Taoism 3
Taoism 3In an effort to decide how I wanted to approach this paper, I decided to search the Internet to see what today's world held for me on the matters of Chinese Philosophy. One quote describing Chuang Tzu, the topic of my research paper, stuck out. In describing what this person thought was the overlying teachings of Chuang Tzu he stated, "The individual could attain mystical unity with this One by achieving complete emptiness or hs� -a timeless state free of worries or selfish desires, open to impressions but transcending all individual material objects." This is what truly made the biggest impression on me from our seminar class. Now, I know that in the beginning of the class we were lead to believe that none of these philosophies should change our life because for one, they where written a very long time ago, where being in a "timeless state free of worries," could be possible. I have to say though that some of the material, especially Chuang Tzu really changed my outlook on many things. My parents could say that this philosophy has made me lazy, believing that I can go through life, living peacefully and harmoniously, in nature, with out a care in the world. I don't really believe this, but some of Chuang Tzu's arguments have either made me strongly agree with what he was teaching, or go into the opposing view and really make me want to seek out more to life, than just my surroundings.
As a philosopher, Chuang Tzu has been under attack from the beginning. It has been said that "scholars at the time could neither figure out what to do with him nor overlook his caustic attack on their root assumptions."(Wu, 2) He has been misunderstood from the beginning. Critics are always condemning him, and not fully understanding what he is trying to hear. His critics can be often heard describing him as a "skeptic, nihilist, fatalist, relativist, and even an evolutionist...In other words, Chuang Tzu is a queer mystical negativist, an obscure prankster, who is not worth taking seriously." (Wu, 2)
Chuang Tzu from the beginning effected me greatly and made the world around me seem different. His teachings helped me understand a lot of the emotions that I had been filed with as a child and through my many stages of maturing. In Section one "Free and Easy Wandering," Chuang Tzu proclaims, "If you go off into the green woods nearby, you can take along food for three meals and come back with your stomach full as ever." (24) In essence he is saying that food is not the only necessary means of filling a person. There is so much more out there in this world. A person's soul also needs nourishment. Being at peace can fulfill this need, and nature can bring you a feeling of relaxation and peacefulness. The...
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