Solve the puzzle 丨 What Zhuangzi did when he was a lacquer garden official

Zhuangzi was once a "lacquered garden official", which is no stranger to everyone. Yang Kuan pointed out in the "History of the Warring States": "This lacquer garden in Mongolia (northeast of present-day Shangqiu City, Henan Province) was operated by the Song government, and the so-called 'lacquer garden official' was immediately the official who managed the lacquer garden. "Is this really the case, is the lacquer garden official just a lacquer garden manager?"

Among the many historical documents, there is a material that is of great reference for us to understand what Zhuangzi did when he was a lacquer garden official. It is a rule in the category of "Miscellaneous Copies of Qin Laws" excavated in 1975 in Yunmeng Sleeping Tiger Land, Hubei Province: "Lacquer Garden Hall, Zhao ShiFu YiJia, Ling, Cheng and Zuo each one shield, and the tuluo group each gave twenty." Lacquer Garden is three years old than the temple, Zhao Shifu erjia and Fa (abolished), Ling and Cheng each one. "To the effect that if the lacquer garden is rated as inferior, the chief of the lacquer garden shall be punished for paying a collar of armor or the equivalent of one collar of armor, the subordinate officers (Ling, Cheng, and Zuo) each pay a shield or equivalent money, and the remaining apprentices each pay twenty armor-piercing belts or equivalent money. If the examination of lacquer garden is poor for three consecutive years, the chief responsible for the lacquer garden will be punished to pay two collars of armor or equivalent money, and will be removed from his post, and the subordinate officers (orders and beggars) will each pay one collar of armor or equivalent money. It can be seen from this that there are many levels of workers in the lacquer garden (Shifu, Ling, Cheng, Zuo), as well as many workers, with a large number of people and a clear division of labor. Therefore, lacquer garden officials are not only managers, but also practitioners of a whole process from sumac planting to raw lacquer harvesting and even lacquerware production.

In order to enhance the credibility and persuasiveness of the argument, we should also look for corroborating clues in Zhuangzi.

Reading through "Zhuangzi", it can be found that in addition to the words "carving, shaping, simple, material, big wood" and so on, there are also many references in the whole book to a large number of utensils related to lacquerware production, such as "jin, saw, vertebrae, chisel, rules, rules, rules, rules, saws, saws, strings, hooks, ink, glue, lacquer" and a large number of utensils related to lacquerware production, such as "no axe, no harm to the object, nothing to use, nothing to be troubled" ("Getaway"),"since I held the axe with the master, I have not tasted the beauty of the material" ("Human World")," "The middle way is not dying in the middle of the day, and the suffering of this material is also" ("The World on Earth"); "So Hu Jin sawed, rope ink killed, and vertebrae chiseled." The world is in chaos, and sin is beating people's hearts" ("In Yu"),"Craftsman Stone Transports Jin into the Wind" ("Xu Wu Ghost"),"Chisel wood for the machine" ("Heaven and Earth"),"The wheel is flat and the wheel is under the hall, and the vertebrae are chiseled up" ("Heavenly Dao")," "The moment is not square, and the rules cannot be round." Chisel does not encircle the fir" ("Tianxia"),"its big book is bloated but not in the middle of the rope ink, and its small branches are curled but not in the rules" ("Getaway"),"Those who wait for the hook rope to be ruled and correct are those who cut their sex; those who wait for the rope to be about glue paint and solidify are also those who invade their virtue" ("The Hook"),"The curver does not use hooks, the straight ones do not use ropes, the round ones do not follow the rules, the square ones do not use the moment, the attachment is not with glue paint, and the restraints are not tied to the ropes" ("The Hook"); "The round one is in the rules, and the square one is in the middle of the moment" ("Horseshoe"),"The curver is hooked, and the straight one should be roped." The nature of the fu and the wood, do you want to be in the rules of the hook rope" ("Horseshoe"),"Destroy the hook rope and abandon the rules, the fingers of the workers, and the founder of the world has its ingenuity" ("The Heavenly Path"),"The Middle Rope, the Left and Right Spin the Middle Rules" ("Dasheng"),"The Worker Spins and Covers the Rules" ("Dasheng"),"The Straight Man in the Rope, the Curver in the Hook, the Square In the Middle, the RoundEr in the Rules" ("Xu Wu Ghost"),"The Water Tranquility Is Bright Candle Eyebrows, the Ping Zhongzhu, and the Great Master Takes the Law" ("Heavenly Dao"),"The Strong Man Who Uses the Words of the Benevolent Rope ink to rape people before" ("The World on Earth") "Its Pingye Rope" ("Xu Wu Ghost")," "Self-correction with Rope Ink" ("Tianxia")," "Knowing is evil, about glue, virtue is the connection, and industry is business." Saints do not conspire, evil use knowledge? No, evil glue" ("De Chong Fu"); "Benevolence and righteousness are like glue lacquer ropes and swim between morality!" Make the world confused" ("Thumb"),"Lacquer is available, so cut it" ("The Human World"), lacquerware production tools are listed among them, if you are not a specialized practitioner, you probably will not know that it is so comprehensive; and "hook rope rules, rope about glue paint" ("Thumb Thumb"), "Jin sawing, rope ink killing, vertebral chisel determination" ("In Yu"), all of which give people the feeling of not leaving their own line. In particular, in "The Great Master" and "Heavenly Dao", it is twice said that "My Master! I'm sorry! ...... Covering the heavens and the earth, carving all the shapes without coincidence", seeing nature as a grand carving work, and taking the magic of creation as a teacher or model for his own emulation, this undoubtedly shows that Zhuangzi, as a "lacquer garden official", should not be, or at least not just a manager of the lacquer garden, but perhaps he is a skilled craftsman who makes lacquerware for the princes and nobles.

