A Study Of Zhuangzi 's Thought Of Inner And Outer

Zhuang Zi’s thought of the Internal saints is based on the fact that various unavoidable hardship and suffering exist in the world. It is these difficulties and hardship that leads Zhuang Zi to consider the question of how to cope with life. First,Zhuang Zi proposes the purifying of heart, in ordering to eliminate the individual mean.Second, to skillfully preserve oneself and handle the net of relationships and hardness,like a butcher dismembering an ox along its joints. Last, to ultimately satisfy the spiritual world and free one’s inner-self by the realization of Tao and the relations between life and death, honor and disgrace, truth and false. This is Zhuang Zi ’s thought of the Internal saints.Zhuang Zi ’s thought of the External kings is that by the overflowing of virtue inside and thus the view of equality of all things, one could realize the enlightened society. The view of equality of all things which Zhuang Zi advocated is founded on the overflowing of virtue inside, because that only one filled with virtue inside could be able to get rid of the material world, thus freeing his or her heart from material desires and prejudices,being in harmony with nature. The thought of equality is also one of the foundations of Zhuang Zi ’s thought of the External kings. For only people who own the virtue above could adapt to the evolution of all things and get everything well managed.To wonder to make a difference in social governance ends in the suffering of people just like to help cut Chaos ends in its death. In the sense of the meaning of life, Zhuang Zi believes that everyone can and should become their emperor, deciding how to live their own life, especially in terms of the attitudes and methods dealing with the relationship between the world and oneself.Zhuang Zi’s thought of Internal saints and External kings is neither about the wisdom of hermits, nor the philosophy of politicians, but the settlement of one’s life. It is about to present the world in beauty of harmony by canceling the limit of self and others with realization of Tao, thus reach the tranquility of nature, which is a sublime beauty.In comparison with Confucian’s thought of Internal saints and External kings, it’ll be clear that Zhuang Zi fundamentally denied the significance of “Ren” and any politic pursuit, and what is about all the significance is to eliminate “Need” thus to free oneself.What Zhuang Zi’s thought about Internal saints has in common with Confucian is that internal saints is the focus and starting point of External kings. Yet the Confucianbenevolent governance in the saint tends to have a definite purpose, differing with Zhuang Zi’s External kings which is more pure and simple without any logical necessity with Internal saints. Internal saints leads to External kings, but never for it.