Zhuang Zun - A Daoist Philosopher of The Late First Century B.C.

ZHUANG ZUN: A DAOIST PHILOSOPHER OF THE LATE FIRST CENTURY B.C.
Author(s): Aat Vervoorn

Source: Monumenta Serica, Vol. 38 (1988-1989), pp. 69-94
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40726860
Accessed: 01-07-2018 06:26 UTC
REFERENCES
Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40726860?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents
You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms
Taylor & Francis, Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Monumenta Serica
This content downloaded from 137.189.170.67 on Sun, 01 Jul 2018 06:26:28 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
Mon. Ser. 38 (1988-89)
ZHUANG ZUN: A DAOIST PHILOSOPHER
OF THE LATE FIRST CENTURY B.G
Aat Vervoorn
The Australian National University
The Life of Zhuang Zun
Zhuang Zun BraË, styled Junping g^p, was a native of Chengdu $cfß in
When Ban Gu SES (32-92) wrote about him in the Han shu he referred t
as Yan Wt Junping, in order to avoid the tabooed personal name of Emper
Bj^ (r# 58-77) of the Later Han, and it was by this name that he came to be k
to later generations. Exactly when Zhuang Zun was born is uncertain. Howeve
do know that he was Yang Xiong's íiíf (53 B.C.-A.D. 18) teacher in Chengdu
before the great poet and philosopher left for the capital circa 20 B.C.1 Assuming
that Zhuang Zun was at least thirty years older than Yang Xiong - the way Yang
Abbreviations used:
CSJC Congshu jicheng ^H^^.

FY Fayan yishu ffiïAlîcby Wang Rongbao ffi^Ä (1879-1933), 1933, repr., Taibei: Yiwen yi
shuguan, n.d.
GSZ Gaoshi zhuan ffi±ffby Huangfu Mi Mïfl£(215-282), SBBY ed.
HHS Hou Han shu imitir, Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1965.
HS Han shu g|# , Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962.
HYGZ Huayang guozhi^^j^Ë, Guoxue jiben congshu UäHS^ÄHr ed.
SBBY Sibu beiyao 0 gfifi S •
SBCK Sibu congkan 0 §P* fJ .
SGZ San guo zhi HÜLS, Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1971.
5/ Shiji ÎB, Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1959.
WX Wen xuan 5CÌ1, 1809, ed. by Hu Kejia Sfjî£^ , photolithographic repr., Beijing: Zhonghua
shuju, 1977.
1) According to his biography in the Han shu 87B.3583, Yang Xiong did not leave for the capital
until he was "after forty." However, this raises problems of chronology, as has been pointed out by Xu
Fuguan Í&ÍÜS, Liang Han sixiang shi MSÍSÍÜ , vol. 2 (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press,
1975), 312-13, and David R. Knechtges, The Han Rhapsody: Study of the Fu of Yang Hsiung (Cam-
bridge UP., 1976), 113-16. Xu argues that "over forty" must be a mistake for "over thirty," which is
quite possible. At the same time it should be noted the "over forty" appears to have been a set phrase
for the age at which men with eremitic inclinations are supposed to have gone out into the world of
affairs, and was not necessarily meant to be taken completely literally.
69
70 AAT VERVOORN
Xiong wrote about him sugge

learned man - this would p
the end of the reign of Empe
phers, Zhuang Zun lived to
above is not too far off th
Establishing the date of Z

at odds with the Tang Jir (
Master of the Spirit of the
Mang BEH (45 B.C.- A.D. 23)
seclusion and refused to serv
fusion after the Han dynas
monly known), and Yan Gu
friend of the founder of the
57). In Yan Guang's biograph
known as Yan Zun ^, while
to the San guo zhi) states t
Emperor Guangwu. It is fai
Guang, as the person in que
which was Yan Guang's nati
to serve Wang Mang, the M
influenced by the longstandi
which occurs not only in th
Dynasties period.4
2) HS 72.3057 has "over ninety"

taires du Tao to King jusqu'au VI
France, 1977), 11, gives his dates
3) Commentary to Junping's E
which prefaces Zhuang Zun's The
repr. in Dao zang SUE (Shanghai:
references are to this edition. The
Rao Zongyi fl^B, "Xi Han jieyi
4) See HHS 83.2763-64; SGZ 57.132
in the commentary
xuan to Wen
not occur in WX 39.22a -23a. As
ÄSI^ÄÄ? (Changsha, 1923) 83.5b-
Guang another Yan Zun (styled W
that this Yan Zun held office as In
tions would confuse him with a man
ment service. On Yan Wangsi see t
ZHUANG ZUN: A DAOIST PHILOSOPHER 71
In his lifetime Zhuang Zun was as famous for t

his commitment to an eremitic life as for the breadt
refusing to accept a government position despite th
the imperial court, he found contentment earning
the Chengdu marketplace. His choice of this undist
the seriousness with which he regarded Zhuangzi's ^^ doctrines, for it was
Zhuangzi who taught that the sage lives inconspicuously among the common people,
unnoticed by all and in externalities indistinguishable from them, set apart only by
his detachment from the world around him.5 Zhuang Zun literally was a "hermit
of the marketplace" (shiyin TfrF! ). The life he lived suggests that he and his contem-
poraries took seriously the view attributed at one point to Jia Yi ME (200-168
B.C.), that "the sages of antiquity, if not at court, were sure to be found among
diviners and healers."6 The lowly nature of the diviner's trade, coupled with the
opportunities for social influence it presented, enabled Zhuang Zun to work for the
good of society without getting caught up in the quest for wealth, power and
prestige. His comments about the type of advice he gave his customers help to
explain how this was possible:
When it is a question of things incorrect or evil, I say what would be advantageous

or harmful according to the tortoise and milfoil. Sons I advise according to [the re-
quirements of] filiality, younger brothers according to deference, subjects according to
loyalty. Taking into account their particular circumstances, I guide them towards
goodness, and more than half do as I say.7
The income that fortune-telling yielded was more than enough for Zhuang
Zun's modest requirements. "What benefits me materially injures my spirit," he is
recorded as saying, "what engenders fame kills me."8 All attempts to interest him
in an official career proved fruitless. Yet despite his disinterest in worldly concerns
he was not an austere, inhuman character. Quite the contrary, thanks to his "noble
nature and tranquil manner refined by learning," he was universally loved and
respected by the people of Shu.9 The assessment of him recorded by Yang Xiong,
his most famous pupil, certainly bears witness to the admiration and affection he
aroused:
5) See Zhuangzi (Harvard-Yenching Sinological Index Series) 4.64-91; 6.4-17, 27-28, 67-71;
7.13, 31-33; 11.57-59; 17.24-28; 19.14-15; 20.33-34; 25.34; also Aat Vervoorn, Men of the Cliffs
and Caves: The Development of the Chinese Eremitic Tradition to the End of the Han Dynasty (Hong
Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1990), 58-64.
6) SJ 127.3215.
7) HS 72.3056.
8) GSZ, B.lla-b.
9) HS 72.3056-57; HYGZ 10A.129.
72 AAT VERVOORN
Zhuang of Shu lives deep in

