Zhuangzi's philosophy

Kiki He

When I was in elementary school, Confucianism and Taoism were taught in class as the quintessence of Chinese culture. At that time, I did not enjoy reading those fables at all because all students were required to memorize the actual text of the stories written in ancient Chinese language. However, when I came to the United States, I found my nationalism rose to a peak - I am proud of my identity and my country. Every time when people show their interest in China, I would always be happy to tell them more. And those fables which I hated so badly in elementary school now become things I am so proud of. I am very happy to see that these philosophies and values left by Chinese wise men back to three hundred BCE are now been discussed in classes in the United States. (My philosophy class last semester spent two weeks discussing Confucianism)

I am pretty familiar with the stories about Zhuangzi we read last week, but this time I gained some new insights by referring the stories to Seven Laws of Money and by discussing with my classmates. My favorite is the piglet story. Zhuangzi used sarcasm to answer Shang Li’s question of why he chose not to work for the government to gain wealth and prestige. Personally I think this story can be referred to the third law of money, which is money is a dream. In chapter three of the book, Michael’s friends both lost their happiness while gaining a lot of money. They lost their passion and forgot what they used to love. Zhuangzi is an example of individuals who know exactly what they want. And he would never change his mind because of the lure of money. In fact, one of my favorite stories of Zhuangzi I had read in my middle school conveys a similar value of him. In that story, Zhuangzi explained patiently to people about why he would refuse the sovereign’s invitation to work for the government. Zhuangzi compared himself to the divine turtle specimen the sovereign kept in his palace. Zhuangzi said that he would rather chose to crawl in a dirty stream with mud on his feet than being killed and put into a luxury box with gold. 

Zhuangzi would chose to be poor but free instead of rich but comfortless.


In fact, Zhuangzi’s philosophy of “not doing anything” is on the contrary with Kongzi’s idea of “limited power can still make a big change”. Being the founder of Confucianism. Kongzi actively participated in political movements, trying to put his own efforts to make the corrupted government a better place and to help the poor. It is very interesting to see that the two totally different philosophies shared by the two saints have been respected and cherished equally by the Chinese society. I think the important thing here is to know that no one else can make decisions for you. Whether or not to work for the government, and whether or not to choose freedom over wealth totally depend on yourself. As long as you know you are doing the right thing and always know what you want, your life will be valuable.

Comments

  1. jdoutFebruary 5, 2018 at 6:45 PM

    Thank you so much, Kiki! Your comments are priceless. I think that last line you wrote is much deeper than it may appear at first glance. Everyone is very busy these days, but how many ever stop to ponder why? Why do they constantly run from place to place and buy more and more stuff? What should one's life's values be? (hint: no one can tell you.)
    Knowing what you want seems a gargantuan task for many people in the contemporary USA. There is so much self-induced misery, poor health, and despair.

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