Wednesday, October 26
Reading: "Daoism," pp. 8-14; Burton Watson, tr., Zhuangzi, 1-18, 23-30
The Zhuangzi is the most provocative and exciting text of early Chinese thought. It is also a very confusing text, in part because its central philosophical ideas are complex and elusive, and in part because the author or authors convey these elusive ideas through unusual literary devices, such as humorous or absurd anecdotes, intentionally over-convoluted analytic passages, undisciplined poetic musings, and puns. Unlike the Dao de jing, the Zhuangzi does not sound like a sage speaking (in Chinese or in English); sometimes, the speaking voice of the text sounds incoherent or drunk.
I have asked you to read the Introduction to Burton Watson's translation to the Zhuangzi (the text you purchased for the course) because his overall approach is a well-informed reflection of traditional interpretations of the text (Watson's excellent literary translation is over forty years old), and because he briefly discusses in an appealing way how the Zhuangzi influenced intellectual currents in China. The approach we will take in this course is based on scholarship done after Watson's book was published and differs in some significant ways. The very short overview in your online reading will give you some idea of the issues we'll be foregrounding.
The first chapter of the Zhuangzi sets the literary tone for the entire text. It introduces subtle philosophical notions by recounting facts and tales that you may find questionable. Do fish eggs become birds? Do cicadas have conversations with doves? Do people fly? Should we assume that Zhuangzi was unaware that there were problems with answering yes to these question? Not really. In no case should you understand the text to be claiming that any of its facts or tales are true -- but, for that matter, you can't assume that it does not mean them to be true either. Just bear in mind that in each case, the facts or tales are meant to convey a point, and it is that point which is the key.
Note that in "Free and Easy Wandering," the text of the chapter divides naturally into a series of independent sections (specifically, in this chapter, "The Peng Bird," pp. 23-26, "Yao and Xu You," 26-27, "Jian Wu and Lian Shu," 27-28, "Yao," p. 28, "Huizi and Zhuangzi (I)," 28-29, "Huizi and Zhuangzi (II)," 29-30). Burton Watson, the translator, carefully indicates breaks in the text by adding line spacing between sections. After you read each small section, ask yourself: What's the point? What does the anecdote tell us? At the end of the chapter, see whether there are common themes shared by a number of the sections.