Daoism Explained

From the Dream

of the Butterfly to the
Fishnet Allegory

HANS-GEORG MOELLER

OPEN COURT
Chicago and La Salle, Illinois
Volume 1 in the Ideas Expfl'dTM Series

Cover image: testival q'the Peaches of Longevity (P'an-t'ao t'u), 14th-15th century
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Handscroll, ink, color, gold on silk. The Nelson-Atkins
Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri (Gift of thc Herman R. and Helen Sutherland
Foundation Fund) F72-39. Photography by Robert Newcombe. Reproduced with
permission.

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Originally published in German as In der Mitte des KITiSCS: Daoistisches Denken (Inscl
Verlag, 2001).

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Copyright ©2004 by Carus Publishing Company

First printing 2004

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Moeller, Hans-Georg, 1964-

Daoism explained : fr(ml the dream of the butterfly to the fishnet allegory /
Hans-Georg
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8126-9563-1 pbk. : ilk. paper
1. Philosophy, Taoist. I. Title.
B162.7.M63 2004
181 '.114—dc22
2004012884
82 Part II: Issues Life and Death 83

3. Life and Death The distinction between life and death corresponds to other
distinctions: it is introduced in connection with the distinctions
Many Daoists strived for bodily immortality. They believed that between bright and dark, sun and moon, beginning and end,
people such as the one depicted in Liang Kai's painting actually going out and going in, full and empty, heaven and earth, and is
existed. Philosophical Daoism, however, tended to view the bodily also used in analogy with the distinctions between the four seasons
transformation of an I into a body-cosmos as an image of how to and, particularly, with the distinction between being awake and
deal with life and death. Unlike Daoist practice, philosophical dreaming. These distinctions are always conceived of as comple-
Daoism was not so much concerned with physical longevity as with mentary units. Brightness and darkness, day and night, and the
proposing a conception of life and death that would rid one of the four seasons combine into a complementary whole by changing
fear of mortality. Thus, Daoist practice and Daoist philosophy held into each other. Likewise, life and death are consecutive phases
seemingly contradictory attitudes towards the human body and that constitute a temporal circle. A crucial idea of the Daoist con-
death. These differences have been noted by many Sinologists. The ception of life and death is that no phase is privileged. All phases
German Sinologist Wolfgang Bauer, for instance, distinguished are equally valid and real. They replace each other because they are
between "a heroic indifference towards dying" propagated in parts of the natural process of change. There is no hierarchy, for it
philosophical texts and an utmost esteem of physical life as is not the case that one phase literally causes the other, they rather
expressed in the ideals of longevity and immortality. 13 make room (or "make time") for one another. They are equal seg-
In spite of these internal differences, Daoist thought in both its ments of a process of change, so there is no reason to look upon
dimensions can be understood—just like many other philosophies one segment as the ultimate "source" of the other. Therefore the
and religions—as a reaction to the inevitability of death, as an Zhuangzi has Confucius say the following (with Guo Xiang's com-
attempt at compensating for human mortality. Daoism offers its mentary in italics):
adherents a belief, an attitude, or a practice that is able to alleviate
the terror of the prospect and presence of death. While practical It is not because of life that what is dead is turned into what is alive.
Well, that which is dead is dead only because of change. It is not the case
Daoism offers bodily immortality, philosophical Daoism offers a
that what is alive would turn alive that which is dead. It is not because
concept to take away that which makes the idea of death so of death that vhat is alive is turned into what is dead. That which is
uncomfortable. Both ways of coping with death have a decisive alive is also alive because of change only. 14
characteristic in common: they both operate with an ideal of per-
manence—only on different levels. The philosophical indifference What is alive is thoroughly alive. Once change takes place, once
towards death and the practical quest for the everlasting body can the positions turn around, once the reversal comes, there is some-
be interpreted as two variations—a macrocosmic and a microcos- thing dead where earlier there was something alive. But it cannot
mic one—of the same Daoist conception of uninterrupted dura- be said that death kills life nor that life vivifies death. It is not a
tion that leaves no room for an absolute death. Daoist practitioners process of causation, it is a process of change. This process entails
tried to transform their bodies into a permanent microcosmic nothing like reincarnation. Change is complete: it is not the case
"landscape," while philosophical Daoists constructed a permanent that that which is now alive is later that which is then dead and may
cycle of life and death in which the Daoist was supposed to find a later be that which is alive again.
most favorable position. The allegory of Duke Nivai and his "illness of change" illus-
Among Daoist texts, the Zhuangzi is probably the one that trates the "radical" character of the Daoist notion of change:
most intensely t'ocuses on the issue of death—particularly if it is Change turns a thing into something completely different.'s There
read along with the commentary by Guo Xiang. In the following, is no identity that is preserved throughout the process. Change
I will attempt to describe the Daoist philosophy of life and death dissolves a thing and puts something else in its place. Dav replaces
as it appears in the Zhuangzi. night, and today is not the "return" of yesterday—it's a radically
84 Part II: Issues Life and Death 85

different and separate day. In the course of change, only change Lift and death are a unit. Nevertheless to solely have a special liking
for life means that Ipersonal] desires and [the course ofl change contra-
prevails. The Daoist concept of change may be understood as an
diet each other Thus one cannot yet be sure if this ,/special liking] might
"ontology of process" as opposed to an "ontology of substance."
not really be a delusion.
The essential or primary element of an ontology of process is the How do I know that hating death is [justified and that death] is
process as such. Substantial being is only of secondary importance. not just like I the condition of the] exile since childhood who will not
Or rather, there are no "substances" in the strict sense of the word, know that he has returned home [if he comes home'?
because nothing "subsists," there is no permanent type of being "Exile since childhood' is a name for someone who has lost his former
beyond existence. The continuous process consists of phases of home at an early age. Such an exile will consequently be perfectly content
existence, not of substances. In an ontology of substance, entities wherever he is and will not even know if he returns to his hometown. How
like the "soul" arc supposed to be of primary importance, while should one know that life is not such an "exile" and know that death is
processual change is only secondary. On the basis of an ontology not such a "return," and therefore hate it?
of substances, there is no absolute death to an "indivisible" soul— Lady Li was the daughter of a frontier guard at Ai. When the king-
the soul does not change when the body dies. Here, the substan- dom of Jin first took her, her tears stained her dress; only when she
came to the palace and shared the king's square couch and ate the
tial being is privileged over types of processual existences,
flesh of ha-fed and grain-fed beasts did she begin to regret her tears.
Daoist texts like the Zhuangzi suggest an attitude of calm and
This is what the change of feelings in a lifetime is like. On this day
easiness in the face of death. On the basis of an ontology of one does not kium about that day. And how much more so when it comes
process, death does not bring about any substantial loss since —
to the chame of life and death! How should it be possible that there is
there is nothing substantial in the first place. Nothing of the per- mutual knmvledge fin the case of life and death]?
son who is now alive will be dead, one will rather turn into some- How do I know that the dead do not regret that they ever had an
thing else. Therefore, one does not really die, because when one is urge to live?
dead, it is something else that is dead. Because change is total, one The character qi means "to have an urge to."
does not have to worry about what will happen to "oneself' after Who banquets in a dream wails and weeps at dawn, who wails and
death. It will simply no longer be "oneself' who is dead. weeps in a dream at dawn goes out to hunt.
The Zhuakazi and Guo Xiang often compare the relation This is the change of events between being asleep and being awake.
between life and death to the relation between dreaming and being When the events change, the feeling becomes different. Therefore the
respective comforts of lift and death cannot be the same. Thus if one
awake the butterfly dream allegory is only one example of many.
—

can be happily alive while beingalive, one can be happily dead while
A person who is afraid of death is compared to someone who is being dead. Although life and death are different, they are one in both
afraid of falling asleep and dreaming. Such a dread is stupid and having their respective comforts. So why should one cling Ito only one of
unnatural. It is also stupid and unnatural, from the perspective of them]?
Daoist philosophy, to value life more than death. One who is afraid While we dream we do not know that we are dreaming.
of change has not yet understood the course of life and death the — Looking at it from this perspective, one is not aware of being dead
course of the Way, the course of the Dao. To understand the while one is dead and one then just does as it pleases.
course of the Dao means to understand the equal validity and In a dream we sometimes interpret a dream.
authenticity of all segments of a process of change. The following If someone dreams and in his dream interprets a dream, there is
passage from the Zhuringzi explains in detail the analogy between nothing by which to distinguish him from someone who is awake.
dreaming and being awake and living and being dead (the com- After we wake up, we know that we were dreaming.
What one meets fin each phase! is completely satisfying. So why
mentary by Guo Xiang is printed in italics):
should one while being alive worry about death?
There is also a great awakening after which we know that all that
How do I know that a special liking fOr life is I justified and] not a
delusion? was a great dream.
 86 Part II: Issues Life and Death 87

