Personification In Zhuang Zi

Chapter two of “Zhuangzi” is about understanding yourself and everything around you that influences you. It starts out with a conversation between two people talking about wind and how it interacts with the rest of the world. The rest of this piece seems to have this theme of equality or opposites. When something is brought up so is the opposite of it like yin and yang. It is referring to how they cannot exist without the other. There’s always the idea that you cannot have “that” without having “this” too. Another part is if “this” happens then does this mean that “that” is obsolete? The idea they want to get across is that they’ll both always exist no matter what. You’ll never be able to get rid “this” and just keep “that”.

The saint and the sinner both fall down eventually.” This claim of death hints that Lao-tzu sees an ending of life that is tangible, and therefore, he is materialistic in some aspect.

    Earlier this week we focused on ancient eastern China during the Han Dynasty and the east asian philosophies that arose during this time period. We reviewed three great asian philosophers, Confucius, Lao Tzu, and Buddha. In class we also picked from a list of quotes from these three philosophers a quote they said that really resonated with us and wrote a descriptive essay on it and shared it in class for extra credit.

This text often emphasizes the Heaven as the supreme power over everything below it. In contrast to Heaven, which represents purity, power, and righteousness, Zhuangzi depicts humanity as people that interfere with the natural way, like their punishment for criminals, as well as creative beings that can come up with ideas about the world and themselves, like knowing what is right and what is wrong. Although he accepts the Dao, he does not believe that people can truly learn the Dao by thought or books. Instead, using one’s intuition and prior experience is a greater teaching tool than studying about the Way. Zhuangzi’s text is intended to make the people aware that trying to learn the purpose of life is a fruitless task. He teaches that there is a time to talk and a time to think, and he even encourages to do both. His idea of the ideal man is a someone whose actions make him a perfect example for human morality. In Daoism according to Zhuangzi, the ideal man, also known as Zhenren 真人, was associated with perfect or wise person. Because of his perfection, the ideal man accomplished endless life and enduring fame. He was not subject to the lowly desires and dangers of the earth. In some cases, the ideal man is used to define a Chinese philosopher because of their wisdom and heightened spirituality. Other translations for the Zhenren were the “enlightened one” or the “Spiritual

While Confucius and Laozi differed in their views about virtue with others, they both require some form of harmony. Confucius thought a gentleman enacted certain virtues such as benevolence, justice, filial piety, and loyalty, and these are important in order to reach the Way through ritual to avoid shame. He felt ritual depended on the harmony of these virtues, but it did not take precedence, because "harmony cannot be sought for its own sake, it must always be subordinated to ritual". Instead, ritual is equal to a love of learning, because there is no limit of knowledge to gain. While he recognized those who can act without comprehension, he felt learning trounced innate knowledge. In contrast, Daoists believe simplicity provides a better life for the people than wisdom from learning, because it can lead to artifice. Laozi felt "when the great Way is neglected there arises benevolence and justice". He felt virtue only arises after the harmony of the Way has disintegrated. According to Daoists, harmony arose from the Way in the form of yin and yang, which regulates everything on heaven, earth, and in humans. This principle, however, requires that our actions are already predetermined, and they cannot affect harmony. Each individual would have to have an immense amount of trust for this system to work. However, in Confucius' society individuals would be able to

Before parallels can be drawn between ideals and paths in Daoism, Daoist philosophy and Dao must be defined. It is hard to put Daoist Philosophy into a nice, neat sentence because of the complexity and vast amount of information on the subject. For the intent of this paper, Daoist philosophy is defined as a Chinese philosophy that takes a more naturalist approach to religion and way of living. It is the connection between imitating nature and harmony. Dao is defined in Chapter 1 as the constant moving “everything” that surrounds us. It is not tangible, it is just what it is, and you do not know exactly what this something is.

One of the oldest philosophies in Chinese history is Confucianism. At the time of the warring states, Confucius wandered throughout China seeking a ruler who accepted the Confucian way. Since then, his ideas grew and are still relevant today. Throughout time other philosophers, Mengzi and Xunzi, have interpreted Confucius’ teachings and have long debated whether human nature is good or bad. I argue that human nature is not, as Mengzi believes, inherently good, instead, completely self-interested.

