Some random thoughts about ChuangTzu

Friday night is almost the end of the week. Sometimes, I would feel so exhausted that I would really prefer not to do anything except to have dinner with my wine and dine friends and just spend the evening chit-chatting about nothing in particular. But I knew the HKSHP would be presenting a talk on ChuangTzu, one of my favourite Chinese philosophers. The talk would be given by the head of the HK Taoist Association, Dr. Tong Wai Hop, one of most knowledgeable experts on Taoism in Hong Kong. So reluctantly, I dragged myself to Shamshuipo. I was lucky. I got more than a few ideas and not only on ChuangTzu.

I was a bit surprised when I arrived at the association's premises. Not very many people attended the talk. I'd say not more than 10. So the atmosphere was just right for an informal talk on what to me one of the greatest philosophic champions of the free spirit in Chinese history. In line with the spirit of freedom of that wonderful Chinese philosopher , Dr. Tong told us that so many people have written so much about that famous Taoist philosophers that he did not think there was very much more he could say. So he decided that he would just talk about a few very personal ideas that he had in his long years of studying ChuangTzu and that he would concentrate on the Core (Inner) Books. To me this is most valuable. His thoughts can in a sense be regarded as the gist of years of thinking and experiencing about  ChuangTzu or what ChuangTzu meant to him as a scholar and as a person, something which one would never get in a formal disquisition about ChuangTzu.

Dr. Tong, Chuang is a successor and a developer of the ideas of LaoTzu. He not only thought deeply about the Tao. He lived it. He was a minor official in a kind of garden called 漆園 (The Chat Garden) in a place called Mong (蒙), according to the Book of Chroncles (史記). Save that he was a contemporary of King Wei of Liang and King Zuan of Chi ( 梁惠王, 齊宣王,) in the period of the Warring Nations (戰國), we do not know much about him: where Mong was, when Chuang was born and when he died etc.. But from his own writings, we know that he had been invited but refused to be a chief minister by one of the kings, preferring a free existence and apparently taking pleasure in so living. The Taoist religion calls him a "the supremely true man of South China" (南華真人) and what he wrote was called "The True Books of South China" (南華真經).

To Dr. Tong, ChuangTzu started a form of totally unconscious and spontaneous proto-dialectic method of argument the theory which however he never fully developed. He thought that the governing principle of the universe is the Tao (道) , something which had existed prior to the existence of the visible universe (先天地生) and which really does not fall within the ambits of either realism or materialism. The Tao is something which is not static. It is undergoing changes every second. He aims to live in such a way consistent with the principles and operation of the Tao, in a way a bit like a playful journey without any cares for conventional values (逍遙自在) and in accordance with man's own innate nature: ie in a manner in which man would refuse to be  dominated by material objects and possessions (不為物役) and not be rigidly attached to one's personal opinions (不執偏私), understanding all and following the logic of all (通情達理)  so that in end, one could arrive at a state when man is united with the Tao (道通為一).

ChuangTzu is against holding on to any absolute ideas and denies any absolute distinction between things and phenomena (否定一切事物的本質區別) and the "unchanging nature of everything" (現實之不變). He advocates transcendental spiritual ideal of co-existing with the universe and being one with the everything. (天地與我共生，萬物與我為一) and to live in harmony with objective and eternal reality and the particular circumstances and times one finds oneself in (安時處順) and be subjectively content and hence free (逍遙自在) . According to 周景勳 『莊子寓言中的生命哲學』(1966 June pp 18-20) , each of his parables centres on a particular aspect of a stage in a person's life:

逍遙遊:  We should not emphasize too much upon our subjective desires and not seek to dominate, control and manipulate external circumstances but to go along with what the circumstances themelves seem to indicate. We must not be governed by our desires for material things. To be truly free, we must eliminate our sense of self, for "success" and "achievements" and for fame (無己，無功，無名). Only then can we arrive at the great understanding or enlightenment (大通)

齊物篇:  We should learn from the Tao and from Nature and not make too clear a distinction between matters of quantity but concentrate on quality, especially between big and small, self and others because if we do, then prejudices, narrow-mindedness and inordinate desires and greed will arise and these will lead to endless conflicts and disputes. We should immerse and submerge ourselves into things (物化) because everything has its own reasons and may be right (物物皆是). We should therefore do our best to forget our "ego/ self" (忘我). If so, we may then arrive at the state of unity with the Tao (道通為一)

養生主篇:  To preserve and thereby to prolong life, we need to follow the ways of heaven, based upon the "no harm" principle (養生以不傷為本) (『抱朴子。極言』)(this is rather like Hippocrates' first principle of medicine). We should follow and preserve as the basis of health the protection of our spinal cord and keep to the centre and not be dominated by external things ("緣督以為經 ", "守常而不為物役". ). If so, then we would not be affected by either joy or sorrow (哀樂不能入), and be able to face both life and death with equanimity (生死泰然) and be at one with the great beyond (與大化冥合) .