He does nothing that might a
bring improper gain, and rem
he holds. What could (the
add to this? Raise up this m
our treasure. He practices wh
he emulates it must be Boy
Although he made his livin

was of a higher intellectua
would close his stall in th
instruction. While he speci
^^ and Zhuangzi,11 his scho
comment that there was not
ing12 cannot have greatly ex
the breadth of Yang Xiong's
ple. Zhuang Zun is known
hundred thousand characte
together with a shorter co
material relating to the Sh
ters. Yang Xiong wrote in
Zun was "deeply fond of e
familiarity with historical s
Fang y an ^íií, his pioneeri
tionof how highly Zhuang
Gu compiled his history of
Sima XiangruWIJi*@£n(17
as one of the literary gian
Gu's judgement by referrin
10) FY 305-6. That he lived deep in obscurity was also said of Zhuang Zun by Yang Xiong's
disciple Hou Ba féïUL. See commentary to WX 46.13b.
11) HS 72.3056; HYGZ 10A.129.
12) HS 72.3056.
13) HS 72.3056; HYGZ 12.205; Sui shu ßfW (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1973) 34.1000; Lu De-
ming mWm (556-627), Jingdian shiwen jRftffX (CSJC ed.) 1.53.
14) See Dai Zhen Mm (1724-1777), Fang yan shuzheng 7jmmm(SBBYed.) 13.20b-21a. This
letter has been translated by David R. Knechtges, "The Liu Hsin/Yang Hsiung Correspondence on the
Fang yen" Monumenta Serica 33 (1977-78): 309-25. Zhuang Zun's expertise in linguistic matters is
also mentioned by Ying Shao ¡680 (died c. 200), in his preface to Fengsu tongyi fifëilu (SBBY ed.),
Ib.
15) HS 28B.1645.
of the world," while Qin Mi's follower Li Quan

with no one less than Confucius himself:
Confucius and Yan Junping gathered together a multitude of works and thereby man-
aged to complete the Spring and Autumn Annals and the [Daode zhenjing] zhigui.
Hence just as it is drawing together all the streams which makes the sea big, so it is
wide knowledge which makes the gentleman great.16
Even allowing for the fact that Qin Mi and Li Quan came from the same regio
as Zhuang Zun and may have been predisposed to admire a local, this is very hig
praise indeed.
The Authenticity of the Gist of the Veritable Classic

of the Way and Virtue
Ban Gu says that Zhuang Zun wrote a text of more than one hundred thousand
characters which was based on the ideas of Laozi and Zhuangzi. There is every rea-
son to believe that this is the work which came to be known as the Daode zhenjing
zhigui or The Gist of the Veritable Classic of the Way and Virtue, mentioned by
Li Quan some time before 226. What appears to be the earliest extant citation of
the text is that by Jin Zhuo If fö , who lived during the Yongjia ácfiJ period (307-
313). 17 The text is listed in a number of bibliographical works from before the Tang
period, but the number of Juan 3S it is said to contain varies. From the Tang on,
however, all listings are of a thirteen j uan edition. In the Dao zang there is preserved
what appears to be the second half of this edition - juan 7-13, dealing only with
Book Two or the de section of the Daode jing ¿ËÎÈÎ5 - with a commentary by
the Tang dynasty commentator, the Master of the Spirit of the Valley. The remainder
of the text, juan 1-6, was lost some time between 1151 and 1603. 18
16) SGZ 38.973. According to SGZ 38.967 and 973, Wang Shang BESS (died c. A.D. 211) erected
a shrine in Zhuang Zun's memory when he was Grand Administrator of Shu Commandery. For details
of other shrines dedicated to his spirit and the numerous poems he inspired, see Yuan Shushan MM M
(ed.), Zhongguo lidai burén zhuan tfcÜBIÜft hÀffif (Shanghai: Runde shuju, 1948) 19.2-5. Evidence
of the high regard in which Zhuang Zun was held in later periods is given by Wang Liqi ÏÎUS, "Dao
zang ben Dao zhenjing zhigui tiyao'HjK^riIÎBAffif&ISJÎIS, Zhongguo zhexue t^SIM (1980):
340-41. The passages cited to this point tell us all that is known of Zhuang Zun's life. The only biogra-
phy of him of any note in the Dao zang - Zhang Tianyu's 3! 5^ S (1277 - 1348) Xuanpin lu SppÜ:
(Dao zang, vols. 558-59) 1.19b -20a - does not provide any further information.
17) SGZ 38.973; commentary to HS 62.272.
18) When Chao Gongwu H^Ä compiled his Junzhai dushu zhi SPÄflür/E in 1151 he had
access to the complete text of the Gist; when Hu Zhenheng ASH? (1569-1644/45) published his edition
of the Gist in the Bice huihan KHffilÈBBof 1603 only half of the text survived.
74 AAT VERVOORN
The surviving portion of t

ters, which still makes it on
This fact, plus the high reg
stature of Yang Xiong, Ban
times, makes the almost to
scholars somewhat surprisin
seek: the extant text of the
Siku quanshu zongmu HJ^
ties such as Quan Zuwang
%>ù üfc.19 When a text as
of course save everyone a
unjustified.
In the last forty years three Chinese scholars, working independently of each
other, have come to the conclusion that the objections raised by the Qing scholars
against the authenticity of the Gist must be rejected.20 Here I will recapitulate some
of the main points of their argument, and then go on to present further evidence
for the text's authenticity so as to open the way for serious study of Zhuang Zun's
thoughts.
The major cause of suspicion regarding the text of the Gist was the version
of that work published by Hu Zhenheng ííJA^ in the Bice huihan in 1603. It was
this text which was dismissed by Cao Xuequan HHíi (1574-1646) as having been
"forged in Wu ^" and was strongly criticized by Qian Zeng Ü #(1629-1701).21
Nor is this surprising, for Hu Zhenheng took the Dao zang version and deleted the
Laozi text, the commentary by the Master of the Spirit of the Valley, and the Preface
(xuwen Ff% ), and omitted the entire last juan of the text as well as a considerable
number of characters and lines from the remainder. The product of this butchery,
with a preface supposedly by the Master of the Spirit of the Valley (it actually
19) See Siku quanshu zongmu (Taibei: Yiwen yinshuguan, 1969) 146.6b - 8b; Quan Zuwang, "Du
Daode zhiguin^' OKféfiJ, in Jieqi ting ji jg^**, waipian #JR (SBCK ed.) 34.19b-20a; Zhang
Xincheng, Weishu tongkao fg#ii#(2nd. ed., Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1957), 871-72.
20) The scholars concerned are Wang Liqi, in the article already cited; Meng WentongfRxi!,
"Yan Junping Daode zhigui lun yiwen"gü"¿pr 'MW^Bm JftX Tushu jikan H »ÄfJ (Chengdu) 6
(1948): 23-38; Yan Lingfeng ffîtW.% , "Bian Yan Zun Daode zhigui lun fei weishu^fiS&rUígfê
§§ÍraJ^í8#, Dalu zazhi *l$iílf& 29.4 (Aug. 1964): 107-13; repr. in Yan's Wuqiu bei zhai Laozi ji-
cheng Ät^RtSSfii-pÄ^c (Taibei: Yiwen yinshuguan, 1965), vol. 1. In what appears to be the only
extended discussion of the text by a western scholar, Robinet's Les commentaires du Tao to King, the
problem of its authenticity is ignored altogether.
21) Cao Xuequan's comment is cited in the Siku quanshu zongmu; Qian Zeng expressed his opi-
nion in Dushu minqiu ji HHtfcä<IE (CSJC ed.) 3.80.
consists of that commentator's annotation to Junp

of the Two Books plus a remark to the effect th
been lost before the Sui Pf dynasty), was issued
íiíSÍ&ISira, in six juan numbered 1-6.22 Unfortun
rial Catalogue took over Cao Xuequan's judgemen
a forgery and applied it to the Gist as such, witho
and other recent editions derived from it. This
Yan Lingfeng and Wang Liqi point out.23
I have already mentioned that extant citation

