1

GnterWohlfart

PhilosophicalDaoism
ZhuangziLectures
20052012

www.guenterwohlfart.de
Tuchan/France
2

PhilosophicalDaoism
ZhuangziLectures

Preface
Introduction
CriticalRemarksonWesternUniversalism
Lectures
1.EgodTheDeathoftheEgo 14
EgocentrismEgocriticismandEgoforgetting
Descartes,KantNietzscheandZhuangzi
2.TheRelevanceofaDaoistEthosinOurTime 20
ReturnfromaWesternUniversalMoralitytoaDaoistEthosbeyondMorality
KantKongziZhuangzi/Huainanzi
3.FollowinginZhuangzisFootsteps 30
NotesonChinesePoetryandPainting
ZhuangziSuDongpoShitao
4.EternalPeaceEternalWar 38
ReflectionsonPolitics
KantHeraclitusSunziandtheDaoists
5.BeyondWords 47
RemarksonaDaoistPhilosophyofLanguage
Zhuangzi,Chapter26
6.OntheWay 51
NotesofanOldDaoFool
BashoLiBoLaoziZhuangziTaoYuanming
Appendix

7.Qi 58
DaoistischeGeschichtenberdenLebensatem
ZhuangziCaoPiShitao
REFERENCES 69

Preface
ThislittlebookonsocalledPhilosophicalDaoism(Daojia)containssevenlectures
1
givenindifferent
countriesinthelastsevenyears.
ThekeyfigureisZhuangzi,theoldChinesepoetphilosopher(369286BC?).
2

AsaEuroDaoFoolImlimpinginhisfootsteps.

Therepetitionsinseverallecturesareunintentional.Theyareduetothedementiasenilispraecoxof
theauthor.Oldmentendtoforget.NeverthelessIhopeyoullenjoyatleastsomeofthefollowing
textsdespitemyrustyEnglish.Perhapstheywillhelptonourishlife.

IthankmyfriendsandcolleaguesKarlHeinzPohlfromTrier,HolgerKoefoedfromOsloandGeir
SigurdssonfromReykjavikfortheirfriendlyinvitationstoGermany,NorwayandIceland.
Ihadagoodtimeupthere.

GnterWohlfart
Tuchan/France
Spring2012

1
ThislittlebookisnotatranslationofmyolderbookDerPhilosophischeDaoismus,EditionChora,Kln2001.
TheolderbookinGermancontainsessaysontheLaozi.
2
FrdeutschsprachigeLeserempfehleichalsEinfhrung:Zhuangzii,Auswahl,EinleitungundAnmerkungen
vonGnterWohlfart,Reclam,UBNr.18256,Stuttgart2003undGnterWohlfartZhuangzi,Herderspektrum,
Bd.5097,Freiburg,Basel,Wien2002sowieHenrikJger,MitdenpassendenSchuhenvergisstmandieFsse
Herderspektrum,Bd.5037,Freiburg,Basel,Wien2003.
4

Introduction

CriticalRemarksonWesternUniversalism
PaperpresentedattheForumonChinaStudies
CommonChallenges,CommonEffortsWorktogetherforaBetterWorld
ThethirdgeneralConference,8.9.September2008,Shanghai

Illteachyoudifferences
Shakespeare

1.Preface:
PhilosophyorPhilosophies?

2.MainPart
2.1God
MonotheismMonismUniversalism
SomecriticalremarksonPopeBenedictXVI.

2.2Ego
EgotismUniversalismNeoColonialism
SomecriticalremarksonthephilosopherJrgenHabermas

2.3Familyresemblances
Wittgensteinspluralismasasignpostforpostcolonialinterculturalstudies

3.FinalRemark:
Interculturalexchange
5

1.Preface
PhilosophyorPhilosophies?

WasistdasdiePhilosophie?
ThisisthetitleofoneofHeideggersessays.AliteraltranslationintobadEnglishwouldbe:Whatis
itthephilosophy?
The article the is important because it already insinuates that there is only one field of thinking
whichreallycanbecalledphilosophyandthequestionis:Whatistheessenceofphilosophyandthe
definition of this one intellectual area called philosophy? For Heidegger as well as for most other
Westernphilosophersitgoeswithoutsaying,thatthereisonlyonetruephilosophy,namelyWestern
philosophy.

