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Graham 15
Heaven and man
Among the basic concepts which Zhuangzi shares with other Chinese thinkers is the pair "Heaven" and "man" (tien, heaven, sky; jen, man). In Confucianism Heaven is the supreme power responsible for everything which is independent of man's will, including his destiny and the moral principles by which he should live. (Destiny is the "decree of Heaven"). In human affairs it is one's responsibility as a man to act rightly, but whether the result is success and failure, wealth or poverty, long life for early death, is decreed by Heaven and should be accepted with contentment as one's destiny.
Early Mohism grounded its morality in the "will of Heaven", but rejected the notion of destiny, insisting that good and ill fortune are Heaven's rewards and punishments for our actions.
Around 350BC it began to be noticed that the dichotomy of Heaven and man presents a fundamental difficulty if one recognizes that there is such a thing as human nature. Given that it derives from one or the other, man's nature, being independent of his will, must be ordaind for him by Heaven. Should it not follow that man obeys Heaven by following his own nature, which seems to conflict with morality.
The Yangist School, abhorred by the others as egoists, had as one of its slogans "Keeping one's nature interact".(cf p.221 below) This is the start of the first profound metaphysical doubt in Chinese thought, and stimulated the great advances of the late fourth century BC.
Among the Confucians, Mencius tried to close the gap between Heaven and man by the doctrine that human nature is morally good. The later Mohist school ceased to appeal to the authority of Heaven and sought new foundations for morality by developing a highly rationalised utilitarian ethic based on the actual desires and aversions of men.
Zhuangzi is...a "Heaven-intoxicated man".
For him, it is not a matter of obeying Heaven; the sage constantly goes by the spontaneous and does not add anything to the process of life", he "lives the life generated by Heaven" (cf. p.82, 84 below - chapt 6.1) At first sight one might suppose that like the Yangists he wants to give full scope to the spontaneous inclinations of man's nature. But...the implicit imperative of Taoism, "Mirror clearly", introduces a rift between human spontaneity, rejecting the passions which blur awareness, exalting the impulses which stir in an impersonal calm which mirrors the situation with the utmost clarity.
Graham 283: Note: Zhuangzi is seen as the poet of an ecstasy which transcends life and death, the side of the most prominent in "The teacher who is the ultimate ancestor" (the chapter quoted in the Syncretist "Way of Heaven" p. 260). It is notable that, compared even have the other later classed asd Daoists, he is treated as a writer rather than a thinker. He is admired, but with the reservation that he may tempt you to lose sight of the real world and its practical problems. The Syncretist warns us not to take his wild words too literally, and calls attention to the three uses of words distinguished in one of the Mixed chapters fragments (p.106f).
A.C. Graham
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