A.D. 310. From approximately the Tang period on the citations become quite
numerous, and the great majority agree with the Dao zang text.24 Of course, while
this is strong supporting evidence for the authenticity of the Dao zang text, by itself
it cannot establish that that text was actually written by Zhuang Zun. Quan Zuwang
argued that the Gist is suspect because it is not listed in the bibliographical section
of the Han shu, and more recently Meng Wentong has put forward the view that
22) It is difficult to see the motive behind all this. The only obvious reason for issuing a six
juan version would be to claim that it was the lost dao part of the text, yet this is explicitly denied
by the preface fabricated in the name of the Master of the Spirit of the Valley. Hu Zhenheng's text
was reproduced by Mao Jin íiíf in his Jindai mishu i&iÊM^ oï 1630 and Zhang Haipeng WMW*
(1755-1816) in his Xuejin taoyuan Ig^fíJlíof 1806. Inexplicably, Yan Lingfeng has chosen to begin
his Laozi jicheng with Mao Jin's edition rather than the much more reliable Dao zang text. On the
unreliability of the Bice huihan text and its progeny, see Lu Xinyuan $t¡uM (1834-1894), Yigu tang
tiba mH^jHiK cited by Yan Lingfeng, "Bian Yan Zun Daode zhigui lun fei weishu," 2a -3a; Wang
Liqi, "Zhigui tiyao," 339-40.
23) Yan, "Bian Yan Zun Daode zhigui lun fei weishu," 2a-b; Wang, "Zhigui tiyao," 339.
24) Citations from the lost first half of the text have been collated by Meng Wentong, "Yan Jun-
ping Daode zhigui lun yiwen," 26-38, and Yan Lingfeng in an appendix to "Bian Yan Zun Daode zhigui
lun fei weishu." Some of the passages by Zhuang Zun relating to the second book of the Laozi which
have been cited by commentators do not correspond entirely to the Dao zang text of the Gist. This
has led Liu Ts'un-yan #P#fc, "Dao zang ben Sansheng zhu Daode jing zhi deshi" äÜÜc^HIBlE
aÜÍB!5;¿í§ífc, Chongji xuebao #S¥S9.1 (1969): 26, to suggest that by Tang times there may have
been more than one version of the Gist in circulation. On the other hand, Meng Wentong, "Yan Junping
Daode zhigui lun yiwen," 25, and Yan Lingfeng, "Bian Yan Zun Daode zhigui lun fei weishu," 4a-b,
prefer to account for such disparities by saying that those passages which do not fit actually come from
the "Laozi zhu in two sections" by Zhuang Zun mentioned by the 5m/ shu and Lu Deming. In fact,
Yan Lingfeng has felt confident enough about identifying passages from the Laozi zhu to publish a
compilation, "Ji Yan Zun Laozi zhu" ttjüßäl^T-ä: in his Laozi jicheng, providing grounds for his
attribution of passages to that text in a preface. However, the matter remains uncertain, and in the
absence of additional evidence it is difficult to see how it could be resolved. Wang Liqi, "Zhigui tiyao,"
339, makes the highly implausible suggestion that the Laozi zhu text in two sections referred to by com-
mentators is actually now incorporated in the text of the Gist as juan 10. The grounds on which he
does so are simply indefensible.
76 AAT VERVOORN
it cannot date from before

grounds that no reference t
Noting that Huangfu Mi doe
in Gaoshi zhuan, he argues t
outside the Shu region (Qi
Qu Sii [his Huayang guozh
to it, all came from Shu), af
mitic scholar. This scholar
tioned by Ban Gu in the Han
on the Laozi of which only
the phrase, "Master Zhua
are direct quotations from t
It has been argued by th

Zuwang's argument against t
appear in the Han shu's bibliographical section: the Chen Junzi EfïT listed
there27 is a mistake for Chen Junping EH^P; the "two sections" of which the
Chen Junzi is said to consist actually refer to the dao and de sections of the Daode
jing. Chen Zhi points out that the texts listed immediately before it in the bibliogra-
phy date from much the same time as Zhuang Zun (but this in itself proves little,
since the text listed after it dates from the Warring States period).28 Wang Liqi has
taken up and expanded Chen's argument, pointing out that the titles of quite a num-
ber of Han dynasty works included in the bibliography begin with the word chen
or "His Majesty's subject."29
There is much to be said for this view. However, the matter is not beyond ques-
tion,30 and even if it was definitely established that it is Zhuang Zun's work which
25) This theory is developed by Meng Wentong in "Daojiao shi suotan" 3ltíc3feíêi&, Zhongguo
zhexue 4 (1980): 314-15, and his collection of papers on the cultural history of the Sichuan region,
Ba Shu gushi lunshu Eüäif^fefraaE (Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 1981), 111-12. It is a refine-
ment of the argument presented in his earlier "Yan Junping Daode zhigui lun yiwen," 23-24, where,
having overlooked the references to the text in the San guo zhi, he claimed that it must have postdated
Huangfu Mi. Both Meng and Wang Liqi "Zhigui tiyao," 352-54, discuss the longstanding error of
regarding the passages prefaced by the phrase "Master Zhuang says" as coming from the Warring States
text by Zhuang Zhou $£J|j .
26) Chen Zhi, Han shu xinzheng SHrfr l§ (Tianjin: Renmin chubanshe, 1979), 231.
27) HS 30.1731.
28) The Warring States text is the Zheng Changzhe ftßg^f, mentioned by Han Feizi $|^^-(c.
280-c. 233 B.C.). Meng Wentong, Ba Shu gushi lunshu, 92, suggests that such an early Daoist school
could have been the source of Zhuang Junping's scholarship.
29) Wang, "Zhigui tiyao," 346-47.
30) For example, it could be argued that if, as indicated by Lu Deming and the Sui shu, Zhuang
is listed in the Han shu, it would still leave open th

text is in fact part of the work written by him. On
argument attractive is that the title Chen Junping i
by Zhuang Zun rather than simply a commentar
suggests that the text is an elucidation of the La
lot more than that. For although it is structured ar
thesis of ideas which goes far beyond it. This raises
Wentong, of whether the present Gist has been rec
of the Laozi by a later writer using Zhuang Zun'
As it stands, Meng's argument for this view is

have already mentioned that he makes much of the
zhigui is not mentioned by Huangfu Mi in Gaosh
references to it are by scholars from Shu, suggestin
in Shu at the end of the Han and because of the civil wars failed to circulate outside
that region. But if there was an original work by Zhuang Zun in existence at the
end of Han, in due course dismembered by Meng's alleged scholar-hermit from Shu,
there is no reason to suppose that during the two hundred years of the Later Han
it would have failed to reach the capital Luoyang, and so be available to Huangfu
Mi and other scholars of the Wei Ï& dynasty (220-265). That Huangfu Mi does
not mention the title Zhigui proves nothing at all; in his biography of Zhuangzi he
makes no mention of the text by that name, yet clearly it existed and was certainly
believed by Huangfu Mi to have been written by him. Moreover, Huangfu Mi says
that Zhuang Zun "devoted himself to writing." One very good reason for putting
it this way would be that Zhuang Zun had written a number of works (as we are
told by others), and that to list them individually would be stylistically cumbersome.
As to the suggestion put forward by Zhang Nanyi ^k^&Ws and followed by

