Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy Part 27

. . . A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words. Where can I find someone who's forgotten words so I can have a word with him? . . .

Chapter Thirty-Two: Mister Clampdown Lie.

. . . When Zhuangzi was about to die, his students wanted to bury him lavishly. He said to them, "I'll have Heaven and earth for a casket, the sun and moon for ornaments, the constellations as pall-bearers, and the ten thousand things as mourners. Isn't everything prepared for the funeral? What could you add?"

"We're afraid the crows and kites will eat you."

"Above ground I'll feed the crows and kites. Below I'll feed the crickets and ants." Zhuangzi said. "Stealing from one to feed the other would be awfully unfair."83 SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Translations Fung, Yu-lan 1989 A Taoist Cla.s.sic: Chuang Tzu. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press. (An insightful translation, which I have borrowed from at points. The inclusion of Guo Xiang's [d. 312 C.E.] comments gives readers a rare and valuable insight into the commentarial tradition.) Graham, A. C.

2001 Chuang-tzu: The Inner Chapters. Indianapolis: Hackett Publis.h.i.+ng Company. (A philosophically oriented translation, especially useful when read in conjunction with Grahams other works explaining his reading.) Watson, Burton 1968 The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu. New York: Columbia University Press. (An exquisite translation that I have often made the basis of my own. The standard.) Mair, Victor 1998 Wandering on the Way: Early Taoist Tales and Parables of Chuang Tzu. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. (A fine recent translation.) Secondary Works Ames, Roger T, ed.

1998 Wandering at Ease in the Zhuangzi. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. (An anthology of historical and textual as well as philosophical a.n.a.lyses and reflections on Zhuangzi.) Chinn, Ewing 1997 "Zhuangzi and Relativistic Skepticism." Asian Philosophy 7: 20720. (A response to Chad Hansen's argument that Zhuangzi's skepticism commits him to relativistic skepticism, defending instead a perspectival realist position.) Cook, Scott, ed.

2003 Hiding the World in the World: Uneven Discourses on the Zhuangzi. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. (An anthology of essays on relativism, skepticism, mysticism, and other issues in the Zhuangzi.) Fox, Alan 1996 "Reflex and Reflectivity: Wuwei in the Zhuangzi." Asian Philosophy 6: 5973. (An interpretation of the idea of wuwei based on the image of the hinge of the Way, as productive of a well-adjusted person.) Graham, A. C.

196970"Chuang-tzu's 'Essay on Seeing Things as Equal.' " History of Religions 9.23: 13759. (A groundbreaking study of technical terms in the second chapter.) 1990 Studies in Chinese Philosophy and Philosophical Literature. Albany: State University of New York Press. (The chapter "How Much of Chuang Tzu Did Chuang Tzu Write?" differentiates the text's various contributors and editors.) Ivanhoe, Philip J.

1991 "Zhuangzi's Conversion Experience." Journal of Chinese Religions 19: 1325. (A useful study of the various interpretations of Zhuangzi's experience at Diaoling. [See Zhuangzi, chapter 20.]).

1993 "Zhuangzi on Skepticism, Skill, and the Ineffable Dao." Journal of the American Academy of Religions 61: 63954. (An important a.n.a.lysis of the status of skill.) Kjellberg, Paul, and Philip J. Ivanhoe, eds.

1996 Essays on Skepticism, Relativism, and Ethics in the Zhuangzi. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. (An anthology of essays on the relation between Zhuangzi's skepticism and his positive philosophical project.) Mair, Victor, ed.

1983 Experimental Essays on Chuang-tzu. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press. (The earliest of several good anthologies on Zhuangzi. The essays by Graham, Hansen, and Yearley have been especially influential.) Van Norden, Bryan W.

1996 "Competing Interpretations of the Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi." Philosophy East & West 46: 24768. (An a.n.a.lysis of the tensions within the first seven chapters that give rise to conflicting interpretations, along with an interpretation of sagehood that reconciles them.) 1The exact meaning of the bird's name is unclear, but it was p.r.o.nounced similarly to the word for wind.

2The word translated as "Heaven" also means both sky and Nature.

3We have no knowledge of this text and, judging from its name, it appears to be fict.i.tious. Here and elsewhere, Zhuangzi may be parodying appeals to textual authority by appealing to fanciful "cla.s.sics."

4On Peng Zu, see a.n.a.lects 7.1 and the accompanying note.

5Tang's teacher is named "Ji ," which commentators explain means narrow-as opposed to "Tang ," which means broad. Chapter Five of the book Liezi is ent.i.tled "The Questions of Tang" and contains an expanded version of what might have been their conversation. For a translation, see A. C. Graham, The Book of Lieh Tzu, reprint (London: John Murray, 1973), pp. 92117. For more on King Tang, see Important Figures.