For me, philosophy is the attempt at questioning the philosophical essentialism and monism in
Heideggers question. His question is misleading especially because its monism is an undercover
eurocentrism. Eurocentrismisanideologyin Europeanphilosophywhichis stillprevalenttodayat
thebeginningofthe21
st
.centurywhatashame!
Ifwedontwanttobenarrowmindedwellfrogs,wehavetoacknowledgethatthereisnotonlyone
(true) philosophy but that there are many philosophies. It is not even necessary to think of inter
culturalstudies.IntraculturalstudiesprovethatMasterKantwaswrongwhenheclaimedthatthere
cantbemorethanonetruephilosophy.
3
Even200yearsagoheshouldhaveknownbetter.
Onewouldsearchinvainforonedefinitionofphilosophy.Therearedifferentdefinitions.Thefieldof
philosophyisnotafieldwithunchangeableboundaries,orrather:thefieldsofphilosophiesarenot
fields with unchanging boundaries. Does that mean that there are no boundaries at all? Following
Wittgenstein I would answer: No. Of course there are boundaries, but they are not unchangeable.
Youcandrawnewones,ifyouareinnovativeenough.
This is exactly what happens if we really philosophize, that is, if we leave the beaten tracks and go
towardnewwaysofthinking.
Not only philosophy but every philosophical concept is a concept with blurred edges to use
Wittgensteins words in a different context.
4
And exactly these blurred edges are the most
interesting and challenging parts of our philosophical fields of research. It is these border areas,
where different currents meet and merge. The history of philosophy, in the East as well as in the
WestisahistoryofmergingdifferentWeltanschauungen,differentworldviewsandcultures.To
philosophize means, to go to the boundaries of traditional philosophy and, as a border crosser, to
givenewdefinitions.

3
Kant,MetaphysikderSitten,ReclamsUniversalBibliothekNr.4508,Stuttgart2007,
4
Wittgenstein,PhilosophicalInvestigations,71.
6

The French philosopher Michel Foucault correctly said: Philosopher, cest penser autrement,
to philosophize means to think differently. To philosophize means to irritate obsolete habits of
thinking,forexampleeurocentricones;itmeanstoliquidatefixedideasandtochangeaspects.
Buthowcanwechangeouraspects?
IthinkitwasLeibniz,thegreatphilosopher,whoalready300yearsagoknewmoreaboutChina
than Kant 100 years later and many contemporary philosophers in the West. I think it was Leibniz
whosaidthat,inordertoseethetowersandtheskylineofourhometown,wehavetoleaveit.We
havetoleaveitandgoabroad.FormeaswellasformyFrenchColleagueFrancoisJullienitwasthe
long roundabout way via China which opened my horizon for different ways of thinking and taught
metolookatmyownphilosophicalhomecastlewithdifferenteyes.
I agree with Foucault who said: If there will be a philosophy of the future, it must result from
meetings and encounters (French: percussions) between Europe and NonEurope, and when he
said NonEurope, he didnt mean America, he meant EastAsia. Only orthodox Eurocentrists and
ideologicalNeocolonialistsrefusetorealizethenewroadmapofphilosophies.Earlierorlaterthey
will have to learn to overcome their narrowminded superioritycomplex in order to work together
forabetterworld.

