Zhuangzi

Qu'est-ce que l'Absolu ? Dieu existe-t-il ?

The Dao has reality but no form: it can be pointed to, not defined

L'innommableIl le dit expressément

In the inner chapters, the only ones scholars attribute with good grounds to Zhuang Zhou, the Dao is not a personal god. Chapter 6, «The Great and Venerable Teacher», describes it as something that has reality and signs but lacks action and form; it can be transmitted but not possessed, and it precedes heaven and earth. Chapter 2 asks whether there is a «true lord» governing body and mind, and concludes that, although it seems to act, no trace of it can be found. When the book speaks of the «Maker of things», it does so as an image of the process of transformation, not of a being that wills or judges. The ultimate can be pointed to, but every definition fixes it in one point of view; hence the text prefers parable, paradox and irony to concepts.

Qui suis-je ? Existe-t-il un vrai soi ?

«I have lost myself»: the perfect man has no self and transforms with things

Il n'y a pas de soi permanentIl le dit expressément

The inner chapters of the Zhuangzi return again and again to the dissolution of the self. Chapter 1 states that the perfect man has no self. Chapter 2 opens with Nanguo Ziqi who, seated like a withered tree, declares that he has lost himself, and closes with the butterfly dream, where Zhou no longer knows whether he is a man who dreamt of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being a man; the passage from one to the other is called the transformation of things. In chapter 6, Yan Hui attains sitting and forgetting: he lets go of body and knowledge and joins the great thoroughfare. The self here is not a substance but a provisional form in the course of change; clinging to it, and to its judgements of this and not-this, is what binds.

Pourquoi souffrons-nous ?

We suffer by resisting transformation: accepting it unties the bond

Le désir et l'attachementIl le dit expressément

In the inner chapters, suffering arises above all from resisting the course of things. In chapter 3, at Lao Dan's death, Qin Shi reproaches those who weep without measure for fleeing from heaven: the master came when it was his time and left following the order; whoever accepts the moment and settles into the order lets neither grief nor joy enter. The ancients called this being untied by the Lord. Chapter 6 repeats the idea with the four friends who receive illness and death as transformations. To this resistance are added the disputes of chapter 2: attachment to a point of view, to what each calls «this» and «not this», shuts one into a perspective and sets people against one another.

Que se passe-t-il après la mort ?

What comes is unknown, but death is another transformation to welcome

Silence ou réserveIl le dit expressément

The inner chapters treat death with a serenity that does not depend on knowing what comes afterwards. In chapter 2, the story of Lady Li, who wept on being taken to the palace and later regretted her tears, serves to ask how one knows that the dead do not regret having clung to life. In chapter 6, the Great Clod burdens us with a form, wearies us with life, eases us with old age and rests us with death; therefore what makes life good will make death good. When Zilai lies dying, his friend wonders whether the Creator will turn him into a rat's liver or an insect's leg. Zhuangzi neither affirms personal survival nor denies it: he accepts transformation and laughs at those who weep.

Comment atteint-on la libération ou le salut ?

Fast the heart, sit and forget: wander freely in step with the Dao

Par la vertu et l'harmonieIl le dit expressément

The inner chapters speak not of salvation but of free and easy wandering, the title of chapter 1. That state is reached by emptying oneself, not by accumulating. In chapter 4, Confucius teaches Yan Hui the fasting of the heart: listening not with the ears but with the heart, and not with the heart but with the breath, which is empty and receives things. In chapter 6, Yan Hui forgets benevolence, righteousness, rites and music, and at last sits and forgets until he joins the great thoroughfare. In chapter 3, Cook Ding carves the ox without blunting his knife because he follows the natural joints. To be freed is to keep pace with the course of things with the spontaneity of one who has stopped forcing them.

Faut-il un maître ?

Teachers guide, but the great teacher is the Dao, and disciples may surpass them

Utile mais pas indispensableCela se déduit de sa doctrine

The inner chapters are full of teachers, but none is untouchable. In chapter 4, Confucius, turned into a Daoist spokesman, guides Yan Hui towards the fasting of the heart; in chapter 6, the same Yan Hui attains sitting and forgetting, and Confucius asks to be allowed to follow him. Tradition thus appears inverted: the disciple can go further than the master. The title of chapter 6, «The Great and Venerable Teacher», ultimately refers to the Dao itself. And chapter 2 warns against the most insidious teacher: the already formed heart, that of one's own prejudices, which each person takes as guide. Teachers help one to empty oneself, but the work of forgetting belongs to each and no one can do it for another.

