Among the hundred sons and hundreds of families, the ones who annoyed the princes the most were not Confucius and Mencius, who were nagging, nor Su Qin and Zhang Yi, who were in the twilight of the dynasty, but Zhuangzi.
Zhuangzi liked to solve problems by saying fables, and this was how he sent people when he met the emissaries of the King of Chu.
The talent market of the Spring and Autumn Warring States was the market of B, and knowing that Zhuangzi was talented, the King of Chu sent someone to invite him to be an official.
When the messenger came, Zhuangzi was fishing by the pu water, and when he learned of the messenger's intentions, Zhuangzi asked the messenger:
"I heard that there is a divine turtle in the Chu Kingdom that has lived for three thousand years. The king wrapped it in brocade and placed it in a bamboo box and enshrined it in the lobby of the Jongmyo Temple. You say, is this sacred turtle willing to die and leave its shell on the temple to be enshrined, or would it prefer to live in the mud and crawl with its tail dragged? ”
The messenger thought for a moment and said, "Of course I would rather live in the mud and crawl with my tail in it." ”
Zhuangzi said, "Then go back!" I also like to live with my tail in the mud. ”
The Spring and Autumn Warring States period was a chaotic world, and the chaotic world was also an era of many opportunities.
In the face of this era of many opportunities, Zhuangzi is determined to be non-mixed--you only have to toss you, how should I live, and how to live.
Today, many friends choose to stay at home, and I am afraid that a considerable number of them adhere to the same philosophy of life as Zhuangzi.
In some cases, non-mixing is a rather remarkable wisdom.
But some people will say, you don't mix, how to get rich?
With Zhuangzi's leisure, he will not refuse to get rich, Zhuangzi just sees the risks behind the opportunities more soberly than others.
One day, Zhuangzi went out to visit friends, and when he was tired of walking, he fell asleep leaning against a large tree on the side of the road.
In the dream, the big tree said to him, you see, there used to be a lot of brothers around me, and now I am the only one left.
Because they either grew straight or thick, the carpenter saw that it was all useful wood, and he cut it down;
Only I, looking crooked, and there are many scars, no one cares about me.
When Zhuangzi woke up, he told his fellow disciples about it.
Continuing on, we reached a friend's house, and the friend was very happy and ordered the boy to kill the goose feast.
The boy asked, there are two geese in our house, one will bark, one will not bark, which one to kill?
The master said that he could still look after the house, how could he kill?
So he ordered—go, and kill the one who wouldn't bark.
Zhuangzi's disciples were puzzled and asked him, "That big tree survived and lived long because it was useless, but this goose that couldn't bark was killed because it wasn't useful.
Zhuangzi replied seemingly ambiguously, saying that he would be in the middle of usefulness and uselessness, not sticking to the rules, and adapting to changes.
Wen Da yu princes, is Zhuangzi's personal insurance, in the time of the Taiping Dynasty, you will be respected for this, then you are entitled to keep a distance from power, and avoid being harmed by this monster.
In times of distress, you can rely on this skill to make a living, and you will not be abandoned by society because it is useless.
Behind Zhuangzi's open-mindedness is the wisdom of people in the world, so he will not fall into the same fate as Li Bai of the Tang Dynasty or Xie Jin of the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, those who want to develop by clinging to the powerful, or always go to find trouble for society, it is difficult to use the wisdom of Zhuangzi.
Author: Sasu, from The Reader Magazine, No. 23, 2018, original title "The Wisdom of Zhuangzi".