Chuang Tsu or Zhuangzi
was a Chinese philosopher who is seen by some to be the heir to the founder of Taoism, Laozi (Lao Tsu). However,
some argue that Zhuangzi was the first Taoist who simply invented Laozi so that he could write the Tao Te Ching annoymously. He was a contemporary of Plato and though his teachings are less known than those found in the Tao Te Ching he is well known and revered within Asia.
One of the things that Zhuangzi taught was a
form of relativism where:
"Our language and cognition in general presuppose a dao [or tao, path] to which each of us is committed by our separate past—our paths. Consequently, we should be aware that our most carefully considered conclusions might seem misguided had we experienced a different past. Natural dispositions to behavior combine with acquired ones—including dispositions to use names of things, to approve/disapprove based on those names and to act in accordance to the embodied standards. Thinking about and choosing our next step down our dao or path is conditioned by this unique set of natural acquisitions."
James: In Buddhism we are conditioned by our karma to see things as realitive to how it effects us personally. This we know of course as duality--us vs. them. We label things as good or bad but doing so doesn't necessarily make those people/objects/events as "good or bad." We often ask each other, "
How was your day?" and we usually in one way or another say, good or bad. However, our day isn't a "good" or "bad" one no matter what happens, however, our
perception of that day might be seen to our conditioned mind as "good" or "bad" based on how far it went to fulfill our desires. It's not a good or bad day but simply--a day. An example Zhuangzi gives is of death--
As the story goes:
In the fourth section of "The Great Happiness" (至樂 zhìlè, chapter 18), Zhuangzi expresses pity to a skull he sees lying at the side of the road. Zhuangzi laments that the skull is now dead, but the skull retorts, "How do you know it's bad to be dead?"
Another example about two famous courtesans points out that there is no universally objective standard for beauty. This is taken from Chapter 2 (齊物論 qí wù lùn) "On Arranging Things", or "Discussion of Setting Things Right" or, in Burton Watson's translation, "Discussion on Making All Things Equal".
Men claim that Mao [Qiang] and Lady Li were beautiful, but if fish saw them they would dive to the bottom of the stream; if birds saw them they would fly away, and if deer saw them they would break into a run. Of these four, who knows how to fix the standard of beauty in the world? (2, tr. Watson 1968:46)
: I found this last quote while researching this post and thought it was a nice wrap-up to this discussion--especially as it relates to Buddhism:
The Buddhist view of the universe resembles the view developed by 20th-century physics. Except for the mental categories we impose upon experience, we find nothing in experience that is immutable. There is no constant but our own misconceptions. Every "thing" is actually a process--it arises, develops, flourishes, declines, and dissipates. All nouns are still-photos from the movie of life--which is made up of verbs.
All that we see around and inside us is the result of trillions of simultaneous processes, arising and declining in different overlapping stages at once. All that appears solid in this cosmos is in reality a shimmering dance of energy in flux. But where physics leaves us adrift like meaningless specks in an incomprehensible void, Buddhism envisions a reality beyond meaning and meaninglessness, beyond knowing, beyond self, beyond duality, beyond suffering--a dance of all things, in which we can become enlightened, interconnected, and compassionate dancers.
PHOTO CREDIT:
Click here.
~Peace to all beings~
Recently American President Barack Obama traveled to Russia and with the help of his Russian counterpart negotiated a deal to reduce nuclear weapons between the two countries. For too long America has seen itself as the only important country in the world, which has bred the three poisons with alarming but predictable speed: Greed, hatred and delusion. Thankfully America now has a leader that better understands how interconnected the world is and just how destructive and counterproductive the "us vs. them" mentality can be. I thought this quote from Obama about interconnection in world affairs was refreshing talk for a political leader because politics is all too often used to exploit people, money and power:
