After the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics, director Zhang Yimou shared his journey of participating in the Winter Olympics with a long article. Talking about the most amazing "willow farewell" link in the whole field, Zhang Yimou said that this link is a prescribed action since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, in order to commemorate the deceased.
The ancients had the custom of folding willows to give each other, because the sound of "willow" and "stay" is similar, the gift of willow is to hope that pedestrians can come back, and the willow is soft and long, and it just represents the long and continuous feelings when parting. Therefore, there is a song in the "Drum Horn Horizontal Blowing Song" of the Northern Dynasty Music House called "Folding Willow Branches", which says: "Do not catch the whip on the horse, but oppose the willow branches." Get off the horse and play the flute, and kill the pedestrians. ("Ye Jiaying Says The Poetry of the First Sheng Tang Dynasty" • "Wang Zhizhuo") Photo: The closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics performance program "Folding Willows and Sending Love" (Photo by Li Ga, Xinhua News Agency)
In Zhang Yimou's view, the Chinese's outlook on life and death is different from many countries, "For the deceased, for life, we have the optimism and upwardness of the Chinese." Chinese a phrase often said to the deceased is 'all the way good', our concept of life is like this, while commemorating the deceased and remembering the deceased, we often dry our tears, and the living people still have to live well. ”
Screenshot of the course "Professor Yang Lihua of Peking University Speaks about Zhuangzi Philosophy"
Director Zhang Yimou's understanding of "life and death" has been vividly reflected as early as "Zhuangzi Grand Master". "The husband carries me in a big piece, labors me to live, makes me old, and rests me to die." Therefore, those who are good to me are born, but therefore good to me to die. "Zhuangzi's understanding of life, old age, illness and death, comes in a peaceful way, and there is no pity in it. Translated into everyday words: "Hey, what a big deal." ”
The issue of "life and death" is one of the important issues that Zhuangzi is concerned about. Today, Movable Type Jun shares with book lovers the interpretation of Professor Yang Lihua of the Department of Philosophy of Peking University. In "Zhuangzi Philosophical Studies", Professor Yang does not stop at the traditional Taoist "discernment between death and life", but regards it as a fundamental philosophical problem, in order to dialogue the physicalist view of the mind and highlight the eternal value of Zhuangzi's thinking in the debate between ancient and modern times.
life-and-death
—
Yang Lihua Wen
This article is excerpted from "Zhuangzi Philosophical Studies"
Peking University, September 2021
(i)
In the "Theory of QiWu", the problem of life and death appears in a fragmentary manner, which has a clear reference relationship with the relevant expositions that follow: "Man is said to be immortal, Xi Yi!" Its metamorphosis, its heart is the same, can not be said to be a great mourning "refers to" what is known, and the heart has not tasted the dead" ("De Chong Fu"),"Fang Sheng Fang Dies, Fang Dies Fang Sheng; Fang Fang Can't, Fang Can't "Refer to" Hu Bu Zhi makes him take death and life as a rule, and those who can not be consistent, unravel their shackles, and its can be" ("De Chong Fu") and "Who can take nothing as the head, life as the spine, and death as the jiri?" Whoever knows the one body of death, survival and death, I am friends with him" (The Great Master); "To give evil to know that life is not evil? Giving evil to those who know evil and die is not weak and evil, but those who do not know how to return" refer to the section "Death and life, life; it has the constant of night and heaven" (The Great Master). Of course, the discussion with life and death at its core does not really appear until the last chapter of "The Health Lord":