2.MainPart
2.1God
MonotheismMonismUniversalism

Western culture is deeply rooted in Christianity. Christianity is, like Islam and the Jewish religion, a
monotheisticreligion.
Monotheismisaformofmonism(fromGreek:monos,one).Monotheismisthefaithinonegodas
theonlytrueone. Monotheismis dangerous;dangerousinsofarasitclaimstohavea monopolyon
truth.Thisinvolvesthedangerofdogmatismandfundamentalism.
But in reality there is not only one true religion, una vera religio, as Augustine defined Christianity.
There is not only one God, not only one chosen people and not only one gods country, as many
Americans believe. Nobody has the monopoly on truth. There are many equally true religions.
Untrueareonlythoseoneswhichpretendtobetheonlytrueones.
If two such monotheistic religions with a claim to the sole representation of truth are confronted
with each other, then there is the danger of a clash. Think for example of the continuous war
between Israel and Palestine. Monotheism is dangerous insofar as it has a missionary impact and
mayeasilyleadtofundamentalistmessianism.
WhenIthinkofChristianity,Ithinkfirstofthetrailsofbloodwhichitscrusadesleftbehindoverthe
last2000years.Ithinkofthecrusadesatthebeginningofthelastmillennium(10961291)inwhich
about5millionpeoplelosttheirlife.
Monism and universalism are two sides of the same coin. (The Latin unus is the translation of the
Greekmonos,one).TheChristianclaimforuniversalityisthereverseofChristianmonotheism.
universalism has its historical and cultural origins in the Christian Religion, i.e.: an exclusivist
monotheism(), an absolutist claim for the truth of its religious message, a missionary zeal with
whichthismessagehadbeenspreadallovertheglobe.
5

TheChristianpretencetouniversalityexistsuptonow.FortheGermanpopeJosephRatzingeralias
Benedict XVI, the Christian claim for universality is based on the universality of truth. Benedict
confirms the obligation to send all peoples in the whole world into the school of Jesus Christ,
becauseheistruthpersonifiedandthereforethewayofpersonhood.
6
Sic!
(FormeBenedictsfamousinfamousspeechinRegensburg/GermanyonSeptember12,2006again
provesthathissoftwordsoftolerancearethemonoculturalmonologueinthedisguiseofanopen
dialogueofculturesandreligions.Notimetogointodetails.)

5
KarlHeinzPohl,ChineseandWesternValues:ReflexionsonaCrossCulturalDialogueonaUniversalEthics,
in:RolfElberfeld/GnterWohlfart(Ed.):KomparativeEthik,Kln2002,225.

6
JosephRatzinger,GlaubeWahrheitToleranz,DasChristentumunddieWeltreligionen,Herder,Freiburg,
Basel,Wien2004,3.Auflage,.55f.
8

CatholicismisnotonlyetymologicallyrelatedtoGreekholon,whole.
Catholicismisholismoruniversalism.BenedictbelievesinJesusChristas
theonlysaviourofallmen.
7
Sic!
Ibelievethattheworldwouldbesaved,ifitwouldbesavedfromsaviours,whopresumetobethe
onlysavioursofallmen.JesusChristmaybethesaviourofmanypeople;thisisafaithonemayhave
ornothave.
Bytheway:IdonthaveitthankGodImanatheist.
ButthefaithinJesusChristastheonlysaviourofallmenisadangeroussuperstition.

Well, God is dead, as Nietzsche said. The light of Christianity is waning, at least in Europe,
fortunately; but as the sun going down at sunset it throws long and dark shadows. The evil
missionaryenthusiasmandmilitantmoralismamongChristianfundamentalistsliketheAmericanso
called born again Christians, the evangelicals , is still alive and strong enough for new bloody
crusadesatthebeginningofourmillennium.
IthinkoftheAmericancrusadeagainsttheaxisofevilforGodssake.
ItalkabouttheunlawfulwaragainstIraqinwhichaboutonemillioncivilianswerekilledduringthe
lastfiveyears:Collateraldamage.
ThreedaysafterthebeginningoftheAmericaninvasioninIraqinMarch2003Igaveaspeechatthe
UniversityofAlAinintheUnitedArabEmirates.WhatIjustsaidisthesameaswhatIsaidmorethan
fiveyearsagoIonlyhadtoaddtheonemillionvictims.

