The Unifying （齊物論）
The Real and Original text by Zhuang Zi (莊子）, the Ancient Chinese Philosopher
Translated by Leechard (Cheng Wing Lim)
◤Session 1 The Lost of Self
1
Nan Guo Zi Qi Was sitting near the table. He had raised his head, and breathed soundly. Then he lowered his head. It seemed that he had lost his self.
2
Yan Cheng Zi You was waiting upon him, and said: “What had happened? Why are your body looked like withered wood yet your mind seemed like dead ashes? Why are you not the same as yesterday?”
3
Zi Qi said: “ Oh, my dear Yan, you have raised a good question. I had lost myself to day, did you notice it? “
…………… Something might have been missing here………………
◤Session 2 A parable of the wind
4
“You might have heard about human voices, but did you have heard about earth voices? Or you might have heard about earth voices, but did you have heard about heaven voices?”
5
Zi You said: “ May I ask you more?”
6
Zi Qi said: “ When the big lump(the earth) breathes, it is called wind.
7
Only if the wind is not coming, when the wind comes, all apertures on earth will be shouting like mad. Could’nt you hear them sound like liu---liu---?
8
There are lots of holes, cracks and apertures in the big trees among the various places of the hills.
9
Different kinds of holes could be found every where: the holes are like noses, mouths, ears, or like the square holes on the house beam, or the opening of the tea-cups, or like a grinding mortar.
10
Or like a low-lying pond, like a stagnant water pool.
11
The wind is flying over the water, is shooting like arrow, is like blaming someone, like sucking, like shouting, like howling, like blowing over a deep hole, like biting.
12
The wind in front is singing, and the wind behind is humming.
13
There are sweet harmonies when the wind blows lightly, but it could become heavy strike on all strings as the wind turns severe. And suddenly every thing come to a halt when the wind stops. All holes are empty now.
14
And could you see leaves swinging still after the wind had gone?
15
Zi Yau said: “ I can see that the earth voices are from the holes, and the human voices are music. Could you tell me what are heaven voices?
16
Zi Qi said: “ There seems to be a thousand way to blow the music, however, all are the creation of the wind receiving mechanism. They are choices of themselves. And who is the one to provide the power?
◤Session 3 Life Without Discourse
17
Those are people who know extensively, and people who notice only trivial matters.
18
Those are people who talk extensively, and people who talk only trivial matters.
19
Those are people whose soul are busy fighting even asleep, and they will keep their bodies busy when awake.
20
Those are people who confront each other and struggle with each other mentally and physically every day.
21
They neglect each other, they trap each other, they conspire against each other.
22
Anxiousness is in the mind. Fear is trembling everywhere.
23
It happens all in a sudden, like arrows shooting, it is the outburst of the mindset “right and wrong”.
24
The right and wrong mindset is so strong, when it stays it is like a castle under spell. It wants to keep everything inside.
25
However the mindset has its time, like autumn and winter coming, it fades and fades, with scarcely anything left.
26
It is completely drown, and is never able to recover.
27
Its exit blocked, it is getting too old and too weak.
28
It is a mind going to die, can not return to life again.
29
The four feelings of the mind, the appreciation, the anger, the sadness, the joy, are all but worries, exclamations, repeats, fearfulness, while at the same time, they are frivolous, indulgent, impudent, pretentious.
30
It is like coming out of emptiness, it is like streaming into cloud.
31
Time is passing like day and night, but the causes are not known.
32
Oh, oh!
33
To have such a result in so short a time, could there be any other reason but life itself? (What is life then?)
◤Session 4 Zhuang-zi’s Theory of Life
34
(Life is just like this): There will not be “me” if there is not “him”,(it is he who created me), and there will not be any “choice”, if there is not “me”(it is me who is the one to choose).
35
This might very likely be the case, though the reason behind is not known.
36
There seem to be a creator, but the details are not known.
37
The actual facts are there, but not in a form. One can see the actual happenings, though the external form can not be seen.
38
There are a hundred bones, nine exit windows, six main parts in the human body. But which one should I consult?
39
Do you know them all?
40
There must be some relationships between them.
41
They are related.
42
The point is whether their relationship is governable to each other.
43
There must be a real lord(leader) .
44
It must be definitely true, no matter one can or cannot find out the facts.
◤Session 5 Two Periods in the formation of Life:
Form formation and Mind formation
45
Once life had received its form, will go through all the way until the last end, without stopping.
46
Life contacts with other things. (In some people), it is as if using knife on each other, like using stone on each other.
47
Their life goes like running, but can never stop, it is very sad.
48
They work through all their life to no success, and they are tired, not knowing where for.
49
This is a very sad thing, isn’t it?
50
And some people wish to chase after an eternal living life, what good is it then?
51
Their bodies diminished, and their mind gone also, isn’t it a still bigger sadness?
52
Why is the human mind so difficult to understand?
53
Am I the only one who do not understand this? Will there be anyone who do understand this?
◤Session 6 Formatted (Grown) Mind is pre-requisite to Knowledge
54
Life is directed by a Formatted (Grown) Mind.
55
Whoever is lack of some directions?
56
Why is it necessary to replace the mind with the (so called) “knowledge”in making choices?
