Not to Rise above the Myriads of Things, nor to Condemn Agreements or Differences ── Dialogue with Chuang － Tzu on Mystical Enlightenment and its Appeasement among Entities and Controversies
Author：Wing-Chung Kwan
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In a certain sense, this article is a continuation of the main themes of our two previous essays, namely, “Above, he Seeks Delight in the Creator — a Dialogue with Chuang-Tzu on Mysticism” in Philosophical Review xxii, 1999 ：137~172, and “Solely Communicating with the Spirit of the Universe — a Dialogue with Chuang-Tzu on Epistemology of Mystical Experience” in Philosophical Perspective for the Third Millennium ： the Dialogue between Christian Philosophy and Chinese Culture (Taipei: Fu Jen Catholic University, 2002) 105~156. We start with the following sentences from Chuang-Tzu’s “Tien xia”, “(He) did not try to rise above the myriads of things. He did not condemn the agreements and differences of others so that he might live in peace with the prevalent views.” (James Legge’s Translation) We compare the meanings embedded within these sentences with Chuang-Tzu’s “Ch’u Wu Lun”. We get to the affirmation that a person who attains Mystical Enlightenment may be able to make appropriate adjustment concerning any possible contradiction among things and any possible contention of arguments.