A village and a week of poverty
First of all, as far as "poverty" in Zhuangzi is concerned, I think it can be roughly divided into two aspects, namely "poverty in material life" and "poverty in interpersonal relationship".
Zhuangzi's material life is undoubtedly a rare poverty among a hundred schools of thought, which is especially unequal to his amazing wisdom and his reputation at that time. As we all know, Confucius traveled around the world. Although he eventually chose to return to his hometown to write books and teach because his political ideals could not be well reused, at least he had no worries about food and clothing. Otherwise, it would be impossible to send out such feelings as "never tired of eating fine and never tired of eating fine". Mencius, a contemporary of Zhuangzi, advocated asceticism, but when he refused Qi Xuanwang's detention, he said: "If you want to be rich, you will be virtuous, and if you are rich, you will get 10,000." It can be seen that Mencius' asceticism is only a way of life he pursues, not real poverty. However, Zhuangzi is different from them. Zhuangzi is really poor, so poor that "clothes are patched up, shoes are just Wang Wei passing by." "Zhuangzi's Essays and Foreign Things" also records that "Zhuang Zhou's family is poor, so he borrowed millet from the river." Hou Jianhe seemed generous, saying that he could lend Zhuang Zhou 300 gold when his money arrived, but in fact he beat around the bush and refused. Zhuang Zhou immediately satirized the river supervisor with the metaphor of a dried fish. After reading this passage, Mr. Bao Pengshan pointed out that an important reason why Hou Jianhe did not lend Zhuang Zhou food was that Zhuang Zhou was unable to repay it at that time. In other words, if Hou Jianhe lent the grain to Zhuang Zhou, he must be prepared to take it back. Obviously, Hou Jianhe is not a kind-hearted person who is willing to give alms, so he declined under an excuse. Whether the practice of supervising the river Hou is appropriate or not for the time being, at least we can see that Zhuang Zhou's material life is really shabby to a certain extent. Don't say that Confucius is so particular about the delicacy of food, even food and clothing is a problem.
In terms of interpersonal relationships, Zhuangzi is not rich either. On the one hand, Zhuangzi's spiritual realm is very accessible to people, and secular people can't understand his thoughts, let alone really enter his spiritual world and talk to him; On the other hand, Zhuangzi makes good use of fables, and metaphors are often sharp and mean, so it is difficult for ordinary friends to accept his meanness. Throughout Zhuangzi, Hui Shi is probably the only person who can be called a friend with Zhuangzi. According to records, when Zhuangzi Wen became the prime minister of Wei, he immediately set out from his hometown to visit his friends. When Zhuangzi's wife died, Keiko also made a special trip to offer her condolences. Ten years after Keiko's death, Zhuangzi still remembers him, which shows that the friendship between them is quite profound. Although Hui Shi has always said to Zhuangzi that "words are useless" and Zhuangzi used "owls are greedy for mice" to compare and satirize Keiko's superficiality and secularity, the argument between them about "a child is not a fish, how to know the happiness of a fish" is wonderful, which explains why Keiko can enter the spiritual world of Zhuangzi and become the only best friend in his life.
From a secular point of view, Zhuangzi's life is undoubtedly gloomy. Poverty and loneliness are the norm in Zhuangzi's life. For the vast majority of people, such a life is unbearable, not to mention taking pains. But in fact, Zhuangzi lives happily, much happier than most people who live in the secular world and have friends all over the world. In Zhuangzi's view, these things can't be regarded as suffering from the beginning. So his happiness is not reluctant and sad. Standing at a height that ordinary people can't reach, he examines all kinds of life and experiences pure happiness in life with a more transparent state of mind.
Tuesday's strong music
In the sketch of Spring Festival Evening six years ago, Xiao Shenyang said that "the most painful thing in life is that people die without spending money", while Zhao Benshan retorted that "the most painful thing in life is that people live without money". Although this conversation is funny, it hits the nail on the head and points out two important elements that cause people to be unhappy, namely "fame and fortune" and "life and death". Throughout today's society, people often fall into inexplicable anxiety and loss because of their dissatisfaction with material desires and fear of death. However, in Zhuang Zhou's view, all this is not worth mentioning at all. Although he lives in poverty, his clothes are poor and his shoes are worn out. Faced with the olive branch thrown by the king of Chu, Zhuang Zhou was unmoved and devoted himself to fishing for his own fish. After his wife died, Zhuangzi sang in a drum basin to celebrate his wife's escape from the poverty of secular life and return to Mother Nature. While Zhuangzi himself was dying, he could discuss his own affairs with his disciples calmly, without any sadness or taboo.
