The Ultimate Concern of Chuang Tzu

The recent talk at the HK Taoist Association on Chuang Tzu has rekindled my interest in what to me is the most liberated ancient Chinese  philosopher. So I read an article in Dr. Ng Yu Kwan (吳汝鈞)(Ng) 's  A Modern Analysis of Lao-Chuang (老莊学的現代析論) (98) entitled "The Ultimate Concern of Chuang Tzu) (莊子的終極關懷) .

Ng borrowed the concept of "ultimate concern from the influential the German-American Christian existentialist philosopher and theologian Paul Johannes Tillich (1886 – 1965), who wrote the books The Courage to Be (1952) and Dynamics of Faith
(1957) for the laymen and a three-volume Systematic Theology (1951–63) for professionals in which he explored the symbols of Christian revelation as answers to the existential philosophical problems of man by using his "method of correlation"( seeking the meaning of the revelation by God's self-manifestation by relating them to issues in contemporary society). To him, whilst philosophy formulates the central questions implied in human existence, i.e. ontology or what it means to exist and to be a finite human being,  Christian theology formulates the answers implied in God's self-manifestation in the context of such an  existential search.Man is thus engaged in a kind of hermeneutic circle wherein the questions and answers are inextricably bound to each other and philosophical, existential and theological tasks overlap and may include each other. To Tillich, man's "ultimate concern" demands that any theological answers he finds, like the Christian response, be correlated to and be compatible with the answer at the same time general non-theological ontological questions. But what is man's ultimate concern, according to Tillich? "Man, like every living being, is concerned about many things,
above all about those which condition his very existence...If [a
situation or concern] claims ultimacy it demands the total surrender of
him who accepts this claim...it demands that all other concerns...be
sacrificed."( Dynamics of Faith("DF) pp-1-2) and again ""Faith as ultimate concern is an act of the total personality. It
is the most centered act of the human mind...it participates in the
dynamics of personal life."( DF p 5).To Tillich, faith is ecstatic:"It transcends both the drives of the non-rational unconsciousness
and the structures of the rational conscious...the ecstatic character of
faith does not exclude its rational character although it is not
identical with it, and it includes non-rational strivings without being
identical with them. 'Ecstasy' means 'standing outside of oneself' -
without ceasing to be oneself - with all the elements which are united
in the personal center." (DF pp8-9). Tillich does not exclude atheists in his exposition of faith. Everyone has an ultimate concern, and this
concern can be in an act of faith, "even if the act of faith includes
the denial of God. Where there is ultimate concern, God can be denied
only in the name of God." But Ng stresses that when he employs the expression "ultimate concern", he does not wish to relate it directly to any religion. He just wishes to indicate what is of most concern to Chuang Tzu's life.

To  Ng, what most concerns Chuang Tzu can be seen in The Sage's Journey to the North知北遊: "To embody the Tao is what every perfect gentlemen is attached to" (夫體道者, 天下之君子所繫焉) ie. to embrace the Tao and to make it one's own. What does that entail? He says in "Heaven and Earth" (天下篇) :'He came and went with the spirit of heaven and earth but never hold himself above anything and makes no distinction between what is good and what is bad and accommodates himself in the conventional world...He is fulfilled beyond himself, roving with the Creator above and friends with those who go beyond life and death, beginning and ending. His origin is great and penetrating, wide and deep and in fulfilling his purpose, he harmonizes and acts appropriately to fit in with what is above him" (獨與天地精神往來而不敖倪於萬物，以與世俗處...彼其充實不可以己，上與造物者遊，而與外生死無終始者為友。其於本也，弘大而辟，深閎而肆；其於宗也，可謂稠適而上遂矣).

Dr. Ng says that in 崔大華's Study of Chuang Tzu,(莊學研究) the word "Tao" appears more than 320 times and that its meaning may be classified two ways, linguistically and philosophically and that in the second case, we can distinguish the word in three ways: the Tao as considered as something concrete, the Tao considered as an abstract principle and the Tao considered globally and in the third case, it frequently points to the origin of the universe and the highest stage in the development of the human spirit and human morality. To Ng, this is equivalent to what he says is Chuang's ultimate concern, the highest level in his philosophy, not inferred from religious or ethical concepts but is deeply concerned with  the existence or being of the universe in natural philosophy (不是從宗教觀念和倫理觀念中推導出來，而是與自然哲學有深厚關連的宇宙本體),.

Ng thinks that in studying Chuang Tzu, scholars often emphasize his subjectivity and his spirituality and would look upon it as a mental state, an expression of the sublimed self but he thinks that we should not underestimate its objectivity e.g as expressed by Chuang Tzu in The Great Master (大宗師)("There is a kind of love, a kind of faithfulness in Tao. It does nothing. It has no form. It can be communicated but not given. It can be attained but not seen. It is its own source and its own roots. It has always existed from antiquity before even heaven and earth. It animates the spirit and kings. It gives birth to heaven and earth. It is higher than the Tai Chi and deeper than the 6 poles. It was born before heaven and earth yet was longer, it had life in antiquity and yet was older) (夫道有情有信，無為無形；可傳而不可受，可得而不可見。自本自根，未有天地，自古已固存；神鬼神帝，生天生地；在太極之上而不為高，在六極之下而不為深，先天地生而不為久，長於上古而不為老). From this, it can be seen that the Tao does have visible and concrete effects in the physical and human world and may be treated as having a kind of love, a kind of faithfulness, is self-generated but is able to animate the gods and man, has existed before heaven and earth. But I think that when here when Chuang Tzu was talking about love (or emotions) and faithfulness, he may be talking metaphorically and anthropocentrically as if Nature had a personality. The faithfulness may be faithfulness and its attachment may be faithfulness and attachment to its own impersonal and self-given principles. 