The great awakened one is a sage. The great awakened one knows But what about the "great awakening" that is discussed at the
that all those lvho carry anxieties and concerns in themselves are not vet end of the passage? How is this "great awakening" different from
awake. 1 6
a "small awakening?" Zhuangzi and Guo Xiang had just stressed
the full authenticity of all "small awakenings" and insisted that one
It is as groundless to esteem life as real and death as unreal as it should feel perfectly comfortable in each "small" phase of being,
is to believe that it feels better to be a awake than it does to be whether awake or asleep, alive or dead. What then is the need for
asleep. The exile since childhood has no knowledge about a home. a great awakening? In order to answer this literally "central" ques-
He has forgotten the notion of home—the notion of belonging tion, I would like to refer once more back to the butterfly dream
more to one place than to another. No matter where he is, he allegory. Guo Xiang says:
always feels fine. He has eradicated or forgotten the idea of an
"authentic" home. There is no place which is more "real" for him Well, the course of time does not stop for a moment, and today does
than any other. To him, all places are equally valid. He has not persist in what follows. Thus yesterday's dream changes into a
accepted change by forgetting any attachment to a "home." By today. How could it be different with the change between life and
forgetting a specific home, he is at home wherever he is. He can be death!? Why should one let one's heart be made heavy by being
perfectly at ease at any time at any place. moved back and forth between them? Being one, there is no knowl-
The little anecdote of Lady Li has the same Daoist "message": edge of the other. Being a butterfly while dreaming is genuine.
As long as one is afraid of change, one cannot be completely satis- Relating this to human beings: when alive one does not know
fied with one's presence. However, Lady Li's worries soon turn whether one mav later actually have beautiful concubines. Only the
stupid think they really know that life is something delightful and
out to be unwarranted, and once she has totally accepted her new
death is something to be sad about. That is what is called "never hav-
"home," once she has completely affirmed the new segment of
ing heard of the changing of things."
change, she begins to cherish the specific comforts of her new
presence. She is only ready to fully affirm her new presence when This passage obviously parallels Guo Xiang's remarks on the cases of
she forgets her fbrmer one. Her satisfaction depends on breaking Lady Li and the exile since childhood. The latter shares Zhuang
with the past. This is also how one should face life and death. The Zhou's situation in the butterfly dream: the exile was first at home,
change is always complete. One cannot measure the one phase by then somewhere else. When he finally returns, this return is not a
means of the other, and the attempt creates discontent. Being in return for him, because he no longer knows about his home. He has
one phase, one can only be happy and totally present if one forgets forgotten his home and so feels at home everywhere. Zhuang Zhou
about the other. One will only be able to esteem the authenticity and the butterfly were likewise at home in all three stages described
of each present phase by not worrying about what does not belong in the butterfly allegory because there was no memory that bridged
to it. Just as one cannot know how the fish are happy in the water, the phases and diminished their respective presence. It is possible to
but know that they can be happy in the water by being happy on
interpret Zhuangzi's and Guo Xiang's philosophy of death in terms
land, one also cannot know how one will be happy in death, but of the butterfly dream allegory—and it will also be possible to
know that one can be happy in death by being happy in life.
answer the question about the great awakening with its help.
Analogously, it is argued that one experiences dreams as being The five philosophical motifs of the butterfly dream story—for-
as real as one experiences being awake. This is illustrated by the getting, the "Non-I," doubtlessness, barriers, and authenticity—
fact that one may well dream about interpreting a dream—and in are essential motifs of the Daoist philosophy of death: Forgetting
order to do this, one must obviously feel awake and real. In a case about previous and future phases of change is the precondition fbr
like this we indeed "explicitly" dream that we arc awake and not the affirmation of the presence of each phase. Death is just another
asleep—and while we dream this we have no doubt that we are segment within a process of change, and one will be perfectly at
fully awake. home in death by complete figgetfulness. This implies that there is
 88 Part II: Issues Life and Death 89

