Liezi
Liezi
The Liezi is regarded the third of the Daoist classics following the Laozi and the Zhuangzi.
The Liezi presents a holistic and organic worldview in which theboundaries and categorizations of human, animals, plants, and matters, dissolve.
Liezi
In essence, the Daoist sage knows and observes the Way, whereas ordinary people only see and react to what is normal. The Daoist sage considers it unfortunate for one who follows the Way but perishes before his time; on the contrary, it is mere lucky if one follows a course which leads to death but lives. Apart from the above two, it is normal that myriad
creatures live and die according to the natural course of the Way. Whether one can live and die fortunately or unfortunately is not a matter of one’s own decision—it is the work of the Way in the human realm, namely “destiny.” As the Liezi says, “It is neither other things nor ourselves that give us life when we live and death when we die; both and destined, wisdom can do nothing about them. Since death and life depend on destiny, a proper attitude toward death should be that “to meet death unafraid, to live in distress without caring,” and “to know destiny and accept what time brings”
If you do not go against destiny, why should you yearn for long life?
If youare not conceited about honors, why should you yearn for reputation?
If you do not want power, why should you yearn for office?
If you are not greedy for wealth, why should you yearn for possessions?
On who sees this I call “a man in accord with things.”
Nothing in the world counters him; the destiny which decides is within him.
In essence, the Daoist concept of destiny is the natural order of Heaven, or the Way, as manifested in the course of human life; it is what human should accept and follow. “Life and death are fated—constant as the succession of dark and dawn, a matter of Heaven. There are some things which man can do nothing about—all are a matter of the nature of creatures.” The nature of creatures is the incessant coming together and scattering of chi. In this process of change, a man has become one creature among other things, and he is merely waiting for some other change that he does not know about.
In conclusion, the Liezi supports an anti-anthropocentric and egalitarian view of creatures based on the cosmological theory of chi. First, all creatures are all formed by the chi of the heaven and earth. Human, like other creatures, owes his life to the creative power of heaven and earth. Therefore, it is wrongful for human to claim anything, including his body
and life, to be his private possessions. In fact, it is the generosity of heaven and earth to allow human, as well as all other creatures, to sustain their lives with support from one another. In the end, the Liezi teaches people to follow the natural order of life and death. Only those who follow the natural course of the Way will have nothing in the world that
counters them.
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