Quan Zuwang, that the passages introduced by the phrase "Master Zhuang says"
are direct citations of Zhuang Zun's original work, this is not particularly convincing
either. Quan Zuwang has himself pointed out that the phrase "Master Zhuang says"
always comes in direct reply to queries raised against the line of argument and
expressed in terms such as 'why do I say this?', 'how can I show this?', 'how can
I demonstrate this?', 'someone might say', 'someone presumes to ask'. In style and
expression the answers to these imagined queries are no different to the rest of the
text, so much so that it is impossible to say where the alleged citations are supposed
Zun was the author of a commentary in 2 juan on the Laozi, in addition to the Gist, it is more likely
that this is the text in 2 sections recorded. The existing Gist text, which according to Chen and Wang
amounts to one pian of the work Chen Junping, far exceeds in length any section of any other text
from the Han referred to as constituting one pian.
78 AAT VERVOORN
to stop. It seems to me much

the dialogue style of expositio
effect by Zhuang Zun's pupi
both questions and answers
although the expression "Mast
Liqi points out,31 the questi
text, and not all answers are a
scarcely likely that anyone c
Zun's work would be so obtu
that the parts of the text not
Zhuang Zun.
Thus these arguments do

raised against the authenticity
yet ultimately turns out to b
Meng Wentong and Wang Liqi
cation of the Contents of th
postface, discusses the Laozi
the first book and thirty-tw
which deals with the second b
if this is Zhuang Zun's origi
that given in his postface. Is
in order to fit it to the now
Gong M-t4^ commentary?32
with, but far less than we m
Had Zhuang Zun's original te

sion of the Laozi we would e
exactly in terms of number o
But as Meng Wentong observe
text divides Book Two into
pointed out, has only forty s
bines some chapters, splits ot
readings.33 Thus the arrang
postface and the Heshang G
31) Wang, "Zhigui tiyao," 353. A

Gist 7.2a.
32) Meng, "Zhigui lun yiwen," 25; Wang, "Zhigui tiyao," 340-41. This argument was also devel-
oped by Hu Zhenheng in the prefatory remarks to his edition of the text, which Yan Lingfeng h
reproduced in the Laozi jicheng (xu J^, 4b -5a).
33) The major differences are as follows (chapter numbers refer to the standard text of the Laozi):
The explanation behind this is in fact quite simp

way towards establishing that the Gist is genuine.
that Book One of the Laozi contains forty chapters. T
of the Gist is in forty sections is for no other reason
Zhuang Zun regarded as Book One of the Laozi. W
on the Laozi in Han Feizi and also the Mawangdui M
versions of the Laozi the de Book came before the
been only later - possibly towards the end of the
to be reversed and the text acquired the form famili
the ancient arrangement of the text had come to be
enterprising editor must have transposed the two ha
tents match the order of the contemporary versi
Ch. 39 and 40 are combined; the bulk of 58 is combined with 57

with 59; 67 is combined with 68; the last two lines of 69 are om
been argued by Robert G. Hendricks, "A Note on the Question o
Manuscripts of the Lao-tzu," Early China 4 (1978-79): 49-51, tha
there appear to have been chapter divisions of a sort at least
at the points of division). In that text chapters 67 and 68 are a
of the other sections of text which we might wish to compare
been obliterated.
34) On early versions of the Laozi see Gao Heng ^ -f- and Chi Xizhao ftfaBUS], "Shitan Mawang-
dui Hanmu zhong de boshu (Laozi)"Utfc^ïfëMMtpfàfn1tï%iJ'], Wenwu X% 1974,11: 1-7; Yan
Lingfeng, Mawangdui boshu Laozi shitan .UBE^Í^tf^T-líS (Taibei: Heluo tushu chubanshe, 1976),
2; Zhang Songru îfifâATJ , Laozi jiaodu ÍHPÍJÍiA (Juin: Juin renmin chubanshe, 1981), 1-3; Tu Wei-
ming, "The Thought of Huang-Lao': A Reflection on the Lao Tzu and Huang Ti Texts in the Silk
Manuscripts of Ma-wang-tui," Journal of Asian Studies 39,1 (Nov. 1979): 95-110; D. C. Lau, Chinese
Classics: Tao Te Ching (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1982), introduction to Part 2;
William C. Boltz, "Textual Criticism and the Ma Wang tui Lao tzu" Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies
44,1 (June 1984): 185-224. While it is possible, as argued by Gao Heng and Chi Xizhao, that more
than one arrangement of the Laozi was current by the beginning of the Han dynasty and that having
the de section first is a specifically Legalist version of the text, there is no evidence that this is so. The
Laozi text in Han Feizi, the two Mawangdui texts and Zhuang Zun's Gist all have the de section first;
the Heshang Gong and Wang Bi 3EÄ (226-249) editions, from which the accepted arrangement derives,
both date from much later. The Heshang Gong commentary has been ascribed to various periods by
modern scholars, but never earlier than the second half of the Later Han dynasty. For discussion of
the evidence for a relatively late date see Ma Xulun S^fra, Laozi jiaogu ^ÉÍÍSfÈ (Beijing: Zhonghua
shuju, 1974), preface; P. Pelliot, "Autour d'une traduction sanscrite du Tao to king," T'oung Pao 13
(1912): 366-70; Wang Ming 3EßA9 Laozi Heshang Gong zhangju kao ^^M±<àM^}^ (Beijing daxue
chubanbu, 1948); Eduard Erkes, Ho-Shang-Kung's Commentary on the Lao-Tse (Ascona: Artibus Asiae,
1950); Gu Fang SÍT, "Heshang Gong Laozi zhangju kaozheng^M-t^rîfj^Jîg, Zhongguo
zhexue 1 (1982): 41-57.
35) Meng Wentong, uZhigui lun yiwen," 25 quotes Dong Sijing's WM$ñ Daode jijie 51 SUSP
(1246) to the effect that Zhuang Zun made Book One into forty chapters and Book Two into thirty-two,
80 AAT VERVOORN
Zun's original Part Two be

scholars with the problem
Zhuang Zun's postface and
This account is in fact co

his Explication of the Cont
that Book One of the Laoz
"meagre" (gua % ). Whether
each contains or the numb
larger of the two, and it i
the text that would make it
his postface Zhuang Zun al
while Book Two deals with
number theory drawn from
oped in the Ten Wings (sh
the division between the t
gests that as far as he was c
matic presentation of the co
Laozi and not as the Daode ji
order of the text to which
Thus it seems reasonable to conclude that as far as Zhuang Zun was con-
cerned, Book One of the Laozi was that part of the text now known as the de jing,
and that the Gist was written according to this ancient arrangement of the Laozi,
an arrangement which faded from memory not long after the end of the Han
dynasty and was not reconfirmed until the discovery of the Mawangdui manuscripts
in 1973. This makes it most improbable that the Gist was forged or reconstituted
from another text by someone after the Han. It does not establish conclusively that
and goes so far as to suggest that perhaps Dong made a mistake, that Book Two actually had forty
chapters. He seems to assume that the remarks in the postface derive from Dong Sijing's work, rather
than the other way around. However, leaving aside the question of whether it was originally meant to
be the postface to the Zhigui, I see no reason to doubt the authenticity of Junping's Explication, which
in sophistication, comprehensiveness and fluidity of exposition is very much at one with the text.
36) In the Book of Changes the number nine represents the yang (unbroken) lines, eight represents
the yin (broken) lines. Nine times eight gives Zhuang Zun his seventy-two chapters of the Laozi. As
well as correlating the yang and yin with Heaven and Earth, action and inaction, and so on, the Ten
Wings also state other points mentioned by Zhuang Zun, such that the yang dao is odd, the yin dao
even (see Zhou Yi zhengyi JUJÎEH, in Shisan jing zhushu +HgîÈgit [Beijing: Zhonghua shuju,
1979] 8.87B.). In the bibliographical section of the Hanshu, compiled after Zhuang Zun's death, the
title Daode jing is still not used; nor is it used in any of the philosophical texts of the first one hundred
years of the Later Han dynasty which discuss the doctrines of Laozi.
it was Zhuang Zun who wrote the text, but then