57
If so, they must be a fool.
58
To make judgements without a Formatted (Grown) Mind, is like going to the country of Yue today but arrived yesterday. It is taking nothing as something.
59
(It is so absurd) to take nothing as something, even The mighty Yu (the legendary founder of the Hsia dynasty) can not know about such things. How can I handle it?
◤Session 7 Knowledge is meaningless without a formatted(grown) mind.
60
A speech is not like the blowing wind.
61
The speaker speaks, but the content of the speech is not certain.
62
Is he really speaking or not speaking?
63
He might think he is different, not the same as the bird’s song…………
64
What is the point to debate here?
65
We need not to debate.
◤Session 8 Two Aspects of Observation
66
There are two different observing angle: one is “that”(observing from that side) and the other is “this”(observing from this side).
67
One does’nt see anything from that side, but will see it from this side.
68
Therefore, this is from that and that is from this.
69
For this is that and that is this.
◤Session 9 Possibilities of the Universe are positive to Man
70
If things are o.k. then they are o.k. If not o.k., then they are not o.k.
71
Theories are formed when (the things are) done, judgements are confirmed when said.
72
Why is it so? Because it is so. Why is it not so? Because it is not so.
73
Everything has got its theory, everything has got its possibility. Nothing is without a theory, nothing is not possible to be done.
74
For example, a straw and a pillar, a beauty and an ugly woman…………..all things, no matter how strange they are, are connected in the oneness of the universe.
◤Session 10 The Meaning of One
75
When they are decomposed, they are (actually) composed. When they are composed, they are (actually) decomposed.
76
There are no such thing as completed or destructed, for all things are one.
77
There must be hard labor for man to work on the oneness of the universe, but it is not easy to comprehend. Thus(the analogy) is called the Morning Three.
78
What is Morning Three? The monkey trainer was feeding the monkey, he said to the monkeys, “ You will have three in the morning and four in the evening.” The monkeys were not happy. The trainer said: “ Then you will have four in the morning and three in the evening. “ All were happy.
……………. (Something might have been missing here)
79
Now I have a point here. (As I had mentioned before, “this is from that and that is from this”, ) but my point seems to be the same as the “This”, or not the same as the “This”. No matter how you put it, no matter they are the same or not the same, they are of the same category, and thus we can say, This is That. (The This is the same as the That.)
◤Session 11 The beginning and the non-beginning of the Universe
80
Now lets explain it further.
81
There was a beginning. There was a not-beginning before the beginning.
There was something had not yet begun. There was a not-beginning for the not –yet- begun.
82
(Where did every thing begin?) It was from something, or from nothing.
83
If “nothing” had begun from nothing, then “nothing” must have been begun from a not-yet-begun.
84
Now if there was a not-yet-begun happened, but it is not sure whether the not-yet-begun is real or not real.
85
Now I have a point here. And it is not sure that if I had made the point or not.(Of course I had made it.)
◤Session 12 Oneness
86
The universe is no bigger then the point of an autumn leave. The grand mountain is small. The dead child is longlived. The (legendary)Old Peng-Zu die early. (*Peng-Zu was a legendary figure who was said to have lived 800 years.)
87
I am born together with Heaven and Earth(the Universe). I am one together with everything(the Universe).
◤Session 13 Divisions of One
88
Once upon a time, Zhuang Zhou (Zhuang-zi) dreamed he had become a butterfly. He was flying at easy, like a real butterfly. Then he woke, and apparently he was himself again. It is not sure whether Zhuang-Zhou was dreaming to be a butterfly, or the butterfly was dreaming to be Zhuang-Zhou. However, there must be a difference between Zhuang-Zhou and the butterfly. This is the diversity of things.
2008.11.22
2008年11月19日 星期三
The Flying, The Unifying and The Kitchen Knife
(How did the Chinese people think before Confucius?)
The Flying, The Unifying and The Kitchen Knife
(How did the Chinese people think before Confucius?)
by Leechard (Cheng Wing-lim)
Zhuang-zi (also known as Chuang Tsu, or Chuang Tsz, or Zhuangzi, or Zhuang zi) is the most influential philosopher in China. He has become a legendary figure for the Chinese History. So many stories and articles claimed to be written by him, though only three of them are true, others fabricated under various political reasons.
The three articles are The Flying, The Unifying and The Kitchen Knife.
They are very short, but they are the sources of all the important Ancient Chinese thoughts. Though the Han Emperors and many Confucius scholars had tried to eliminate these thoughts, but the thoughts persisted in the subconscious mind of the Chinese. They had constituted a rebellious backup power for the suppressed intellectuals for almost two thousand years.
