Going Over the Basics (Frank Doeringer)
Discussing the Implications (Frank Doeringer)
Assignments for Chuang Tzu (Jack Stanley, 1987)
Chuang Tzu Paper Topics: Some Suggestions
Chuang Tzu: Pages 23-95 (Tim Spurgin)
Chuang Tzu: Pages 96-140 (Tim Spurgin)
Topics for the Second Essay (Tim Spurgin)
The Context of the Work. You don't, in my view, need to know a lot about the social or intellectual context of the text to understand its basic points. Chuang Chou (Jwang joe) or Master Chuang, which is how Chuang Tzu (Jwang Dze). might be translated, lived during the 4th century B.C.E. in one of the small principalities into which China was still divided. His age, known as the Warring States Era, was one of great change. The ancient bronze age culture of earlier times was dying before the advent of new elites and powerful new states. Many contemporaries thus deemed it a time of crisis during which recent or "modern" values seemed to be destroying "ancient" traditions and thereby throwing life into confusion. In the markets and courts of the day, a "hundred schools" argued how to restore order and meaning to life, and Chuang Tzu's voice was but one of many in this debate.
Most of these schools, like the dominant Confucians and Mohists, sought to redefine moral values and institutions from a social perspective, hoping to build a "better" community. Chuang Tzu, an exception even among his fellow Taoists, rejected all such efforts in favor of an idiosyncratic response to the crisis of the times. Claiming that we cannot identify any absolute value as a basis for community, he rejected social reform outright and advocated instead the personal pursuit of fulfillment through imaginative freedom. In other words, Chuang Tzu was a radical who departed from many of the conventions of his own time. That's why I don't think you need a lot of historical background to understand his thought.
The Problem of Knowing What to Do. Nonetheless, you may be worried that students will not know what to do with the text because it's from a different tradition. Keep in mind that they will probably find most Western works equally "alien." Their greatest problem with the text, will probably lie with its complexity, not its ethnicity. So, for both their sake and your own, start by discussing something focused and limited in scope like, a. key, passage. You can --use such a passage as a point of access to many of the larger issues of the work, and----if it's well chosen----to what I take to be the key problem: how we humans can perceive reality and so respond appropriately to it. You will, of course, encounter similar questions in Plato and many of the other Western readings to follow, for the problem of "knowing what to do" constitutes one of the grand themes of the Western tradition as well as of Freshman Studies. The answers given in the Chuang Tzu, of course, don't generally correspond with those provided in most Western texts--and so may prove more valuable over time as counter examples with which to highlight key aspects of the Western tradition.
Getting Started. I don't think you'll find it useful to begin with a broad comparison of Chinese and Western perspectives. That's why I urge you to start with a focused discussion of a key passage. Although many can serve as a starting point, I personally like to begin teaching the Chuang Tzu with an oral reading and general discussion of the Butterfly Dream on p. 45. 1 have students first discuss the meaning of the passage in terms of the conventional dichotomy between "dreaming" and "non--dreaming", then, in relation to the title of the chapter in which this passage occurs ("Equalizing Things") and finally in conjunction with the discussions about words and distinctions--particularly the one about "this" and "that." Usually through such discussions, which I allow to drift about for awhile, students glimpse the problem posed about how difficult it is to perceive the fluidity of reality in fixed terms. They also gain some familiarity with basic vocabulary and images in the text. Ultimately, however, I ask them to identify the "big" problem underlying the passages discussed, often requiring everyone to state at least one possibility. In reviewing these responses, I am careful to have them see what the book doesn't take up as well as what it does: it doesn't question whether there is an external reality or not, nor does it spend much time attempting to define the nature of reality. Instead it raises a lot of questions about how people conceptualize and respond to reality.
I use this initial discussion, which generally does not (and probably should not) reach a full resolution, as a hub from which to explore and discuss other major themes of the work in subsequent sessions. I explicitly return to the list of student replies to my question about the "big" problem for this purpose. Usually the students have touched upon most of the important themes in at least a rudimentary way, and I think it helps to involve them, however precariously, in determining where we go next. Of course, I sometimes have to add items to their list. To help you do that, I'm providing a handout that indicates what I consider to be some of the more important secondary themes to explore. Since I think you should ground all discussions in specific passages, I also include suggestions about where to find appropriate references. However you decide to chart your course through these themes, I urge you to do so through such fixed points in the text. An exploration of precise textual details will, I believe, be far more productive than unfocused speculation about Chinese ideas of Nature, say, or oriental mysticism.
