On Zhuangzi's Life Philosophy Of "You"

Zhuangzi's life philosophy is "play in the world" in brief, which is to"deal with everything in an play and easy attitude". It is said in Tianxia (namely the whole world) chapter of Zhuangzi that Zhuangzi "outstandingly get along well with the Holy Spirit but don't vainglorious and look down on the whole world", "he didn't care what's right or wrong, only treat things like an ordinary person". This is precisely the notation of Zhuangzi's philosophy of "You"(play), which is a philosophy of that keep a distance with the secular life. In order to reveal Zhuangzi's philosophy of "You" comprehensively and systematically, five aspects are analyzed here, which are the prerequisite, the origin and tectonic, the formation and functional value of "You" philosophy. The difference between "Xiaoyao-you" (Happy Excursion) and western play-theory will also be discussed.Firstly, the prerequisite of "You" is "Wang "(forget). From the point of view of Zhuangzi, a person cannot have any spiritually freedom if he or she is "constrained by objects". Only through "Wang", a person can "control the objects and not controlled by them". "Wang" has special meaning for Zhuangzi, which is the same as "sun"(decrease) in Laozi " the Tao is decrease everyday". Ultimate goal of "Wang" is to cultivate a state of mind interlinked with Tao. The fundamental approach for that is "Wu sang wo" (one lost its ego). The cause-and-effect relationship between "Wang" and "You" is clear. No "Wang" there is no "You". Forget to some extent, one have some extent "You", if one forget everything, one can play as one wish."You" philosophy has two sources. One is the new retreat theory developed through critical assimilation of the old pravrajana and cloister theory. It is generally accepted without question that one must love its parents and sever one's monarch as two basic ethical principles. Zhuangzi discard what has outlived its time and develop the new retreat theory of "Xin yin"(renunciation by one's mind) which have great effect on later generations.Another source of "You" philosophy is pondered on the meaning of life and value of life. Zhuangzi distanced the engagement theory and named his philosophy as "You shi"such as "play under the guide of Tao Te" and "humble and play with the world". After qualitatively analysis the retreat and engagement philosophies, Zhuangzi finally fixed golden mean position for his philosophy of "You" artistically.The "You" of Zhuangzi has abundant connotation. It has three types of formations, which are Waiyou, Neiyou and Zhiyou. Correspondingly, there are three type of philosophy, which paves a way outside in from external objective world to internal Subjective World."Waiyou " is play with objects. Play with objects is a state of mentally freedom that has no lust for anything but can intuitionally discern the truth in complicated phenomena. The defining characteristic is purposelessness."Neiyou" is play inside one's mind. "Neiyou" is a combination of introspection, self-examination and imagination. "Neiyou" is entertaining oneself by imagination or by experience. It is kind of spiritual activity through a playful attitude with everything. Similar with artistic imagination and artistic conception, it is a kind of psychology in nature that engages the world with an artistic attitude."Zhiyou" is play with Tao, which is the ultimate formation of "Neiyou". Play with Tao is experience Tao and live a life of Tao. Happy Excursion is its typical formation. "You" philosophy of Zhuangzi has profound impact to the attitude of intellectuals of later generations as well as Chinese literary and artistic creation and aesthetics.The value of "You" philosophy cannot be understood even when Zhuangzi was alive. People questioned its usefulness and to what extent it is useful, just like every time Zhuangzi and his best friend Huishi did. Their debate is not a right or wrong question but a require or not question only feeling valuation was involved.Seeing from the passive side, the philosophy of "You" help people avoid or relieve the pain and hazard of life. Positively, the philosophy of "You" is the endeavors of people who prefer psychosomatic freedom than instrumental value. And they fulfill the play nature of human by methods like "Xinzhai"(mind fast), "Zuowang"(forget), "Wu sang wo" (one lost its ego) and "Wudai" (depend on nothing) and finally pave ways to human ideal living conditions.The concept "You" "Youxin" "Youdao" of Zhuangzi have abundant meaning if we contrast them with western play-theroy. As explain by Zhuangzi himself, "You" is a free and useful less spiritual state. While in western concept, play is a opposite side with work and it's a formation that people can freely reveal oneself. Both the above two explanations stressed the characteristic of beyond pragmatic and spiritual free of "You" or play.The "aesthetic d isinterestedness" of Kant has correlation with the "selflessness" of Zhuangzi. "Selflessness" can be the metaphor of "aesthetic d isinterestedness". It is Wang Guo-wei who bridged these two concepts. The"spieltrieb" theory of Friedrich schiller has comparability with the "Happy excursion" of Zhuangzi. They find common ground pursuing absolute spiritual freedom, which has no relation with the real world but sheer illusion of psychology and spirit. Absolutely, the difference between them is obvious;they have different understanding with play and how to achieve to freedom. Besides, these two theories differ in the scope of applicability.