Criticism、Praise And Regret(Or Criticism、Recognition And Reform):Chuang Tzu’s View Of Confucius

In the face of Confucianism,which stipulated the mind by politics and religion,Chuang Tzu made adequate response,which was reflected in his description of Confucius with both affirmation and regulation.Chuang Tzu’s way of describing Confucius is a kind of "sublime words with deep meaning",which not only affirms the realm of Confucius,but also contains contrast and sarcasm in literature,so it also reflects the complex and profound relationship between Chuang Tzu and Confucianism:Chuang Tzu not only affirmed some characteristics of Confucius,but also criticized the values of Ren(仁),Yi(义),Li(礼)and Zhi(智)advocated by Confucius,showing his unique thought of heaven and life.Chuang Tzu thought Tao(道),is constent and changing,that human nature of broad cannot use Ren and Yi to define,think custom shaded the human nature,so he want to criticize the four values——Ren,Yi,Li and Zhi of Confucius advocated.Chuang Tzu also saw the humanism of Confucius,and his understanding of human nature,his talent and qualifications.So Chuang Tzu choose Confucius to say his own thoughts.In this borrowing,he consciously highlighted and reformed some characteristics of Confucius,and criticized his negativity at the same time.Therefore,Chuang Tzu’s attitude towards Confucius showed a seemingly contradictory feature of "both critical and laudatory".Chuang Tzu’s description of Confucius can be said to be a true insight:Chuang Tzu’s evaluation of Confucius is worth exploring and thinking deeply,and Chuang Tzu’s Confucianism criticism and social criticism thoughts are also worth paying attention to.In a sense,Chuang Tzu’s criticism,recognition and reform of Confucius are "helping"Confucius.First of all,Chuang Tzu’s criticism of Confucius made Chuang Tzu truly become a "helper" of Confucius,that is,just as Confucius said that Yan Hui,who was one of his disciples,accepted his ideas completely,but Confucius said "Hui is not the one who helps me",Chuang Tzu had different opinions and doubts about Confucius,which actually helped Confucius.Chuang Tzu’s assessment of Confucius is of two kinds of inflection,which is consistent with Confucius’s assessment of himself,which is both praised and damned:Confucius said that the world will know him by the Spring and Autumn Annals(《春秋》),and at the same time he will be punished by the Spring and Autumn Annals also,which shows that Confucius knew that his own actions were not only good but also limited in one aspect.Therefore,it can be said that Chuang Tzu’s attitude towards Confucius stems from his rational observation and profound observation of Confucius.Chuang Tzu’s praise of the Confucius and retrofit also reflect that Chuang Tzu not only understand the wisdom,virtue of Confucius,Confucius’ pursuit of Tao,and also elaborate the secret of heaven and human nature which Confucius did not tell detailedly.Thus Confucius which Chuang Tzu shaped as "good",is actually the combination of Chuang Tzu and Confucius,manifesting Chuang Tzu’s play and creation of the Confucianism.From this point of view,Chuang Tzu not only criticized the evils of Confucius’post-confucian studies and the malpractice of Confucius’ education,but also showed and played out the secret of "human nature and the way of Heaven" that Confucius did not mention.Throughout the text,Chuang Tzu is also both satirical and regretful for Confucius,which is reflected in Chuang Tzu’s original intention of comparing Confucius to the phoenix in the decline of the world in the end of the human World(《庄子·内篇·人间世》).Therefore,in order to ensure the thoroughness of Chuang Tzu’s criticism of Confucius,this paper will take the miscellaneous articles of Chuang Tzu as the data for the study of Chuang Tzu’s thoughts,and for the consistency of Chuang Tzu’s attitude towards Confucius,it will also take the whole text of Chuang Tzu as the research object for the study of Chuang Tzu’s View of Confucius.The study of the relationship between Chuang Tzu and Confucianism cannot escape the judgment of the text of Chuang Tzu,because in history,the occurrence of the trend of"interpreting Chuang Tzu with Confucianism" was accompanied by doubts about the authenticity of the Miscellaneous Works(《庄子·外篇》与《庄子·杂篇》.If we want to understand the original appearance of Chuang Tzu’s thoughts,it seems to start from the re-acceptance of the Miscellaneous Works is the right way.However,although there are many disputes in the text of Chuang Tzu(庄子》),it does not hinder the study of Chuang Tzu’s attitude towards Confucius,because throughout the whole text,no matter in the inner part or in the outer part,we can find that Chuang Tzu’s attitude towards Confucius is both critical and laudatory.However,the mainstream of current academic circles thinks that the Inner part(内篇)is written by Chuang Tzu,and the Outer part is a mingle of the articles of later scholars and other schools of thought.This stereotype indirectly belitzes the ideological value of the outer part,and thus neglects Chuang Tzu’s critical thoughts on Confucianism.So this paper tries to question it and gives some attention to the ideological value of miscellaneous articles.This article will bring miscellaneous articles into the research,this is not to deny that the Miscellaneous Works is possibly written by later scholars in textology,the reason is that,from miscellaneous articles we can find the thoughts that can clarify the Inner part,are inseparable with the Inner part,and even more insightful and original than the Inner part.In view of the depth of thoughts,the possess of historical roots of the Miscellaneous Works,I will bring back the outside miscellaneous articles to Chuang Tzu’s thought system.On the basis of such basic viewpoints and research methods,we can develop the specific contents of Chuang Tzu’s attitude towards Confucius:That is criticism,praise and regret(in other words,criticism,recognition and reform of Confucius).The first part,the introduction will explain and demonstrate the text of Chuang Tzu,scholars’ research review,Chuang Tzu’s life and research significance.The second part,Chuang Tzu’s criticism of Confucius will be discussed from four sections:Tao,humanity,Li(礼)and knowledge.The third part,Chuang Tzu’s praise of Confucius will analyze Chuang Tzu’s praise and reform of Confucius from the three aspects:Confucius’ recognition of Tao and human nature and his studious and modest character.The fourth part,Chuang Tzu’s regret for Confucius will be discussed from the two points:The regret for Confucius’ unrecognized for his talent and the regret for Confucius’ignorance of Tao...