6Little is known of Liezi. The book that bears his name contains scant biographical information. He may have been a pract.i.tioner of magic, or an ascetic who achieved freedom by withdrawing from the world. Either way, Zhuangzi's highly metaphoric criticism of him here suggests that he would have been better off accepting the world as it is.

7"Mists," here and below, is qi . See Important Terms.

8This character's name, Lian Shu, may also suggest a connection to the Shu clan, one of the Three Families that ruled Kongzi's native state of Lu for most of his lifetime.

9In a.n.a.lects 18.5 (not in this volume), Jie Yu, known as The Madman of Chu, criticizes Kongzi for wasting his efforts on a lost cause. When Kongzi tries to speak with him, he runs away.

10Jie Yu's words are "like a fertile woman" in the sense that they await the right kind of person in order to bear offspring (that is, to be understood).

11The people of Song were the b.u.t.t of many jokes. Cf. Mengzi 2A2 and Han Feizi, chapter 49, p. 340.

12Earlier in Chinese history, the Fen River had been the northwestern border separating the Chinese from the non-Chinese world (i.e., the "barbarians"). By Zhuangzi's time, however, military expansion and cultural a.s.similation had moved the boundary back, so the Fen was closer to the center.

13Wei is another name for the state of Liang. Hence this is King Hui of Liang, the same ruler who employed Huizi in his administration.

14It is clear from the beginning of the next anecdote that Huizi's story here is meant as a criticism of Zhuangzi.

15Wu and Yue were two non-Chinese states to the south that were gradually incorporated into the Chinese world during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. When hostilities broke out between them in 510 B.C.E., Wu dominated initially, which was presumably when Zhuangzi's story was meant to take place. Yue rallied its forces, however, and destroyed Wu in 473, which probably meant execution for the traveler or his descendants. The history of Wu, which would have been familiar to Zhuangzi's contemporary readers, makes the moral of the parable uncertain.

16Xin can be translated as either "heart" or "mind," though the latter is usually more appropriate for Zhuangzi. The description of Huizi's mind as full of underbrush may be a reference to Mengzi's metaphor of moral sprouts. See also xin under Important Terms.

17This is evidently Kongzi's disciple, Ziyou, who is described in a.n.a.lects 17.4 (not in this volume) as using music to instruct people in the Way.

18I follow Graham in importing the final lines of this pa.s.sage, from "Does Heaven turn?" to the end, from a later chapter.

19This next section seems to be a mixture of verse and self-commentary. The Chinese words for "boundless" and "unbound" sound similar; the difference in their meanings is a matter of dispute among commentators, and the argument equivocates on whether big is supposed to be better than little. Zhuangzi is perhaps intentionally trying to produce this confusion on the part of his readers. (Zhuangzi frequently uses the rhetorical device of rhyming reduplicatives. Some studies suggest that it is a trans-linguistic phenomenon that such phrases, like "flim-flam" and "ooga-booga," convey a mixture of confusion and mystery.) 20On "essence" (qing ), see p. 235, n. 59, and Important Terms.

21The phrase translated as "small completions" or "small accomplishments" also referred to small groupings of instruments in contrast to a complete orchestra. People lose sight of the whole because of their attention to a part.

22Translating the word for "Heaven" as "nature," this line could be read, "lets them s.h.i.+ne by their natural light."

23A reference to the "School of Names" thinker Gongsun Long. For more, see the Supplemental Text on Gongsun Longzi ("On the White Horse").

24Xi s.h.i.+ was a legendary beauty sent by the king of Yue to marry the king of Wu, spy on him, and help overthrow his kingdom.

25On s.h.i.+ Kuang, see Important Figures and Mengzi 6A7.

26"Hard and white" is a stock example from the ancient Chinese philosophy of language. Zhuangzi is using it as synecdoche for all subtle rational arguments. (See also the Supplemental Text on Gongsun Longzi ["On the White Horse"].) 27An animal's hair is most fine (and hence thin) during the autumn.

28Three backward states that resisted Yao's authority. To see why this bothered him, consider a.n.a.lects 2.1 and 12.19.

29The Huainanzi tells us that the ten suns were too bright, so nine had to be shot down by the archer Yi. Shun's point is that, rather than insist on enlightening these backward states himself, the Virtuous path would be to allow them to find their own way naturally. He is advocating "the shaded glow," "illuminating things with Heaven's light" rather than one's own.