Pay particular heed to metaphors and similes for the text derives from a tradition in which concrete images rather than abstract terms ,are used to. convey complex ideas. In.this context, of course, it is helpful to keep in mind the claim that words are like weirs, that is, fixed "traps" in which we try to arrest the elusive, conceptual "fish" dart across our consciousness. Let the images work evocatively through literal associations that "transform" them and convey to them--and you----an imaginative vitality. Here, with only a little bit of effort, you can explore a mode of thinking quite unlike our customary form of abstract, verbal reasoning. Note that this mode, like the text itself, assumes that intellectual life involves play in a fundamental way----and that grimness debilitates understanding. It, together with Chuang Tzu's tendency to see humor as an archetype of freedom, leads to a rich use of irony, puns, and even jokes throughout the book. Did you note, for example, the early form of an ethnic "joke" based upon a stereotypical "madman (read moron) of Ch'u" the lampoons of cultural idols like Confucius, or the mockery of contemporary "academic" jargon? Do let yourself have fun with the work! But remember what every child knows: true play follows strict rules. And here that means sticking to a close reading (if the text.
Chuang Tzu found meaning only in a larger "Heavenly" [T'ien] context, which he portrayed as an unconscious, natural process----not an anthropomorphic god nor humane order-- --encompassing all "ten thousand things" (see knowing Heaven p. 73, Heavenly Equality p. 44, and the nameless man's views p. 91). He described this natural process or "Way" (Tao/Dow] as a ceaseless "transformation of things! [wu--hua]. Like most early Chinese, he envisioned a dynamic reality conceived as phases of becoming rather than static states of being (see reality without form p. 77, the Way without beginning p. 103, and the butterfly dream p. 45). It was also a holistic reality. For all change was impelled by a common force or power [te/duh] that operated through all things alike, inanimate and animate, prompting them to transform in concert (see virtue greater than suns p. 40 and making power whole p.70). A single field of energy, in other words, generated a web of inter--phased changes that linked all things together in a common process. From the vantage of each thing, however, this power appeared as an inner force or potential, usually translated as "virtue," that prompted its role within the unfolding of the vast Heavenly Way (see virtue resides inside p. 104). Needless to say, this vision radically contrasts with the dominant Western vision of reality which has focused upon things (rather than energy) frozen in states of existence. A simplistic way to conceptualize the difference is in terms of a story projected either as a "movie" or as a series of still frames.
Because Chuang Tzu envisioned reality as a holistic process of change, he argued that it could not be understood in the isolating terms of categorical thought. Such thinking, in his opinion, posited artificial or "man--made" (wei/way] "distinctions" [chih/ger] that made things appear as if they were distinct with fixed properties. on the basis of these apparent distinctions, people then assigned "names" to things and classified them into categories or "species." He felt such reductive thinking fractured our vision of reality (see the failure of discriminations p. 39) and left us unaware of its true "Heavenly" appearance. Seen in that aspect, nothing is ever more than a temporary phase of an unending, fluid process. Categorical distinctions and categories are thus but relative terms (see this and that p. 34, Jo's analysis p. 100, and the Oak's view p. 60) that have no ultimate meaning. This is an important point for Chuang Tzu, because it means that there are no absolutes and that nothing is determined or conditioned by any other thing.
So, Chuang Tzu says, we need to experience reality more directly and empirically without first trying to name its parts. Using the metaphor of a mirror (see p. 95), which reflects whatever falls upon it without focus or interpretation, he calls for a non--categorical mode of experiencing reality as "self--so" (tzu--jan/dsuh--ran) Often translated as "autonomous," "spontaneous" or even "natural," the phrase self--so has a more, specific meaning in Taoist--texts. It implies behavior prompted from within and thus unconditioned by other things. But It refers to behavior prompted by the great underlying force (is) that propels the whole of nature along the course of transformation. In this case, then, what is self motivated is never selfish (or even individualistic). And to perceive the self--so is to catch a glimpse of the unity behind all separate things. This requires us to "fast the mind" or empty it of man--made abstractions----be they qualities, categories, or theories----in order to apprehend the fluid harmony of change (see the emptiness of fasting p. 54). Like water in which the waves have subsided, a mind so clarified reflects without distortion. This clarification or "illumination" [zing) of reality brings understanding like that of the "sages" of old (see light of Heaven p. 35). It shows the inadequacy of categorical thought and demonstrates that meaning, worth, and purpose, having no absolute basis, can only arise from "self--so" development. Thus it reveals the "use of the useless" (p. 63), that is, the freedom which the lack of absolutes grants us to embrace change and realize infinite potential.
