莊子論道之超越性與實現性

The Transcendence and Actuality of Chuang Tzu's Tao

王煜(YUK WONG)

《中國文化研究所學報》 6卷1期 (1973/12) Pp. 109-142

https://doi.org/10.29708/JCS.CUHK.197312_6(1).0010

並列摘要

Chuang Tzu says, ＂There seems to be a True Lord (Master) who renders things as they are. But I find no trace of His existence.＂ Religionists are inclined to regard ＂True Lord＂ as a personal God, a mindful Creator (Demiurge) of the universe. Kuo Hsiang, the most distinguished commentator of Chuang Tzu, rightly remarks: ＂Myriad things vary in living conditions and natural inclinations. It seems as if a Genuine Master makes them the way they are. Seeking the sign of the Genuine Lord in vain, we understand that everything is naturally in the way it is and nothing causes it to be so.＂ Mo Tzu's Heaven and the Christian God are at once personal, omniscient, and, despite all appearances to the contrary, deeply concerned about the destiny of mankind in general and each particular human individual. Tao must not be mistaken for a Creator or a personal God. Impossible to be omniscient, it is the total cosmic principles as metaphysical reality analogous to Logos in Greek philosophy. Heraclitus has already denied the existence of a cosmic Creator. He says, ＂But while the Logos remains always this, men remain uncomprehending ... . For everything becomes essent in accordance with the Logos.＂ According to An Introduction to Metaphysics by Martin Heidegger, there was an original unity between being and thinking, i.e. between Physis and Logos. Separated from Physis, Logos (the ＂logical＂) becomes the essence of thinking. In the sense of reason and understanding Logos achieves domination over Being in the beginning of Greek philosophy, since it refers to a cosmic reason which endows the universe with order and intelligibility. Logos is subsequently identified with Destiny, Providence, Nature (Physis), immaterial instrument and even the personal agency of God's creative activities, the second person of the Trinity, and above all, the form-giving creative aspect of Intelligence or Nous, the second of the three Hypostases in Plotinus's system. Tao resembles Logos inasmuch as both are cosmic reason, and Destiny, as well as words or languages as expressions of reason. Being impersonal and mindless, Tao and Logos are not objects to whom man can pray. Heraclitus says, ＂We should let ourselves be guided by what is common to all. Yet, although the Logos is common to all, most men live as if each of them had a private intelligence of his own.＂ Tao is also common to all, for ＂private intelligence＂ is ＂cunning＂ in both Confucian and Taoist views. Heraclitus emphasizes the necessity to follow Logos; Taoists, to follow Tao. Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu resemble Anaximander who seeks the ground of the manifold processes of Nature in a single world-principle-the ＂Infinite＂, to which he, stepping beyond the realm of experience, ascribes attributes of eternity, imperishability and inexhaustibility. In the light of Hegel's philosophy of religion, Taoism consists in a Triad of Nothingness as Tao-in-itself, Being as Tao-for-itself, and Mystery as Tao-in-and-for-itself, or the dialectical reconciliation of Nothingness and Being. In Chapter 16 of Chuang Tzu we find ＂Tao is Reason＂. In Chapter 12, a significant paragraph reads, In the Great Beginning, there was Nothingness; there was neither Being nor name. The One originated from Nothingness; it achieved Oneness, but no existential forms were manifest. Things acquired it (the One) and came into existence. That was called Virtue. What was formless was divided [into Yin and Yang] and diversified into myriad things. That was called Destiny. Through movement and rest, it (the One) produced all things. Things were produced in accordance with the principles of life. That was called Formation. The formed physical bodies maintained their inner spirit in order that every move (activity) would follow their specific principles. That was called Nature. By cultivating this Nature, one may return to Virtue. When Virtue is perfected, one will be unified with the Beginning. Being unified with the Beginning, one becomes vacuous (receptive to anything). Being vacuous, one becomes great. Then one will mindlessly partake the move of myriad things as if joining birds in unintentional cheep and chirp. Thus, one is united with the universe. The unity is actually intimate but apparently stupid and idiotic. This is called profound mysterious virtue, in which one participates in the Grand Submission [to the One or Tao]. According to Lin Yün Ming's punctuation, the first sentence reads: ＂In the Great Beginning, there was No-Nothingness and [then] the Nameless.＂ No-Nothingness negates the appearance of Nothingness and transcends the opposition between Being and Nothingness. It is Lao Tzu's Mystery, namely, the negation of Nothingness or the negation of the negation of Being. The Nameless has been defined by Lao Tzu as the beginning of the universe. In Taoism the meaning of production lies in the negative side: to produce is not to block and prohibit the natural growth of creatures, as Wang Pi's commentary on Lao Tzu appropriately suggests. Lao Tzu says: Tao produced the One. The One produced the Two. The Two produced the Three. And the Three produced the myriad things. The myriad things carry the Yin and embrace the Yang, and through the blending of material force they attain harmony. Many commentators look upon the Two as Yin and Yang, which are material. Wang Pi wrongly explains One, Two and Three to be the first three rings of an infinite series. Nevertheless, it is most appropriate to expound the above quotation in the light of the first chapter of Lao Tzu: the One denotes Nothingness; the Two, Nothingness and Being (which is by no means material); and the Three, Nothingness, Being, and Mystery-the synthesis of Nothingness and Being, which, as ＂the gateway of myriad wonders＂, produces all things. It is only in logical thinking that Tao abstractly divides into Nothingness and Being. In so far as returning to Mystery, Tao recovers its concreteness and reality. Lao Tzu employs these three numbers, terms and steps merely to unfold the full significance of Tao. In Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu Yin denotes the weak and tender aspect of material force; Yang, the strong and tough. In Chuang Tzu the term ＂Yin-Yang＂ stands either for Nature (in contrast with mankind) or for Rest and Motion. Professor Hsiung Shih-li believes that ancient Taoists were strongly influenced by early thinkers of the Yin-Yang School, however, Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu could have developed their own concepts of Yin-Yang solely from penetrating observations and insight independent of the Yin-Yang scholars. But the authors of the Exterior and Miscellaneous Chapters of Chuang Tzu may have learnt the doctrine of Tsou Yen who combined the old ideas of both Yin-Yang and the Five Agents (metal, wood, water, fire and earth that already appeared in the Book of History). Chapter 21 says, ＂The Extreme of Yin is stern and frigid, but the Extreme of Yang is glowing and warm. The former springs from Earth; the latter, Heaven. These two intermingle, interfuse and harmonize and thence the myriad things are begotten.＂ Obviously this may have influenced a Confucian who wrote ＂the successive movement of Yin and Yang is called Tao (Way)＂ in the Appended Remarks on the Book of Changes. However, Neo-Confucianists always misunderstood the Lao-Chuang ethics. Two eminent existentialists, Martin Buber and Karl Jaspers, underestimated Chuang Tzu's originality. It is delightful to read F.M. Cornford's book From Religion to Philosophy, in which Tao was correctly compared with Indian Rta, Pershian Asha, and Dharma in Mahayana Buddhism.