There was a time around two to eight hundred years B.C., which were the warlord years, and also the great debate years. Lots of philosophers appeared in that period. How ever, due to political reasons, The Emperor of Chin秦 burnt all the books as soon as he had gained control over China. He allowed only medicine books and divination books. Chin (Qin dynasty or Ch’in dynasty, 221 B.C.-206 B.C.) was a very brief period in Chinese history of only 15 years, but the bad elements planted had never been uprooted ever since. The following period was Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220 AD) The Han emperors were reluctant to retrieve the old books from underground, as some people had hidden them to avoid the burning. The main interest of the Han emperor was to rule using the theory of Confucius, because they think the Confucius theory was most suitable to rule. The Han emperors used secret tactics to destroy others schools other then the Confucius school. They rewrote them. Suddenly a complete volume of Zhuang-zi was there. How could such grand volume avoid the burning and re-appear again? No one knows. However, the grand volume had become an important supporting theory for but not against the Confucius school. Though actually the grand volume, were but a mixture of different concepts added into the original work of Zhuang-zi. The added concepts are mostly from Confucius and Lao-zi. Lao-zi was another philosopher who promoted give up knowledge and return to nature, thus doing nothing was the best choice for every one, and thus was the best choice for the emperors. The secret editors for the grand volume actually made up a brand new copy of Zhuang-zi, it was a combination of the three: Zhuang-zi, Lao-zi, and Confucius.
But the questions are: Who is Zhuang-zi? Why is he so “dangerous”? What is his theory?
We shall have a brief introduction here.
Zhuang-zi was a philosopher in ancient China who insisted there was a Creator.
Confucius had a different view. Confucius thought that there was an abstract “heaven” only. He thought that the “heaven” would not interfere with man, and thus need not to look into the matters concerning any supernatural or even natural things. Confucius simply neglected and refused to study all natural and supernatural matters. His main concern was morality. He thought that by using morality, the country could be run effectively. He thought that nothing was important, only morality was important.
Zhuang-zi had a completely different view. In his opinion, there must be a Creator, and the Creator has given us Choice.
This is the basic platform of Zhuang-zi. From this platform, we could see into the secrets of life.
What is a Choice? How could we choose?
In the words of modern philosophers, human rights are self-evident, and need not to prove. Certain rights are build-in ourselves. So no one are allowed to violate these rights.
But in the ancient mind of Zhuang-zi, every one is entitled with a choice.
We can do whatever we can. All limits are external limits, and are secondary. The limits include the common believe of the others, the law, or man-made regulations, etc. But in the mind of an individual, he can choose to do or not to do. Though he has to pay for his deed, but the option is his.
And this privilege of choice, is the most important feature as being a human being.
In this sense, if any one under oppression had actually lost his freedom, can still have his own choice. He can choose what he wished without yielding to any outside force.
Thus we can say, a choice is something before a right.
No matter I have a right or not a right to do certain things, I can choose.
A Choice is an ability given to man. It can not be taken away by any force.
A Right is a living status given to man. It can be taken away by force.
To protect the Right, we have a Choice. We can use our ability to protect our Right.
Zhuang-zi maintained that we are free. We can choose anything, do anything, provided that we know the secrets of life.
What are the secrets of life then?
Zhuang-zi said, life is like burning log. When the log was burnt, life is fulfilled, and the fire could keep on growing because the fire could ignite another log.
With this analogy, the two aspects of life are clear.
The first aspect is The Meaning. What is the Meaning of Life? If you can see what is a real honor and what is a real disgrace, then you will know the true meaning of life. (We tended to honor people by their property, by their social position, etc. But those are not real honors in life, according to Zhuang-zi)
The second aspect is that we ought to handle life (and every thing) from an inner angle, as well as an outer angle. (We used to see things from outside. We measure things, we count things, but we seldom see into things through our mind.)
From these two aspects, Zhuang-zi had come to a conclusion: Life is Free.
How free is life?
It is just like flying; you can fly to anywhere, relying on nothing else but your own.
What does this mean? It means you are on your own.
And this must be the biggest secret about life: You are on your own, and you can stand up. No other philosopher had thought about this. You are “burning” on your own? You are not burning by relying on the help of others? Yes, this is the ultimate truth of freedom. If you can see into this analogy, you are absolutely free. These are the points from Zhuang-zi’s two articles: “The Flying” and “The Unifying”. These two articles can help us see into all the hidden secrets about life and the universe. They are basic philosophical concerns of the ancient Chinese people before Confucius. The third article is “The Kitchen Knife”; we shall talk about that later.
The concept of life and freedom, at first glance, seems not easy to comprehend. Burning on your own? Without relying on anything else?
It is incredible.
But here Zhuang-zi will tell us more: You are not entirely on your own, you are one of the one.
In his opinion, every element of the universe is united, and the unification is absolute, is unconditional, without limitation of time and space.
We are simply one.
For example, a child is a part of an old man. Old man has good memory of their youth. But the youth itself, though it seemed to be gone forever, is still there actually. What is a man? A man is every thing including his young and his old. And ancient China is new China. Ancient Greece is new America. We are all there. And you can say China is America, just like your finger is your toe. They are all you, one of you, and one of one.
To explain the meaning of “one”, Zhuang-zi had told the following story:
The animal trainer gave three nuts for the monkeys in the morning and four in the evening. The monkeys were not happy. Then the Animal trainer changed, he gave them four in the morning and three in the evening, the monkeys were all very happy. We are the same. If we got misery now and happiness later, we do not like it. But if we got happiness now, we think that acceptable though some misfortune in the future might happen. Similarly, would any one like to choose life in the morning and death in the evening or vice-versa, because he is sure that they are all completed in the “one”?
