The Origin of Zhuangzi's Aesthetics

Zhuangzi's core thought is "Tao"

Zhuangzi is a representative of the Taoist school, and the essence of his thought is advocating "morality".

Zhuangzi inherited and developed Laozi's thought, so it was called Laozi and Zhuangzi in history, and Taoism also called Laozi and Zhuangzi's thought.

The value of Zhuangzi Thought lies in its simple materialistic view of nature and dialectical factors. He believes that "heaven and earth are great, yin and yang are great, and Tao is numerous" (Zhuangzi Ze Yang). Qi, that is, material nature, is inseparable from the air tightness of objective nature. Zhuangzi inherited and developed the idea of denying the concept of destiny after the Spring and Autumn Period, and thought that "people are born with qi, and when they gather, they are born, and when they disperse, they become qi" (Zhuangzi's Travel to the North). ), death is also an objective and natural thing, and there is no difference between a monarch and a minister. This reveals the natural attribute of human beings and denies the rationality of enslavement of people by power. He pointed out that all objective things are changeable, "Things are born suddenly, and they are fixed", "Things are infinite, infinite, impermanent and ultimately unprovoked" (Zhuangzi Qiushui).

The change of objective things is caused by the interaction between the two sides of the contradiction: "Easy security, lucky life, priority, successful convergence" (Zhuangzi Ze Yang). )]。 While recognizing the change of objective things and the role of both sides of the contradiction, Zhuangzi further believed that the opposing sides could be transformed, and "stinky rot can be turned into magic, and magic can be turned into stinky rot" (Zhuangzi's Journey to the North). )] Undoubtedly, this is the positive side of Zhuangzi's inheritance of Laozi's simple dialectics and the essence of Laozi's thought.

However, since Laozi affirmed that objective things are contradictory and mutually transformed, he ignored the conditions for the transformation of contradictions and the difference between the old and the new. It is on this basis that Zhuangzi led naive dialectics to relativism. He believes that "the world is bigger than the end of autumn, and Mount Tai is small; Mo Shou is a martyr and Peng Zu is a martyr "(Zhuangzi's Theory of Everything). ], there is no right and wrong, good and evil, beauty and ugliness in the world. "Confucianism and Mohism are right and wrong, so it is what they are not, not what they are" (ibid.)] Both sides are self-righteous, but they are wrong about each other. There is no absolute right or wrong. Zhuangzi's relativism will inevitably lead to skepticism, such as Dream Butterfly in Zhuangzi, which vividly reflects the agnosticism and skepticism of this epistemology. Zhuangzi suffered from war all his life, and he could never get rid of the cruel and heartless reality. Therefore, he is skeptical about everything and loses confidence in exploring the truth, which is a typical manifestation of the thought of "small country with few people". Zhuangzi's relativism is an idealistic system, but he realized the relativity of knowledge and pointed out the uncertainty of matter, which is instructive for the further development of materialist dialectics.

Zhuangzi, whose real name is Zhouzhuang, and Zhuangzi are famous philosophers, writers and aesthetic masters in the pre-Qin period, and they are also one of the famous figures of the Taoist school. Zhuangzi and Wang Yang's wanton and complicated writing style, absurd fantasy, bold exaggeration, rich imagination, absurd plot and wonderful language all had a far-reaching and positive impact on later literary creation. His works are listed in Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi's philosophical thoughts originated from Laozi and developed Laozi's thoughts. "Tao" is also the foundation of his philosophy and accords with the highest category. It is not only the concept of the origin and essence of the world, but also the field of human cognition. Zhuangzi's life is a life of enlightenment. All these are reflected in Zhuangzi.

Happy Travel is Zhuangzi's masterpiece, which is listed as the first book of Zhuangzi and the opening work of Zhuangzi. In this article, Zhuangzi put forward his main points: from the uniformity of things to detachment, everything should be regarded as the same in the world; Transcendence is the inevitable result of consistency. Those who are detached are free and easy, and they are free and easy trips. Carefree travel means traveling in the eternal spiritual world without dependence and absolute freedom.

The carefree "equality" advocated by Zhuangzi is precisely to break the bondage of socialization to human self, restore the distorted prototype, and achieve the balance between reality and prototype. Zhuangzi's great ideal can be said to be the ancestor of natural regression, the pioneer of simple prototype ideal, and his thought has leapt more than 20 times. Returning to the prototype is a long and far-reaching road. The images of Kun and Peng generally show the broad-minded and heroic feelings of ancient human beings. His "carefree" thought is a great attempt to restore the prototype, seek self-nature and build an idealized human society. Because Zhuangzi lived in the Warring States Period, where the supremacy of the pack and the law of the jungle prevailed, he hated the dark reality that "those who stole the hook were punished and those who stole the country were vassals" and saw through the darkness and filth of the world, so he indulged in the ideal realm of beauty and freedom. Zhuangzi is obsessed with flowers, birds, insects and fish, and the realm of "being a man" and "becoming an immortal", so most things in the article are empty, empty and empty. It even involves famous historical figures with surnames, and what they do is fabricated by the author.

