The Wisdom of Transcendence in The ZHUANGZI

The Confucian way of thinking is anthropocentric, emphasizing the use of

education to edify humans and politics to reform society to perpetuate human society.
But this approach is fatiguing - there are always new babies being born and new
problems to solve. Plus, in the early Warring States period when lords and lords were
in strife, society was in turmoil and people were living in poverty, most people
couldn’t be bothered with education. Daoism sees this and believes it is futile to think
in terms of human-centered solutions. It is better to transcend the human condition
and go with nature. Zhuangzi offers the idea of inaction to think about the world.
Inaction: objected to the restriction of worldly morality upon people, and attempted to
find a simple ethical realm for human beings outside the social relations in reality,
thus revealing some naturalistic, unethical and human-centered characteristics (Zhu &
Wei 2021, 95). This idea shows the wisdom of transcendence. Also it was
instrumental in regulating the inner intellectual balance of later generations of
Chinese literati, giving them second option other than joining the civil service. Until
now, Zhuangzi's philosophy is still being reinterpreted and applied to the formulation
of social policies and the spiritual regulation of people.

1. The wisdom of transcendence

Transcend Space and Time. Zhuangzi believed that no matter how much one
pursues the vastness of space and the length of time, it is a meaningless obsession.
The following two citations hold the key to this:
“To compare all the space filled by the four oceans, is it not like a pile of stones
beside a marsh in comparison with the vastness between Heaven and Earth? To
compare China with all the space between the oceans, is it not like one single piece of
grain in a granary?” (Palmer et al, 2006, p.138)
China is nowhere near as vast as the four great oceans, and the four great oceans
are nowhere near as vast as the space between heaven and earth. This citation shows
there is no absolute vastness.
“To the south of Chu there is a vast creature for whom five hundred years is but a
spring, and five hundred years is but an autumn. In ancient antiquity there was a giant
tree called Chun, for whom spring was eight thousand years and for whom autumn
was eight thousand years. Yet, Peng Tsu is the only man renowned for his great age,
something envied by many people, which is rather pathetic!” (Palmer et al, 2006, p.2)
The long-lived Peng Tsu that people envy is far younger than the vast creatures and
giant trees. The vast creatures and giant trees are far younger than the universe. The
length of time is not absolute.
Both vastness and length are relative. There is no end to the obsessive pursuit. In
the book An Alarm to Awaken the Age (Chen, 2002), a landlord asked a slave what his
wish was, and the slave said he wanted a share of the land. The landlord then made
the slave run from sunrise to sunset, and all the land he ran over was given to him.
The next day, the slave started to run from the first light of day, and when he was
asked to stop for a drink of water and rest, he ignored it. When the sun went down, the
slave finally came back, but at that moment he fell down and died of exhaustion. The
land he was given was three feet long and six feet wide, which was his grave. In this
story, the slave died of his obsessive pursuit, which could be something evil enough to
kill someone. Therefore, it is better to let nature take its course. Also one’ needs are
limited both in time and space, just like the tailor bird nest on only one branch and
tapir drinks only what it needs in Zhuangzi’s philosophy.

Transcend Death. To Zhuangzi, life and death are natural arrangements, as natural
as the alternation of night and day. He saw living as a good thing and death also as a
good thing. The way Zhuangzi looks at death is in the following two citations:
“This is to turn from Heaven and to indulge in emotions, ignoring what is given.
The ancient ones called this the result of violating the principles of Heaven. When the
master came, it was because he was due to be born. When he died, it was entirely
natural.” (Palmer et al, 2006, p.24)
The citation reveals the view of life and death from the perspective of Zhuangzi,
which is reflected in his attitude towards the death of his wife. When his wife died, he
said：

“Her body wrought a transformation and she was born. Now there is yet another
transformation and she is dead. She is like the four seasons in the way that spring,
summer, autumn and winter follow each other.” (Palmer et al, 2006, p.151)
When Laozi died, Zhuangzi criticized others for crying bitterly; when his wife died,
Zhuangzi bashed a battered tub and sang. For Zhuangzi, death is in fact a return home,
a return to the origin of life, that is, to the embrace of the Dao, which should be a
pleasant thing. Thus, death is no longer terrifying. And it is a good thing to let nature
take its course.

