In Zhuangzi , why is dumb as a chicken considered the highest level of cockfighting?

The highest level in martial arts is no moves, he has forgotten everything, all the tricks are from the heart from instinct and natural, this kind of person you look very stunned, in fact, his heart is full of a kind of qi, this kind of qi can make you shudder. Just like the chicken that has no chickens in its eyes, it has reached the highest level, and it is no wonder that other chickens run away when they see it. In the art of war, this is called a soldier who surrenders without a fight, so why should I use force with you?

I'll just scare you away.

The dumb chicken described the fighting as a very high-quality training lieutenant general and able to face it calmly and calmly.

Because this chicken has reached the state of not being moved by the outside world, it has reached the highest level.

Of course, the fables written by Zhuangzi are to support his thoughts and opinions, but in fact, what Zhuangzi wants to express is not affected by external objects, in order to achieve what he wants, and the possibility of wanting not to be affected by external objects in life is almost zero, but in the fable, so Zhuangzi expresses the benefits of this state for our life by being "immobile" and not affected by external objects. Sex is also virtuous, and if you want to cry and laugh, it's because of yourself. In the eyes of Zhuangzi, the vigorous chicken is about equal to the strong beam in Lao Tzu, and he will not die. Considering the background of that era, Zhuangzi's thought was not unreasonable.

In the book "Zhuangzi", there is a point of view that is rather strange, calling the dumb chicken the highest state of cockfighting, because people think that this kind of chicken has been cultivated relatively well, and the momentum of the whole body is restrained in the body, so that the enemy does not move, and the enemy moves the enemy with one move. This chicken seems to be particularly stupid, as if it was frightened by the opponent, but in fact it is already ready to attack, just waiting for the opponent to strike first, and then carry out a powerful counterattack.

Ancient people were very fond of cockfighting, so there are many descriptions of cockfighting, for example, many idioms are related to chickens. The dumb chicken is used to describe the state of a chicken in the cockfight, some chickens are particularly excited, as long as the other party moves a little claw, or the head will become particularly nervous, which will affect the mental state, there is no way to bury everything in their hearts. And the stupid chicken is confident, it seems to be very confused, but it is actually very planned.

As long as you have such a fighting, you must be able to defeat many other chickens and win a lot of money for the owner, so the ancients also have a lot of experience in the cultivation of chickens.

For example, some people who practice martial arts seem to be similar to ordinary people, and they don't have much muscle on their bodies when they put on their clothes, but their walking steps are particularly steady, and their breath is relatively long, which shows that kung fu is indeed practiced at home. Further extension can be used to compare those who pretend to be pigs and eat tigers, as if their strength is relatively poor, and they need to rely on others to survive, but in fact, they have their own hills and valleys in their hearts, but they are relatively low-key and do not like to show in front of people. So public sighting is not a derogatory term, but a complimentary word, used to describe this person as a very powerful person.

Sometimes you can't just look at the surface, you must ** their eyes, the eyes of powerful people are relatively calm, and they will give people a sense of stability when they are very sluggish, and they will not be so panicked.

"Stunned as a Wooden Chicken" is from "Zhuangzi Dasheng Chapter", which was originally a fable. The story is: Because King Zhou Xuan loved cockfighting, a person named Ji Yuzi specially trained cockfighting for King Zhou Xuan.

Ten days later, King Zhou Xuan asked Ji Yuzi if he had trained well, and Ji Yuzi replied that he hadn't, and that the chicken looked menacing on the surface, but in fact it had no confidence. After another ten days, King Zhou Xuan asked again, and Ji Yuzi said that it was not good, because as soon as it saw the shadow of other chickens, it immediately became nervous, indicating that it still had a aggressive mentality. After another 10 days, King Zhou Xuan couldn't bear it anymore and asked again, but he still couldn't, because Ji Yuzi thought that the chicken was still a little bright-eyed, and his momentum had not disappeared.

After another 10 days like this, Ji Yuzi finally said that it was almost over, it was already a little dull and quiet, and it looked like a wooden chicken, indicating that it had entered the perfect spiritual realm. King Xuan put the chicken in the cockfighting ring. As soon as the other chickens saw this "dumbfounded" fighting, they turned around and fled.

"Dumb like a wooden chicken" is not really stupid, just look stunned, but in fact has a strong combat effectiveness, it seems that the wooden fighting does not have to attack at all, so that the other fighting cocks flee from the wind. It can be seen that the highest state of cockfighting is "dumbfounded". This parable of Zhuangzi is very interesting, and at the same time it expresses a profound philosophy, which reminds people of what the ancients said: "great wisdom is foolishness", "great ingenuity is clumsy", and "great courage is cowardice".

In Zhuangzi's view, people with great wisdom may be dull, people with great skill may look clumsy, and people with real courage are often misunderstood by others as timid. However, when they are truly in extraordinary circumstances, these people are often able to demonstrate extraordinary abilities. Through this parable, Zhuangzi may be expounding the truth that "opposite poles approach each other at a certain height", which is the dialectical thinking unique to Taoist thought.

Ji Yuzi raised fighting cocks for the king. Ten days and asked, "The chickens are gone?"

said: "No, Fang is weak and angry. On the 10th he asked again, saying:

No, it should still be to the scene. On the 10th, he asked again, saying, "No, I am still angry and angry."

On the 10th, he asked again, "How many?" Although the chicken has a song, there is no change, looking at it like a wooden chicken, its virtue is complete, and the chicken does not dare to respond, but it goes away. ”