Zhuangzi

The ancient text of theZhuangziis analyzed as containing three importantly different positions pertaining to the philosophy of religion, here named those of “the Radical Zhuangzi,” “the Conventional Zhuangzi,” and “the Cultural Zhuangzi.” Their ideas are presented in terms of three themes: (i) Heaven and Dao, (ii) Spiritual Exercises and Mystical Experience, and (iii) Mortality. The Radical Zhuangzi applies a characteristic three‐step logic deployed in all these areas: first, all identities are shown to depend on the making of distinctions; second, these distinctions are shown to be self‐undermining, suggesting a oneness of sorts beyond all distinction; and third, this oneness too is denied on the same grounds. The Radical Zhuangzi applies skeptical arguments to undermine the possibility of definite identifiability, and this is applied also to traditional notions of Heaven and Dao. But this eschewal of all metaphysical commitments, either for the existence or nonexistence of a divine agent or guiding principle of the world or a true self, is employed as an apophatic praxis that leads to ecstatic states of enhanced sensitivity to the transformation between identities. This free transformation between identities is also deployed to undermine commonsense fears of death. The Conventional Zhuangzi focuses instead on the elimination of distinctions and the elevation of an originary oneness, identified with Heaven, Dao, orqi(vital energy), and present in individual beings as their innate endowment, virtuosity, or nature. The apophatic techniques can also be applied within this model, leading also to attunement with universal transformation, enhanced technical skills, return to simple lifestyles, and reconciliation with death. The Cultural Zhuangzi is simply a name for the combination and reconciliation of these two different positions, the Zhuangzi who was believed for two millennia to be the author of all the parts of the 33‐chapterZhuangzi.