Zhuangzi was born in poverty and worked as a "paint garden official". It is impossible to know the age of this official. But Zhuangzi does not seem to lack opportunities for "development". Chu Weiwang heard of his reputation and greeted him cordially, thinking that he was a good friend. Zhuangzi smiled and said to the ambassador of Chu: "A thousand dollars is of great interest; Your position, your position. Haven't you ever seen animals sacrificed? Carefully raised for many years, wearing embroidery, and finally sacrificed in the ancestral hall. At this time, it is impossible not to raise it. Let's go, I'd rather play dirty than fast, don't drag my tail in the mud like a live turtle, and don't make sacred sacrifices.
It can be seen that Zhuangzi's era is changeable and life is impermanent. If freedom and life are taken as collateral for great expectations, Zhuangzi thinks it is meaningless, and it can't relieve Zhuangzi's "noble" impulse that seems to have originated from ancient times.
Liang Huiwang once summoned Zhuangzi, and Zhuangzi was in rags. Li xian corporal Liang said sympathetically, why is Mr. Li so down and out? Zhuangzi replied: If a moral person can't do it, he will be down and out, not down and out. Besides, I was born in the wrong age, the monarch is short-sighted and the prime minister is wicked. What can I do? With such rude remarks, Zhuangzi is killing himself. It can be seen that he is not without right and wrong likes and dislikes, but too much right and wrong likes and dislikes, condemning the world and giving up running. Zhuangzi can only be a bohemian aesthete and thinker. His spiritual temptation comes from his soul, like homesickness and eternal home, and sometimes he can't help it.
Zhuangzi's philosophy is like another kind of crying. Its essence is that he thinks of the helplessness, smallness and loneliness of the whole life from the helpless suffering and pain in front of him. This helplessness and pain are not exempt from the growth of external things.
Zhuangzi has a friend who is commensurate with his nature-Hui Shi. Hui Shi, a versatile and eloquent man, was the prime minister of Wei for more than ten years. He advocates loving sleeping soldiers, so he runs around in many ways. Zhuangzi is not interested in Hui Shi's behavior, but this does not prevent them from studying life and heckling each other. Hui Shi once satirized Zhuangzi as a big gourd with five stone heads, a bloated and curly tree. Zhuangzi doesn't think so. He thinks that it can be preserved because it is unavailable, and he can live under the rivers and seas because of its great measures.
In addition to the most famous "children are not fish, but know the happiness of fish", there is also a dialogue about "sentimentality and ruthlessness":
Hui Shi: Are people really heartless?
Zhuangzi: Yes.
Hui Shi: Without love, how can you be a man?
Zhuangzi: Nature gives us looks, and God gives us images. How can we not be considered human?
Hui Shi: If you call someone, how can you be ruthless?
Zhuangzi: This is not what I call heartlessness. When I say heartless, I don't mean to hurt myself with likes and dislikes, but just let nature take its course and not add anything to my life.
Hui Shi: How can you have a body if you don't add something to your life?
Zhuangzi: Nature gave you looks, and God gave you images. Don't hurt yourself with likes and dislikes. Now you are too tired to stand up, lean against a tree and try to sing, and fall asleep at your desk. God gave you shape, but you are famous for your sophistry!
Different orientations are urgent, but excellent understanding and comprehension stimulate each other and can eliminate intellectual poverty and numbness, which is really unbearable for real thinkers.
Hui Shi died before Zhuangzi. Once after the cemetery in Hui Shi, Zhuangzi told a story to his followers, saying that there was once a plasterer with a little foam on his nose, as thin as the wings of a fly. He asked a famous stonemason to cut off this layer of foam with an axe, and the stonemason waved his axe like the wind. As a result, the foam disappeared and the nose was not damaged. The plasterer is also deadpan and motionless. Hearing this, the King of Song called the carpenter and asked him to perform again. The carpenter said, I tried, but my opponent died, so I can't try again. Zhuangzi lamented that after Hui Shi's death, he had no partner to talk to.
In Zhuangzi's philosophy, the highest freedom is the freedom that doesn't matter, and the greatest happiness is that you don't know what luck and happiness are, and you are detached like a Dapeng phoenix and a butterfly in your dream. This is essentially an anonymous preservation, a highly introverted expansion-at the same time, it is shrinking, absolutely personal and absolutely selfless.