人世間篇:  We must not place too much emphasis between big and small (大用小用), useful and useless, (材與不材) and understand the principle of emptiness, the use of uselessness (無用之用) . We must empty ourselves so that we may respond to and take advantage of what is on offer (虛心應) because it is a principle of Nature to go back to and encourage a return to a state of equilibrium (養中) and to be in a state where our heart or mind will stay free and relaxed (遊心) and accept everything as if it were our fate (安之若命). If so, then even in a state of great confusion and chaos, we may stilll be able to preserve our life and our essence and not come to harm (保真無傷).

德充符篇:  This piece emphasizes that we should try to transcend our concern for perfection: whether in respect of our physical appearance and in our mind. We should not be affected by whether we are physically complete, whole and perfect because if we do, our mind will be constrained by our body and is restricted thereby (遊於形骸之內). We should try to concentrate aim at preseving what there is inside oursleves. If so, nothing outside can hurt it (內保之而外不傷) and we shall grow in virtue and we shall then forget our external form (德有所長，而形有所忘). We should try not to hurt ourselves by our likes and dislikes (不以好惡內傷其身). If so, we may more easily learn to appreciate the wonders and the joys of life and our life will be following path towards the true Tao.

大宗師篇: This piece states the ultimate principle: that the Tao is invisible, eternal and infinite. Man must never stray from this principle for a second. We need constantly to inquire into what it is (問道), learn about it (學道) , experience it (體道) until we attain it (得道) ie. become one with it. Only those who understand and practices the Tao can arrive at the state of forgetting the Tao and becoming one with it (坐忘) in silent contemplation and be a companion of the Tao and freely journeys between heaven and earth as if we breathe with it (與造物者為伍，遊乎天地一氣).

應帝王篇: This sets out ChuangTzu's political philosophy. He thinks that we should aim at doing little and not place our own interest before those of others. (無為無私之治). We should follow the principles of Nature and the inherent laws of the universe and not allow our own private subjective will to interfere with its operations (順物自然而無容私焉). If we do so, then everyone can follow their own nature and will thus be permitted to act in accordance with the principles of the Tao without undue interference by others. We should never push things to extremes. He cites the example of making a hole every day. In the end, there are so many holes that the life will go out of it. (日鑿一竅，七日渾沌死)

To make what he wishes to teach interesting and easy to understand ChuangTzu does not teach by principle. He teaches instead by examples and by parables like Jesus and like Zen stories. He allows the principle to be embodied in concrete situations. Hence through his stories and his fables, we learn about the operation of the principles of the Tao in situations his readers can relate to. Through this method he hopes to disseminate his ideas about what is true, good, beautiful and sacred/holy. (真善美聖) so that we may through the use of analogy and our imagination consciously apply what we have learned from the stories to our actual situation in life to the end that we may live more understanding and hence more wisely. We shall then know what is important and what is less so. He teaches us through our experience. He teaches what is profound through what is simple. The key to understanding ChuangTzu therefore is to understand his stories.

In a way, the story of Pao Ting carving out meat from the body of a cow (庖丁解牛) is the perfect example of the Tao in action. He studies where the muscles are, where the tendons are, where the bones are and he passes his carving knife in accordance with the direction of the muscles and through the weak points on the cow's body, following the line of least resistance and he practices his craft everyday until he thoroughy understands each part of the cow's body. That way, he becomes efficient and he can use of minimal force to acheive the best result. He can do so only because he understands where the joints are and where to apply his force and where not to. He practices so much that it has become a habit and he can do so without any conscious thinking at all. It has become automatic. The Tao works but its principle is invisible and intangible. Through learning and experience and practice, we can then hope to progress from the common man, to the saint and to the ultimately true man. (凡人--聖人--真人).

To Dr. Tong, the weakness of Buddhism is that it teaches you not to be concerned about distinctions but it does not teach you a method how. I don't think he is right. The Buddha does teach various methods of how we may arrive at the ultimate state of nirvana: through contemplation, and periodic withdrawal from the world to train us to be mindful at all times of how our emotions and our prejudices may affect our behavior. From such awareness, we learn when  our bodies are overcome by negative emotions and when own mental prejudices are asserting themselves and through such awareness or mindfulness, we can nip it in the bud before the situation gets worse. Through constant practice, we can become so alert that our mindfulness and consciousness or awareness will have become a "permanent" and "normal" condition of our mind. He says that only if we use the Taoist method, can paradise be achieved within this life in this world. We don't have to wait until we die to attain nirvana. But here again, I don't think he is entirely right. The Buddha has already attained nirvana before his death! He only stayed on because he wishes to pass on what he has learned to others!

After the talk, we were also given a demonstration of a new type of electronic device which is designed to help us read electronic books. It has a 16 inch screen which displays a page of a book which looks remarkably like reading a page of normal book. With this device, we can read pages and pages of a book without tiring our eyes because the screen does not emit light, like the screen of a computer or an i-pad and we can but must read by normal room lighting. However there are two set backs: its processing speed is only 60% of that I-pad or Kindle and its displays are restricted to two colors: black and white. However, it can be connected to a computer, something which I-pad cannot do. It has a storage capacity of 16 gigabytes, which is quite sufficient for storages thousands of books. Thus for ordinary purposes, it is quite sufficient. Unlike I-pad or Kindle, the books it can access are not restricted only to those available in C-text and Amazon. It sells at a price more or less the same as as I-pad. Well worth exploring further!