustrate Laozi's skills. "Wei Leixu" and "Kang Sangzi" are all empty words without facts. However, he is good at writing and writing, referring to things and situations, and using plagiarism to strip away Confucianism and Mohism. Although he has been studying in this world for a long time, he cannot escape from it. He said that the foreign affairs can be used to suit oneself, so the princes and nobles cannot use them.

King Wei of Chu heard about Zhuang Zhou Xian and sent him a large amount of money to welcome him and promised him to be his prime minister. Zhuang Zhou laughed and said to the envoy of Chu: "A thousand pieces of gold are valuable for profit, and the prime minister respects his position. Didn't you see the sacrificial ox in the suburbs alone? How many years have you raised food, and embroidered clothes to enter the Taimiao. At that time, although you want to How can I get it if I am an orphan? I want to go away, and I will not taint myself. I would rather enjoy myself in playing dirty games, and not be restrained by the people of the country. I will not be an official for the rest of my life, so as to speed up my ambition."

Although this biography is less than 300 words, it is able to highlight the image of Zhuangzi. Now we will use this as a basis to examine his life in detail, in order to be able to study his ideological structure.

1. Zhuangzi’s birthplace The first thing we should know about Zhuangzi’s birthplace is Meng. It was located near present-day Shangqiu, Henan Province. The land may have belonged to Liang (i.e. Wei) at that time, or it may still have belonged to Song Dynasty. "Shui Jing·Linshui": "Linshui... goes east to Meng County, Liang County." Note: "Linshui goes east to the north of the old city of Wei County, which is commonly known as Xiaomeng City." "Western Expedition": "The city is in Fifteen miles to the south of Bin River, that is the hometown of Zhuangzhou. He was the official of Qiyuan in Mongolia. Guo Jingchun said, "There are proud officials in Qiyuan." In mourning the death of Hui Shi, Du Men was in this city. Meng Ke's birthplace is clearly in Henan, and Qiyuan belongs to Mengcheng. Some people may think that Meng is Mengcheng, Anhui today. However, Zhuangzi's monuments only appeared in Mengcheng, Anhui after the Tang and Song Dynasties, and are no longer available in Mengcheng, Henan. This was caused by the southward migration of culture. Many place names have moved south, not just Mengcheng, the birthplace of Zhuangzi.

2. Zhuangzi’s birth and death years Let’s examine Zhuangzi’s birth and death years again. According to King Hui of Liang, he reigned from 369 to 319 BC, so 369 to 335 BC was the 35th year of the Yuan Dynasty, 334 to 319 BC was the 16th year of the Later Yuan Dynasty, and the total was fifty-one years, followed by The person is King Xiang of Liang. King Xuan of Qi reigned from 319 to 301 BC. In every eighteen years, he was succeeded by King Min of Qi. In addition, King Wei of Chu reigned from 339 to 329 BC. Every ten years, he succeeded King Xuan and succeeded him as King Huai. Moreover, when King Wei of Chu was at the time, Zhuangzi already had a reputation as a virtuous person, and King Wei wanted to be his prime minister. Taking the year 329 BC as an example, Zhuangzi was at least forty years old. When King Wei first came to the throne, Zhuangzi was about thirty years old. Qian Mu's examination covers this ten years. Zhuangzi was thirty years old when King Jinwei came to the throne, and based on his life span of eighty years, Zhuangzi's birth and death years were as follows: he was born in the first year of King Xian of Zhou Dynasty (368 BC) and died in the 26th year of King Nan of Zhou Dynasty (289 BC) . The relevant major events basically corresponded to each other. In his later years, he seemed to have written behind closed doors, and his works had a great influence on later generations.