no continuous "I" that persists in the course of life and death. The Daoist sage is no longer a Zhuang Zhou and then a but-
Each phase has its respective "I," but no "I" subsists through the terfly, one being alive and then one being dead, but reaches the
process of change. When "I" die, another "I" will be dead because "pivot of the Dao" (dao shu) and equally affirms both life and
of the barrier between life and death. One can be certain of the death. He/she views life and death as a ruler views the officials or
equal authenticity of the segments on each side of the barrier so as the heart views the organs. Without identifying with any specific
one does not have to doubt what death will bring—it will certainly elements of an organism—political or physical—he/she dwells in
bring another form of authenticity. their midst and "controls" them. The great awakened sage does
The issue of the "great awakening" can be solved by taking into not "transcend" death, he/she accepts both death and life. The
account the analogy between the above quoted reflections on sage views the growth and decay of his/her physical body from the
death and the butterfly dream story The distinction between the zero-perspective, and thus neither life nor death can harm
small and the great awakening parallels the distinction between him/her. The sage, as the Zhuangzi says, neither celebrates life nor
Zhuang Zhou and Zhuangzi or Master Zhuang, the Daoist sage. laments death. 17 But the sage also does not lament life or celebrate
The awake Zhuang Zhou exists within a segment of change, just death. The sage is indifferent because life and death are in-differ-
like the butterfly in the dream. The small awakening is the awak- ently real to him/her. The Daoist sage is no Jesus Christ and does not
ening from such a "small dream," it is the change from one phase triumph over death, but affirms death in its lifelike or "life-equal"
to the next. Within each phase, within each small dream and small authenticity and validity.
waking, it is important to be fully absorbed within the phase, and It is through this "attitude," through this great awakening to
each small segment is fully real. Life and death are such small seg- the zero-perspective on life and death that a Daoist sage becomes
ments of change and each step between the segments is a small "immortal." The perishing of the body makes no difference to the
awakening—or a small sleep. To newly awaken means to newly sage for, as the Zhuangzi says, they "alter nothing in him/her-
accept another stage in the process, to begin another life or death. self." 18 From the zero-perspective of the hub, the wheel always
The small awakening takes place in the "periphery" of change, and looks the same, no matter where the spokes are. Since the sage has
while in the periphery of change, while taking an "active" part in no present "self" and no present identity or function, his/her own
the process, it is best to be fully awake in one's presence. A small present body is his/her present periphery or environment. The
awakening is the full acceptance and integration of oneself in the periphery around the hub is in constant change—but from the per-
present circumstances. spective of the hub this change does not make a difference—it
The great awakening is the awakening of the Daoist sage—it is always looks the same. The same is true for the sage in regard to
his/her "enlightenment." It is the "ultimate" change from the his/her body. The decay of the body causes no more worry to the
present Zhuang Zhou to the nonprcsent Master Zhuang. This sage than the withering of the plant worries the root. Death will
awakening does not lead beyond life and death, but rather right to replace life and life will again replace death, just like a withered
their center. A Daoist sage identifies him/herself not with the plant replaces a flowering plant, which will itself be replaced by a
turning spokes of a wheel but with its unmoving hub. To be the new flowering plant. Thus, the sage is "without past and present"
pivot or center of change means to be identified with the whole and enters "into the undying, unliving." 19 This is how philosoph-
process of change. This "zero-perspective" on the process of ical Daoism reaches the goal of immortality, or the "Dao of not-
change is the Daoist sage's perspective on life and death, and the dying," as the Zhuangzi puts it.n Unlike practical Daoism, this
great awakening is the awakening to this perspective. As opposed "Dao of not-dying" has nothing to do with physical longevity or
to the small awakened who totally identifies him/herself with the permanence. The sage of philosophical Daoism avoids dying and
present segment of change, with life or death, the sage identifies living by emptying his/her self both physically and "spiritually." In
him/herself with neither of the specific segments, but with the his/her periphery times and seasons change, thoughts come and
whole process as such. go, the body grows and shrinks, and in winter it will feel cold, and
90 Life and Death 91
Part II: Issues

