| Zhuang Zi was born in Song State in the Warring States Period. He was a state official in his youth and fell into destitution later in life. A philosopher admired by kings and princes of his time, he nevertheless gave slightest interest in fame and fortune. Zhuang Zi despised rank and wealth, which seemed to him, was entirely life's odds and ends that man is born without and dies without. What a joke was that they were all cataloged among life's necessities and zealously pursued by the mundane. Zhuang Zi's magnanimity came from his notion of"Dao", or the origin of the universe.Zhuang Zi's notion of"Dao"derives in certain aspects from Lao Zi and another school of philosophy, namely, Hung & Lao, whose worldview combines Lao Zi and King Huang. But differing from the previous two schools, Zhuang Zi's focus and ideas display his distinctiveness. For an instance, Zhuang Zi accepts Lao Zi's notion that"Dao"is the origin of the universe, but for Lao Zi it provides primarily the order of the world, while for Zhuang Zi it is mostly related to man's own existence."Dao"is intangible, thus inexplicable. Lao Zi's notion of"Dao"is made somewhat tangible with several rules and doctrines. When it passed down from the school of Huang & Lao to Zhuang Zi, however, the notion became increasingly abstract. Everything in the universe has name and form,"Dao"otherwise does not because of its abstractness, which results in its inexplicableness."Dao"for Zhuang Zi is not only the law of human relationships as maintained by the Confucianists but the law of the whole universe.Zhuang Zi's notion of"Dao"explains his highly individual lifestyle. He tries to maintain his mind in a state of tranquility where everything is vaporous and evanescent. While his mind is in a void, it is impermeable by earthly gain and loss. Therefore he can live in a world whose ebb and flow stirs nothing in his heart. Though world changes incessantly, it always changes in outward forms and leaves his mind in peace. It is nature of physical things to change, which is beyond human control, the only thing man can do is to rise above it. In this sense, keeping hold of the law of the universe, or"Dao"or the law of Creation, is of great necessity, which helps man to transcend the ever-changing world. When you understand"Dao", you will find everything is one thing and all the different physical forms are reduced to one essence, therefore lines between things vanish and the mind is free from changes and distinctions. This homogenous state is the original state of life, the returning of mind and of life. Zhuang Zi wants to achieve this kind of unity of mind and"Dao"through abstracting and disremembering so as to dissolve the earthy problems and acquire a mind in peace and a body in repose.Living in this world, we inevitably run into all kinds of temptations. The difficulties we encounter around every corner, the infinite of knowing, the pursuit of fame and fortune, the disputes of moral and ethic issues, the calamities and disasters we by no mean can predict, all these in combination constitute the boundless human hopes and fears, which are obstacles on life's way towards comfort and serenity. Once an individual is submerged by this sea of trouble, his life is burdened to its very end. The ultimate comfort for life lies in its ability to answer life's puzzles and among which, an unsolved one is the contradiction between man's mortality and nature's immortality.Zhuang Zi's position in thinking of life is that of a man in the world, where he focuses on the issues of relationships between an individual and the others as well as the society as a whole, and how to find one's haven in a complicated and hostile environment. Physical forms are irrelevant here for it belongs to another realm, namely Destiny, which is beyond human control. But we can control our own inner world and we can choose which state of mind we want to be and how it responds to the outside world. Consequently it determines what kind of world we will live in. Accordingly, Zhuang Zi gives up on physical forms and with undivided intention cultivates his inner world. With regard to this, Zhuang Zi places a great emphasis on one's morality, only by means of which life can transcend and receive grace while the physical form remains in the filthy mundane world. Zhuang Zi employs an epigram to explain his idea of morality, which is"traveling one's mind according to the law of the universe". He maintains that to be imperturbable to earthy trouble is to be transcendental and to be free from being materialized; in this way, without fetters, soul can soar beyond the highest heaven, which is another form of Zhuang Zi's ideal of unity between mind and"Dao". Zhuang Zi's idea of morality is great yet compromising, because he tries to achieve a balance by convincing his heart to accept the terms which his body has made with the world.Zhuang Zi was clearly aware that the universe is infinite and human's life is limited, thereby he wanted to live a life unfettered like drifting cloud or wild bird instead of being bound down with troubles in so short a life. But in an unjust world where laws and rules were laid down by kings, whose power seemed everywhere, individuality was suppressed and life was humiliated. Any attempt to pit one's humble strength against the crashing power of the giant rumbling wheels of history would be like that mantis in the famous Chinese fable who meets a tragic end. Man has cognitive ability; once it deviates, it results in desires one after another, which impel man to pursue worldly things on a one-way road, happiness deprived, life-long tribulation imposed, like chasing after one's shadow with no chance to win. In view of that, Zhuang Zi found a way of existence and applied it to life. While he lifts the soul high above clouds he leaves the body in the corporal world, as soul without body is transcendental, Zhuang Zi developed his peripatetic theory, or free mind-traveling theory. The mind-traveling, so to speak, does not dissociate man from the world, because the world is inescapable in which we are born and live and die. So we must travel in this world, and at the same time maintain a certain detachment. You cannot be fully involved in the world, plunging into it or feeling indistinguishable with it, in that case, you won't be able to attain the ideal state of mind-traveling.Zhuang Zi separates mind and body in his view of life. It can be seen as an expedient in a deformed society and an inevitable solution for all virtuous persons at that time."Traveling one's mind in the void"constitutes one important part of Zhuang Zi's philosophy. The other part is the wish to"live according to one's allotted time"in the physical world. Since human body must exist in the world and we cannot live without it, we must find a way to reconcile with the fact. Therefore we can choose to do nothing to contribute to the world or to change it, but we can never stand against it because of our own powerlessness. To make peace with the world can be a sound and easy solution though a compromising one. To accept the world as it is, to live with it no matter what, this is Zhuang Zi's attitude towards life. But it by no means suggests a life led in complicity with the evils of the world. In his work, The World, Zhuang Zi suggests a way to lead a decent life, which is"to comply in appearance, to divide in heart. As for"to comply in appearance", is to be outwardly compliant and contradict no conventional values and terms. But that's the bottom line. To comply is different from to be involved, because the former is only an outward instead of an inward recognition, let alone an active cooperation. The best we can do is to convince our heart to accept the compromises the body has made to the world in order to attain a balance in life.
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