This is the Unifying theory of Zhuang-zi. By taking this viewpoint, we could see life in a more realistic way and we can CHOOSE what is best for life. And this is the very thing we call it freedom. Freedom is free to choose. In this sense, we can say that we are born free, if we are not free, that is because someone had taken away our freedom. Here we must stress that this special kind of freedom, is not in the ordinary sense of freedom. In the ordinary sense, freedom is a limited freedom, we are not allowed to do certain things, we are not allowed to kill, etc. But the inner freedom is that you can if you can. Please do not mistake this important point. Zhuang-zi is not promoting violence. He simply points out a fact that we are free to choose from the beginning, though due to obvious reasons human beings are wise enough to set up some rules to govern themselves.
We can do anything we choose. We might have problems, we will have poverty and death and any other mishaps. But one thing is certain. Once we are determined, nothing can change our choice. We can fight to the last moment single-handedly. Because we know that the last is the first and one single hand is the whole human race. And by this point, one could easily found the same theory in the western culture, originating in the Bible.
May be we need to elaborate a little further.
Freedom in life is the gift from the Creator of the universe. So, it must be self-evident. In the cases of oppression and any other human deeds, the external freedom might be lost. But the internal freedom is always there. No oppressor can violate free will, if the oppressed is determined. Because he has an innate freedom, that is his gift from heaven.
And the question remains: how?
How are we to achieve anything when we are free?
Zhuang-zi had provided us a tool, a kitchen knife.
By using this kitchen knife, we can achieve our goal.
The story of “The Kitchen Knife” is about how a chef uses his knife.
He kills bulls every day for nineteen years. But his knife is always perfect like new without wearing out. How can he do this?
He has two tactics;
One, he uses his mind as well as his eyes.
Two, he enters with a zero-thickness.
How ever, one would always wonder, how do we use our mind as well as our eyes? Just like playing tennis. When you are very nervously staring at the coming tennis ball, you are actually not seeing. But if you can play without staring, without even thought of your eye, you have the whole motion picture in your mind, you could play well. This theory could apply to many other fields. Like driving, playing music, etc, etc.
The next strange insight is entering by zero-thickness. This is the theory of cutting. How do we cut into things? We need a sharp knife. Why should the knife be sharp? Being sharp is zero-thickness. That is the basic rule of doing things. There is always a way to do anything. And that is zero-thickness.
These two tactics are so important, that we need more elaboration. Please refer to Zhuang-zi’s original work and the more in-depth analysis in the book: Zhuang-zi, The Test and The Theory written by the same author.
(November 20, 2008)
(How did the Chinese people think before Confucius?)
by Leechard (Cheng Wing-lim)
Zhuang-zi (also known as Chuang Tsu, or Chuang Tsz, or Zhuangzi, or Zhuang zi) is the most influential philosopher in China. He has become a legendary figure for the Chinese History. So many stories and articles claimed to be written by him, though only three of them are true, others fabricated under various political reasons.
The three articles are The Flying, The Unifying and The Kitchen Knife.
They are very short, but they are the sources of all the important Ancient Chinese thoughts. Though the Han Emperors and many Confucius scholars had tried to eliminate these thoughts, but the thoughts persisted in the subconscious mind of the Chinese. They had constituted a rebellious backup power for the suppressed intellectuals for almost two thousand years.
There was a time around two to eight hundred years B.C., which were the warlord years, and also the great debate years. Lots of philosophers appeared in that period. How ever, due to political reasons, The Emperor of Chin秦 burnt all the books as soon as he had gained control over China. He allowed only medicine books and divination books. Chin (Qin dynasty or Ch’in dynasty, 221 B.C.-206 B.C.) was a very brief period in Chinese history of only 15 years, but the bad elements planted had never been uprooted ever since. The following period was Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220 AD) The Han emperors were reluctant to retrieve the old books from underground, as some people had hidden them to avoid the burning. The main interest of the Han emperor was to rule using the theory of Confucius, because they think the Confucius theory was most suitable to rule. The Han emperors used secret tactics to destroy others schools other then the Confucius school. They rewrote them. Suddenly a complete volume of Zhuang-zi was there. How could such grand volume avoid the burning and re-appear again? No one knows. However, the grand volume had become an important supporting theory for but not against the Confucius school. Though actually the grand volume, were but a mixture of different concepts added into the original work of Zhuang-zi. The added concepts are mostly from Confucius and Lao-zi. Lao-zi was another philosopher who promoted give up knowledge and return to nature, thus doing nothing was the best choice for every one, and thus was the best choice for the emperors. The secret editors for the grand volume actually made up a brand new copy of Zhuang-zi, it was a combination of the three: Zhuang-zi, Lao-zi, and Confucius.
But the questions are: Who is Zhuang-zi? Why is he so “dangerous”? What is his theory?
We shall have a brief introduction here.
Zhuang-zi was a philosopher in ancient China who insisted there was a Creator.
Confucius had a different view. Confucius thought that there was an abstract “heaven” only. He thought that the “heaven” would not interfere with man, and thus need not to look into the matters concerning any supernatural or even natural things. Confucius simply neglected and refused to study all natural and supernatural matters. His main concern was morality. He thought that by using morality, the country could be run effectively. He thought that nothing was important, only morality was important.