Transcend Achievements. Zhuangzi believes that whether one is useful, useless, or

between useful and useless, one is not immune to calamity.
According to the chapter The Huge Tree: “Chuang Tzu was walking through the
heart of the mountains when he saw a huge verdant tree. A woodcutter stopped beside
the tree, but didn’t cut it. When asked why he didn’t he said, ‘It’s no good.’ Chuang
Tzu said, ‘because this tree is not considered useful, it can follow all the years Heaven
has given it.’ The Master came out of the mountains and stayed a night at a friend’s
house. This man was delighted and told his son to kill a goose and cook it. The son
answered, saying, ‘One goose can cackle, the other one can’t. Tell me which one to
prepare?’ The father replied, ‘Prepare the one that does not cackle.’” (Palmer et al,
2006, p.167)
Useless tree can survive for being useless but useless goose is killed for the same
reason. According to Zhuangzi’s observation of the world, successful people will fail,
wealthy people will go bankrupt, virtuous people will be plotted against, worthless
people will be bullied, and people with bad morals will be slandered. According to the
perspective of Zhuangzi, it is unknowable that why honor, disgrace and misfortune
are bound to come. If following Zhuangzi’s philosophy, general view in secularization
shall not be accepted, external objects shall not drag down, the way of nature shall
show its appearance with happiness and freedom.

Transcend Right and Wrong. For instance, as different people with different limited
viewpoints express opinions, they are one-sided. However, for most people, they
cannot realize they are one-sided. They are convinced that they are right and others
are wrong. In this situation, their debate about right and wrong is meaningless. The
following citation holds the key to it:
“Who can we ask to give us the right answer? Should you ask someone who thinks
you are right? But how then can that person give a fair answer? Should we ask
someone who thinks I am right? But then if he agrees with me, how can he make a
fair judgment? Then again, should we ask someone who agrees with both of us? But
again, if he agrees with both of us, how can he make a true judgment? Should we ask
someone who disagrees with both of us? But here again, if he disagrees with both of
us, how can he make an honest judgment? It is clear that neither you, I nor anyone
else can make decisions like this amongst ourselves.” (Palmer et al, 2006, p.20)
This citation shows that when two people have different views on the same thing,
then a third person, no matter what view he or she holds, cannot decide which of the
two is right or wrong. More specifically, if people debate each according to their own
one-sided viewpoint, they can neither reach a final conclusion nor decide which side
is really true or not.
From another point, “because there is, there is not, and because there is not, there
is.” (Palmer et al, 2006, p.12) This citation means right exists because of the existence
of wrong; wrong exists because of the existence of right. Right and wrong always go
hand in hand. What’s more, the logic behind this sentence is that a assumption that
there is a higher view is set. With this assumption, judging right and wrong is
unnecessary. Then let nature take its course, transcending right and wrong.

2. The positive side of Zhuangzi’s thought

It is always assumed that Zhuangzi was an escapist, world-weary, world-avoiding,
and had a pessimistic attitude toward life (Guo, 2012). According to the perspective of
Guo Moruo, "Zhuang Zhou was a world-weary thinker who regarded the reality of
life as meaningless. He often lamented, sometimes even sadly, that ...... life is just a
dream, which is already an old saying, but in ancient times it started with Zhuangzi.
Not only is it a dream, but it is a nightmare. More specifically, it is even compared to
a wart, a boil, a gangrene, or a carbuncle. Thus, death is also a 'great sleep' and a
'extravagance'. What a way of saying that life is worthless." (Guo 2012, 149)
However, Zhuangzi's philosophy of transcendence shows his most rational and
romantic approach toward life at that historical background, which should not be
considered merely negative.
As the above texts analyzes, when transcending space and time, death,
achievements, right and wrong, nature takes its course. What “ nature takes its course”
here means , is not people care nothing, living their life like an empty dream which
many people think of mistakenly as Zhuangzi mentioned. What its mean is, by truly
understanding the nature of things, one can reduce fear and anxiety by transforming
emotions with rationality. As Spinoza (2007) notes, the mind has greater control over
the emotions and is less affected by them, in so far as it understands everything as
necessary. When we face everything with rationality, we can live but not bewildered.
In the early Warring States period, lords and lords were in strife, society was in
turmoil and people were living in poverty. Long-lasting, stable and effective reforms
were impossible under this society situation. Facing this, Zhuangzi knew it was
unrealistic to change the situation of his time and he came up with the transcendence
wisdom to overcome the darkness. And the elements that appeared in his
representation of his thought showed his romantic heart. As Mr. Chen Guoying
analyzed, "In Zhuangzi's mind, however, there is no such (sad, bad dream - quoted)
feeling at all. With an artistic mind, Zhuangzi beautifies human existence and the
realm in which it exists infinitely. Thus, the universe is like a big garden, and life is
enjoyed in this beauty - like a butterfly fluttering among the flowers. What emerges in
Zhuangzi's mind is a beautiful dream”. (Chen 2014, 26)
The disadvantage of transcendence wisdom is that Zhuangzi equated the two
opposing sides when he looked too rationally at them. According to the perspective of
Zhang Dainian, “Zhuangzi is right to see life and death as natural changes, but he is
wrong to deny the value of life and to see it as equal.” (Zhang 2015, 700)
Understanding death and no longer fearing it does not mean chasing it. Rather, an
understanding of death can lead to a valuing of the meaning of life. In Zhuangzi’s
perspective, death is in fact a return home, a return to the origin of life; then life is to
be out and about, to be free in the world, one should extend the knowledge of all the
different kinds of objectivity and experience as much as possible. As a result, when
applying Zhuangzi's transcendental wisdom in the present age, one should still pursue
the positive side in a natural way with a peaceful heart which can be cultivated by the
transcendence wisdom. “Natural way” and “peaceful heart” mean pursuing without
expectation.

