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READING: ZHUANGZI ON LIFE AND LEARNING

The text below is the beginning of Zhuangzi chapter 3, The Secret of Caring for Life,which begins with a discussion of learning, followed by the story about Cook Dingalready mentioned in lecture. As you read through these stories, think to yourself aboutthe following questions:

Zhuangzis strategy for a good life seems to be to drop out, and to stop strivingfor knowledge. Why does he think so? Why does he have such a negativeattitude toward knowledge? What is the relationship between knowledge and life,according to him? Why is the story of Cook Ding an illustration of these issues?

FROM CHAPTER 3, "THE SECRET OF CARING FOR LIFE"

Your life has a limit but knowledge has none. If you use what is limited to pursue whathas no limit, you will be in danger. If you understand this and still strive for knowledge,you will be in danger for certain! If you do good, stay away from fame. If you do evil,stay away from punishments. Follow the middle, go by what is constant, and you canstay in one piece, keep yourself alive, look after your parents, and live out your years.

Cook Ding was cutting up an ox for Lord Wenhui. At every touch of his hand, every

heave of his shoulder, every move of his feet, every thrust of his knee -- zip, zoop! Heslithered the knife along with a zing, and all was in perfect rhythm, as though he wereperforming the dance of the Mulberry Grove or keeping time to the Jingshou music." 1

"Ah, this is marvelous!" said Lord Wenhui. "Imagine skill reaching such heights!" CookDing laid down his knife and replied, "What I care about is the Way (Dao), which goesbeyond skill. When I first began cutting up oxen, all I could see was the ox itself. Afterthree years I no longer saw the whole ox. And now -- now I go at it by spirit and don'tlook with my eyes. Perception and understanding have come to a stop and spirit moveswhere it want. I go along with the grains that are naturally there, strike in the big hollows,guide the knife through the big openings, and follow things as they are. 2 So I nevertouch the smallest ligament or tendon, much less a main joint.

1 Mulberry Grove and Jingshou are names of dance and music supposedly from the halcyon times of sage kings." The word that is translated as grain here, li (unrelated to the homophone word li for ritual) is an importantphilosophical word that can be understood as the basic orders and principles or rational explanations of things, butits most basic meaning refers to the orderly grains and patterns found in rocks, plants, or in this case, the musclesand sinews of an ox.

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"A good cook changes his knife once a year - because he cuts. A mediocre cookchanges his knife once a month - because he hacks. I've had this knife of mine fornineteen year.; and I've cut up thousands of oxen with it, and yet the blade is as goodas though it had just come from the grindstone. There are spaces between the joints,and the blade of the knife has really no thickness. If you insert what has no thicknessinto such spaces, then there's plenty of room -- more than enough for the blade to playabout it. That's why after nineteen year, the blade of my knife is still as good as when itfirst come from the grindstone.

"However, whenever I come to a complicated place, I size up the difficulties, tell myselfto watch out and be careful, keep my eyes on what I'm doing, work very slowly, andmove the knife with the greatest subtlety, until - flop! the whole thing comes apart like aclod of earth crumbling to the ground. I stand there holding the knife and look all aroundme, completely satisfied and reluctant to move on, and then I wipe off the knife and putit away."

"Excellent!" said Lord Wenhui. "I have heard the words of Cook Ding and learned howto care for life!"

(Adapted from Sources of Chinese Traditions, pp. 95, 103 - 104)

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8)&1/$,%& 32,*"2( %&0 9+/%&4:, (,0" .5 (,0"; In Confucianism, learning is of fundamentalimportance. Zhuangzi, on the other hand, rejected the Confucian approach. Yet doesntCook Ding represent a way of learning? Or is it something else? What is the difference? In the two passages below, both Xunzi and Zhuangzi use carpentry as a metaphor foraddressing these issues. How would you unpack this metaphor? What do carpenter,carpentry, wood, and tree stand for in each of the thinkers writings?

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worms would eat them up. Its not a timber tree - there's nothing it can be used for.That's how it got to be that old!"

After Carpenter Shi returned home, the oak tree appeared to him in a dream and said,"What are you comparing me with? Are you comparing me with those useful trees? Thecherry apple, the pear, the orange, the citron, the rest of those fructiferous trees andshrubs - as soon as their fruit is ripe, they are torn apart and subjected to abuse. Theirbig limbs are broken off, their little limbs are yanked around. Their utility makes lifemiserable for them, and so they don't get to finish out the years Heaven gave them, butare cut off in mid-journey. They bring it on themselves -- the pulling and tearing of thecommon mob. And it is the same way with all other things. "As for me, I've been trying along time to be of no use, and though I almost died, I've finally got it. This is of great useto me. If I had been of some use, would I ever have grown this large? Moreover, youand I are both of us things. What's the point of this -- things condemning things? You, a

worthless man about to die -- how do you know I'm a worthless tree?"

When Carpenter Shi woke up, he reported his dream. His apprentice said, "If it's sointent on being of no use, what's it doing there at the village shrine?" 3

"Shhh! Say no more! It is only resting there. If we carp and criticize, it will only concludethat we don't understand it. Even if it weren't at the shrine, do you suppose it would becut down? It protects itself in a different way from ordinary people. If you try to judge itby conventional standards, you'll be way off!"

3 The shrine, or altar of soil, was always situated in a grove of beautiful trees. So the oak was serving a purpose bylending an air of sanctity to the spot.

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(Adapted from Sources of Chinese Traditions, pp. 106 - 107)