Anyone who has read "Zhuangzi" knows that Zhuangzi's writing is fresh and unworldly, wonderful, and it can even be said that the beauty of his writing has reached the extreme, and it is difficult to surpass it.
Even so, Zhuangzi believed that the text itself had insurmountable limitations.
Why?
For he is deeply aware that the essence of all things that give rise to all things cannot be said at all, as he once said in zhuangzi tiandao, that is:
"The mouth cannot speak, but there are many things in between"
This means that the essence of the things contained in it cannot be spoken, that is, the mouth cannot speak.
It can even be said that he believes that the words in the book cannot express "meaning" at all, that is:
"The world's noble Taoist books are also books, books are not language, words are noble." The meaning of the noble words is also the meaning of the meaning. He who follows the will, cannot be said to be spoken of."
That is to say, Zhuangzi himself is very aware of the limitations of books or words, and he believes that it is not wrong for people to realize the "preciousness" of books, but he also emphasizes that the words on books are only the carriers of language, and language and writing are just expressions or paraphrases of "meaning", and cannot fully express the whole of "intention".
Therefore, he put forward the view of "to speak, no words; to do nothing", and he further emphasized that there are "those who can speak, the coarseness of things; those who can be intentional, the essence of things", in Zhuangzi's concept, words can only be rough or rough content, but they can not fully express the truth contained in "meaning", that is:
"The Word is unspeakable, and words are not also"
Therefore, although Zhuangzi was very clear about the limitations of language and writing, he did not deny the function of language and writing, or that although language or writing had its own limitations, it was still an indispensable means of expression.
Therefore, he not only recognizes that "words are not satisfactory", but also talks about "getting carried away".
Why?
Because the purpose of his "unsatisfactory words" is to remind people not to cling to words, but to break through the shackles of language and writing or to understand the true "meaning" through the level of language and writing, that is, the true "meaning" is not in the language and writing, in other words, language and writing are just a tool or carrier used to express "intention".
However, many people often put the cart before the horse, clinging to the content of language and writing, but forgetting the "meaning".
From the Taoist point of view, the Tao is dao, the extraordinary Tao, the true Tao, and it is impossible to express the essence of the Tao in words and words, so if you cling to words and examine the precepts, of course, it is impossible to understand the true "meaning" of the "Tao".
And these are the real reasons why Zhuangzi talks about the ineffable "meaning".
For more exciting content, come and ask about the blue sky
【Asked the blue sky】Focus on Traditional Chinese Studies, Buddhism, there are content updates every day, like friends don't forget to click on the attention, welcome to collect, welcome to appreciate, welcome to forward.
The information in this article is mainly quoted from "Zhuangzi" and "Taoist"