in summer it will feel hot, but because the sage identifies with the phases]. Because there was no discontent /with am , of the phases], he com-
empty center of these processes, he/she affirms the course of plied with [the change of] life and death without having his mind dis-
events and lets them happen without being touched. turbed by it. It was self-change. Neither did he know what had
preceded, nor did he know what would follow. However he met it, he
An impressive illustration of the Daoist sage's attitude towards
was content. If he had just changed into something—he did not resist
life and death is Mengsun Cai, the "artist of mourning," who is change—on what should he rely in regard to [the phases of] change
introduced in the Zhuangzi. Mengsun Cai cries when it is time for which he did not know about? Life and death give way to each other in
crying, but he sheds no tears, because his heart is empty and cannot turn and form a unit in change. Thus in the presence /of one phase] one
be harmed by feelings. The story about Mengsun Cai is told in the folgets what one had known fin the other phase]. How can one have long-
context of a dialogue between Confucius and his disciple Yan Hui. range worries which rely on something one does not yet know? At the state
In this dialogue Confucius is not only presented as an expert on of being changed, how would he know about the state of not being
mourning rites and thus as a good Confucian, but, more impor- changed? At the state of not being changed, how would he know
tantly, also as a good Daoist, because he is able to explain how and about the state of being changed? While having changed into being
why Mengsun Cai is a true sage who surpasses even Confucius him- alive, does one know about the time in which one was not vet alive? While
self in the art of mourning. Mengsun Cai knows how to mourn one was not yet changed and dead, did one know about what would come
after being dead? Thus there is nothing to avoid and nothing to go after,
without mourning. The dialogue between Confucius and Yan Hui
and one can completely go with the course of change. May not you and
once more entails all the motifs of Daoist death philosophy that I presently be within a dream out of which we have not yet awakened?
were discussed in relation to the butterfly dream allegory. In English Well, life and death are just like being awake and in a dream. When one
translation it reads (with Guo Xiang's commentary in italics): is dreaming, one believes oneself to be awake. Thus there is nothing to
prove that one is not dreaming when lone feels] awake. If there is noth-
Yan Hui asked Confucius: "Mcngsun Cal wailed when his mother
ing to prove that one is not dreaming when [one feels] awake, then there
died but did not shed a tear. At the center, his heart did not mourn.
is also nothing to prove that one is not dead when [one feels' alive.
Conducting the funeral, he did not grieve. In spite of this threefold
Neither in lift nor in death, neither in a dream nor while awake, does
incorrectness, he is renowned as the best of mourners throughout the
one know in which !phase] one is. And therefiffe whichever presence one
state of Lu. This is certainly a case of someone winning a name with-
;netts, one can always be fully self '-content in it. How is it that while
out possessing the substance. I am utterly amazed at it." In the state
of Lit, [people] observed Mengsun Cai's following of the rites, -whereas [people] are here [they] worry about !being] there? To him [Mengsun
Gail there arc shapes which surprisingly alter, but this does not harm
Tan Hui investigated Men gsun Cai's heart.
his heart. He simply takes change as a surprising alteration of shape.
Confucius said: "Mengsun Cai has exhaustively grasped the matter, he Therefore his heart is unharmed by /the change! of life and death. To
has taken a step beyond [mere] knowledge [of the rites]. He has him there is a new construction of a hut at a new morning, but he is
exhaustively grasped the pattern of lifb and death. He is someone who not emotionally stirred by death. He takes the changing of the body as
inwardly and outwardly responds appropriately and moves in accord a new construction of a hut on a new day. Emotionally, he does not take
with the motions of heaven; he is not someone who is [merely] a compan- it ay dying. Mengsun is very much awake. When the others wail he
ion of knowledge [of rules] He [had tried] to pick only [one of the wails too. This is due to his nature. Well, one who is constantly awake
phases death and life as real] but did not succeed. He picked either life does not resist the proceedings lofnaturel. Thus it is correct that he wails
or death and could not see any difference of reality]. !Their change" when the others wail. It is by this nature of his that he facts so] appro-
was Ito him! just like the sequence of the jbur seasons spring and fall, priately. Besides, while we arc here together, we take ourselves to be
winter and summer. When he just had picked one [phase], Mengsun just ourselves. Well, in /the course the change of life and death we all
Cai either did not know I in the case Ile had picked life] how it had take ourselves to be ourselves. If we always take ourselves to be genuine,
come to life, or he did not know [in the case he had picked death] how should this "ourselves" ever be lost? And if this "ourselves" is not vet
how it had come to die. By having picked one, he could not [see a di .]: lost, why should we worry? Because he is without resistance, IMengsun
ference of reality]. Thertifbre there was no discontent !with any of the C ai wails when the others wail. Because he is without worries, he wails
92 Part II: Issues Life and Death 93