Those who perceive the Heavenly Way or process no longer feel the same about themselves. They then see the ego not as a distinct thing with fixed qualities (which can thus perish) but as a temporary phase of a greater process. No longer conceptualizing only from the vantage point of a static, isolated self, they can still categorical thinking through mental fasting. When they do so, they can directly apprehend the prompting of the power (te) as an inner force. Yielding to this great harmonizer for guidance, they can lead an autonomous or "self--so" (tzujan] life which never brings them into conflict with other things. More important, no other thing can use or deter--mine them (see forgetting the I p. 85 and the True Man pp.74--75). Free and confident in this inner direction, they can embrace change without fear and develop their full potential. Chuang Tzu saw the self--realization afforded by the "self-so" life as the key to true freedom and fulfillment (see freeing the bound p. 81).
Freedom here, of course, is understood totally outside of social, much less political, contexts, and it is quite unlike Anglo--American ideas of "liberty." To ensure that such freedom was not abused as license, Chuang Tzu outlined a special mode of non--egotistical or "nonpurposeful action" [wu--wei/wu--way]. Often translated as "non--action" or "non--ado", and so falsely seen as passivity-- or inaction, this mode of behavior just adapts the idea of uselessness to the human situation. Derived from a negated auxiliary verb meaning "to act on behalf of" or "serve for the purpose of," the term refers to the instrumentality or aim of an action. It implies acting without any conscious aim or intent, that is, without any self--aware purpose or preconceived reason, so that one's action is solely guided by inner power or te -- By definition this behavior, which is the counterpart in action of the mirror mind in reflection, cannot be selfish or partial, for it harmonizes one with all reality (see happiness of inaction p. 112 and Cook Ting's application p. 47).
The illumined who behave in this way attain the highest freedom for self --realization. Known as the "True" or "Perfected" (i.e. Completed) People, they are metaphorically depicted as spirit--like figures who freely roam across the universe (see p. 73 and 41). Like the shamans of early China, after whom they are modeled, these figures can wander across all boundaries and see what is hidden to others, because they, too, have gained special insight into reality. The spiritual "wandering" [yu] of shamans thus becomes a metaphor for imaginative freedom. In fact, Chuang Tzu already hints in his portrait of wood worker Ch'ing at what later tradition will conclude: artists, who empty their minds of convention in order to see reality afresh and so wander freely in flights of imagination, are the highest form of humans. In using words to "trap" ideas (see p. 140) and reflect new vistas, of course, Chuang Tzu, is himself such a literary shaman and one whose visions became basic to the Chinese artistic as well as philosophical tradition. Numberless tributes like this 11th century poem by Su Tung-Po thus celebrate his fame:
When Yu--k'o painted bamboo,
He saw bamboo only, never people.
Did I say he saw no people?
So rapt he forgot even himself--
He himself became bamboo,
Putting out fresh growth endlessly,
Chuang Tzu no longer with us,
Who can fathom this uncanny power?
1. Terms like "God," "Destiny," and "Nature" have all been used to translate Chuang Tzu's "Heaven," but are any of them equivalent?
2. Compare "self--so" freedom with Anglo--American "liberty" in terms of images used to depict each. Which is more individualistic?
3. Basically a path, is the "Way" a "course of Nature" or an "evolutionary line"? Where does it start or end----or go?
4. Is the process of change or "transformation of things" absurd, determined by "laws," or based on principles of uncertainty?
So What does a world that is a harmonious whole, in which everything belongs and nothing is wrongfully present, imply about notions of evil, alienation, or transcendence?
6. If inner virtue radiates from something outside more potent than "ten suns," is inside truly separable from outside? That is, are dichotomies of self and other, subject and object valid here?
7. Compare the idea of ego as dream with modern notions of self. Is self--identity an inherent or fixed characteristic? Is it a projection of a thing or a process of thought projecting a thing?
8. What does a mirror--like mind imply about distinctions between "subjective" and "objective" perceptions----or image and reality?