This is because Zhuangzi has already seen through fame and fortune, life and death. For Zhuangzi, fame and fortune are foreign things, and gains and losses are beyond the control of people's hearts. If a person bases his happiness on these external things, then the happiness he gets will not last long. He refused the invitation of the King of Chu to be "tired in China" because he knew that a companion was like a tiger. Inviting the king of Chu may make him prosperous immediately, but at the same time it is equivalent to putting his own life in danger. In Zhuangzi's view, it is important to solve the problem of food and clothing, but you don't have to risk your life. He didn't want to bother to think about the king's mind, and he was walking on thin ice all day. With Zhuangzi's temperament, this kind of freedom from mind to body makes him sick more than anything. Life and nature are much more important than wealth and fame.
However, Zhuangzi cherishes life, but he is not afraid of death. Zhuangzi's view on the death feared by the world is more original and open-minded.
In fact, the reason why the world is afraid of death is because people regard life too seriously and too well, and regard death as the opposite of life. There is no harmony if there is opposition. Therefore, the question of life and death becomes very noisy. But Zhuangzi doesn't think so. He said: "To do evil is to know that life is not confused! Give evil to know that evil is not weak and sad, but not evil! " Zhuangzi advocated abandoning the secular mindset and looking at life and death from a broader perspective. "chunks of land bear my shape, which makes me live hard, make me grow old sadly and make me die in peace". Zhuangzi regarded human death as a return to nature. Whether it is life or death, it is the kindness of nature to me. People just need to accept it. In Zhuangzi's view, the course of our life may be just a butterfly dream. And our death may just be the awakening of the butterfly. What's more, Zhuang Zhou wondered whether he became a butterfly in his dream or whether the butterfly became Zhuang Zhou in his dream. If you think like this, you will be in where will you go. When you wake up in a dream, there will be no clear boundaries and no sharp opposition. People are afraid of death and mourn for it, but from the source, people are not sure whether they are in a state of life or death. Blind fear and sadness are particularly ridiculous. It was like we had a dream. Do you want to cry for disappearing when you wake up?
Enlightenment from "San Zhuang Zhou"
Zhuang Zhou's understanding of bitterness and happiness reflects the open-mindedness of a poor and happy person, and behind this open-mindedness is the pursuit and yearning for freedom. Whether he is rich materially or not, Zhuang Zhou doesn't care so much, but whether he is free spiritually is very attractive to him. Even a horse that spends a lot of money can't reach a rest place in my humble abode at any time. Even the high seat beside the king is not as good as the straw mat in the hut in the forest. Zhuang Zhou is very happy.
In the eyes of the world, Zhuangzi was poor all his life, but this so-called poverty is only a secular definition, and the richness of his thoughts and spiritual world is beyond the reach of ordinary people. His eyes are unusually cold, so he can look at the world and life calmly from the perspective of a bystander; He is also extremely warm-hearted, so he has so many feelings about the injustice of this world. He transcends fame and fortune, transcends life and death, and sees through everything. Secular values are nothing to him. He knows that his world will not be easily understood by outsiders, so he lives alone and plays by himself. Therefore, I am not happy because I am poor, but happy because I am considerate. This is Zhuang Zhou. And that's what Zhuangzi gave us.
For most people now, Zhuang Zhou's life is an unreachable dream. This kind of unreachable tells the sadness that most people lose themselves under the torrent of the times. People always use the excuse that the pace of the times is too fast, so as not to fall behind, but they don't know that they are just living in the standards set by others, and they have no courage to break through this deadlock, so they can only get deeper and deeper. In fact, we need a little Zhuangzi spirit to actively express our attitude towards life, make achievements in life, and live and live like ourselves.