What exactly is the Tao according to Chuang Tzu? Ng thinks that it is the principle upon which everything in the universe arises, moves and have their being and is the cause everything which is. He quotes The Old Fisherman (漁父): "The Tao is the source of everything. All who lose it die and all who attain it live. Acting against it spells ruin, acting with it spells success." (道者，萬物之所由也。庶物失之者死，得之者生；為事逆之者敗，順之則成。). Tao is the principle of life! But the Tao cannot be seen, heard, tasted, touched. He says in The Sage's Journey to the North 知北遊 : " You can't see its shape. You can't hear its sound. In human terms, it may be described as dark and dark. Therefore the Tao that can be talked about is not the true Tao." (視之無形，聽之無聲，於人之論者，謂之冥冥，所以論道，而非道也)。To Chuang Tzu, those who have attained the Tao will not be bothered about how things began or ended. He says in Travelling to Chu (則陽): " Those who understand the Tao will not pursue how things end. Nor will they examine how they began. That is where the discussion stops." (覩道之人，不隨其所廢，不原其所起，此議之所止。) 

How does the Tao give birth to life?  Chi's Journey to the North (知北遊) Chuang Tzu says: "The bright originates in the dark, form originates in formlessness, the spirit originates in the Tao. Forms originate from spirit and everything originates from forms...It comes without footprints, it goes beyond all limits; without doors, without houses, it is empty in all four directions. Without it, the sky cannot be high; without it, the earth cannot be wide; without it, the sun and the moon cannot move; without it, everything cannot prosper. That is the Tao!... Deep, deep as the sea, high, high as the mountains. At the end, it starts again. It moves everything and never lacks anything. (夫昭昭生於冥冥，有倫生於無形，精神生於道，形本生于精，而萬物以形相生...其來無跡，其往無崖，無門無房，四達之皇皇也。天不得不高，地不得不廣，日月不得不行，萬物不得不昌，此其道與！...淵淵乎其若海，巍巍乎其若山，終則復始也，運量萬物而不匱。) This idea is repeated again in Uttermost Happiness (至樂): "The sky does nothing, so it may be clear; the earth does nothing so it may be tranquil. Thus, the two inactivities complement each other and everything can be transformed. In haziness and uncertainties, is that not how nothing arrives. In uncertainty and haziness, is that how phenomena arise? The abundance of everything develops from nothing. So it is said that from doing nothing, everything is done. Who among men can attain inaction!" (天無為以之清，地無為以之寧。故兩無為相合，萬物皆化生。芒乎芴乎，而無從出乎！芴乎芒乎，而無有象乎！萬物職職，皆從無為殖。故曰天地無為也而無不為也，人也孰能得無為哉！)

From Chuang Tzu's perspective, there is Tao in everything. The Tao is inside., governs and moves everything. In the Sage's Journey to the North (知北遊), Chuang Tzu says that the Tao "is everywhere, ..in the ants, ...in the millet stalks .. in the glazed earthenware and in shit and piss" ( 惡乎在？莊子曰：無所不在，...在螻蟻...在稊稗...在瓦甓...在屎溺).

If the Tao is in everything and yet cannot be seen, heard, touched, tasted or smelt, how can we perceive it? I suppose we can only "experience" it directly, pre-cognitively through our intuition, insight and through actual practice and through silent reflection. Chuang Tzu did not answer it directly. He proceeded indirectly through the via negativa. He would only say where we cannot find the Tao and merely through suggestions. One of the ways to find the Tao is to forget everything which the Confucians taught, Thus he advocated in The Great Master (大宗師) through an imaginary conversation between Confucius (仲尼) and Yen Hui ( 顏回). It is to forget about Li or the Rituals and Music (忘禮樂) and to forget about Benevolence and Justice ( 忘仁義) and the way to do so is through "sitting meditation" or "sitting down and forgetting everything" ( 坐忘) ie."Relaxing the body and the limbs, stopping to use mental skills, leaving form and doing away with wisdom and getting into steps with the omni-connecting Tao ( 墮肢體，黜聰明，離形去知，同於大通). ie. we must avoid relying upon our subjective will and our calculative intelligence and transcend our mental habit of deliberately using only our reason and our intellectual skills and allow our instincts and intuition to take over. We must avoid rigidly following particular pre-determined paths or methods and remain flexible and relaxed at all times and stay free and natural. What he advocates is a kind of transcendental spiritual freedom like playing a kind of game, implied by the use of the word "trip" 遊 in "worry free trip" (逍遙遊). We must therefore forget our "self" and free ourselves from all kinds of unnecessary and unnatural restrictions but still we must be subjected to natural restrictions like objective circumstances and the inherent nature of things. We should seek our freedom from within ourselves and not rely upon what we are told we should or should not do by any external authorities and in particular, social or political authorities.Perhaps the kind of joy that Chuang Tzu was looking for was an esthetic freedom. That certainly can be seen in the way his thoughts are expressed: through allegories, metaphors, parables and imaginative stories. He wish to transcend the boundaries between subjective and objective reality as in the famous story about whether it was Chuang Tzu who was dreaming about the butterfly or whether it as the butterfly who was dreaming that he was Chuang Tzu!