Abstract:

“Xiaoyao You” (“Free and Easy Wandering”) in the Zhuangzi expounds an ideal, attitude, and realm of “attaining joy through self-attunement.” In this chapter, Zhuangzi employs the highly imaginative “debate over the small versus the great” to demonstrate the importance of a shift in perspective for human spiritual life. He guides us beyond cognitive limitations and an egocentric standpoint toward a broader world of possibilities and differences. If we grasp that “although the small and the great differ, xiaoyao (being free and easy) is one and the same, ” we may find a rhythm of life and mode of existence suited to ourselves and live in accord with our own nature. For Zhuangzi, genuine xiaoyao entails wudai (non-dependence): the mind is no longer fettered by external conditions such as material goods, fame and profit, and conventional values, or by internal constraints such as preconceptions, desires, and emotions. By transcending conventional relations among people and between people and things, and by freeing the mind from the spiritual harm wrought by attachment to achievement and reputation, one realizes self-attuned xiaoyao and spiritual joy at any time and in any place. Through such parables as “the spirit-man of Mount Guye, ” “the five-shi gourd, ” and “the realm of nothing whatsoever, ” Zhuangzi makes the case for xiaoyao by moving from setting forth an ideal, to providing a method, and finally to securing existential repose. The realm of non-dependent xiaoyao is no unattainable fantasy. It begins with a shift in perspective on “the useful and the useless, ” passes through the art of a life afloat on rivers and lakes, and releases one from the oppression of “being put to use” and the anxiety of “being reified, ” thereby making possible the joyful state of carefree self-attunement. As a concept of emblematic significance, Zhuangzi’s xiaoyao exhibits a reflective orientation that shifts cognitive perspectives, transcends attachment to the narrow self, and re-establishes criteria of value. It embodies a distinctive wisdom of life and a transcendent spiritual realm in Chinese philosophy; it can also contribute to the spiritual ecology of a harmonious society and the enrichment of human spiritual life.

Key words: “Xiaoyao You” (“Free and Easy Wandering”), self-attunement, joy