Le monde est-il réel ?

Everything ceaselessly transforms; the ten thousand beings are one with me

Un ordre naturel en transformationIl le dit expressément

For the inner chapters, the real is the ceaseless course of transformation. Chapter 2 holds that distinctions between this and that depend on point of view; seen from the pivot of the Dao, things are equalised, and heaven and earth were born together with me, and the ten thousand beings are one with me. The same chapter ends with the butterfly dream: between Zhou and the butterfly there must be some difference, and this is called the transformation of things. The world is not an illusion: differences exist, but they are not fixed. Chapter 6 shows its characters receiving illness and death as stages of that same process. Wisdom consists in keeping pace with it, not in halting it.

Qu'est-ce que l'amour ?

Great benevolence is not benevolent: better to forget each other in rivers and lakes

Ce qui apparaît quand le moi cesseIl le dit expressément

Zhuangzi distrusts love turned into a virtue to be cultivated and displayed, the benevolence (ren) of the Confucians. In chapter 2 he states that great benevolence is not benevolent: affection that proclaims itself has already lost something. In chapter 6 he offers a memorable image: when the spring dries up, the fish are left on land and moisten one another with their breath and spittle, but it would be better to forget one another in the rivers and lakes. The same chapter tells how four men become friends on discovering that they share the acceptance of life and death: they look at one another, smile, and there is no disagreement in their hearts. True bonding neither strains nor claims; it appears when no one turns it into a merit of their own.

Sommes-nous libres ou tout est-il déterminé ?

Accepting what cannot be changed as fate is the height of virtue

Le destin et la responsabilitéIl le dit expressément

The inner chapters often speak of destiny (ming). In chapter 4, Confucius advises an anxious envoy that knowing what cannot be helped and accepting it calmly as destiny is the height of virtue. In chapter 6, Zisang, sick and poor, searches for who has brought him to that state and finds no one, neither his parents, nor heaven, nor earth: «it is destiny», he concludes. But this acceptance is not passivity. In the same chapters, freedom appears as unfettered wandering within what is given: Cook Ding moves with ease between the ox's joints, and the sage uses his mind like a mirror that responds without retaining. Responsibility consists in not adding resistance to the inevitable.

Pourquoi méditer ou prier ?

Fast the heart and forget: empty oneself, not accumulate techniques

La méditation n'est pas une techniqueIl le dit expressément

The inner chapters describe two states that later tradition would turn into methods but which in the text are rather ways of emptying oneself. In chapter 4, Yan Hui proposes to Confucius a series of strategies to reform a cruel ruler; Confucius rejects them all and teaches him the fasting of the heart: listening not with the ears but with the heart, and not with the heart but with the breath, which is empty and receives things. In chapter 6, Yan Hui forgets benevolence, righteousness, rites and music, and at last sits and forgets: he lets go of body and knowledge and joins the great thoroughfare. What is practised is unlearning. The sage uses the mind like a mirror, which responds and does not retain.

La raison peut-elle connaître l'ultime ?

Pursuing the limitless with the limited is perilous; all knowing is perspective

La pensée est limitéeIl le dit expressément

The inner chapters are a sustained critique of the pretension to know. Chapter 3 opens by warning that life has a limit and knowledge does not, and that pursuing the limitless with the limited is perilous. Chapter 2 shows that the disputes between Confucians and Mohists depend on point of view: each affirms what the other denies, and there is no neutral arbiter. When Nie Que asks Wang Ni whether he knows what all agree on, Wang Ni answers with questions: how can I know that what I call knowing is not ignorance? But Zhuangzi does not scorn all knowledge: Cook Ding and other craftsmen possess a know-how that does not fit into words. What reasoning does not reach is reached in skill and ease.

Se retirer du monde ou le transformer ?

Roam the world of men without being harmed: the usefulness of the useless

La contemplation dans l'actionIl le dit expressément

The inner chapters propose neither fleeing the world nor reforming it. Chapter 4, «In the World of Men», deals precisely with how to live among dangerous rulers: Confucius dissuades Yan Hui from going to correct the lord of Wei with principles, and teaches him the fasting of the heart so as to enter his cage without being moved by renown. The same chapter ends with the song of the madman of Chu: all know the usefulness of the useful and none that of the useless; the tree that is no good for timber lives to old age. Chapter 1 tells how Xu You refused the empire Yao offered him. The sage neither retires to a monastery nor seeks office: he lives among others with the ease of Cook Ding.