Aspiration for the Transformation of the Mind: Zhuangzi / Overseas China Studies Series: Analysis of the Inner Chapters

Author: (USA) Ailunxin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: This book offers a fundamentally new interpretation of the philosophy of Zhuangzi. Among similar works, it is the first to fully and elaborately elucidate the existence of a deep cognitive structure in Zhuangzi, hidden beneath the seemingly arbitrary literary anecdotes, mystical discourses, and obscure allusions. The author meticulously analyzes myths, legends, monsters, paradoxes, metaphors, and linguistic puzzles—strategically employed techniques to systematically guide and develop the spiritual dimensions of the human mind. This book is a seminal work in the field of Sinological studies internationally. The author argues that the essence of Zhuangzi (particularly its Inner Chapters) is the transformation of the mind, the shift from dream to awakening, and the leap from a lower state to a higher one. This book challenges the traditional view of Zhuangzi as a work of relativism, offering a detailed critique and profound dissection of various relativistic interpretations in Zhuangzi studies. It boldly questions the arrangement of the "butterfly dream" narrative, which has been for over two thousand years, and suggests that the "Great Sage's Dream" in the "On the Equality of Things" ("There is a great awakening, and then one knows this is a great dream") better reflects Zhuangzi's philosophy, while the "butterfly dream" is merely an immature version of the "Great Sage's Dream." This book highly evaluates Zhuangzi, considering it a first-tier philosophical work among the finest creations of the human mind.