On Chuang-tzu’s Dual Survival World

Due to objective and subjective reasons, everyone is living in the double world, the ideal world and the real world, so is Chuang-tzu.Compared with ordinary people, Chuang-tzu is a philosopher with keen mind and profound understanding. Not only has he found the philosophical cornerstone for his dual survival world, but also for the reason that his observation of the real world is more profound, and his imagination of the ideal world is more abundant. All Chuang-tzu’s political views, outlook of life, or writing techniques reveal the image of dual survival world. It can be said that Chuang-tzu’s thought on the book Chuang-tzu and his political views as well as writing style, are constructed by the dual survival world. And the construction of content also exerts a significant impact on future generations.Chuang-tzu believes all things are the products of "Qi" under the control of "Tao". Of course, human is also a product of "Tao" and "Qi". Chuang-tzu specifically points out: "That human spirit comes from "Tao", and the flesh is composed of "Qi". In Chuang-tzu’s philosophy system, "Tao" is more important than "Qi", so the spirit is more important than the flesh of man, which lays a theoretical foundation for Chuang-tzu to pay attention to the spiritual world, while relatively neglect the real world. Chuang-tzu respects people’s spiritual realm, longing for a better vision of society. But Chuang-tzu ’ s attention to the spiritual life does not mean that Chuang-tzu completely ignores the real life. Accurate expression is that spirit and physical both are important, while spirit is the main part.In politics, Chuang-tzu depicts a society with the highest morals. In the ideal society, "the rulers as branches, people like a deer", "The animals can use rope traction to roam everywhere, and the black magpie nest can climb up to visit". In the ideal society, not only the relationship between people is harmonious, even man and animals also can live in harmony together, so people can "play with food in the mouth, play while patting the belly", and people have no worry while life is thoughtless. However, when he returns to reality, Chuang-tzu feels deeply embarrassed that "In spite of the cauldron can hold a cow, the ant can not put one foot in it when the cauldron is boiled". Chuang-tzu angrily likens himself to "a fish trapped in a dry rut". So he comes up with all sorts of tricks in officialdom to intrigue in "the human world", and even puts forward the political views that do not seem to be Taoism, such as "the criminal law as the main body, the etiquette as wings, with knowledge to cater to the occasion, to use morality to follow the law". We believe that the reason for this contradiction is that Chuang-tzu is living in dual survival world. When he is intoxicated with the ideal world, he advocates the former one, that is, "play with food in the mouth, play while patting the belly"; when he is confronted with the reality, he also claims the latter one, that is, "the criminal law as the main body, the etiquette as wings".Dual survival world not only affects Chuang-tzu’s political views, but also greatly tears Chuang-tzu’s personality. In ideal world, he can "follow the laws of the universe, grasp climate change, roam in infinity", which is so leisurely and carefree without obsession. Because he has to understand there is no difference between life and death, even death is better than life, he reaches the "saints heartless" realm, the complete elimination of the likes and dislikes of all things. However, when returning to reality, he has to admit himself like a monkey "lives in Nan, Zi, Yu, Zhang and other tall trees in the woods", "walking gingerly and looking around from time to time, the heart of fear trembling tremor". Chuang-tzu has to be trembling with fear and carefulness.The romantic writing technique of Chuang-tzu is appreciated by the literati in the past dynasties, and the emergence of this writing technique is also the result of the dual survival world. Chuang-tzu said "the world is muddy, and nobody can speak with Chuang-tzu" except "non-human". Thus, in the book of Chuang-tzu, there has been a large number of communications between Chuang-tzu and "non-human" or between "non-human" and "inhuman". Such as Chuang-tzu and Calvary discuss the issue of life and death, the "Lishe tree" tells "carpenter stone" what is "the use of the useless", "Beihai Ruo" reveals to "Hebo" the relativity and variability of all the things, "Guangyao" and "Wuyou" explor the true meaning of "none". Therefore, the "Chuang-tzu" text is strange, lustrous and dazzling. However, Chuang-tzu still lives in the real world. He has to look up at the sky in the silently conveyed tenderness, and also has to pay attention to the rough ground beneath feet. So in the book of Chuang-tzu, large part of the text, in a realistic way, describes the suffering from the darkness of the society and the people. On the basis of the plight of his dilemma, it can be said that Chuang-tzu’s dual survival world forces Chuang-tzu to use a double artistic technique to express his thoughts and feelings.And this influence has been inherited the later generations of scholars. Overall, Chuang-tzu not only has a positive impact on the future generations, but also has a negative side. At that time, although Chuang-tzu’s ideal society is impossible to achieve which still belongs to the unreal imagination, after all, Chuang-tzu points out efforts should be made to the direction for the posterity; his spiritual comfort type theory also plays a comfort role for those people who are troubled and unable to escape, so that they can move on with a relative calm attitude. The negative influence of Chuang-tzu’s thought is also obvious. The realm of the saints and the good society in Chuang-tzu’s imagination make some literati intoxicated and escape from reality. Chuang-tzu’s literary description of "Zhen Ren", such as "riding the clouds, riding the sun and moon, and roaming almost within the four seas", etc, becomes the Taoist credentials that attract people to cultivate themselves to be immortal with a heavy price. Of course, some of these effects may have exceeded Chuang-tzu’s expectations.Research on Chuang-tzu’s dual survival world further clarifies Chuang-tzu’s thought, which puts forward with reasonable explanation for the seemingly contradictory ideas. It is the academic significance of this article. Each person has own dual survival world, and the analysis of Chuang-tzu’s dual survival world enables us to understand the positive meaning of these living world, at the same time, we can avoid fall into the "Peach Garden" type of fantasy dream which blindly escapes from the mire of reality. It is the writing purpose of this paper.