Zhuangzi was born in Song Dynasty (now Shangqiu, Henan or Mengcheng, Anhui) during the Warring States Period. He used to be a lacquer garden official and one of the important representatives of Taoism. Later generations called him Lao Zi, Lao Zi Lao Zi. The date of Zhuang Zi's birth and death cannot be tested. Let's just say he was around 300 BC.
Zhuangzi's thoughts all his life are embodied in the book Zhuangzi. Sima Qian said that Zhuangzi wrote hundreds of words of Hanshu? There are fifty-two Zhuangzi records in Yiwenzhi. In the Song Dynasty, it was believed that the inner chapter was written by Zhuangzi, while the outer and miscellaneous chapters were called by later generations. At present, the more popular version in academic circles is Jin? Guo Xiang notes 33 articles, 10 volumes, about 65 thousand words, including 7 internal articles, 15 external articles and 11 miscellaneous articles. Most scholars believe that Neibian is Zhuangzi's work. Modern Wang Shumin's Interpretation of Zhuangzi? The preface thinks that the names of the internal, external and miscellaneous articles in this book are Guo Xiangding's, so the internal articles may not be completely credible; Foreign and miscellaneous items may not be completely suspicious. Zhuangzi quoted his own articles, of which "fables" accounted for nine tenths and "repeated words" accounted for seven tenths, with the intention of suppressing the theory of time by the words of ancient sages, and "Yi Yan" ("Yi Yan" was the name of ancient wine vessels, and "Yi Yan" was a modest name for his remarks in ancient times). Zhuangzi is good at fables, such as Dream of Butterfly in Zhuang Zhou, Chaos Begins in Ming Dynasty, A clever woman can't cook without rice, A mantis catches cicadas, and a yellowbird comes behind, and so on, which are recorded in Zhuangzi. In these stories, Zhuangzi's pursuit of natural spirit is shown, because everything originates from Tao and the truth in the world is understandable.
Zhuangzi's personality is indifferent to fame and fortune. According to Waipian Qiushui, Chu Weiwang (reigned from 339 BC to 329 BC) sent someone to invite him to be prime minister. Zhuangzi used the metaphor of a tortoise to ask, "Would this tortoise rather die than leave its bones in the temple? Or would you rather walk in the mud with your tail dragged alive? " In this way, the messenger was rejected. He called Guanyin and Lao Dan "great men in ancient times" and criticized Hui Shi, who was famous for his eloquence (about 370 BC-3 BC10). Although Zhuangzi and Hui Shi often argue with each other, in Xu Wugui, he said, "Since Keiko died, I have no rivals and no one to talk to. It can be seen that it is lonely.
Zhuangzi? Neijing can be said to be a complete philosophical system, emphasizing that Tao is the general principle of creation of all things in the world, so Tao has no beginning and no end, and it lasts forever. Therefore, Zhuangzi's optimistic outlook on life can be deduced, and Zhuangzi's health-keeping remarks can be seen from Master of Health. Zhuangzi values God, despises form, stresses immortality, and leads a life beyond bones, that is, heaven and earth coexist with me, and everything is one with me, which has influenced the spiritual attitude of pursuing health care in later generations.
In the early years of Tianbao (AD 742), Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (AD 685-AD 762) named Zhuangzi as a "South China True Man", and his book Zhuangzi was also called "South China True Classic". In the first year of Yuanfeng in the Northern Song Dynasty (A.D. 1078), Cheng Wangjing, secretary of the county magistrate of Songcheng County (the year of birth and death is unknown), built Zhuangzhou Temple in Xiaomengcheng (now Mengqiangsi Village, liangyuan district, Shangqiu) in the north of the county, and invited Su Shi (A.D. 1037- A.D./KLOC-0). Later in Song Huizong (reign11001126), he was awarded the title of "Implicit Tongyuan Zhenjun", and Zhuangzi became the real monarch among Taoist gods, and was revered and worshipped by believers.
Because Zhuangzi's thought expounds the function and embodiment of Tao in all things, there is a * * * thought that Tao is natural, which is the main representative of China's ancient Taoist thought, and Lao Zi (5565438 BC+0-479 BC) and Zhuangzi are collectively called. Zhuangzi's thought had a far-reaching influence on philosophy, politics and literature of later generations. Although it accords with Laozi's moral thought in philosophy, Zhuangzi pays more attention to the pursuit of natural health preservation. Politically, like Laozi, I believe that "governing by doing nothing" is the way for the people. Opposing Confucian etiquette means that Zhuangzi's thought has a strong romantic liberalism color in later generations. For example, Hu Wenying, a scholar in the Qing Dynasty (the date of birth and death is unknown), praised in Zhuangzi's Lonely View: "People only know San Lv's sorrow, but I don't know what is the strange fate of San Lv's sorrow. The sorrow of Gai San Lv is in one country, and the sorrow of Qiyuan is in the world; San Lv's sorrow is temporary, but the sorrow of fate is eternal. " "San Lv" in this article refers to Qu Yuan, a doctor in San Lv (about 340 BC-278 BC), whose loyalty and patriotism were framed by courtiers. Hu Wenying thought that Qu Yuan's sorrow was only a country at that time. Zhuangzi's grief represents Zhuangzi's compassion for others, his observation of the life of all things and the world of mortals. Under the illumination of the spirit of heaven and earth, he found too much sorrow in the world and saw the later literati's praise for Zhuangzi's feelings.