The old man died, Qin lost his hanging, and the third number came out. Disciple: "Evil of the friend of the non-master?" "Yes." "But if that's the case, is it okay?" "Yes." At first, I thought it was a man, but now it is not. There are the old who weep as they weep for their sons, and the few who weep as they weep for their mothers. Therefore, there will be those who do not speak in words, and those who do not weep and weep. It is the heavens that are full of affection and forget what they have suffered; the ancients called it the punishment of the heavens. When it is appropriate to come, the Master is also there; when it is appropriate to go, the Master is also obedient. Peace and tranquility, mourning can not enter also; the ancients said that it is the emperor's suspense. ”
The theme of this section is the attitude towards death, which leads to the understanding of life and death. Qin lost the old man's mourning, and there was no sorrow. This is so because "in the beginning, I thought it was also a man, but now it is not also." The object of the question is no longer there. In the "De Chong Fu", Confucius said to Lu Aigong: "Qiu Ye, taste the envoy to Chu Yi, and see the son eat on his dead mother, Shao Yan, And Ruo, all abandon it and go away." If you don't see yourself, you can't be like yourself. He who loves his mother, he who does not love his form, he who loves his form also. Now that the "shapemaker" has disappeared, the remaining figure is no longer that person. What is being discussed here is attitudes toward the death of others. Qin lost people hanging on to the old man, and saw that the mourner was no longer his person, and the old people and young people around him were all mourning excessively. The attainment of man's life is not the result of his own choice, but of "receiving", forgetting the passive nature of this giving, seeing life as gain, and naturally seeing death as a loss. The grief that arises from this delusion arises from the escape from the true nature of the Heavenly Dao, and at the same time from the punishment that comes from this escape. The "punishment of escaping heaven" can be lifted, but not everyone can be lifted.
In "De Chong Fu", Shushan Wuzhi commented on Confucius saying: "Heavenly punishment, Anke can be solved"; in "The Great Master", Confucius also said in his self-evaluation: "Qiu, the heavens kill the people also". The treatment of the death of others naturally leads to an attitude toward one's own death. In Qin's view, Lao Nie regarded life as an accidental encounter and death as an inevitable order. In the sentence "When it is appropriate to come, the master is also in time; when it is appropriate to go, the master is shun also", and most commentators interpret the word "shun" as a verb. For example, Zhong Tai: "The 'time' is worth the time, and the 'shun' is the same." Wang Shumin: "When he comes, the master (the old man) should be born from time to time; when he goes, the master will die in time." In this way, "Master Shiye" and "Master Shunye" become different sentence forms. The word "in order" in the latter sentence is obviously a noun. Therefore, the "shi" and "shun" in this sentence should be nouns used as verbs. "Master's time" and "Master Shunye" should be understood as "The Master takes it as the time" and "The Master takes it as the time". "Shun" is a noun, with order and order meaning. Birth is an accident, and death is inevitable, and it is not moved by life and death. The word "emperor" in "Emperor's Suspense" has the meaning of domination. Only those who truly dominate themselves can solve their "punishment of escape from heaven." The true ruler is not disturbed by any change.
Of course, the issue of life and death cannot stop at the attitude towards life and death, but must touch on the fundamental understanding of life and death. Zhuangzi's view of life and death is presented in this chapter in a key metaphor:
It means that the poor is paid for the salary, and the fire is also spread, and it is not known that it is exhausted.
The fire metaphor refers to the "form" and the "shapemaker". Judging from the "Theory of QiWu" in "Its metamorphosis, its heart is like it, it is not a great sorrow" and "One knows what is known, but the heart has not tasted the dead" in the "Theory of Qi", in Zhuangzi, there are immortal parts of the heart, and there are also immortals. As we discussed earlier, Zhuangzi sees the mind as a physical being that coexists with the body. Zhuangzi's philosophy cannot be understood by the physicalist view of the mind as the function of material structures.