do so; certainly the evidence presented here indicate
for doubting its ascription to Zhuang Zun.
Other sorts of objections raised against the authe

convincingly disposed of by Wang Liqi. One is the a
observed the taboo on the personal names of the
shows, at best this objection is inconclusive, since th
Han texts of the taboo being ignored.37 A more
wang's declaration that in terms of style and expres
the language of "the western capital," i.e. the Forme
tion Wang Liqi shows that this objection cannot stan
four-character phrasing and other stylistic features,
similarity to the Huainanzi M^-p (compiled circa
Many of the expressions which appear in it, and als
very much to the Han period. The way that the
indicates that this is the work of a Han subject r
dynasty.39 To this must be added the observation
consistency and fluidity which would be very hard
a long text devoted to the exposition of difficult, a
of strongly rhythmical prose, frequently accentuat
fortless flow of ideas represents a virtuoso perfo
This is not a work which could have been cobbled
spare parts by some undistinguished intellectual hac
sion left by an unhurried reading of the text, in
most of the objections which have been raised ag
cerned what are ultimately "externalities" : if one ac
it is a late forgery begins to seem much less plau
one considers the philosophical outlook which it d
and the connections established between them belon
world of the Former Han dynasty. This should beco
of the ideas of the Gist which follows.
The Philosophy of the Gist
The Gist is essentially a political tract; it is concerned above all with government
and the establishment of social order. The lengthy metaphysical and mystical expositions
37) Wang, «Zhigui tiyao," 357-60.

38) This view seems to have been taken over by Meng Wentong, who claims to discern a resem-
blance between the Gist and the writings of Ruan Ji KH (210-263).
39) Wang, "Zhigui tiyao," 347-52.
82 AAT VERVOORN
which make up the bulk of

ernment and social harmon
Zhuang Zun is unquestionabl
Explication of the Content
have studied the Laozi "wil
and Earth, the phases of yin
affection between father an
position of the myriad thi
ultimate basis of all things w
and the state. Rather than
Zhuang Zun's system, I sha
at his views on human affai
and partly because it is on
and times.
I have already referred to the point made by Wang Liqi, that when the Gist
mentions recent history it does so in a way we would expect in a work by a subject
of the Han: the Han is mentioned in the most honorific of terms, while Qin H and
Chu S, the states it overthrew, are referred to as objects of loathing and contempt.
At one point Qin and Chu are paired with those historical paradigms of villainy,
King Jie of the Xia A2SIÏ. and King Zhou of the Shang MMJL (11.3b). What is
particularly interesting is that the defeat of Qin and Chu is explained in terms of
their failure to remain true to the Way, to the natural order of things; the Han, on
the other hand, are said to have acted in accord with that order, and hence have
triumphed: "powerful Qin and great Chu ruled autocratically Kfâ] and perished;
divine Han rose dragon-like, harmonious and compliant, and prospered" (8.5a). In
other words, Zhuang Zun saw the power of the Han as deriving from something
other than the exercise of brute force. In another passage (13.7a-b) he goes to some
lengths to explain this. Qin and Chu killed feudal lords and forged commanderies
and cities into a single state, but by doing so they aroused the resentment of other
lords and the fear of the people; they acted with a hardness and strength at odds
with the compliance and weakness characteristic of natural order. The result was
that "they lost their states, their families were destroyed, their bodies were dismem-
bered." In contrast:
When it came to the rise of Han, hermits who were dragons in retirement and th
myriad people sought out [Han Gaozu SÍA Sä ] so that he could not avoid [becoming
their leader]. Regarding Heaven as his father and Earth as his mother, he loved the
people as his children; rewarding merit and nourishing goodness, he took as his teach-
ers scholars who knew the way of Heaven; responding to change when facing oppo-
nents, his plans were (as grand as) the Yangtze and the sea; victorious whenever he
fought and triumphant whenever he attacked, he vanquished Qin and destroyed Chu.
The world rejoiced and he was enthroned as Son of Heaven (13.7b).
What is striking about this account is less its uno

a fairly conventional picture of Han Gaozu - one
objections from Confucian scholars - and explain
herence to Daoist principles. Despite the well-known
of the early Han rulers there was a strong interest
ing to find the energetic Gaozu characterised as a D
sarily as odd as it appears at first glance. Zhuang
to act according to the disposition and requirement
thanks largely to the influence of the Book of Chan
cian teachings as of the Laozi. But other aspects
preted in Daoist terms. For example, his abolitio
Qin lawcode, which attempted to police all of th
placement with three simple rules, can be regar
Nature; Gaozu was also famous for the way he re
trying to do everything personally, and this may b
non-action (wuwei fàfà ).41 The passage from the
ple of the way Zhuang Zun synthesises Daoist and
tic he shares with other Former Han intellectuals.
One particularly interesting passage in terms of the Han dynasty outlook it

expresses concerns the idea of the self as the source of all understanding (this occurs
in the exposition based on Chapter 47 of the Laozi, which deals with knowing the
world without stepping outside one's door). It was written by a man who obviously
set great store by the unified empire as that which did away with the warfare and
conflict endemic to the multi-state polity characteristic of the Warring States period:
Master Zhuang says: A man's whole body comes from his father and mother, yet its
four limbs and nine orifices are dissimilar in their functions, its five viscera and six
entrails each have different things to process: its upper and lower parts do not know
each other, its inside and outside do not see each other. The head and the feet may
be taken as Heaven and Earth, the elbows and knees as the four seas, the liver and
gall bladder as Hu SE and Yue ÍS , the eyebrows and eyes as Qi M and Chu JË . It
may seem as if they are not born of the same source and are physically independent
40) On Daoism in the early Han see Wang Mingsheng ïrç&fg (1722-1798), "Sima shi fuzi yi-
shang-ÎJiRSÊT-Sfql, Shiqi shi shangjue -f-fc^fãtt (CSJC ed.) 6.51; Zhou Shaoxian JSJBR,
"Huang-Lao sixiang zai Xi Han" K^LIUíÍEBSÍ, Guoli zhengzhi daxue xuebao MÍL$kfèJ^9^¥lí
26 (1972): 85-102; Xiong Tieji MURS, "Cong LOshi chunqiu dao Huainanä"'fä&R^ü^''fljL
m?J , Wen shi zhe XAS 1981,2: 73-78, 88; Zhang Weihua 5SÍI*, "Shi •Huang-Lao' zhi cheng"
WFX3LÁZM, Wen shi zhe 1981,4: 13-24; also the article by Tu Wei-ming referred to in note 34 above.
41) For a modern interpretation of Gaozu's success in terms of his faithfulness to Daoist princi-
ples see Zhou Shaoxian, "Huang-Lao sixiang zai Xi Han," 89-93.
84 AAT VERVOORN
of each other, neither acting

each other when at rest. The distance from above the nine heavens to below the Yellow
Springs is not enough to express (their separateness). But in fact if the head is ill the
feet cannot walk, if the mind is sick the mouth cannot speak . . . (8.20b).
The blend of Confucian and Daoist principles is obvious in many places in