30The second character in this name, Ni, means end or extreme. Elsewhere, in a portion of the text not translated here, Zhuangzi argues that extremes are extreme only relative to one another: the small is small only in comparison to the large, etc., hence the current translation. Later on, Zhuangzi will speak of "harmonizing things by means of Heaven's relativity," that is, taking advantage of their sameness in difference, like the monkey trainer.

31Cf. a.n.a.lects 2.17 (not in this volume): "To say that you know when you do know and that you don't when you don't is knowledge."

32Cf. "sprouts of benevolence and righteousness" (ren yi zhi duan ) with Mengzi 2A6.

33"Gain" (li ) and "loss" (hai ) are important terms for Mozi-who thinks of them as "benefit" and "harm," respectively-and Mengzi, who contrasts li, in the sense of "profit," with yi , "righteousness."

34Lady Li, a legendary beauty and villain, was born a member of the non-Chinese Rong people living to the north and west of China. She was given as a hostage to Duke Xian of Jin (r. 676651 B.C.E.), became his concubine, estranged him from his wife and legitimate heirs, and wreaked havoc in the kingdom. She is an ambiguous figure: a barbarian in China, beautiful yet dangerous. Zhuangzi compounds the ambiguity by retelling the story from her perspective.

35This is the same King Hui who gave Huizi the seeds to the giant gourds in Zhuangzi, chapter 1, p. 212, and who speaks with Mengzi in Mengzi 1A1 and 1A3. This story may be a parody of Mengzi 1A7, subst.i.tuting a lesson on butchery for one on compa.s.sion.

36The Dance of the Mulberry Forest celebrates Tang's victory over Jie and the founding of the Shang dynasty. The Head of the Line Symphony is part of a larger corpus known as the Whole Pond Music commemorating the reign of Yao. The spontaneous harmony of the butcher's movements with traditional music may suggest the inner compatibility of Zhuangzi's Daoism with Confucianism. Cf. Mengzi 4A27.

37For the significance of this period of time, see the Mozi, chapter 31, p. 97, n. 60.

38Nothing is known about this person, though the name does not appear to be fictional.

39The Commander of the Right indicates the supreme military commander.

40The word for "unique" can also mean "one-footed," so the suggestion is that the Commander is missing a foot. Gongwen's question asks whether he was born that way or lost it later. Amputations, tattoos, and death were common punishments not just for crimes but for bad political advice, and even for good advice that the ruler did not want to hear, and hence were considered indicative of moral as well as physical deformity. Zhuangzi's stories of criminals, cripples, and outcasts, therefore, address the same theme as the abstract discussions of perfection, completion, and wholeness.

41Nothing is known about this person, though the name does not appear to be fictional.

42Cf. a.n.a.lects 3.13 (not in this volume): "When you commit a crime against Heaven, there is nowhere you can turn."

43Yan Hui, also known as Yan Yuan, was Kongzi's favorite and most promising student; he died young. See a.n.a.lects 5.9, 6.3, 6.7, and 6.11.

44This is probably Duke Chu, who first ruled in Wei from 492 to 481 B.C.E.

45In Mengzi 2A2, Mengzi criticizes Gaozi for suggesting that the mind must conform itself to words, i.e., doctrine. Here Zhuangzi has Kongzi disagreeing with both of them by saying that both the mind and words must be guided by qi.

46Cf. Zhuangzi's criticism of Liezi in Zhuangzi, chapter 1, p. 210, "though he manages to avoid walking, he still relies on something."

47The Duke of She was an influential politician in the state of Chu in the early fifth century B.C.E. The Zuozhuan describes him as an advocate of the Confucian principle of government by Virtue instead of force who later made good on his word by returning power to the rightful ruler when he was in a position to take over militarily. He and Kongzi spoke about politics and disagreed politely over the priority of obligations to the family and to the state. See a.n.a.lects 7.19, 13.16, and 13.18.

48Success achieved in the wrong way harms a person internally. Good health requires a balanced harmony between the yin and yang. See yin and yang under Important Terms.

49The word translated here as "destiny" is translated as "orders" in the previous paragraph. In both cases, the character in question is ming ("fate" or "mandate"). See ming under Important Terms.

50 Another probably fanciful "cla.s.sical source."

51That is, what matters most is not what people do, but what they say, since it is the words that give the actions meaning.

52Fulfilling destiny" could also be translated "following orders."

53Nothing is known about this person, though the name does not appear to be fictional. He may be connected to the Ji clan, the most powerful of the Three Families that ruled Lu for most of Kongzi's lifetime, reducing the Duke of Lu to little more than a figurehead.

54Cf. Xunzi, chapter 21, pp. 29091.

