Introduction to Zhuangzi, introduction to Zhuangzi and his main works

Zhuangzi, known as Zhou, was a native of the Song Dynasty during the Warring States period, born about 369 BC and died in 286 BC. He is a famous philosopher, writer, and representative of Taoism. Zhuangzi lived in the Warring States Period, where social contradictions were extremely complex, and worked as a lacquer garden official.

According to the records of "Historical Records" and "Zhuangzi", Zhuangzi was a petty official in charge of the lacquer garden in his hometown of Meng (now the junction of Henan and Anhui), and after a short time, he resigned and went home, living in poverty to the point that he had no rice to cook, and sometimes had to sell some straw sandals to make some money to make a living.

He was usually untidy, and once the king of Wei summoned him, he went to see the king of Wei wearing the clothes that had been mended and mended. Although he also had some friends, such as Hui Shi, a friend who had been Prime Minister of Wei, who had invited him to be an official, he just didn't cooperate. Legend has it that once King Chu Wei sent two people with a lot of money to ask him to be the prime minister of Chu, but he refused, saying that he wanted to live a carefree hermit life.

It seems that dissatisfaction with reality, non-cooperation with the ruling class, and the pursuit of an absolutely free life constitute the main content of Zhuangzi's character and thought. Not much has been passed down from the life of Zhuangzi, and we can only learn a little bit from the "Historical Records" and "Zhuangzi". His influence on later generations was mainly the book "Zhuangzi".

1, "Getaway".

The Getaway is the representative work of the philosopher and writer Zhuang Zhou during the Warring States Period, and is listed as the first article of the Taoist classic "Zhuangzi Inner Chapter", which can be used as a representative of the book "Zhuangzi" ideologically and artistically. The theme of this article is the pursuit of an absolutely free outlook on life, and the author believes that only by forgetting the boundaries of things and self, reaching the realm of selflessness, meritlessness, and namelessness, and swimming in infinity without anything to rely on, is the real "leisurely travel".

The article first expounds the difference between "small" and "big" through the comparison between Dapeng and small animals such as lizard and dove. On this basis, the author pointed out that whether it is the Shu and the dove that are not good at flying, or the Dapeng that can fly to an altitude of 90,000 miles with the help of the wind, or even the columns that can fly against the wind, they are all "treated" and not free, thus leading to and expounding the truth that "no one has self, no god has no merit, and a saint has no name"; Finally, through the debate between Huizi and Zhuangzi's "useful" and "useless", it is explained that only by not being used by the world can we be "free".

The whole text is rich in imagination, novel in conception, bizarre in the majestic, unbridled in the ocean, and full of romantic spirit between the lines.

2, "Health Master".

The Lord of Health is an article written by Zhuang Zhou, a philosopher and writer during the Warring States Period, and is published in the "Zhuangzi Inner Chapter". This is an article about the way to maintain health. The full text is divided into three parts.

The first part is the general outline of the whole article, pointing out that the most important thing in health preservation is to uphold the way of emptiness in things, and conform to the changes and development of nature; The second part uses the story of Ku Ding to solve the cow as a metaphor for people's health, explaining that life and life must follow the laws of things, so as to avoid the entanglement of right and wrong and contradictions; The third part shows that the saint does not dwell on things, moves with the world, swims in his heart, is at peace with the times, is poor in heaven, and fulfills his morality, so that the life attitude of life reflects the author's philosophical thoughts and life interests.

The article is vividly described, the details are delicately depicted, and the allegorical is in the story, which is full of interest and inspiration.

Introduction: The book of "Zhuangzi" is divided into internal, external and miscellaneous articles, the original 52 articles, which were gradually circulated, mixed and supplemented by the middle and late Warring States periods, and roughly formed in the Western Han Dynasty, but the version that was circulated at that time has been lost. At present, the 33 articles have been sorted out by Guo Xiang, and the chapters are also different from those of the Han Dynasty.

Features: Zhuangzi's articles, imaginary fantasy, ingenious conception, colorful ideological world and literary artistic conception, the writing is unbridled, with a romantic artistic style, magnificent and treacherous, and the meaning is out of the dust, which is a model work of the articles of the pre-Qin Zhuzi.