withoutgrief How would we invariably know what we mean when we each other. Daoist sages view life and death as equally authentic
take us to be ourselves? We never do not take us to be ourselves. Thus the segments within the process of change. Each segment of change
outer and the inner are mysteriously united and the past and the present
goes along with a notion of an "I" or an "ourselves." And with
are in complete continuity. With change there is something new daily.
each disappearance of a segment, such an "I" or such an "our-
How should one know where we "ourselves" are? In your dream, for
instance, you become a bird, and vou fly away in the sky. Or in vour selves" disappears. However, since each disappearance is followed
dream, you become a fish, and you plunge into the deep. This says by a new appearance, there will be a new "I" that replaces the old
that wherever one goes one can be 'idly self-content. Thus there is no one—just like a newly built hut on a new day. Therefore the death
telling whether the one who speaks now is awake or dreaming. At the of an "I" is nothing sad; there is no reason to be worried about the
time of a dream, one takes oneself to be awake. So how can one know that course of events. The future "I" will be different from the past, but
the present is not a dream—or that it is not being awake? The [course of! not less real or deficient in being. Death is no loss—it is just a step
change of dreaming and being awake can go anywhere. Thus in [the forward. Because there is nothing sad about death, a Daoist sage
course of] the change of life and death, there is no [phase of] time which can sing at a funeral—or wail without feeling grief. From the per-
gives sufficient [reason] for niserv. If one is totally in accord with spective of the Daoist sage, dying is no more sad than falling asleep
events, it will not come about that one laughs [out of happiness]. If
or waking up.
one should laugh [out of happiness], it will not come about that one
Another reason for not devaluating death—and therefbre for
[spontaneously] gives way to the shift. By behtg in total accord with
not being emotionally disturbed by it—is that we cannot even
events, one forgets about being in accord. Therefore it will not come
about that one laughs lout of happiness]. The word "shift" is meant hi know if we arc presently , dead or alive. The Zhuangzi and Guo
the sense of an alteration movement. Well, in order to wail according to Xiang argue that because we feel perfectly awake when we have a
the [mourning! rites, the heart has to grieve. In order to laugh [out of "lively" dream, we cannot know for certain if we are not dreaming
happiness!, one has to be joyful. But when grief and joy are within one's while we suppose that we are awake and reading the Zhuangzi.
bosom, then one cannot be in accord with the alteration movement. Now, Analogously, while we surely feel perfectly alive right now while
Memsun is continuously in accord [with the course of events]. Therefbre reading this text, we may nevertheless be actually dead. We have
he wails without grief and completely goes with the course of change. no proof that we are now in a phase of existence that is more real
[ Mengsun Cai] had been content in giving WaV to the shift and went than the preceding or the following one. The only precondition
with change. Then he entered into the solitary spot and fOrmed the for fully realizing the authenticity of the present is to realize the
unity with heaven. [Mengsun Cai] had been content within the alter- radical separation between the segments of change. There is no
ation movement and completely went with the course of change. Then he
continuous "ourselves" in the course of life and death—and thus
consequently entered into the still and solitary spot and formed the unity
there is no memory and knowledge—in either direction of time.
with heaven. What is conveyed fin the text passagesj from here up to the
[the case] of Zisi is the same, only the funerals are different. Therefore, From the perspective of the Daoist sage, there can hardly be any-
there is this contrast between singing fin the cases above! and [Mengsun thing more foolish then the attempt to find out what the "I" was
Cai's] wailing.21 in a previous life or what will come of "myself' in a future death.
Such memory or knowledge has no foundation and will only
The last two sentences of Guo Xiang's impressive commentary amount to a "worry" that detaches the present I from its presence.
relate back to other stories about dying and funerals in the The Daoist sage does not believe in the reincarnation of an I.
Zhitangzi. Only a few lines before this dialogue, there is another Because the Daoist sage does not resist the course of events,
between Confucius and one of his disciples about the behavior of he/she also does not resist social customs. Mengsun Cai, the artist
two Daoist masters who laugh and sing at the occasion of the of mourning, lives in the state of Lu—the state of Confucius.
death of their closest companion. Guo Xiang points out that the Confucianism cultivated the rites and the human emotions that go
singing Daoists and the wailing Mcngsun Gai share the same atti- along with these ceremonies. The Confucians mourn when its time
tude towards life and death—although they act quite contrary to to mourn—that is, at the time of death. Because Mengsun Cai
94 Part II: Issues Time 95