9. Chuang Tzu seeks immediate experience of reality as it is, not another realm, which cannot exist in unity. Is this mysticism?
10. What is the "spirit" revealed to "Perfect Men"? In a unified world do ideas of spirit based on dichotomies of body and soul, earthly and divine, material and ideal have any place?
11. What does the "use of the useless" and "non--purposeful action" imply about the relevance of idleness to freedom and imagination?
12. How does the skill of cook T'ing and wood worker Ch'ing compare to the artistry associated with creative genius? What is creativity here----and what makes such creativity possible?
13. How are ideas structured and explored in this work? Are they taken up randomly, in a linear order, or in some other fashion?
Does the structure reveal a pattern of thought----or process?
14. Identify key metaphors in the work and discuss how they serve as "traps" to catch meanings that are otherwise too intangible or abstract to express----or comprehend. How are they "wild" words?
15. Finally, how did you make sense of this book? Can methods learned here help you approach subsequent texts and traditions?
Monday, Sept. 21: Sections 1, 2 (pp. 23--45). Special attention should be paid to pages 42--45.
Wednesday, Sept. 23: Introduction (pp. 1--22) and Sections 3, 4, 5 (pp. 25--72).
Friday, Sept. 25: Sections 6, 7, 17, 18 (pp. 73--118).
Monday, Sept. 28: Sections 19, 26 (pp. 118--140).
A. Say a little bit about the character of the Chuang Tzu. it is a loose collection of stories and aphorisms arranged into sections. Usually the reader can find with some careful reading where one section ends and another begins. You can also identify a "voice" for--the individual passages. Sometimes there seems to be very little sense of humor. Sometimes humor is all.
B. Focus on the paragraph beginning at the top of page 45. On first consideration omit the two final sentences. This passage is traditionally called "The Butterfly Dream." it is probably the most famous passage in the Chuang Tzu and one of the most famous in ancient Chinese literature. Consider this paragraph first as a story about epistemology (the understanding of how things are known and whether or not anything can be known).
What is the point of this story as an epistemological riddle?
Now consider the last two sentences. What does the addition of these sentences do to the story?
Review the "Do--able Paper Topics" handout with the four gambits:
1. Choose a section and explain its coherence. (I'd suggest either "The Secret of Caring for Life" or "in the World of Men.") What, if anything, do the various passages in the section have to do with each other? How do they fit the theme or idea established in the section title? (Gambit#1)
2. Look at the difficult paragraph, beginning at the bottom of p. 34, on "this" and "that." Try to find a narrative passage that exemplifies the paragraph's ideas about false distinctions. Explain how your two passages make the same point in two different ways----one discursive, the other narrative. (Gambit #4)
3. Take a look at artists and craftsmen in the Chuang Tzu. What are their important qualities and what do they show us about the Way? In preparing to write on this topic you'll want to examine all the book's examples of artists and craftsmen, but in your finished paper you should probably choose to focus on no more than two or three of the best or most interesting instances. (Gambit #3)
4. Examine the Chuang Tzu's use of 1) animals or 2) natural objects. Since philosophy would appear to be a peculiarly human endeavor, why is the non--human such an important reference point for thinking about human conduct? (Gambit#3)
5. Discuss one of the following key passages: the "butterfly dream" (p. 45) or the "fish trap" paragraph (p. 140). Both are extremely famous passages in Chinese literature. Explain how your chosen passage contains some idea essential to our understanding of the Chuang Tzu as a whole. (Gambit #2)
Some suggested passages to help students understand that "finding the Way" is not just a matter of doing nothing.
p. 24 -- para. 2 -- The story of the P'eng
"If you go off to the green woods nearby, you can take along food for three meals and come back with your stomach as full as ever. If you are going a hundred li you must grind your rain the night before; and if you are going a thousand 11, you must start getting the provisions together three months in advance."
pp. 46--47 -- the story of Cook Ting
p. 57 -- Confucius' advice to Tzu--kao:
"Therefore the aphorism says, 'Do not deviate from your orders; do not press for completion.' To go beyond the limit is excess; to deviate from orders or press for completion is a bad thing. A good completion takes a long time; a bad completion cannot be changed later. Can you afford to be careless?"
pp. 120--121 -- the cicada catcher pp. 121--122 -- the skilled swimmer
pp. 126--127 -- Woodworker Ch'ing
In his introduction, your editor says that the "central theme of Chuang Tzu can be summed up in a single word: freedom" (3). The editor also suggests that there are obstacles to attaining freedom----and that there may be a particularly good way of overcoming those obstacles.
