中英雙語話中國歷史名人 第30期:莊子

Zhuang Zi(369 B. C.~286 B. C.), with his given name as Zhou, was a key figure of Taoism following Lao Zi. He was born at the town of Meng (Northeast of the present-day Shangqiu, Henan Province) of the Song State.

莊子(約公元前369年~公元前286年)，名周，宋國蒙(今河南商丘東北)人，是繼老子之後道家學派的代表人物。

He once worked as an official in a varnish free farm before resigning to lead a reclusive life.

曾做過漆園吏，後隱居鄉里，與統治者採取了不合作的態度。

The book bearing his name has 33 chapters survived. The traditional view is that Zhuang Zi penned the first seven “inner" chapters and his disciples and other thinkers contributed the other parts (the "outer" and “miscellaneous" chapters).

《莊子》現存33篇，分內篇、外篇和雜篇三部分。一般認爲，內篇7篇爲莊子自著，反映了他的主要思想。

Similar to Lao Zi's philosophy, Zhuang Zi believed that the "Tao" is the origin of everything in the universe. However, the “Tao" Zhuang Zi referred to is an omnipresent and infinite concept in nature.

莊子繼承了老子關於“道”爲宇宙萬物本源的思想，但莊子之“道”無所不在，無始無終，是總體性的。

Zhuang Zi transformed Lao Zi's outlook on life into a spiritual realm of absolute freedom, a“free and easy wondering" state.

在天道觀上，莊子也講“天”，但他的天是指自然，自然生成即爲天。

This state can be achieved, according to Zhuang Zi, through a variety of complicated introspective experiences rather than pursuing endless desires in society.

莊子把老子的人生哲學轉化爲以“逍遙遊”命名的人生境界，一種絕對自由的精神境界。爲達到這種境界，莊子主張以“心齋”、“物化”、“喪我”、“虛己”等內心的深刻體驗去代替社會的無限多樣的追求。

The experience of“xinzha(mindfasting)” means the freedom from all preoccupations, that is, an attitude free from materialism and a complete unity with nature.

所謂“心齋”就是“虛而待物”，對外物採取一種“虛”的態度，即超功利、超現實的態度，排除一切外界干擾，忘卻功名利祿，全神貫注，在順乎自然中與自然融爲一體，返璞歸真。

By comparing the sophisticated and competitive social reality with the harmonious and tranquil nature, Zhuang Zi put forward the notion of "wuhua" (the transformation of things) and appealed to the return of one's suppressed soul back to nature.

“物化”是拿被異化了的對立相爭的社會現實與和睦相處、與世無爭的自然作對比，使人被現實所壓抑了的感情歸向自然，恢復人的本性。

Zhuang Zi's philosophy of worshipping the nature often leads to the pursuit of a personality of aloofness.

莊子崇尚“自然”的人生觀表現出一種對清高孤傲、遺世獨立人格的執著追求。

The philosophical basis of this aloofness is reiativism, that is, in his own words, “The universe and I came into being together; I and everything therein are One.”

這種出世態度的哲學基礎是相對主義，即“天地與我並生，而萬物與我爲一”的齊物論。

Only through the equivalence of all things can one's real self fuse into the world, thus the spiritual emancipation of humanity can be achieved.

莊子認爲世界上的萬物都是沒差別的，齊一的。等萬物，齊生死，無是非，只有連“我”也融化到萬物之中去了，人也就獲得了精神上的徹底解放。