Zhuang Zi, a One-of-a-kind Philosopher (I)

We have not updated our blog for quite a while. I have had a crazy start to this year both at work and home. Sorry about the long wait! Without further ado, let's jump right into today's topic. We'd like to introduce you to a truly magnificent ancient Chinese philosopher, my all-time favorite, Zhuang Zi (aka Chuang Tzu or Chuangtse, 庄子). He lived in roughly the same time as Confucius during the Spring and Autumn Period (771 - 476 BC).

Zhuang Zi was a brilliant prose writer of the time. Unlike the dry moralizing of any early Chinese thinkers including Confucius, Dr. Lin Yutang described Zhuang Zi was "a humorist with a wild and rather luxuriant fantasy, [a fair] for [superb] exaggeration and for the big. One should therefore read him as one would a humorist writer knowing that he is frivolous when he is profound and profound when he is frivolous."  The mystic creatures he imagined in his work became so well known and widely used in the Chinese language throughout history such that people have lost their imaginary nature. For example, in his exotic imaginary world, Zhuang Zi created "Peng", a mystic giant bird that transformed from a giant fish named "Kun".  Both words are commonly used in Chinese first names symbolizing greatness.

Kun and Peng

Zhuang Zi excelled at using analogies that are both entertaining and thought-provoking. In one of his books, he recorded an interesting discussion with a contemporary philosopher Hui Shi over a tree. Hui Shi said to Zhuang Zi that the tree is useless. He argued that the tree's trunk is so irregular and knotty that it cannot be measured out for planks; its branches are so twisted that they cannot be cut out into discs or squares; it stands by the roadside, but no carpenter would look at it. He then mocked Zhuang Zi that his words are like that tree -- big and useless, of no concern to the world and hence of no practical value. Zhuang Zi responded with "Have you never seen a wild cat, crouching down in wait for its prey? Right and left and high and low, it springs about, until it gets caught in a trap or dies in a snare. On the other hand, there is the yak with its great huge body. It is big enough in all conscience, but it cannot catch mice. Now if you have a big tree and are at a loss what to do with it, why not plant it in the Village of Nowhere, in the great wilds, where you might loiter idly by its side, and lie down in blissful repose beneath its shade? There it would be safe from the axe and from all other injury. For being of no use to others, what could worry its mind?"[Note: the quote was translated by Dr. Yutang Lin]

The use of the useless

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Stay tuned for more interesting stories of Zhuang Zi coming up!

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