The reason for this inference is also due to the following: First, Zhuangzi once said that "it is a bottle of wine", and "牺 bottle" is a wine vessel, which is not enjoyed by ordinary people; second, Zhuangzi once "loaned millet to Jianhe Hou", probably because he specialized in handicrafts (making lacquerware) and did not receive arable land, and his salary was meager. According to Zhang Feilong's book "Chinese Lacquer Technology and LacquerWare Protection", lacquerware processing is a complex, multi-task labor process, which is the product of the specialization of handicraft industry. Workers must be freed from the state of daily labor for the purpose of obtaining the resources of life and engage in specialized lacquerware production. Due to the lack of historical data, if it is considered that Zhuangzi was a skilled lacquerware carver, or even a skilled craftsman who specialized in making lacquerware for the princes and nobles, it can at least be considered that Zhuangzi was very familiar with the lacquer carving process and often dealt with craftsmen.

In "Zhuangzi", not only "craftsmen, craftsmen, craftsmen, craftsmen, craftsmen" appear frequently, but also are well versed in the essentials and bitterness, and depict the craftsmanship of craftsmen, such as "Wheel Flat Wheel" (see "Heavenly Dao"), "Ding Ding Xie Niu" (see "Health Lord"), "Shu Shu Ren Cheng" (see "Da Sheng"), "HookErs Have Shou" (see "ZhiBei You"), "Craftsmen And Stones Transport Jin Into the Wind" (see "Xu Wu Ghost"), "Zi Qing Cut Wood into Iron" (see "Da Sheng"), etc.

In addition, there is a passage that can also be helpful in understanding what Zhuangzi did when he was a "lacquer garden official": "Zhuangzi walked in the mountains, saw the big trees, and the branches and leaves were luxuriant. The logger stops by and does not take it. The reason why Zhuangzi went to the mountains is likely to find wood for carving lacquerware, and in "Mountain Wood" also mentions that "broken into a bottle" is "a hundred-year-old wood", and ancient wood is undoubtedly more in the mountains; moreover, there are "loggers" in the mountains, although it is not clear whether they are peers or encounters, but at least it also shows that valuable wood can be found in the mountain forest. The story of "Ziqing cutting wood into iron" in "Zhuangzi" also confirms this from the side (see "Zhuangzi Dasheng"). Before making lacquerware, it is necessary to go to the mountains to find suitable wood, and in order to ensure the quality of lacquerware, so that it is not warped and durable, it needs to be carefully selected.

Through the mutual reference of the above materials, we find that Zhuangzi, as a "lacquer garden official", was well versed in lacquerware making, and it is likely that he was a skilled craftsman who specialized in making lacquerware for the princes and nobles, rather than a small official who was only responsible for managing the lacquer forest. The above are some of the author's inferences about the identity of Zhuangzi's "lacquer garden official", but the inference itself is not out of archaeological interest, but hopes to have a deeper understanding of Zhuangzi's people and his learning.

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