What obstacles do you suppose the editor has in mind? When characters in Chuang Tzu seem "unfree," what seems to be the cause or the reason for their "unfreedom"? What, furthermore, seems to be the best way of overcoming the causes of "unfreedom"? Does Chuang Tzu suggest, for example, that "unfreedom" will not be overcome until philosophers are the kings of this earth?
Finally, do you think that the editor's arguments could be supported with evidence from the following passages:
the story of the "butterfly dream"?
(44--5)
the story of Cook Ting? (46--7)
the story of the unusable oak tree? (61--2)
the story of Mr. Lame--Hunchback--No--Lips? (71)
In many ways, the Chuang Tzu appears to be incoherent: it seems to jump from point to point, story to story, and sometimes it even seems to contradict itself. To get a better sense of what (if anything) holds the work together, focus your attention on one section of the work and try to see how its subsections are related to one another.
I'd like you to focus on section seven: "Fit for Emperors and Kings." What themes are introduced by the first subsection? How are those themes handled? Do the same themes appear in the second subsection? If so, are they handled differently there?
The second, third, and fourth subsections all take up the question of politics. Do all three subsections express the same views of politics? If so, how would you describe those views? Finally, what do you make of the last three subsections? Do they bring us back to the points or issues we started out with? If not, where do they leave us instead?
As you look over the various subsections, look to see if they ever seem to contradict one another. Then ask yourself if the contradictions are intended or accidental. In other words, do you think the contradictions are there for a reason? If so, what do you suppose the reason might be?
In his lecture on the Chuang Tzu, Professor Stanley said that one of the purposes of the book was to challenge the idea that we can "know through categories." Let's follow up on that statement next time.
First, consider what it means to "know through categories." If you thought that you could "know through categories," how would you be inclined to respond to new information or unfamiliar things? What would you want to do with such things? (HINT: Was Professor Stanley trying to "know through categories" when he asked whether Chuang Tzu was fiction or non--fiction, a continuous work or a set of anecdotes and stories, and so forth?)
Now, why might someone think that you can't really know through categories? How might someone support that thought or defend that assertion? In supporting the thought that you can't know through categories, would stories, anecdotes, or humor be useful tools----more useful, say, than Socratic dialectic? If so, why?
Finally, where does the idea that we can't know through categories actually turn up in the text? Does that idea appear, for example, in the story of the Lord of the River and Jo,, the God of the Sea? Read and study pages 96--104, and be prepared to tell how they do (or don't) address the subject of knowing (or attempting to know) through categories.
In addition, find at least one other story that seems to address the subject of knowing through categories. Be ready to tell us all what story you've found----and to explain why you think it addresses the subject of categorizes and categorizing.
Topic 1: "Crippled Shu" and others like him
There's crippled Shu----chin stuck down in his navel, shoulders up above his head, pigtail pointing at the sky, his five organs on the top, his two thighs pressing to his ribs. (62)
Throughout Chuang Tzu, we encounter many stories about people like "crippled Shull' people whose bodies appear to have been damaged or even deformed in some way. Do the stories differ in any way, or do most of them seem to have a common purpose or point?
Topic 2: "Woodworker Ch'ing" and others like him
Woodworker Ch'ing carved a piece of wood and made a bell stand, and when it was finished, everyone who saw it marveled, for it seemed to be the work of gods or spirits. (126)
Throughout Chuang Tzu, we encounter many stories about people like "Woodworker Ch'ing," people who possess some special skill or who have mastered some difficult task. Do the stories differ in any way, or do most of them have a common purpose or point?
Comments on the topics ---- and one big hint
In order to do a good job with either topic, you'll need to reread and reread large portions of the book. Why? Because the topics require you to tell if most of the stories about people like "crippled Shull or "Woodworker Ch'ing" make similar points and serve similar purposes. The topics also ask you to explain whether or not any stories about such people deviate----even in a slight way----from the usual or expected pattern.
My big hint, then, is reread and reread and reread. Come and talk to me if you've got questions or ideas. I'd be happy to know how you're doing.
Last modified 8/00, Peter N. Peregrine