55Duke Ai (r. 494468 B.C.E.) is depicted asking questions of Kongzi and his disciples in several pa.s.sages in the a.n.a.lects. For example, see a.n.a.lects 6.3 and 12.9.

56Cf. the opening section of chapter 13, p. 244 below.

57Min Ziqian is a disciple of Kongzi praised in several pa.s.sages in the a.n.a.lects that are not included in this volume.

58 Cf. Laozi, chapter 55.

59 On "hard and white," see p. 219, n. 26. The qing , "essence," is the underlying truth or fact about a thing, as opposed to its reputation or the opinions people have of it. The "human essence" is understood here as the basic emotions or commitments that give rise to judgments of right and wrong. Cf. Mengzi 6A6 and 6A8. Someone without an essence would not necessarily have no emotions but would lack preconceptions about them. Cf. the "perfected people" on p. 222 and the "true people" below and elsewhere in the Zhuangzi.

60Translating the word for "Heaven" as "nature," the phrase "born of Heaven" could also be read "live naturally."

61Cf. Laozi, chapter 25.

62Zi Yu, "Master Chariot," is also the name of Kongzi's disciple Zengzi. Since none of the other names refer to real people, however, it is probably not significant.

63Moye was the famous sword of King Helu of Wu (r. 514496 B.C.E.), the smelting of which was said to have required human sacrifices in order to fuse the alloys. The art of metallurgy was endowed with mystical significance, partly because it was dimly understood, and partly also because of the enormous military advantages it conferred upon it possessors.

64These are all allegorical names that bear relation to elements of the following story. For example, "Anti-Mengzi" reflects his disregard of the funeral rituals held in such high esteem by the Confucians. If this is the correct interpretation, the name of this character is the only direct reference to Mengzi in the Zhuangzi. (But see p. 222, n. 32 regarding an implicit reference.) 65The word fang can mean either "rules" or "realm." Both meanings may be implied here. The social realm-that is, the world that people live in and know-comprises, among other things, rules, standards, and definitions. By questioning these things, the friends live simultaneously outside of the rules and outside of the shared social realm.

66Wandering beyond the dirt and dust is a potent image that did much later to endear Zhuangzi to the Buddhists. What it probably means in this context is that, trusting to nature, the sages are freed from the anxiety normal people feel in their pursuit of conventional values that are probably wrong anyway. Sages are described as engaging in wuwei, "nonaction," because their goals rise spontaneously and not by any act of will on their part. (See wuwei in Important Terms.) 67The Mengsun clan was one of the Three Families that ruled Lu during Kongzi's lifetime, though nothing specific is known of Mengsun Cai.

68Cf. Kongzi's remarks in a.n.a.lects 5.9 and 6.11.

69See Zhuangzi, chapter 2, p. 221.

70This marks the end of the "Inner Chapters," which many regard as the earliest strata within the Zhuangzi and possibly the work of the man Zhuangzi.

71Zigong was arguably Kongzi's most successful student. He was held in high esteem both by the Master and also by influential politicians. Kongzi sometimes seemed to worry that things came too easily to him. See a.n.a.lects 1.15, 5.9, 5.12, etc.

72This word can also mean "shackle."

73For an image of a well sweep, see the web site for this volume.

74This puzzling pa.s.sage is evocative of several themes in the Zhuangzi, including human deformity and illumination. Is the woman worried that the child looks like her or that it doesn't? On the one hand, one would naturally expect her to hope her child is well. This would make for a touching pa.s.sage but one seemingly out of place. On the other hand, perhaps this is meant to be a parody of the Confucian insistence on pa.s.sing the deformities of the past on to future generations.

75For Duke Huan of Qi, see the entry for Guan Zhong under Important Figures.

76The scene in this pa.s.sage is similar to what we see in Mengzi 1A7. See Mengzi 1A7; see especially n. 3.

77A mythical one-legged beast.

78Shouling was not actually a city but a tomb, construction of which was begun in 335 B.C.E. and probably continued throughout Zhuangzi's lifetime. Handan was the walled capital of Zhao and was also famous for its funerary parks. a.s.suming that the project at Shouling was to some extent modeled on the one at Handan, Zhuangzi's story may imply a sly criticism of people who follow the past to make sepulchers for themselves in the present.

79The word translated as "how" can also mean "where."

80The strange magpie could be Breeze on her return journey. See Zhuangzi, chapter 1, pp. 20813.

81Reigned 531517 B.C.E.

82Cf. Zhuangzi, chapter 2, p. 217, "We think [human speech] is different from the peeping of fledglings. But is there really any difference or isn't there?"

83Cf. a.n.a.lects 9.12.

CHAPTER SIX.