There are 33 pieces of Zhuangzi and Zhuangzi in pre-Qin reasoning prose, which are divided into three parts: internal, external and miscellaneous. Generally speaking, the inner chapter was written by Zhuangzi. Foreign Miscellaneous Articles comes from Zhuangzi's later research. Zhuangzi's life has not been confirmed. From the biographies of Historical Records and the description of Zhuangzi, we can know something.
Zhuang Zi was born in the Zhou Dynasty during the Warring States Period. He used to be a painter. He lived in poverty and hardship, but despised wealth, power, fame and fortune, trying to maintain his independent personality in troubled times and pursue spiritual freedom without waiting. Zhuangzi's philosophical thoughts originated from Laozi and developed Laozi's thoughts. "Tao" is also the foundation and highest category of his philosophy, not only the concept of the origin and essence of the world. It is also an area of human understanding. Zhuangzi's life is a life of enlightenment. "Heaven and earth coexist with me, and everything is one with me." (On Everything) A small individual is spiritually rushed out, and his short life is integrated into the universe, soaring in the "nothingness land" (Wandering around), crossing the limitation of time and space, entering the past and present, and surpassing perception.
In Zhuangzi, it is declared that his creative method is "taking words as rambling words, taking words as truth and taking fables as wide" (the world). Fables are virtual words put in other people's things. People are used to treating "I" as nonstandard. In order to avoid being subjective and one-sided, to make the truth clear, and to win people's trust, it is necessary to "borrow foreign papers" (fables). Self-reliance is based on the words of those long and respected people. Self-esteem is a language that is naturally expressed unintentionally. This kind of words spread the truth endlessly and can last forever. In Zhuangzi, most of the reasoning is in the form of "San Yan". These three forms are sometimes integrated and difficult to distinguish. Fable is the most important expression. Many articles in Zhuangzi, both inside and outside, are based on fables. A large number of fables are full of "absurd things, absurd things and groundless talk" ("The World"), which makes the composition of Zhuangzi loose and intermittent, changeable and unpredictable. For example, the first half of Happy Travel. It is not the main idea of the work, but just to contrast and contrast people's laziness with their own laziness, and the sentence "To others, saints are useless, and gods are nameless" is just a scratch. The vagueness of structural clues in Zhuangzi does not mean that the structure of the article lacks internal connection, but that profound thoughts and strong emotions are immersed in writing, forming a bond and making it appear intermittent. The paragraphs are connected with each other and integrated. The theme of carefree travel is to pursue a carefree realm of spiritual freedom. The article first paves the way for the theme, then expounds the theme, and finally ends with the sound of people swimming in the empty land. Other works in the inner chapter are also guided by clear internal themes, interspersed with various fables from different angles.
The literary value of Zhuangzi lies not only in the large number of fables, which makes the book look like a collection of fables, but also in the extraordinary imagination of these fables, which constitutes a strange image world. "out of the dust, strange things are born." (Liu Xizai's Outline of Literature and Art) Zhuangzi's philosophy is profound, mysterious and unpredictable, and uses concepts. It is better to symbolize suggestion through imagination and fictional image world. At the same time, from the standpoint of "Tao", everything is integrated and things can be transformed into each other. And Zhuangzi realized that time is infinite, space is infinite, and the universe is infinite. He not only looks at everything in the world from a personal standpoint, but also looks at everything in the world from the height of the universe. Therefore, Zhuangzi's imagination and fiction often go beyond the limitations of time and space and things. Mysterious, wonderful and ever-changing. The fish of the northern style turns into Peng, flies in anger, and if the wings hang in the clouds of the sky, the water will hit three thousand miles, and the person who rises is Wan Li. ("Happy Travel") Ren Gongzi fished, took fifty cows as bait, squatted on Huiji Mountain, and cast a pole in the East China Sea. Write big mysteries. A glass of water is a mustard boat, the fungus flies (carefree tour), and the snail horn is very touching (Zeyang). The smaller the song, the better. Skeleton talks about Tao (Zhile), and the two are confused (On Wuqi). Zhuang Zhou dreamed of butterflies (the master of health preservation).
Zhuangzi's fantastic imagination is to express his philosophical thoughts. The main feature of Zhuangzi is that it contains the truth of life's core monuments and the truth of metaphysics (An Introduction to Literature and Art). In response to the chaotic hospitality of the central government emperors, the Nanhai Emperor and Beihai Emperor suddenly dug a hole for their days and died in the chaos on the seventh day. The deformed image of "five tubes on the top and two spleen as threats" (the world on earth) is bizarre and incredible. What it wants to express is the idea of forgetfulness and avoiding harm. The absurd imagination in Zhuangzi not only vividly expresses his profound philosophical thoughts, but also reflects his understanding of the real society and is full of critical spirit. In Snail's Horn, there is a touching and savage struggle. Fighting for the city and killing for the city "(Mencius Li Lou) is a reflection of this social reality. Cao Shang, who became a Qin dynasty, got carried away with his car and got carried away with himself, depicting a villain who was unscrupulous, seeking money and chasing it. Licking hemorrhoids and breaking carbuncle (Lieyukou) is the most pungent satire on this villain. It is also consistent with the criticism that God knows the law as a thief's defense. "Zhuang seems to be talking nonsense, but he still knows something in his bones." Zhuangzi's absurd artistic image is a reflection of his philosophical thoughts and a tortuous expression of his deep feelings. Craftsmanship has become a common practice, revealing the loneliness and loneliness that no one will appreciate after Keiko's death.