the Gist. Thus we are told that when a ruler takes deliberate action instead of simply
following along with the disposition of things in harmony with the Way, the outcome
will always be the opposite of what he intends; when the ruler handles affairs in
his own way "the numerous officials lose the mean and fail to carry out the duties
implicit in their official titles, the myriad people do not turn to him and he is cut
off from Heaven and Earth" (7.12b). Zhuang Zun's ideal ruler is someone who not
only is alert to such basic Confucian principles as following the mean and attracting
the people by the influence of his virtue, he is also one for whom following Nature
(ziran S #O results in humane and enlightened treatment of his subjects. Han
Gaozu is praised for loving the people like his children, rewarding merit and nourish-
ing goodness. More generally, the conduct of a sage ruler may be expected to include
benevolent actions such as "dispensing grain and distributing goods, caring for the
old, the weak and the orphaned, relieving those with nowhere to turn, providing
a way out for those in difficulties, and giving prominence to the scholars of the
cliffs and caves" (10.24b). Again, these are precisely the sort of actions attributed
to a good ruler in early Confucian political thought. "Scholars of the cliffs and
caves" in the Han period was a standard synecdochic expression for hermits or vir-
tuous men living aloof from public affairs; the need to honour and, if possible,
employ such men was a matter given high priority by Han dynasty Confucians.42
A Confucian influence is also apparent when Zhuang Zun discusses the interdepen-
dence of the ruler and his subjects:
It is the lord who decides the lives of men, it is the people who decide the enthronement
of the lord. If the lord attains the Way then the myriad people prosper, if the lord
loses the Way then the myriad people perish. If the myriad people prosper then the
ruling house becomes distinguished, if the myriad people perish then the ruling house
is toppled. Hence the lord is the spring of the people, the people are the root of the
lord. If the root is injured then flowers and fruit do not appear, if the spring fails
42) A good example of a synecdochic use of the term "scholars of the cliffs and caves" (yanxue
zhi shi M'K2L± ) occurs in Sima Qian's ^MM (c. 145-c. 87 B.C.) "Letter to Ren An" $ßß:;£(r,
HS 62.2727. The term was also used in imperial edicts calling for the recommendation of worthy men
for office. Thus an edict issued by Emperor Zhang ^^ in A.D. 80 ended with the instruction that
"Men of the cliffs and caves should be given priority; do not select [those who are mere] empty show,"
while in A.D. 94 Emperor He ÍP'íf ordered his senior officials to "bring out into the light men of the
cliffs and caves." See HHS 3.139, 4.178.
then its waters dry up. Things above and things be

are able to endure (8.16b).
Although the Confucian strain in Zhuang Zun is quite strong, it is nevertheless

incorporated into a Daoist framework and terminology. Thus he may take over the
distinction between gentleman or noble man (junzi fî-p ) and petty man (xiao ren
'hÀ ), but the distinction is no longer made in Confucian terms; whether or not
the individual is a junzi depends on whether his nature is fine or coarse, his life
span long or short, his emotions good or base, his ideas great or petty. Zhuang Zun
discusses the man of benevolence (ren ren tÀ), the man of righteousness (yi ren
UÀ ) and the man of propriety (// ren HA ), but for him they represent lower
categories in a five-fold classification of individuals headed by the man of the Way
(dao ren Í1À ) and the man of Virtue (de ren ÍIÀ ).43 Although the sage-ruler
exhibits qualities which may seem strikingly reminiscent of the Confucian ideals of
benevolence and righteousness, Zhuang Zun is emphatic that such conduct can only
come about by forgetting all about benevolence and righteousness and allowing the
self instead to flow with the unfolding of Nature.
Zhuang Zun's ideals of government are particularly enlightened. The messages

communicated to the ruler by Nature are essentially those of harmony, flexibility,
sympathy, humanity. In Zhuang Zun there is little of the ruthlessness and indiffer-
ence characteristic of the ruler depicted in the Laozi and elaborated by Han Feizi.
Nevertheless, some aspects of his thought do have an affinity with the more Legalis-
tic features of Daoism. For example, he distinguishes very clearly between the way
of the ruler and the way of his subjects, insisting that the sort of conduct appropri-
ate to the one is not appropriate to the other.44 Like Han Feizi, it is primarily the
ruler's conduct that he describes in terms of seclusion, solitariness and non-action.
The following passage illustrates this point very clearly:
. . . the intelligent king or sage ruler corrects his self in order to reach up to Heaven
and consults with his ministers in order to reach down to the people. Laws derive from
the ministers, but the authority which upholds them lies with the lord. Orders derive
from the lord, but the responsibility for carrying them out lies with the ministers. The
official titles of ministers are stipulated by the lord, the duties of ministers are deter-
mined by the lord. If ministers' titles are not correct the Great Mandate is naturally
43) Gist 7.1b - 2a. Such five-fold classifications of men became quite common at the time when
Five Phase (wu xing fifi ) theory was influential, at the end of the Warring States period and during
the Han dynasty. See Vervoorn, Men of the Cliffs and Caves, 68-69.
44) Compare Zhuangzi 13.18-20; Han Feizi 2.10b; Lüshi chunqiu (SBCK ed.) 11.5b, 12.3a-b,
14.1a-b, 14.3b, 16.3b -4a, 20.14b, 22.8a-b. A good example of the Legalist flavour which sometimes
appears in the Gist is 11.12a.
86 AAT VERVOORN
lost. Therefore the way of th

holds autocratic power, the m
When the roles of lord and m
clear of themselves. Therefor
have their duties. When tha
lord and minister cannot tak
Thus the great Way triumph
stillness there are no affairs,
follow the way of the lord th
up the ministers' affairs he
The concern with the match

on the executive role of rule
tration reveals a line of in
B.C.) and Han Feizi.45
The distinction between th

ate to his officials and oth
the fact that most of the G
ruler. Like the authors of
"sage" to mean "ideal ruler
ideal ruler does actually occ
points in the text Zhuang
fact he is not the ruler. Th
that in every context the sa
characteristics of the sage is
ferent to power, social em
the quest for knowledge and
and household worthies" -
appointed lord or minister
thousand is a worthy, not
the empire which makes the
and treats commoners like
he transfers to others, th
45) For Han Fei's development o

43. On Shen Buhai's thought see H. C. Creel, Shen Pu-hai: a Chinese Political Philosopher of the
Fourth Century B.C. (Chicago U.P., 1974).
46) Hence the Master of the Spirit of the Valley comments at one point, '"sage' means 'brilliant
lord'" igAIIKS? (8.19a).
47) Fragment related to Ch. 3 of the Laozi, see Meng Wentong, "Zhigui lun yiwen," 28; Yan
Lingfeng, "Bian Yan Zun Daode zhigui lun fei weishu," 12b.
kindness and generosity go deep indeed" (12.13b). In t

appear that the sage is assumed to be on the throne,
certain imperial prerogatives:
[The sage] is empty so as to unite with the Way, is

nature, harmonises with the time so as to make secure t
so as to nurture the people. He nourishes them with no
Nature, presents them with Heaven and Earth, grants
enriches them with long years, honours them with ph
happy by freeing them from worries, and makes them
calamities (12.6a).
Since Zhuang Zun was famous as a hermit as w