Until the physicalist view of mind is truly and effectively proved to be true, which is probably philosophically impossible, Zhuangzi's related thinking is worth confronting with the most solemn attitude. There is a "shapemaker" in the mind, but the two are not directly identical. Only the truly autonomous part of the mind is the "shapemaker." The body, as the bearer of the various connections in the world, interacts with the mind as an individual. The part of the mind that interacts with the body shape and the various associations it carries dissipates with the disintegration of the unity of the body shape, the so-called "its form, its mind with it." And the fundamental knowledge that runs through all the forms of knowing the mind is not affected by the state of the body, but in turn can affect the body shape, so it is the true "shapemaker." The "shapemaker" can neither be moved by the "form", and therefore can not die with the dissipation of the form. In Zhuangzi, it seems that not everyone can have "no end". Judging from the context of the last chapter of "The Health Lord", it should be that only those who have reached the "emperor's suspense" can "pass on the fire". On the issue of life and death, we can only make a preliminary development here, and there will be a more in-depth discussion in the relevant parts later.
(ii)
As we discussed earlier, zhuangzi himself appears anonymously in the chapters "Zi Qi, Zi You, Zi Li, Zi Lai Xiang and You" and "Zi Sang Hu, Mencius Anti, Zi Qin Zhang Xiang and You" chapters of the Great Master. The discussion of life and death in these two chapters is the most concentrated and sufficient of the seven chapters in Zhuangzi:
The four people of Zi Qi, Zi You, Zi Li, and Zi Lai said in unison, "Who can take nothing as the head, life as the backbone, and death as the jiri?" I am friends with those who know the body of death and survival. The four of them looked at each other and laughed, and they did not rebel against their hearts, so they became friends with each other.
Cheng", "Shu" said: "The lady rises from nothingness, and nothing comes first, so she takes nothing as the head; from nothing, and from birth to second, so life is the backbone; both birth and death, death is the last, so death is the jiri; and so it is also true." The parting of the head is one body, and the death and life are different, and the source is one. "First understand the metaphors of "head", "ridge" and "jiri" in chronological order, and then emphasize the "jiri head" and "dead and alive" as one body. The explanation here in the "Shu" is generally desirable, but there is still an unfinished meaning. The unfolding of the time of "from nothingness to existence" and "both birth and death" is equivalent to treating "nothingness", "birth" and "death" as three stages of separation. On the basis of division, the emphasis on "one body" and "one body" is probably deviating from the deep meaning of Zhuangzi. Unlike "birth," "nothingness" and "death" are not stages of existence. "Nothingness" is the origin of "birth", and the reason why it is called "nothingness" is because the "born" person does not know its origin; "death" is where the "born" goes, and the "born" person does not know where he is going. The origin and the past are actually the questions that the "living" person asks when he understands himself. Such questioning, in the midst of the ever-changing changes, naturally points to the idea of temporality. In fact, the answer to the origin and the destination is in the fundamental unknown. This can be confirmed by Confucius's remarks about Meng Suncai in the "Yan Hui Ask Zhongni" chapter. The absolute that emerges from ignorance is the foundation of time, and can be said to be absent from time. In the "De Chong Fu", it is said that "death survives and dies" is "the change of things" and "the journey of fate". The existing world is only constant, infinite change. As far as the concrete embodiment of the changes in "death, survival and death" is concerned, they are essentially "one".
All that is in the world is nothing more than an eternal change in concrete existence. The changing individual has nothing to do with his own change. In Ziyu's answer to Zi Qi, Zhuangzi expressed the correct attitude towards change:
Zi Qi: "What is the evil of women?" "Death, what evil!" The left arm of the impregnation is thought to be a chicken, and the cause is given to ask for time and night; the right arm of the baptism is given as a bullet, and the cause is given to seek the owl; the impregnation is transformed into a chakra, and the god is a horse, and it is even more important to ride on it! And the one who gains, the time also, and the loser, obeys. Peace and tranquility, mourning can not enter also. The so-called suspense of this ancient also. And those who cannot solve themselves, things have a knot. And the husband and wife are invincible, and for a long time, why should I be evil? ”
Take the initiative to meet all changes and realize the essence of this change in the most full way. On the surface, "being at ease with the times" is just a passive obedience and acceptance. This understanding confuses Zhuangzi's philosophy with the ideas of Prudential and others.
