Translation, Zhuangzi 'Butterfly Dream'

Comparative and Continental Philosophy 3.1, 2011

One could define a "tragic" viewpoint in many ways, but its core is the claim that things in this world do not always work out for the best. Probably the greatest tragic figure in the Zhuangzi is the defiant praying mantis, who waves her arms to fend off the oncoming chariot. This praying mantis is surely a symbol of Confucius, who was said in the Lun Yu to know that what he does is impossible but to do it anyway. In the Zhuangzi, such characters are fools, not heroes. While the view of life in the Zhuangzi is certainly not an optimistic trust that virtue is rewarded, it is just as surely not a tragic text. It tends rather toward comedy or play. This paper will examine the Zhuangzi in relationship to the tragic. The underlying claim is that the Zhuangzi's rejection of the optimism of an anthropocentric universe is more radical than tragedy and helps reveal how a tragic viewpoint remains under the sway of an anthropocentric European tradition. Ultimately, pessimism and optimism both assume the validity of human categories, but this is precisely what is attacked in the Zhuangzi. Ironically, it is precisely the unique flexibility of human beings that allows us not just to recognize the insignificance of our goals and values in the world (seeing our situation as tragic) but to accept and take up that insignificance (seeing it rather as comic). The paper concludes with some reflections on why Zhuangzi's position is both attractive and disturbing.

In Truth and Method, Gadamer asserts that prior to beginning the process of understanding a text, we make certain assumptions about the text being a unity modeled on a one-on-one conversation. How should we approach a text that was composed by so many authors over such a long span of time? Using resources from the Zhuangzi, I argue for expanding the metaphor across time, space, and identity in order to rethink Gadamer's assumption and its operative metaphor.

Dao Companion to Xuanxue, ed. by David Chai (Springer, 2020)

This paper examines Wang Fuzhi’s lyrics on shadows and his poetics of “catching shadows,” both involving his thoughts on the commensurability of life and theater. These lyrics weave together the metaphor of life as a play with the Zhuangzi and Buddhism to explore the themes of self, free will, and fate at a time of political and moral collapse. Wang’s poetics of “catching shadows,” centering on the intricate play of feeling, visuality, and the concept of theatrical self-division, explores lyrical interiority and the multilayered representation of poetic consciousness, as well as challenging certain conventions of poetry. Wang’s lyrics and poetics thus indicate a theatrical turn in early Qing lyricism and poetics: a new way of observing the self and the world, born out of a synthesis of late-Ming theatrical culture, the Zhuangzi, and Buddhism.

About 20 years ago, an important article was published by Christoph Harbsmeier concerning the sense of humour displayed in some of the canonical texts of classical Chinese philosophy, such as the Lunyu 論語 (Confucius's Analects), the Mengzi 孟子 (Works of Mencius), the Hanshi waizhuan 韓詩外傳, the Zhanguo ce 戰國策, the Lüshi chunqiu 呂氏春秋, the Hanfeizi 韓非子 and the Zhuangzi 莊子. 1 Harbsmeier did not, however, include the Daoist text the Liezi 列子 in his discussion; nor has it since been addressed, despite the richness of its ironic devices and its vividly humorous character sketches. In this chapter, I focus on the various styles of huaji 滑

Daoism: Religion, History and Society

The present article investigates different representations of Sire Thunder (雷公 Lei Gong), classifying them according to the particular modes of viewing— " registering " —they exemplify. My analysis involves Tang dynasty (" literary ") stories, hagiographic materials, Daoist ritual manuals from the Ming, and some visual representations of modern provenance. Taken together, they will allow me to bring to light a theory about a repertoire of differentiation that I would like to characterize as Daoist " modes of perception. " I argue that different perspectives for viewing Sire Thunder (as an outlandish demon, as a registered god, and as a cosmic entity that inheres throughout the bodily micro-cosmos) express a hierarchical understanding of his ritual transformation from an individual and lowly spirit to a force that can be ritually called forth from the cosmic " realities " latent with the human body. Much of my analysis is developed in dialogue Mark Meulenbeld is Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he teaches Chinese religion with a focus on Daoism. His areas of research range from vernacular literature of the Ming dynasty to fieldwork on Daoism in Hunan (PRC) and on Taiwan. His recent publications include a monograph on the intersection of literature, religion, and society, entitled Demonic Warfare: Daoism, Territorial Networks, and the History of a Ming Novel (University of Hawai'i Press, 2015), and an article about late imperial hagiographies of a Buddhist goddess that depict her as a gloomy spirit: " Death and Demonization of a Bodhisattva: Guanyin's Reformulation within Chinese Religion " (JAAR, September 2016).

Dao Companion to the Philosophy of the Zhuangzi, ed. by Kim-Chong Chong (Springer, 2022)

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.

This essay is part of my series exploring the validity of the existence of “Classical Daoism” or Daojia 道家, “(Early) Daoism.” “Wuwei” is commonly taken to be a Daoist concept. My treatment of Wuwei differs from Edward Slingerland’s metaphorical interpretation of the term and focuses less on the psychological perspective that discerns notions of purposeless or effortlessness in wuwei and more on the wisdom of restraint and non-interference.