We have covered the general accounts of human nature found in Confucianism and Taoism in light of the historical backdrop of the Period of Warring States. Use your responses to the following general questions below as an opportunity to refer either to the Smith text and accompanying assigned scriptures(s), Smith video(s) on China, Confucianism, and Taoism, or any additional material covered in class. Look ahead to the next question on the chun tzu in order to plan on avoiding repetition of answers verbatim within each essay if there are areas of potential overlap.

In “The Daodejing,” Laozi, similar to many prominent Chinese philosophers before and after his time, discusses his unique perspective of the “Way.” There is much controversy, however, regarding whether Laozi was the actual author of this text or was even a real person, and “his” work is thought to have been a composite. (For the purpose of clarity, throughout this paper, the author(s) of “The Daodejing” will be mentioned as Laozi.) Laozi’s vision of the “Way” is exceptionally challenging to define using words because of its metaphysical nature. Although this term is somewhat difficult to envision, it is what mankind should aspire and take action to be aligned with. According to Laozi, in “readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy,” the “Way” (or dao) is the “source, sustenance, and ideal state of all things in the world” (Laozi 158). It can be best thought of as the underlying guiding force of all events that occur in the universe, and mankind is closer to the “Way” when they realize that all things are interconnected and have an effect on one another. As might be expected, this vague definition isn’t a foolproof depiction of the eighty-one chapters in the “Daodejing,” but one is able to grasp a basic understanding of Laozi’s ineffable doctrine. Although numerous chapters are meaningful and could provide substantial analysis, this paper will focus in on Chapter Twelve. Ultimately, this chapter adequately and efficaciously compresses the teachings of “The Daodejing” into

Then, there were some points that I felt were not well supported in this article. Wen wrote about Zhuang Zi philosophy that I felt really did not add to the article and could have been left out. She wrote only three lines that were valid to me. She wrote “Zhuang Zi was adamant in declining an offer, and would rather be an orphaned piglet, saying, “I would rather play in a muddy ditch and be happy than be fettered by the state” (Yao-yu, 1991, p. 79). That means he would prefer never to have anything to do

Rather, Mengzi regards men as born with a potential property, which could lead to good moral attributes like ren, yi, li, and zhi. On the contrary, Xunzi argues that men are born with an instinct called xing, which could result in immoral attributes like affection and desire . Nevertheless, the fact that men are born with a property leading to goodness does not contradict the fact that men are born with an instinct leading to badness.

Inherent in the sacred religious myths of China, the story that unfolds is that of the Dao . This harmonious and mythical story of the Dao is something shared by all yet, concealed in natural forces. It is only in the relationship between the Dao and the individual that one’s authentic self is comprehensible. The totality of creation works via the congruent combinations of the harmonizing opposite’s, yin and yang (Esposito 19). Yin is defined as the passive female

Lao Tzu believed that human life is constantly influenced by outer forces; not unlike everything else in the universe. He knew that simplicity was key to all truth and freedom. He always encouraged those who followed him to observe and to seek to understand the laws of nature.

This passage, “It is easy to keep from walking; the hard thing is to walk without touching the ground… You have heard of flying with wings, but you have never heard of flying without wings. You have heard of the knowledge that knows, but you have never heard of the knowledge that does not know”(Chuang Tzu), illustrates the difficulties of people’s communication in the world. Here, Chuang Tzu is using Confucius’ words to explain his own views on dealing with people or things near you. In the sentence, Confucius is trying to tell Yan Hui that to be able to live in the world, he has to be “selfless”, which is to forget everything and forget the existence of one’s self. In order to reach “selflessness”, people need to learn how to do “Heart fasting” which is a spiritual sublimation and spiritual fasting, not just a kind of ritual. “Heart Fasting,” is letting people clean their minds, avoid all kinds of distractions, stop being cranky, and calm their hearts down. Confucius is trying to tell the world to put every pressure down because if there is too much burden in a human’s heart, there is no way to deal with things well. When doing something, there will be gains and losses. If we care about gain and loss, we will lose the real us. We have to forget everything and understand that putting something down is not a loss, but a way to pick it up better.

Confucian moral doctrine that placed people into a hierarchical canon is attached by Lu Xun in the novel who advocates for equality as the new philosophy of life. The work is intended to identify feudalism as cannibalism in China and instead call for freedom of