3.The influence of transcendence on later generations of literati

This is an important Chinese cultural tradition that has been developed since the
Han Dynasty: a scholar could became a bureaucrat through imperial examinations
(Zhao, 2013). As a result, the ancient literati attached great importance to gaining
fame through the imperial examinations and to realizing their political ambitions by
joining the civil service. However, not all literati were able to achieve fame and
success in their careers. When the literati were disillusioned by their "faithfulness but
were met with suspicion, loyalty but were slandered", they felt a great sense of
psychological discontent and mental anguish in the face of the destruction of their
lifelong pursuit.
Zhuangzi’s philosophy was instrumental in regulating the inner intellectual balance
of later generations of Chinese literati in the past. As Liao (1993) notes, most of the
retired literati went into the woods and ravines when their careers were lost, to amuse
themselves and comfort themselves by reciting the wind and the moon and playing
the zither and painting. But the anger in his heart and the desire to help the world
could not be quelled, so he sought spiritual solace from Zhuangzi to find inner
balance. They transcended achievements, getting rid of external objectivity and the
bourgeois world. They were free in the midst of adversity and maintained their
personal independence in the spiritual world.
At the same time, Zhuangzi's ideas shaped the arrogance of later generations of
literati. According to Jiang (1993), arrogance is an ungovernable aura of feeling, a
spiritual quality and an individual's behaviour. It is the tradition of the ancient Chinese
literati to be proud, to be different from the rest of the world, and to be pure. Ji Kang
wrote Letter of Breaking off Friendship with Shan Juyuan and refused to serve in the
imperial court, stating that he would never cooperate with the rulers behind Shan
Juyuan and that he wanted end his life in mountains (Bao, 2009). In the Eastern Jin
Dynasty, Tao Yuanming resigned from his post and returned to the countryside after
he had become "accustomed to seeing chaos and usurpation" (Jiang, 1993). They
despised fame and fortune, glory and wealth, and people who try all the best to attach
themselves to the rich and powerful. These arrogant literati influenced Chinese
society through their works and shape the Chinese people full of dignity.
However, university students have the wrong concept of arrogance when it comes
to the issue of employment. According to Zhou (2022), many scholars have concluded
that the employment mindset of university students shows a diversity of trends, such
as conformist or arrogant, ambivalence and dependence, anxiety and inferiority,
avoidance or pickiness. Students tend to choose jobs which are knowledge-oriented
with high social status and disdain jobs which are labor-oriented. This leads to
increasingly fierce competition for qualifications and increasing pressure for
employment, with everyone in a state of extreme mental internal exhaustion.
In order to alleviate this social problem, it is crucial to cultivate the transcendence
wisdom of Zhuangzi in society. As Zhuangzi notes, things are not necessarily noble or
mean. When people transcend the bourgeois concepts of the noble and mean, they can
be freed from being enslaved by things and get happiness.
In summary, the transcendence wisdom contains transcendence of space, time,
death, achievements, right and wrong. People can use it as a tool to find the nature of
things, to be freed from the external objectives and to live a meaningful life with a
peaceful heart.
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