The Unborrowed II

The Unborrowed II
by Scott Bradley

Chang Ji, Confucius' disciple, would hear more of how a one-footed ex-con, Wang Tai, could be a greater sage than his own master, who thus further expounds on the philosophy of Wang:

"Looked at from the point of view of their differences, even your own liver and gallbladder are as far away as Chu in the south and Yue in the north. But looked at from the point of view of their sameness, all things are one. If you take the latter view, you become free of all preconceptions...You just release the mind to play in the harmony of all Virtuosities. Seeing what is one and the same to all things, nothing is ever felt to be lost." (Zhuangzi, 5:5-6; Ziporyn)

When we realize that we are all in the same boat, all temporal expressions of the same Reality (the “unborrowed”), we are able to transcend all the discriminations we make between things. And doing this, we are able to “release the mind to play in harmony” with every expression. That is Zhuangzi’s philosophy in a nutshell. There are other nutshell summations, but always there are these themes of acceptance, affirmation, and playful wandering.

Though the realization may prove difficult, the message is always pretty simple.

You can check out Scott's writings on Zhuangzi here.