Zhuang Zhou

Here came Mencius, perhaps one of the greatest exponents of Confucianism, a veritable St. Paul of the Confucian movement, and the chief opponent of Yang Chiu.

Here came Chuang Tzu, most subtle among the Taoist sophists, Li Qie, the great statesman and lawgiver, Hisun Tzu, the philosopher of the doctrine of original evil, Wenzu, the able follower of Lao Tzu, and Mo Ti, the apostle of brotherly love, whose name is frequently bracketed with Yang Tzu and condemnation by Mencius.

Seldom at any capital in the world attracted so many profound, original, and subtle thinkers as the capital of the state of we in the third and second centuries before Christ.

The spread of Christianity in Eastern Europe and Confucianism in China ultimately destroyed or diverted the philosophic spirit, substituting religious dogma and rites for philosophic inquiry and reason, and for centuries the philosophies lay buried or perished altogether in the great burning of books in 213 B.C., or passed, like Taoism, into the realms of rites and worship, or were preserved, only in fragmentary form, like the single chapter of the philosophy of Yang-Chu, that remains embedded in the Taoist teachings of Lisu.

We must cultivate that emptiness and that space between things.

Zhuangzi told the story, of a butcher who had been chopping up oxen and pigs for many years.

And he only used a thin knife.

Other people needed butcher blocks and they needed really heavy knives and they would go through the knives every couple of years.

Let us try to make them for him." Accordingly, they dug one orifice in him every day, and at the end of seven days, Chaos died.

Chuang Tzu, Legge's translation.

Chapter One: Questions.

A European lately arrived in China, if he is of a receptive and reflective disposition, finds himself confronted with a number of very puzzling questions, for many of which the problems of Western Europe will not have prepared him.

Effortless action, effortless living, non-doing, intelligent spontaneity, and also non-interference.

Now, In my book, Effortless Living, there's actually a quote from the great Trappist monk Thomas Merton from his book, The Way of Zhuangzi, kind of his loose translation of the Zhuangzi.

And I'll just read this quote to you, which kind of gives you a good, concise idea of what wu-wei is.

The true character of wuwei is not mere inactivity, but perfect action, because it is act without activity.

But for ourself on a personal level, we will act according to whatever is happening to us in the terrain of our own personal life, right? And so the art of wu-wei is about calibrating your life in harmony with the all, right? And now that's on an individual level, but we can also take that onto a nationalistic level, right? Where nations can govern themselves with wu-wei, and so they too can act immediately and appropriately to each and every situation, but they have to harness the essence of what wu-wei is.

As I said, part of the essence of wu-wei is non-interference, right? The path of non-interference.

Now to speak about that a little bit more, I will go back to my book, Effortless Living, and give you a quote from Zhuangzi, out of the Zhuangzi text, one of the great Taoist sages, Zhuangzi.

And just so you can get an idea of why we should allow things to be and just leave things alone, and not look over the fence or try and tell people how to live and how to be.

3.

Degenerate Taoism Taoism is that system of Chinese religious thought and practice, beginning about the 5th century BC, which was originally based on the teachings of Lao Tzu and developed in the writings of Lie Tzu and Zhuang Tzu and found in the Tao Te Ching.

It is really in this original form a philosophy of some merit.

According to its teaching, the Tao is the great impersonal background of the world from which all things proceed, as beams from the sun, and to which all beings return.

Each interprets in his own way the music of heaven.

Footnote, you know the music of earth, said Chuang-tsu, but you have not heard the music of heaven.

End footnote.

And whether it be discord or not depends upon antecedent causes.

Here came Mencius, perhaps one of the greatest exponents of Confucianism, a veritable St. Paul of the Confucian movement, and the chief opponent of Yang Chiu.

Here came Chuang Tzu, most subtle among the Taoist sophists, Li Qie, the great statesman and lawgiver, Hisun Tzu, the philosopher of the doctrine of original evil, Wenzhou, the able follower of Lao Tzu, and Mo Ti, the apostle of brotherly love, whose name is frequently bracketed with Yangtze and condemnation by Mencius.

Seldom at any capital in the world attracted so many profound, original, and subtle thinkers as the capital of the state of we in the third and second centuries before Christ.

The spread of Christianity in Eastern Europe and Confucianism in China ultimately destroyed or diverted the philosophic spirit, substituting religious dogma and rites for philosophic inquiry and reason.