3. Zhuangzi and Mencius There was also Mencius around the same time, and his works played an even more important role after the Song Dynasty. However, although Mencius and Zhuangzi were contemporaries, they may have met during their lifetimes, but they did not, and their writings are not related to each other. "Historical Records" says, "Although you have been studying for a long time, you cannot escape from it", but Mencius is an exception, which is also strange. According to the test of time, "When Mencius saw King Xiang of Liang coming out, he said to someone: "Looking at him, he doesn't look like a human king." It goes without saying that he was old. Compared with King Hui of Liang, who reigned for fifty-one years, he seems to have the sarcasm of a human king. Afterwards, Mencius went to Liang. Considering that he was over seventy years old, he was twenty years older than Zhuangzi. Taking Mencius' lifespan as eighty years old, the major events in his life basically corresponded (his birth and death years were 387 BC - 308 BC). In his later years, Meng Bi returned to Zou to write. Kuang Mencius did not have a great influence on world affairs in his life, and he had no famous disciples. Therefore, Zhuangzi may only know the Jixia sect but not Mencius. Of course, Mencius also dismissed Zhuangzi, who was about twenty years younger and wanted to live in seclusion. Yimeng and Zhuang Neng forget each other in the world. The distinction between Confucianism and Taoism during the Warring States Period actually originated from Mencius and Zhuang, but it was not the same during the lifetimes of Lao Lao and Confucius. This must be distinguished. The situation of Mencius will be discussed in detail in another article. The following is a detailed study of Zhuangzi’s ideological structure.

4. Zhuang and Huishi Scholars related to Zhuangzi should first pay attention to Huishi, who was a minister of Liang when he was serving King Hui.

Qian Mukao de Huishi died in the fifth year of King Xiang (314 B.C.) and before the ninth year (310 B.C.). He was more than sixty years old, which is basically credible. Therefore, in the year of his death, Zhuangzi was about fifty years old. In "Zhuangzi·Xu Wugui", it is mentioned that "Zhuangzi passed Huizi's tomb at his funeral", which actually means that it was more than ten years after Huizi's death, because the text said that "Jun Yuan of the Song Dynasty heard about it", and "Jun Yuan" refers to the crown prince Yan of the Song Dynasty. He ascended the throne in the 20th year of King Xiang of Wei (299 BC). Zhuangzi was about seventy years old at that time, but he still thought about it. This shows that Hui Shi was Zhuangzi's only confidant. The main thing is to understand the similarities and differences between Zhuangzi and famous scholars. Only in Zhuangzi's ideological structure, it is known that the theories of famous scholars should be the basis of thinking, so he can use charity as a quality. However, in the end, the Tao that has been experienced can be attributed to Laozi's "Tao can be Tao, but it is not Tao; name can be named, but it is not named." Therefore, we must identify the famous masters as the drama theory of shadows racing. This is the key to Zhuangzi's inheritance from Laozi. .

5. Zhuangzi and Laozi. When studying the image of Laozi and Zhuangzi, each has a different epistemology. However, the background of the times and the income of each person cannot be exactly the same. But attaching importance to famous people and completely denying famous people is indeed the same as Lao and Zhuang. The ordinary Tao is Tao, which emphasizes experience rather than language. Since it emphasizes experience, how can it be classified as a word game? We must understand the principle that the Tao emphasizes experience, but we must still use the written language to represent the Tao experienced. Therefore, it is appropriate to examine the writings passed down by Zhuangzi.

6. Zhuangzi's writings "Hanshu Yiwenzhi": "The fifty-two chapters of Zhuangzi were from Zhou Dynasty and Song Dynasty." Unfortunately, they have been lost. What survives today are seven internal chapters (1-7), fifteen external chapters (8-22), and eleven miscellaneous chapters (23-33). Of the thirty-three chapters, at least nineteen are missing. The chapters cited in "Historical Records" are named "Wei Leixu" and "Kang Sangzi". The current "Miscellaneous Chapter" contains "Geng Sang Chu", which is mentioned in the article (Xiaoyu's note: "Ti Nei" is suspected to be a mistake) Row.) "Mountain of Fear" and so on, it is not clear whether it is a two-part article. In short, the original text of the fifty-two articles has been lost and reedited. However, it is a great blessing that these thirty-three chapters can be preserved, and many of them are missing. They were not added after the Han Dynasty. They are basically all written by the pre-Qin Dynasty. This cannot be known. As for whether the thirty-three chapters are all written by Zhuangzi, there is indeed a question. After reading them all in detail, we can naturally get the impression. Zhuangzi's ideological structure should be included in it. Examining the authors of their texts, some are from the same school, some have disciples who have supplemented them, and some have slightly different ideological structures. To put it simply, in the middle and late Warring States Period in the Wei and Song Dynasties, the Jixia sect was dominant in the east, and the Chu people's reverie was adopted in the south. They also understood the teachings of Mozi and Laozi and synthesized them. Therefore, compared with Mencius who took Yang Mo as two ends and rejected them, Zhuang Shi had a more grand ideological structure that could make up for Mencius' shortcomings.