matter of considerable interest that the Gist contains a dominant stream of eremitic
thought. Nor can this be explained in terms of the Gist being a commentary on
the Laozi, for what eremitism there is in the Laozi is no more than implicit, and
relates only to the person of the ruler; in the Gist this subject is developed explicitly
and in reference to persons other than the ruler. As we might expect in a work writ-
ten by a hermit of the marketplace, the need to avoid fame and its harmful conse-
quences is stressed repeatedly. "As shaper of a catastrophic age and framer of a
disordered state, for forsaking Heaven and Earth and harming the self, there is
nothing that equals fame" (8.10a). If fame is the main source of danger from within
the self, it is the despot who represents the major threat in the world at large. When
a ruler exploits fear even to achieve what is ostensibly in the interests of the people,
sages and worthies will refuse to serve him regardless of the honours extended to
them; even if they are presented with rich ceremonial gifts and provided with an
easy carriage (anche ígjfí )48 drawn by four horses, "the mysterious sage goes deep
into hiding, the gentleman does not come" (11.3b-4a).
The true sage is no more affected by a life of poverty and obscurity than he
is by the power, riches and prestige which come with a throne. He finds contentment
in all things and faces even death with equanimity. "Beneath stately trees, he attains
fullness of spirit; among the cliffs and caves, his mind is ever joyful" (10.2a; also
7.3b). In seclusion he is able to identify completely with the Way:
He makes the Way and Virtue his father, Divine Brilliance his mother, purity and
stillness his teachers, Supreme Harmony his friend, the world his family and the myriad
48) An invitation to come to court by easy carriage - the wheels of which were padded with
rushes to lessen the rigours of the journey - was one of the most elaborate courtesies extended by
Han emperors to worthy men and was an important feature of the Han recommendatory system. It
represented an expression of the Emperor's respect and solicitude as well as his eagerness to have the
worthy by his side. The earliest recorded instance is the young Emperor Wu's summons of Sir Shen $-£>
in 140 B.C. See SJ 121.3121; HS 6.157, 88.3608.
88 AAT VERVOORN
things his body, looks upon ot

Feelings of dissatisfaction he
dare to harbour. He discards k
Majesties and the Five Emper
rather than initiating action h
animals of the numerous spe
Not all hermits are sages;

sion. The term for hermits
or "disengaged scholar." Sin
by his contemporaries and pr
figures in the Gist are sign
Zhuang Zun's self-image. At
The mysterious sage and the d

raise up perceptivity and eleva
cast off knowledge and forget
fearful, afraid only that they
is not skill, labour to understa
and complaisant, yielding and
ever heedful of what is enou
(9.21b).
This contains a number of ex

the efforts of the disengaged
sage, are constantly directed
ously" is something which is
which may not be achieved
although the sage and disenga
is not ignorance or oafish sim
to develop pure insight and i
knowledge, which overcome t
me-down formulations. This
is not "knowledge" in any conventional sense, implies that Zhuang Zun must have
been conscious of the limitations of the scholarly activities to which he devoted
much of his time, but it does not necessarily mean there was any contradiction
between the erudition for which he was renowned and the programme of casting
off knowledge which he took over from the Laozi. Third, he emphasises that the
49) Gist 10.6a says that the scholar who attains the Way casts off perceptivity and understanding,
but not so in 10.3b, 10.5b and 10.10b. Yang Xiong also set great store by perspicacity (congming flU^ ).
See FY, 275-76, 840.
mysterious sage and disengaged scholar consume

laboured to produce (literally "plough in person
hermit should not be a social parasite was an ide
the Han period, just as it had been in the Warring S
emerged.50 Farming was not the only way in which
ing, however, and in the Former Han divining o
recognised as a useful occupation for intellectua
office. As we know, this was how Zhuang Zun earne
tainly expect such a man to emphasise the principle
porting precisely in the way done in the passage
The other passage in the Gist which mentions

together with the mysterious sage) also relates in a
Zun's life. Here, after working through a typical lis
such as that non-action is the beginning of action
source of knowledge, the teaching that is not taugh
and so on, he comments:
... all these things are what Divine Brilliance complies with, what Heaven and Earth
turn to, what the mysterious sage makes his way, and what the disengaged scholar
transmits (9.1b).
In other words, Zhuang Zun sees the role of the disengaged scholar - someone
who, like himself, aspires to self-perfection but has not yet attained sagehood -
basically as a transmitter of essential truths, as someone who makes sure that the
insights gained by the sages of antiquity will survive to guide future generations.
Once again, this fits perfectly with everything that we know of Zhuang Zun's life
as a disengaged scholar.
A section of the Gist which could with some justification be read in autobio-
graphical terms is that which is based on Chapter 70 of the Laozi (which includes
the sentence, "Those who know me are few, thence I am distinguished indeed").51
It contains passages such as the following:
That no-one of the age knows me is not because my way is petty and not worth regard-
ing as knowledge, nor because my concerns are trivial and not worth pursuing . . .
(12.6a-b).
... the sage knows but does not act, has ability but does not serve in office, is benevo-
lent and righteous but is not said to be so, is completely enlightened but is not famous
50) On this see Vervoorn, Men of the Cliffs and Caves, 43-51, 193-94.
51) This reading is confirmed by the Mawangdui texts. See Zhang Songru, Laozi jiaodu, 384.
90 AAT VERVOORN
for it, is firm and strong bu

but is not glorified because
defies definition. His mind
sky (12.7a-b).
It is surely significant tha

the Gist says "no-one of the
ment of a disengaged scho
worth has not been recogn
regarded himself as a sage
there can be little doubt t
scholarly activities were n
As to the customs handed do

Confucians and Mo-ists dres
salaries
as officials]: chanting
restraint, singing the Odes an
benevolence and righteousnes
times long gone, being profi
wrong, and, having laid down
a glorious reputation, his w
a second-rate scholar takes as
It is clear, then, that ther

is also clear that many of th
of perspective we would exp
ies for his lofty eremitism
in the Gist in which erem
characterise the sage ruler,
his principles and covers his
back to Emptiness and retu
the text at least it is the li
terms, after they have falle
Having considered some

I will now turn to look bri
are established, while reco
and complex concepts would perforce have to be much more detailed. Both the
Master of the Spirit of the Valley and Wang Liqi have pointed out that it is the
concept of Nature or ziran which is the key to Zhuang Zun's system.52 The way
52) Gist 9.6b; Wang, «Zhigui tiyao," 343.
he develops the concept of Nature and the signifi

have been unprecedented in early Chinese though
course appear in the Laozi, the later sections of Z
Xunzi lo -P.53 However, in those texts it never as
nificance. By the time the Huainanzi was written the
prominent philosophical role,54 but it seems to h
it into a major concept relating to the order perceiv
ment of considerable importance for the history
because of Zhuang Zun's direct influence on Yang Xi
Chong 3:3t (27-c. 97), and the concept's subseque
In order to understand Zhuang Zun's philosoph

how the concept of Nature is related to the other c
Way and Virtue, Spiritual Brilliance, Supreme Harm
one of the distinctive features of Zhuang Zun's met
sistent use made of what may best be called conc
which form a sequence and are discussed in a fai
is the following:
As to the life of the man of Heaven, his physical form

is determined by Harmony, Harmony is determined b
liance is determined by the Way and Virtue, and the
by Nature (8.2a).
This passage occurs in connection with Chapt