Zhuang-zi had a completely different view. In his opinion, there must be a Creator, and the Creator has given us Choice.
This is the basic platform of Zhuang-zi. From this platform, we could see into the secrets of life.
What is a Choice? How could we choose?
In the words of modern philosophers, human rights are self-evident, and need not to prove. Certain rights are build-in ourselves. So no one are allowed to violate these rights.
But in the ancient mind of Zhuang-zi, every one is entitled with a choice.
We can do whatever we can. All limits are external limits, and are secondary. The limits include the common believe of the others, the law, or man-made regulations, etc. But in the mind of an individual, he can choose to do or not to do. Though he has to pay for his deed, but the option is his.
And this privilege of choice, is the most important feature as being a human being.
In this sense, if any one under oppression had actually lost his freedom, can still have his own choice. He can choose what he wished without yielding to any outside force.
Thus we can say, a choice is something before a right.
No matter I have a right or not a right to do certain things, I can choose.
A Choice is an ability given to man. It can not be taken away by any force.
A Right is a living status given to man. It can be taken away by force.
To protect the Right, we have a Choice. We can use our ability to protect our Right.
Zhuang-zi maintained that we are free. We can choose anything, do anything, provided that we know the secrets of life.
What are the secrets of life then?
Zhuang-zi said, life is like burning log. When the log was burnt, life is fulfilled, and the fire could keep on growing because the fire could ignite another log.
With this analogy, the two aspects of life are clear.
The first aspect is The Meaning. What is the Meaning of Life? If you can see what is a real honor and what is a real disgrace, then you will know the true meaning of life. (We tended to honor people by their property, by their social position, etc. But those are not real honors in life, according to Zhuang-zi)
The second aspect is that we ought to handle life (and every thing) from an inner angle, as well as an outer angle. (We used to see things from outside. We measure things, we count things, but we seldom see into things through our mind.)
From these two aspects, Zhuang-zi had come to a conclusion: Life is Free.
How free is life?
It is just like flying; you can fly to anywhere, relying on nothing else but your own.
What does this mean? It means you are on your own.
And this must be the biggest secret about life: You are on your own, and you can stand up. No other philosopher had thought about this. You are “burning” on your own? You are not burning by relying on the help of others? Yes, this is the ultimate truth of freedom. If you can see into this analogy, you are absolutely free. These are the points from Zhuang-zi’s two articles: “The Flying” and “The Unifying”. These two articles can help us see into all the hidden secrets about life and the universe. They are basic philosophical concerns of the ancient Chinese people before Confucius. The third article is “The Kitchen Knife”; we shall talk about that later.
The concept of life and freedom, at first glance, seems not easy to comprehend. Burning on your own? Without relying on anything else?
It is incredible.
But here Zhuang-zi will tell us more: You are not entirely on your own, you are one of the one.
In his opinion, every element of the universe is united, and the unification is absolute, is unconditional, without limitation of time and space.
We are simply one.
For example, a child is a part of an old man. Old man has good memory of their youth. But the youth itself, though it seemed to be gone forever, is still there actually. What is a man? A man is every thing including his young and his old. And ancient China is new China. Ancient Greece is new America. We are all there. And you can say China is America, just like your finger is your toe. They are all you, one of you, and one of one.
To explain the meaning of “one”, Zhuang-zi had told the following story:
The animal trainer gave three nuts for the monkeys in the morning and four in the evening. The monkeys were not happy. Then the Animal trainer changed, he gave them four in the morning and three in the evening, the monkeys were all very happy. We are the same. If we got misery now and happiness later, we do not like it. But if we got happiness now, we think that acceptable though some misfortune in the future might happen. Similarly, would any one like to choose life in the morning and death in the evening or vice-versa, because he is sure that they are all completed in the “one”?
This is the Unifying theory of Zhuang-zi. By taking this viewpoint, we could see life in a more realistic way and we can CHOOSE what is best for life. And this is the very thing we call it freedom. Freedom is free to choose. In this sense, we can say that we are born free, if we are not free, that is because someone had taken away our freedom. Here we must stress that this special kind of freedom, is not in the ordinary sense of freedom. In the ordinary sense, freedom is a limited freedom, we are not allowed to do certain things, we are not allowed to kill, etc. But the inner freedom is that you can if you can. Please do not mistake this important point. Zhuang-zi is not promoting violence. He simply points out a fact that we are free to choose from the beginning, though due to obvious reasons human beings are wise enough to set up some rules to govern themselves.
We can do anything we choose. We might have problems, we will have poverty and death and any other mishaps. But one thing is certain. Once we are determined, nothing can change our choice. We can fight to the last moment single-handedly. Because we know that the last is the first and one single hand is the whole human race. And by this point, one could easily found the same theory in the western culture, originating in the Bible.
May be we need to elaborate a little further.
Freedom in life is the gift from the Creator of the universe. So, it must be self-evident. In the cases of oppression and any other human deeds, the external freedom might be lost. But the internal freedom is always there. No oppressor can violate free will, if the oppressed is determined. Because he has an innate freedom, that is his gift from heaven.
