Lao Laizi And Zhuangzi

Although Confucius established basic societal rules during the twilight years of the Zhou dynasty which normally is enough to garner some form of respect, Zhuangzi is not so quick to flatter him. That is not to say that Zhuangzi outright insults the man responsible for the Confucian tradition, but the Confucius that is depicted in Zhuangzi’s writings in neither a man that has achieved divine and objective truth nor is it a man that uses false logic in order to prescribe a remedy for curing the evil actions that occur on the earth. Rather Zhuangzi tends to depict Confucius as a man in the middle, one who is one the path towards understanding the world but not one who has achieved “enlightenment” for lack of a better term. The loose structure …show more content…
One example of this is the encounter between Lao Laizi and Confucius. Laizi is scolding Confucius for trying to “make trouble for ten thousand ages” rather than just the age that they are currently living in. This helps show the Zhuangzi’s belief that Confucius was teaching a path that led one further from the Way and in the long run could spell disaster for the human race. Confucius’ teachings have disrupted the natural way by creating an artificial lifestyle for his followers; his charity to others disrupts the natural order of life; his “praise” is a perversion of Daoism as he is attempting to define life which is impossible and would not even be possible under Daoist …show more content…
One tale that helps display the teachings of Daoism and Confucianism is that of Confucius and the man that jumps in the raging water “that no fish or other water creature” is able to swim in (pg. 112). Confucius sees the man jump in and rationally concludes that the man must have perished which puts an emphasis on the Confucian way of trying to prescribe meaning and definition to life; since the man has jumped into water that no creature can swim in then it would be logical to conclude that the man has died. However, that is not the case. The man is able to survive by forgetting the well-being of his own self and by following the natural flow of the current; whereas the logical conclusion would be to accept his death the man succumbs to the natural state of the river and as a result accomplishes the impossible. This is clearly meant to show the Daoist principle that trying to understand the world with genuine logic is futile and one should rather just accept the world for as it is and live in it, not try to control it. Confucius represents the entire doctrine of Confucianism and this helps show there is no way to truly understand the world and even if one thinks they can with ninety-nine percent accuracy, there is a one percent chance they are wrong but if one ceases to attempt to