gives birth to the One, the One gives birth to Tw
53) See Laozi, 17, 23, 25, 51, 64; Zhuangzi 5.58, 7.11, 14.1
3.8a, 17.4a; Xunzi (Harvard-Yenching Sinological Index Series)
54) See Huainanzi (SBCK ed.) 1.5a, 1.6b, 1.7a, 1.9a, 6.4a, 8.4b, 9.1a, 9.4a, 9.8a, 9.15a, 11.5a,
14.4b, 14.9a, 19.3a-b, 19.5a, 19.7b, 20.2b, 20.4a.
55) Although the concept of Nature is not used extensively in Yang Xiong's work, when it is
used it seems to have a meaning consistent with the way it was applied by Zhuang Zun. Thus in FY
768 he refers to "the Way of Nature" S^¿?M, clearly meaning the natural order of things (see also
FY 207-208), and such a concept underlies the system for conceptualising change developed in the
Taixuan jing ^ÍCfég. In FY 223-24 he emphasises that even the classics are not necessarily perfect
conceptualisations of what is real; to be so they have to change with time. Wang Chong's most detailed
treatment on the concept of Nature occurs in Lun heng IraS, section 54, (SBBY ed.) 18.1a-7a, and
is translated by Alfred Forke, Lun-heng (2nd ed., New York: Paragon Book Gallery, 1962), 92-102.
On aspects of the history of the concept immediately after the Han dynasty see Lu Jianrong A Hi 36,
Wei Jin ziran sixiang ïfilf §#S,§IJ§ (Taibei: Guanming wenhua, 1980). Richard Lee van Houten, "The
Concept of Nature (Tzu Jan) in Kuo Hsiang and Its Antecedents" (Ph.D. diss., University of British
Columbia, 1981), considers the ideas the thinkers of the Wei-Jin period took over from the Han dynasty,
but unfortunately concentrates only on the Huainanzi and Lun heng.
92 AAT VERVOORN
Three gives birth to the my

in the series is expressed in
be a mistake to assume that
ontological or temporal sequ
way its author tries to move
tained in the Laozi, ideas wh
ending change on which its
to have been moving towards
ity is a matter only of the c
the phenomena to which th
is concerned, nothing could
idea of a First Cause known a
are passages in the Gist wher
ceived largely in causal terms
plicit. For example:
The One is the child of the W

Supreme Harmony and the a
The Way and Virtue are pur
Divine Brilliance is perfect No
But one noticeable feature

series. This is also true of
less conspicuous. Thus at on
Of the supreme phenomena, t

after this there is nothing th
nothing that is greater than Su
venerable than Heaven and Ear
than the yin and yang' after t
sage. The Way and Virtue can
Divine Brilliance is that which
mony can be embodied but c
but cannot proclaim them; t
the great sage can be seen b
I have used the expression "

zhi xiang i:±¿:^, but it is im
"concept" or "way of underst
56) It is quite likely that the rep

Zhuang Zun does not normally use
57) Fragment related to Ch. 1 o
it could be argued that in the passage cited the l

be in some way causally dependent on the firs
reason to suppose that the items in between ar
a causal chain. Rather, the Way, Virtue, Spirit
Heaven and Earth, yin and yang are better const
sions of the one cosmic process of change. Confi
is to be interpreted as a conceptual rather than a
passages as the following:
What Heaven and Earth follow and all things are d

beginning, Virtue as its starting point, Spiritual B
Harmony as its source. The Way can be vast or t
Spirit can be clear or turbid, Harmony can be h
clear, Earth is made of the turbid, males are made
the yin (7.1b).
That the Way, Virtue, Spiritual Brilliance and Su

as different strategies for conceptualising the on
fact that here they are each in turn identified a
It is from this perspective that the signific

Zhuang Zun's thought is best appreciated, for
in his treatment of the other terms just discuss
"Nature" represents a way of conceiving or looki
to be regarded in any way as an entity in itse
it is to say that for Zhuang Zun, Nature is realit
of spontaneous, harmonious change:
What the Way and Virtue enfold, what Heaven and

the yang transform, what sun and moon illuminat
crowded and jumbled confusion, growing and decli
together with the seasons, with those becoming ha
softness victorious, all the principles of the my
refers to (13.11b-12a).
Clearly here the term "Nature" is used as a hig

to both the dao and its unfolding in the pheno
decay of individual things and the laws or gener
transformation. Nature is the intelligible orde
man may come to understand through contem
around him. Hence Zhuang Zun says, "the teac
other than Nature; the substantiality of Nature
ties of things" (12.7b). What man must comprehe
tual Brilliance, the Way of Nature" (11.4b).
94 AAT VERVOORN
Zhuang Zun was very muc

the idea of a First Cause for
change. Hence we find that,
that things are not created o
to the concepts of natural sp
produce themselves in accor
to as "the Way." "The Way a
in them the myriad things
myriad things are what embo
Harmony, in physical form
things are not, as it were, a c
Brilliance, purity and turbidi
giving the myriad things for
the truth of the Way or Sp
ticulars of empirical experien
things adhere - they do not h
principles which make reality
world of experience, but th
In human affairs it is rema

cess; contravening the way
Governing the self, governing
aspects of the art of non-ac
Liqi has emphasised, Zhuang
state in accordance with natur
to the Huang-Lao Daoist tra
content Zhuang Zun gives to
own. What marks him off fr
found humanity and the de
the social philosophy develop
shows that it was not witho
the people of Shu.
58) This is very similar to Wang

59) Wang, "Zhigui tiyao," 345.

Zhuang Zun - A Daoist Philosopher of The Late First Century B.C.

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

You might also like

Zhuang Zun - A Daoist Philosopher of The Late First Century B.C.

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Zhuang Zun - A Daoist Philosopher of The Late First Century B.C.

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

ZHUANG ZUN: A DAOIST PHILOSOPHER OF THE LATE FIRST CENTURY B.C.

Author(s): Aat Vervoorn

ZHUANG ZUN: A DAOIST PHILOSOPHER

OF THE LATE FIRST CENTURY B.G

The Australian National University

The Life of Zhuang Zun

CSJC Congshu jicheng ^H^^.

Xiong wrote about him sugge

Establishing the date of Z

2) HS 72.3057 has "over ninety"

In his lifetime Zhuang Zun was as famous for t

When it is a question of things incorrect or evil, I say what would be advantageous

Zhuang of Shu lives deep in

Although he made his livin

of the world," while Qin Mi's follower Li Quan

The Authenticity of the Gist of the Veritable Classic

The surviving portion of t

consists of that commentator's annotation to Junp

I have already mentioned that extant citation

it cannot date from before

It has been argued by th

is listed in the Han shu, it would still leave open th

As it stands, Meng's argument for this view is

As to the suggestion put forward by Zhang Nanyi ^k^&Ws and followed by

to stop. It seems to me much

Thus these arguments do

Had Zhuang Zun's original te

31) Wang, "Zhigui tiyao," 353. A

The explanation behind this is in fact quite simp

Ch. 39 and 40 are combined; the bulk of 58 is combined with 57

Zun's original Part Two be

This account is in fact co

it was Zhuang Zun who wrote the text, but then

Other sorts of objections raised against the authe

The Philosophy of the Gist

37) Wang, «Zhigui tiyao," 357-60.

which make up the bulk of

What is striking about this account is less its uno

One particularly interesting passage in terms of the Han dynasty outlook it

of each other, neither acting

The blend of Confucian and Daoist principles is obvious in many places in

then its waters dry up. Things above and things be

Although the Confucian strain in Zhuang Zun is quite strong, it is nevertheless

Zhuang Zun's ideals of government are particularly enlightened. The messages

lost. Therefore the way of th

The concern with the match

The distinction between th

45) For Han Fei's development o

kindness and generosity go deep indeed" (12.13b). In t

[The sage] is empty so as to unite with the Way, is

Since Zhuang Zun was famous as a hermit as w

things his body, looks upon ot

Not all hermits are sages;

The mysterious sage and the d

This contains a number of ex

mysterious sage and disengaged scholar consume

The other passage in the Gist which mentions

for it, is firm and strong bu