does not resist, he also will mourn when it is time to mourn. As a formed the unity with heaven." At this stage, Mengsun Cai has
man of Lu, he wails with all the others who wail for his mother. given up any present identity and thus he can identify with the
But the ceremonies cannot touch Mengsun Cai's heart. His heart whole process of change: he has "life as the spine, death as the
is a Daoist sage's heart, and this heart is empty. It cannot be sad- rump." At this second stage he is no longer fully content within
dened by the process of change. either life or death, but has "greatly awakened" from both.
The Daoist friends mentioned earlier in the Zhuangzi laughed Daoist practice aimed at transforming the physical body into an
and sang at the funeral of one of their friends because neither of organism structured according to the pattern of the Dao.
them, including the deceased, thought death to be worse than life. Philosophical Daoism related to the same pattern, but does not try
Mengsun Cai wailed at his mother's funeral, because he does not to transform the body into a microcosmic whole. It rather pursues
resist the customs of Lu—though he felt no more sorrow than the an emptying of the mind that allows for an unemotional affirma-
Daoist friends. In both dialogues, Confucius explains the Daoist tion of both life and death. In the face of death, the greatest and
sage's "mindset" to his disciples and acknowledges it to be "wiser" absolute threat, Daoist philosophy tries to attain utmost indiffer-
or rather more in accord with the Dao than the Confucian cultiva- ence. But this attitude is not "heroic"—there is no defiance of
tion of emotions and behavior, and their practice of morality and death on behalf of the Daoist sage, he/she is no "braveheart." The
rites. Zhuangzi's Confucius admits that the Confucian mourning Daoist sage is unafraid of death because he/she has forgotten all
of the dead is not as sagely as the Daoist elimination of feelings. anxiety about it. This total forgetfulness has neutralized the sage
Only the Daoist emotional indifference does justice to the natural and put him/her in a position of feeling neither "merely" dead nor
in-difference of life and death. "merely" alive, neither "just" mortal nor "just" living. The Daoist
The Daoist friends who sang when one of their companions sage leaps into the midst of life and death—or as the Zhuangzi puts
died asked each other: it: "For these men of old, there was change externally and no
change internally." 23
Who is able to have emptiness as the head, life as the spine, death as
the rump? Who knows that life and death, persistence and decline are
all one body? With such a person we will be friends! 22 4. Time
Daoist concepts of time revolve around two ideals: the ideal of per-
These Daoist sages would surely have welcomed Mengsun Cai into manence and the ideal of "the right moment." The ideal of the
their "club." Mengsun Cai had, "at the center," emptied his heart right moment entails the concepts of acting at the right time and
of feelings, and that is quite the same as having "emptiness as the being at the right place at the right time. These concepts are con-
head." To empty one's heart of feelings and thus to have empti- nected with the concept of a correct temporal sequence of events
ness as one's head is to take on the zero-perspective. To attain this such as, for instance, the cycle of the four seasons or of day and
state is described as a sort of development—it is the step from the night. Life and death—as discussed in the preceding chapter—arc
small awakening to the great awakening. This step is made by an also conceived of as temporal segments within a continuous and
identification with presence. Zhuang Zhou had been fully "him- regular course of time. The sequence of segments that have to be
self' and the butterfly was likewise "itself." Mcngsun Cai had pro- present at the right time make up the complete and permanent
ceeded with the course of change and picking the different phases whole. The ideals of permanence and the right moment belong
of life and death found them equally real. He had always been fully together. Fulfilling the ideal of the right moment (for each time
"himself' in each stage, he "had been content in giving \vay to the segment) is the precondition for fulfilling the ideal of permanence
shift and went with change." But at the very end of his story, he (of the course of time consisting of these segments). The continu-
"leaps" into Daoist sagacity, into the hub of the \dicel of life and ity of the whole process of time depends on the temporal limita-
death. The text says: "Then he entered into the solitary spot and tion, on the temporary nature of its constitutive elements. Only
166 Notes to pages 75-104