And the question remains: how?
How are we to achieve anything when we are free?
Zhuang-zi had provided us a tool, a kitchen knife.
By using this kitchen knife, we can achieve our goal.
The story of “The Kitchen Knife” is about how a chef uses his knife.
He kills bulls every day for nineteen years. But his knife is always perfect like new without wearing out. How can he do this?
He has two tactics;
One, he uses his mind as well as his eyes.
Two, he enters with a zero-thickness.
How ever, one would always wonder, how do we use our mind as well as our eyes? Just like playing tennis. When you are very nervously staring at the coming tennis ball, you are actually not seeing. But if you can play without staring, without even thought of your eye, you have the whole motion picture in your mind, you could play well. This theory could apply to many other fields. Like driving, playing music, etc, etc.
The next strange insight is entering by zero-thickness. This is the theory of cutting. How do we cut into things? We need a sharp knife. Why should the knife be sharp? Being sharp is zero-thickness. That is the basic rule of doing things. There is always a way to do anything. And that is zero-thickness.
These two tactics are so important, that we need more elaboration. Please refer to Zhuang-zi’s original work and the more in-depth analysis in the book: Zhuang-zi, The Test and The Theory written by the same author.
(November 20, 2008)
The Phoenix
The Phoenix
by Leechard (Cheng Wing Lim)
The story of the phoenix has a spell for the chicks. The spell runs like this:
If you don't see your shell, what can you see?
Each chicken, when first entering the world, has got only one mouthful of air.
This was the discovery of a very smart Egyptian Prince Akhenaten.
He found that inside every egg, there was some air. Is there any egg which has no air inside? He examined every kind of eggs on earth. He had opened numerous eggs. Snakes, birds, turtles, and at one time, he found a large ostrich egg. He opened it without hesitation. All the eggs on earth, and all the eggs on earth he could found, have some air inside.
Why?
What is the use of this air?
Prince Akhenaten could not stop thinking.
The Prince believed this air is for the first breath of the chicken.
If there is really a spell for life, now is the time to break it.
If the chick is to break the shell, here is his first headache:
The Creator of the universe has given you life, plus a mouthful of air, what are you going to do?
It seems to be simple.
Zhuang Zi the ancient Chinese wise man has an answer: you must choose.
But this is funny. Choose What?
And Zhuang Zi said, it is not funny at all. You can choose to peck for a way, and got outside. Or you can choose to sleep, sleep until the egg is rotten, until the egg stinks in the smell of death.
And he's got a funny reason too. This is what he thought about life:
If there are no universal Creator, there will not be me. And it is all because the existence of me, that I can choose.
But Zhuang-zi has never been a chick. His thoughts are only human. In the case of chicks, they will not need to think.
And Prince Akhenaten said, you must use all your strength because you have very limited sources for life.
Are those observations pointless? Actually, every chick is using all his strength. If any one fails to do so, he can never reach the world. The situation of the chick is imaginable.
There are warm and bright yellowish colors outside. The hopes are there. The chick must break the shell. The shell is like a spell. They must break it. The chick had no thought, but only action, the action to peck. Peck and peck. Peck and peck. There must not be any fear or laziness. This is the mindset of the chicks.
In the case of man, knowing that he has only got one mouthful of air, he is likely to give up. But the chicks have no such thought. The chick would use his total strength to peck for an exit.
You must choose, and when you had found your best choice, you must put all your whole strength on it. This is the teaching of two great philosophers, one Egyptian, one Chinese.
The first fight is to peck. He must break the shell. He will use his whole strength. If not, he can never reach the world.
Hardly do the chicks found such excitement. Only a few of them noticed that this is life itself. Once you have broken the spell, you will find a wonderful world awaiting for you.
The first excitement comes from the air, lots and lots of air. Now, you could breathe. You could inhale and you could exhale, and more importantly, they are all free. You could breathe as much as you like. Oh, how scarce was the air before life. And how happy is life.
But happiness lasts for only a few moments only.
The most common thing to forget about is air itself. Who would think that air is important when there are lots of them? Once your neck was tightly grasped by someone, then you will found air is precious. Life is like that. No one would think life is precious until life is gone. All things on the universe share the same fate. All are worthless until they are gone.
And that is why the chick could only be happy for a few seconds.
The chick discovered happiness has been gone.
The chick discovered that he has entered another shell. A cage is just like a larger shell.
The chick observed silently. This is a very big and crowded cage. Many of his cage-mates live here. They are all very happy and noisy. They need to do only two things in the cage. Eating and sleeping. Plenty of food, lots of rest. They always mock about the chick, saying that he does'nt know life. Why don't you know how to enjoy life? Good food, good rest, good every thing, what is there to complain about?
But the chick soon found out the ultimate truth here. He knew that sooner or later, he would share the same fate with all other chicks. People will come, and send them to the butchers.
Suddenly, some vague idea emerged in his mind: Why should I live here? What am I going to do? What am I staying here for?
These are the questions he could not answer. Because he knew nothing about anything. He wants to know more.
He started daydreaming.
He dreamed to see the world, the unknown beautiful world.