The "Tianxia" article describes the study of prudence: "The vertebrae are broken, and the things are like a turn, giving up right and wrong, Gou can be spared, not knowing the teacher, not knowing the before and after, Wei is already finished." Push and go, drag and then go, if the wind returns, if the feathers swirl, if the tunnel of the millstone, all is nothing, there is no fault in moving, there is no guilt. Why? The ignorant things, the troubles of self-construction, the tiredness of useless knowledge, the movement and stillness are not separated from reason, and they are lifelong and dishonorable. Therefore, it is said: "As for what is ignorant, it is useless and holy, and the master does not lose his way." Haojie smiled at each other and said, "The way of prudence is not the way of the living, but the reason of the dead, it is strange." If the absolute passive form of the removal of autonomy is regarded as the ideal form of life of man, then ignorance and ignorance like wood and stone have become the highest pursuit. Such a "theory of the dead" is fundamentally contrary to Zhuangzi's philosophical purpose.
Guo Xiang emphasized the meaning of "daily renewal" in the midst of change, which is deeply in line with the philosophical spirit of Zhuangzi. Attachment to the existing, rejecting the future, is equivalent to separating the past form from the new changes. This tendency, on the surface, seems to maintain the individual's self-unity, but instead creates a division of the self. This division is multiple:
First, trying to separate oneself from the changing unity, such a self can only be an indifference abstract existence, and can even be understood as a non-existence, so that the pursuit of the self-preservation of existence goes to its opposite;
Second, this tendency also turns all aspects related to change into things external to oneself, and the transformation of life and death is the greatest of all the aspects of change, so that death becomes something external to oneself and needs to be faced, and thus deepens the fear of death; the pursuit of one of the self, which is so attached to the pleasure of life, is completely immersed in one's own limited knowledge, and thus knows nothing of one's own essential ignorance, so that, It is also separated from the Absolute, which can only be revealed in the knowledge of ignorance. This stubborn tendency is, of course, futile, but so pervasive. Its roots lie in people's misunderstanding of one of the self. In other words, it is still the result of deviating from true knowledge.
I am a self-realization rooted in one of the self.selves. Ignorant beings such as wood and stone also have a tendency to maintain their own identity, but this tendency is blind. Only man, as a being who is clearly conscious of his own identity, has all kinds of futile efforts that arise from this self-realization, and of course there is the possibility of revealing in the unknown the oneness of himself:
Parents are from the son, east to west, south to north, only fate. Yin and yang are not wings for people, not for parents. He is close to my death, and I do not listen, and I am fierce, what a sin he is! The husband carries me in a big piece, labors me to live, makes me old, and rests me to die. Therefore, those who are good to me are born, but therefore good to me to die.
In the same face of the basic situation of life, Zhuangzi's attitude makes all tragic conflicts and tensions seem exaggerated.
The term "chunk" first appeared in the Theory of Qi. Regarding the interpretation of "large blocks", Wang Shumin said: "Chu Bo Xiuyun: 'Large blocks are originally words, and according to this meaning of the Sutra, they refer to creation. 'Mao Pan Lin Yun:' "Anthology" Guo Jingchun "Jiang Fu Notes" quoted Sima Yun: a large block, naturally also. The case of Huainanzi Qizhen Gao "Note": "Large blocks, between heaven and earth also." 'And righteousness is also gained.' Xuan "Solution": "Big blocks, also land." It does not reach the meaning of "Zhuangzi". From the context, it is obviously wrong to interpret "large blocks" as "earth" or "between heaven and earth." "Big Chunk" as "Shan Wu Sheng" and "Shan Wu Die" is consistent with the metaphor of "Daye" and the meaning of "Creator" in the later paragraph. Therefore, Chu Boxou's explanation is correct. "Block" has a unique meaning. A "large block" is a single body. As the "great mass" of the Creator, I am born, I am old, and I am rested by death, so the birth, old age, and death of my body are all rooted in the single body.
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