7. See part I, 1, "The Wheel-an Image of the Dan," above.

8. Ryan O'Neill indicated to me a saying of the Presocratic philosopher
Anaximander that seems to parallel this Daoist concept. Anaximander's testimo-
nia 12A9 (Diels/Kranz) says: "Whence things have their origin, there they must
also pass away according to necessity; for they most pay penalty and be judged for
their injustice, according to the ordinance of time."
9. See the following quotation and the allegory of the flute discussed in part
III, 1 below.
10. Zhnamzi yinde, 63/23/42.
11. See the allegory of the flute discussed in part III, 1 below.
12. Kristoler Schipper, The Taoist Body (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1993), 108,235.
13. Wolfgang Bauer, "Das Stirnrunzeln des Totenkopfs. eber die Paradoxie
des Todes in der friihen chinesischen Philosophic," in Der 7ini in den
Weltkulturen and Weltreligionen, ed. C. von Barlowen (Munich: Diederichs,
1996), 261.
14. Zhuangzi yinde, 60/22/74; Zhaangzi jishi, in Zhuzi jicheng, 332.
15. Sec part I, 2, "The Dream of the Butterfly-Or: Everything Is Real"
above.
16. Zhuangzi yinde, 6/2/78-82; Zuangzi jishi, in Zhuzi jicheng, 49-50. Sec
A. C. Graham, trans., Chuam-Tzu: The Inner Chapters, 59-60.
17. See Zhuangzi node, 15/7/7-8.
18. Ibid., 6/2/73. See A. C. Graham, trans., Chuang-Tzu: The Inner
Chapters, 58.
19. ZhunT/zi _vinde, 17/6/41 See A. C. Graham, trans., Chuang-Tzu: The
Inner Chapters, 87.
20. Zhuangzi yinde, 52/20/21.
21. Zhuangzi yinde, 18/6/75-82. Zhaangzi jishi, in Zhazi jicheng, 124-26.
See A. C. Graham, trans., Chuang-Tzu: The Inner Chapters, 90-91.
22. Zhunnfizi_vinde, 17/6/46. See A. C. Graham, trans., Chuang-Tzu: The
Inner Chapters, 87.
23. Zhuangzi yindc, 60/22/77.
24. The German verb aufheben has the three meanings: a) to preserve, to
keep; b) to lift, to raise; c) to abolish, to annul.
25. Zhaamzi yinde, 70/25/15. Zhaangzi jishi, in Zhuzi jicheng, 382. See A.
C. Graham, trans., Chuang-Tzu: The Inner Chapters, 110.
26. Zhaangz,i jishi, in Zhuzi jicheng, 382.
27. Zhaaugzi nude, 42/17/15-19. See A. C. Graham, trans., Chuaku-Tzu:
The Inner Chapters, 145-46.
28. ZbunT/ziyindc, 5/2/49, Zhuangzi jishi, in Zhuzi jicheng, 38. See A. C.
Graham, trans., Chuang-Tzu: The Inner Chapters, 55.
29. See section "Daoism Thdav" in the introduction above.
30. Marcel Granet, La pellStY ChillOiSC (Paris: Editions Albin Michel, 1934),
268. ( My translation.)
31. Ibid., 267-68. (My translation.)
32. On the svmbolics of the shadow in ancient China, see Rolf Trauzettel,
"Der Schatten in chincsischer Kunst, Literatur und Philosophic: Lecres Zeichen
und Zeichen der Leere," Zeitschrift fur Semiotik 22 (2/2000): 183-208.