He dreamed and dreamed. He wanted to have a little glimpse, only a little glimpse outside the large shell.
Other chicks laughed at him. They said that was an impossible dream.
How long has the time past? No one knows. But he had found a little crack in the cage. He had found an exit. He squeezed himself out. He had used all his might. He managed to fly to the roof. He could see the world now.
There was a very large plain, with unlimited view out there. It was the first time he could see sunshine. He saw the sky and other birds. A golden beam spread over the cloud, reaching the endless earth. And he found the sunshine on his own body too.
Am I the one, too, can enjoy sunshine?
He turned his body, enjoying every inch of sunshine upon it.
He was so happy, he started singing. He sang loudly.
His song was an alarm, bringing in the man.
Within a few minutes, the man caught him. An escaped chick is a bad omen. The man was about to send him to execution.
Other chicks were happy.
They said, this is what you choose for yourself.
But the chick said:
I had seen the world; can you see the world?
Have you enjoyed sunshine?
Aren't you one day be killed also?
………………………………………………………………………………
The story has a second ending.
The man felt puzzled. He thought, there must be something special about the chick. He did not kill the chick; instead, he made the chick a morning calling chick. He allowed the chick a position, made him stick to it. He wanted the chick to give him a wake-up call every day.
To stick to it? Now that the chick could use his mind more freely then before. Now that the chick searches for the meaning of life, would he stay and stick to the chicken post?
Whatever the outcome was, it arouses thought: the shell is a spell. You need to break it, because the real meaning of life lies beyond that. This is the second level of the story.
……………………………………………………………………………
The story has got a third ending.
The chick escaped the cage, without being caught, nor being made a morning calling chick. He has become a wild bird in the hills.
And that was a lethal running.
The chick has no wings actually. His wings have not been grown fully.
He could only run, with his wings flapping behind.
He ran and ran. He ran and ran. Until the moment he could not breathe any more.
In a very secret hideaway, he inspected his wound. The mocking laugh has not been gone. He could still hear them. And his cage-mates were now having their free lunch. They reminded each other cautiously: do not behave like the wild chick. They were so happy, and they all despised the chick. The called him names, the wild, the fly, etc. The more they laughed at the chick, the more secure they felt for themselves.
The chick decided to learn to fly. This was the only way out for chicks. There were no teachers around to teach him.
The method was only to flap his wings. He flapped and flapped. He flapped and flapped. It was the very motion the chicks have long forgotten.
It took a very long time for people to realize:
The only way out is to try your best.
And finally, he could fly. He was no more a cage chick.
He was a Phoenix.
He flew over the valleys, over the hills, over the fields. Under the morning sunshine, he was very happy.
And this happiness, and this long lasting happiness, much longer then the short moments he had once found outside the shell, could be found everywhere outside the self.
And now he realized, the shell is the self, and the self is the spell.
From time to time, we could see beautiful feathers flapping ahead of us.
And we all know how the Phoenix was born.
He was born after the spell had been broken.
(the end)
*A note by the Author(Leechard, Cheng Wing Lim):
Please note that this work is completly a fiction by myself. It is not a work by Zhuang-zi, thought it's idea is more or less the same with Zhuang-zi. It helps to reach the original idea of Zhuang-zi: this is the sincere hope of the author.
17th February, 2009
by Leechard (Cheng Wing Lim)
The story of the phoenix has a spell for the chicks. The spell runs like this:
If you don't see your shell, what can you see?
Each chicken, when first entering the world, has got only one mouthful of air.
This was the discovery of a very smart Egyptian Prince Akhenaten.
He found that inside every egg, there was some air. Is there any egg which has no air inside? He examined every kind of eggs on earth. He had opened numerous eggs. Snakes, birds, turtles, and at one time, he found a large ostrich egg. He opened it without hesitation. All the eggs on earth, and all the eggs on earth he could found, have some air inside.
Why?
What is the use of this air?
Prince Akhenaten could not stop thinking.
The Prince believed this air is for the first breath of the chicken.
If there is really a spell for life, now is the time to break it.
If the chick is to break the shell, here is his first headache:
The Creator of the universe has given you life, plus a mouthful of air, what are you going to do?
It seems to be simple.
Zhuang Zi the ancient Chinese wise man has an answer: you must choose.
But this is funny. Choose What?
And Zhuang Zi said, it is not funny at all. You can choose to peck for a way, and got outside. Or you can choose to sleep, sleep until the egg is rotten, until the egg stinks in the smell of death.
And he's got a funny reason too. This is what he thought about life:
If there are no universal Creator, there will not be me. And it is all because the existence of me, that I can choose.
But Zhuang-zi has never been a chick. His thoughts are only human. In the case of chicks, they will not need to think.
And Prince Akhenaten said, you must use all your strength because you have very limited sources for life.
Are those observations pointless? Actually, every chick is using all his strength. If any one fails to do so, he can never reach the world. The situation of the chick is imaginable.
There are warm and bright yellowish colors outside. The hopes are there. The chick must break the shell. The shell is like a spell. They must break it. The chick had no thought, but only action, the action to peck. Peck and peck. Peck and peck. There must not be any fear or laziness. This is the mindset of the chicks.