Zhuangzi's essays are ever-changing, breaking the limitation of secular concepts and forms, showing a philosophical spirit completely different from the realistic concept and a writing style completely different from hundred schools of thought's essays. As the core of Zhuangzi's thought-the spirit of absolute freedom, carefree travel has the characteristics of "Wang Yang is arbitrary to suit himself" in brushwork, which gives people a strong impression of "extraordinary brushwork". Its thinking is like a dragon cloud, and it is smart and flying; His writing style is as popular as water, elegant and free and easy. His article has a broad artistic conception and a strange imagination. He can illustrate his point of view with a large number of absurd, legendary and realistic examples, which makes the article full of romanticism. "Free Travel" mainly explains Zhuangzi's philosophy of pursuing absolute freedom, and points out that Peng, who has been flying high in Wan Li for nine years, and Xun and Xue, who are as small as others, are not free. Only by cutting the boundaries between things and me, swimming in infinity without waiting, and reaching the realm of no self, no work and no name, is absolute freedom. This is free travel. This is the illusion of self-detachment when the declining class is dissatisfied with reality. In fact, this realm does not exist. Zhuangzi's prose is characterized by fable as the main form of expression, with loose and intermittent style, endless changes and elusive. In the article "Wandering around", Zhuangzi discussed the outlook on life of absolute freedom, starting with "Pengcheng Wan Li" and ending with "Wandering Nowhere". The images of Kun and Peng generally show the broad-minded and heroic feelings of ancient human beings. Heaven and earth, with different images, show a huge picture of an ideal country, warning people to do whatever they want, such as fame, profit, wealth, power, potential, respect and position, and pursue an unrestrained and absolutely free life. Zhuangzi's freedom is an absolute spiritual freedom, and the realm of freedom reached after "forgetting" and "seeing independence" transcends time-there is no past, no present, no life and death; Is beyond space's-invisible, endless; It transcends emotions-no love, no hate; It is beyond reason-nothing is nothing, nothing is nothing, nothing is loss, and his free realm is an absolutely empty, quiet and unimpeded state. In his article, he mentioned: "Peng migrated to Nanming and also traveled 3,000 miles. Those who soared to Wan Li will rest in June." It's about Dapeng's free flight, and it's about "jumping up" and "flying in Artemisia" and "Ling Ran's kindness". Zhuangzi described freedom freely with appreciative eyes here. However, his original intention was to expound his unfounded claims. The so-called freedom is independent of all objective things, laissez-faire and free choice, and should not be relative. Then there are those who are willing to die today, and then there are those who are going south today. "Repel Quails" jumped up, but counted down and danced among Artemisia, which also flew to the extreme. "and" Liezi is against the wind "and" there is still something to be done ". Xiang Xiu and Guo Xiang said in "Xiaoyao Yi": "If the husband is more than 90,000 Dapeng, the quail will be destroyed. Although small and different, each has its place; If you are a part of it, you will have a good time. However, there are more Chinese characters, and the same capital is waiting. You have to receive treatment somewhere, and then you will be happy. Only saints and things are invisible, and only by following great changes can we cross without waiting, not alone! If you don't lose what you are waiting for, you will be just like Datong. "Zhuangzi said these freedoms, it is better to his freedom category, only stay in the practical sense. If you want to have the carefree mood of China and Zhuangzi, you need a sublimation process.

The artistic style of Zhuangzi's prose can be summarized as "Wang Yang's elegant demeanor". His article is rich in imagination and unique in conception. As a writer, Zhuangzi's macro artistic perspective can jump into the space of Nine Wan Li with the soaring Dapeng, overlooking the smoke clouds at the end of the vast forest like a wild horse; From the microscopic point of view of his art, he can sneak into a small snail's corner and watch the absurd tragedy of Touchman's "scramble to bury millions of corpses" coldly. The grotesque images come one after another, colorful and breathtaking, which makes people enjoy extraordinary art. This kind of beauty lies in the seamless integration of words and thoughts, fantastic imagination, wanton and magnificent words, driving away Tao Rong's free writing style, and the wonderful integration of natural secrets and craftsmen's luck, which has reached the ultimate poetic beauty of China's language.