7. Zhuangzi knew the principles of "Yi". At that time, Mencius did not know "Yi", but Zhuangzi had already understood the principles of "Yi". Returning people to the biological world and connecting with heaven and earth is the greatest advancement of Zhuangzi's thought compared with Mencius' thought. It is indispensable to distinguish between mortals and animals. How could Zhuangzi not know this? However, people who are connected with heaven and earth should not know the "character of birds and beasts" and "the harmony with the earth". Animals, plants and people are both living beings. Only Zhuangzi understood this during the Warring States Period. The thought can be understood, and it is consistent with the thought in the second chapter of "Book of Changes".

The last section of "Zhuangzi·Zhile" says:

How many species are there? When it gets water, it becomes █ (following the removal of silk). When it gets water and soil, it becomes the clothes of frogs. The leaves are butterflies. The butterflies also turn into insects, which are born under the stove. They look like they are peeling off, and they are called Yuduo. A robin takes a thousand days to become a bird, and its name is Gan Yu Gu. The foam from the dried bones is called Si Mi, and the Si Mi is used as food residue. Yilu is born from food, Huangzi is born from Jiuyu, and Rui is born from rotten beetles. Yang Xi is better than Hu Bu. Jiuzhu begets Qingning, Qingning begets Cheng, Cheng begets horses, and horses beget people. People turn against machines again. All things come out of chance and everything enters into chance.

This section explains the various changes among living things. How many species are there? They are like microorganisms when they are in water and between soil and water. Going up to Lingtun, there is a plant called Wuzu. From plant leaves to animals, butterflies then become insects. The robin is a bird, and its name is dry bones, and its foam is called Si Mi, and it is also called a beast. Then the horses give birth to people, and the people turn back into the machine. To understand the great cycle of life and death of biological species shows the richness of Zhuangzi's imagination. All kinds of things belong to the same organism and can be interconnected organically. Therefore, it is said: "All things come from the machine and all enter the machine." This machine is nature. The entry and exit of living things is natural in the heaven and earth. "Yi" said.

8. Zhuangzi and Xunzi Only Zhuangzi understood this and was able to "take advantage of foreign countries to suit his own needs, so princes and princes cannot use them".

That is to say, we can get from Lao Tzu's "things are mixed into the innate and the earth". It is suitable for an ancient history to be extended endlessly, making the time-empty magnitude vast and infinite. Therefore, "its principles are never exhausted, its origins are never shed, and it is as bright as ever." "I am ignorant, I have exhausted all my pursuits." How can Mencius, who "must be called Yao and Shun", look back on his words? If Xunzi (313 BC - 238 BC), who was born about fifty years after Zhuangzi, could read through fifty-three chapters of "Zhuangzi", he commented in "Xunzi: Uncovering": "... Huizi covered in He talks but does not know the truth, Zhuangzi hides himself from heaven and does not know people." In the thirty-three chapters of the current treatise, Xunzi and Huizi have the same view as Zhuangzi, saying that Zhuangzi has not yet understood the relationship between heaven and man. However, Xunzi did not understand Heaven, so he naturally held the view that human nature is evil. This was consistent with Zhuangzi's discussion of "the benevolence of tigers and wolves", which Xunzi could not understand.