In the case of man, knowing that he has only got one mouthful of air, he is likely to give up. But the chicks have no such thought. The chick would use his total strength to peck for an exit.
You must choose, and when you had found your best choice, you must put all your whole strength on it. This is the teaching of two great philosophers, one Egyptian, one Chinese.
The first fight is to peck. He must break the shell. He will use his whole strength. If not, he can never reach the world.
Hardly do the chicks found such excitement. Only a few of them noticed that this is life itself. Once you have broken the spell, you will find a wonderful world awaiting for you.
The first excitement comes from the air, lots and lots of air. Now, you could breathe. You could inhale and you could exhale, and more importantly, they are all free. You could breathe as much as you like. Oh, how scarce was the air before life. And how happy is life.
But happiness lasts for only a few moments only.
The most common thing to forget about is air itself. Who would think that air is important when there are lots of them? Once your neck was tightly grasped by someone, then you will found air is precious. Life is like that. No one would think life is precious until life is gone. All things on the universe share the same fate. All are worthless until they are gone.
And that is why the chick could only be happy for a few seconds.
The chick discovered happiness has been gone.
The chick discovered that he has entered another shell. A cage is just like a larger shell.
The chick observed silently. This is a very big and crowded cage. Many of his cage-mates live here. They are all very happy and noisy. They need to do only two things in the cage. Eating and sleeping. Plenty of food, lots of rest. They always mock about the chick, saying that he does'nt know life. Why don't you know how to enjoy life? Good food, good rest, good every thing, what is there to complain about?
But the chick soon found out the ultimate truth here. He knew that sooner or later, he would share the same fate with all other chicks. People will come, and send them to the butchers.
Suddenly, some vague idea emerged in his mind: Why should I live here? What am I going to do? What am I staying here for?
These are the questions he could not answer. Because he knew nothing about anything. He wants to know more.
He started daydreaming.
He dreamed to see the world, the unknown beautiful world.
He dreamed and dreamed. He wanted to have a little glimpse, only a little glimpse outside the large shell.
Other chicks laughed at him. They said that was an impossible dream.
How long has the time past? No one knows. But he had found a little crack in the cage. He had found an exit. He squeezed himself out. He had used all his might. He managed to fly to the roof. He could see the world now.
There was a very large plain, with unlimited view out there. It was the first time he could see sunshine. He saw the sky and other birds. A golden beam spread over the cloud, reaching the endless earth. And he found the sunshine on his own body too.
Am I the one, too, can enjoy sunshine?
He turned his body, enjoying every inch of sunshine upon it.
He was so happy, he started singing. He sang loudly.
His song was an alarm, bringing in the man.
Within a few minutes, the man caught him. An escaped chick is a bad omen. The man was about to send him to execution.
Other chicks were happy.
They said, this is what you choose for yourself.
But the chick said:
I had seen the world; can you see the world?
Have you enjoyed sunshine?
Aren't you one day be killed also?
………………………………………………………………………………
The story has a second ending.
The man felt puzzled. He thought, there must be something special about the chick. He did not kill the chick; instead, he made the chick a morning calling chick. He allowed the chick a position, made him stick to it. He wanted the chick to give him a wake-up call every day.
To stick to it? Now that the chick could use his mind more freely then before. Now that the chick searches for the meaning of life, would he stay and stick to the chicken post?
Whatever the outcome was, it arouses thought: the shell is a spell. You need to break it, because the real meaning of life lies beyond that. This is the second level of the story.
……………………………………………………………………………
The story has got a third ending.
The chick escaped the cage, without being caught, nor being made a morning calling chick. He has become a wild bird in the hills.
And that was a lethal running.
The chick has no wings actually. His wings have not been grown fully.
He could only run, with his wings flapping behind.
He ran and ran. He ran and ran. Until the moment he could not breathe any more.
In a very secret hideaway, he inspected his wound. The mocking laugh has not been gone. He could still hear them. And his cage-mates were now having their free lunch. They reminded each other cautiously: do not behave like the wild chick. They were so happy, and they all despised the chick. The called him names, the wild, the fly, etc. The more they laughed at the chick, the more secure they felt for themselves.
The chick decided to learn to fly. This was the only way out for chicks. There were no teachers around to teach him.
The method was only to flap his wings. He flapped and flapped. He flapped and flapped. It was the very motion the chicks have long forgotten.
It took a very long time for people to realize:
The only way out is to try your best.
And finally, he could fly. He was no more a cage chick.
He was a Phoenix.
He flew over the valleys, over the hills, over the fields. Under the morning sunshine, he was very happy.
And this happiness, and this long lasting happiness, much longer then the short moments he had once found outside the shell, could be found everywhere outside the self.
And now he realized, the shell is the self, and the self is the spell.
From time to time, we could see beautiful feathers flapping ahead of us.
And we all know how the Phoenix was born.
He was born after the spell had been broken.
(the end)
*A note by the Author(Leechard, Cheng Wing Lim):
Please note that this work is completly a fiction by myself. It is not a work by Zhuang-zi, thought it's idea is more or less the same with Zhuang-zi. It helps to reach the original idea of Zhuang-zi: this is the sincere hope of the author.
17th February, 2009
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