Chuang-tzu’s Realm Of Freedom

Academia has given many definitions of "leisure", and from the angle of philosophy, leisure should be understood as a process of "being a man", which relates to the life status of individuals. However, in modern society, the alienation of leisure is increasingly serious. To the subject of leisure, the ideological control has led a deviation in the understanding of leisure. Thus leisure have deviated from its original trajectory and become a tool of society, the significance of the individual have further missed. Modern leisure need to get out of this dilemma, and return to the concerns of the individual’s anima.Early as the Pre-Qin Period, the Chinese philosopher Chuang-tzu had put forward his ideal "realm of freedom", which refers to the limits people faced at that time, of "the life and the death","the current situation and the fate","the emotion and the desire’". His care for anima and pursuit for spiritual freedom, is just that modern leisure lacked. The "realm of freedom" of Chuang-tzu demonstrates a prospect of leisure after reaching the spiritual freedom by four ways,"being intimate with nature’""creating a harmonious society","building good interpersonal relationships", and "enhancing personal spiritual realm". The reason why he can achieve such a prospect is that the fundamental values such as "nature","individuality","freedom""transcendence" he pursuits is just what the real modern leisure requires.Because the background of the times as well as the survival dilemma of the Pre-Qin Period is different from current society. Chuang-tzu’s "realm of freedom" is not possible in modern society. However, we can still learn wisdom of Chuang-tzu to resolve the dilemma of modem leisure. His claim that to reduce the ambition of being a conqueror, an order or a fighter, as well as his suggest about "nature and inaction" has some complementary and balanced meaning for the inner life of modern people. At the same time, it’s also the internal psychological basis for modern people to obtain the true leisure.