ULTIMATE REALITY – TAOISM – ZHUANGZI – PART II

“I declare myself to be of those who from the darkness to the light aspire.”  – Goethe¹

Last time I introduced  and offered some historical context for the second great figure in the development of Taoism, Zhuangzi. Today we will begin our investigation into his teachings with respect to ultimate reality which I think divides nicely into the following categories:

1. Epistemology
2. The nature of ultimate reality
3. Human participation in ultimate reality
4. Immortality

EPISTEMOLOGY

Zhuangzi’s epistemology comes down to three main principles: (1) the limits of language and the importance of perspective in the use of words, (2) the pitfalls of logic and human-developed knowledge, and (3) the absolute truth of Tao.

First Zhuangzi sees language as a tool of limited usefulness. In his view, language functions to convey meaning, but the meanings of words used in language are not constant, but contextual and thus the truth of statements is perspectival and always must be qualified.² Consider the following humorous allegorical comparison:

“A bait is used to catch fish. When you have gotten the fish, you can forget about the bait. A rabbit trap is used to catch rabbits. When the rabbits are caught, you can forget about the trap. Words are used to express meaning, when you understand the meaning, you can forget about the words. Where can I find a man who forgets about words to talk with him?”

Because of this variability of the meanings of words, he doubts the effectiveness of language to transmit profound thoughts and experiences. Therefore he urges us to be sparing of words (although he of course left some 100,000 behind!) and, needless to say, Tao is inexplicable in words.⁴

Second, Zhuangzi is critical of human logic. Logic as “ the explaining of the whole in terms of the part is a gigantic immodesty…the intellect can never avail to understand ultimate things.”⁵ Hu shih, a modern commentator, calls this the ‘logic of no-logic’ where must learn to evaluate only the whole.⁶ Zhuangzi uses the example of our distinction between opposites such as right and wrong or men and things which he tells us are false once the Tao is recognized.⁷ In addition, the relativity of things is not unequalness as all follow the Tao, but since each thing varies as seen by itself and by others, there is no absolute “this” or “that.” In the end Zhuangzi thinks logic is nonsense compared to experience of the Tao.⁹

Consequently philosophical problems are less due to the nature of things than limits of our thought – brains imprisoned relative to immensity of the cosmos.¹⁰ Philosophical disputation stimulates, but is futile.¹¹ Beauty, truth, morality and utility are relative between individuals and to each individual at different times.¹² This is compounded by errors of anthropomorphism;  rather Nature is the highest reality.¹³ The solution  Zhuangzi offers is to seek a mental state of clarity or ming.¹⁴

(continued next post)

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¹Quoted by Julian Marias in his book History of Philosophy, Dover Publications, New York, 1967, page x.

² McGreal, Ian P. (editor) Great Thinkers of the Eastern World. HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-06-270085-5, pages 22-24.

³Yutang, Lin, The Wisdom of Laotse. The Modern Library, New York, NY, 1976. Page 313.

⁴Durant, Will, Our Oriental Heritage. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1963. ISBN0-671-54800-X, pages 689-690.

⁵Ibid., page 690.

⁶Magill, Frank N. and McGreal, Ian P. (editors), Masterpieces of World Philosophy. HarperCollinsPublishers, 1990. ISBN 0-06-270051-0, page 101. I am reminded of The Empire Strikes Back when Yoda tells Luke “You must unlearn what you have learned.”

⁷Ibid., page 97.

⁸Ibid., page 98.

⁹ Palmer, Martin (translator), The Book of Chuang Tzu. Penguin Books, New York, 2006, ISBN-13; 978-0-140-45537-3, pages xx-xxi.

¹⁰Durant, Will, Our Oriental Heritage. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1963. ISBN0-671-54800-X, page 690.

¹¹McGreal, Ian P. (editor) Great Thinkers of the Eastern World. HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-06-270085-5, page 21.

¹²Ibid., page 23.

¹³Palmer, Martin (translator), The Book of Chuang Tzu. Penguin Books, New York, 2006, ISBN-13; 978-0-140-45537-3, page xxiv.

¹⁴McGreal, Ian P. (editor) Great Thinkers of the Eastern World. HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-06-270085-5, page 23.

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