2.2Ego
EgotismUniversalismNeoColonialism
Godwasthehighestbeing,thetranscendentapexofdogmaticmetaphysicsinpremoderntimes.
InmoderntimestheEgoreplacedGodandinheritedhisdiseases.
SinceDescartes(Cartesius),theforerunnerofenlightenment,theEgowasthecredendum,thefirst
articleoffaithinmodernity.Egocogito,ergosum;Ithink,ergoIam,thiswasDescartesfamous
fallacy,somethinglikeanontologicalegoproof.Nietzschesdiagnosiswas:Godisdead.Maybeit
wasabitoverhasty,becauseGodrevived.GodrevivedintheshapeofourmodernEgowithits
omnipotencefantasies.TheresurrectionofGodinformoftheerectionofourmodernEgo.The
Ego,theI,thesubjectbecametheensrealissimumthemostrealbeinginmodernity.TheEgoisthe
executoroftheChristianGod.TheenlightenedEgoistheprofane,mundanemetamorphosisofGod.
ThemodernsecularEgoasitappearsindifferentformsinDescartesandKant,tomentiononlythese
twoprotagonists,isapseudonymofGod.
Inharshwords:ThemodernEgoistherundown,thedownandoutChristianGod.
The Cartesian Ego cogito, Kant calls it the I think i.e. the transcendental apperception, this Ego is
for Kant the highest point of his transcendental philosophy as he emphasizes. For Kant the Ego is

7
Loc.cit.44and90.
9

the polestar, the fixed point of his philosophical horizon. The first and presumptuous sentence in
KantsAnthropologieinpragmatischerHinsichtreadsItranslate:Thatmaninhisconceptioncan
have the I elevates him endlessly above all other creatures on earth. The pathos reminds us that
thisEgoreflectsthegloryofGod.
Itshowsagain:egotismisasecularizedtheism.ThemodernmandoesnotbelieveinGodanylonger,
he believes in himself. Gods will is replaced by his own so called free will. Sounds great at first
glance.ButoncloserexaminationEgoswillhidesasdangerousconsequencesasGodswill.
One danger is universalism. Gods universality is to be found in a secularized disguise in modern
moralphilosophy.
LetshaveashortlookatKantsmoralphilosophyofenlightenmentasparadigm.AccordingtoKant
the only principle of morality is the categorical imperative. It is the one basic moral law of what he
callspurepracticalreason.AccordingtoKantthecategoricalimperativeistheonlytrueexpressionof
freedom and freedom means for him the autonomy of will. The categorical imperative goes ,
Itranslate:Actonlyonthatmaximthroughwhichyoucanatthesametimewillthatyourwillshall
becomeuniversallaw.Inshort:bewareofthepotentialuniversalityoftheprincipleofyouractions.
Only if you do that, can your will be a good will, because good means for Kant universally valid. If
you act with a good, i.e. universally applicable will, you are acting dutifully and your action can be
calledmoral.
Thereisnotimetodaytodiscussthesevereproblemscausedbythismoraluniversalism.Ididthisin
Shaoxingin2005.
8
LetmeonlyremindyouofHegel,whoalreadypointedoutcorrectlythatonecan
justifyforexample thedestructionof mankindwithit.Irefertomylastlittle(meta)criticalbookon
KantandJrgenHabermas.
9

ThedebateonKantandtheNeoKantianHabermasistheorderoftheday.
Kant, the socalled King of enlightenment probably is the most famous and even in China
influentialGermanphilosopheralltime.
The NeoKantian Jrgen Habermas is the most famous and even in China influential German
philosopheratthepresenttime.
Therefore let me make some (meta)critical remarks on Habermas stipulated universalistische
Aufklrungsmoral,onhisuniversalmoralityofenlightenment.
Habermas universal pretence is the secularized heritage of the Christian claim for universalism,
whichHabermasadoptedfromKant.Itisonewayofthinkingwhichleadsfromtheunaverareligio,
the one true religion via Kants one moral philosophy to Habermas modern project of moral
universalism. Descartes cogito, I think is replaced by Habermas colloquio, we have a colloquy.
KantsmonologicalethicsisreplacedbyHabermasdiscourseethics.Theuniversalpretenceisthe
same.AnddespitethegapbetweenthepremodernpopeBenedictXVIandthemodernphilosopher

8
Cf.alsoGnterWohlfart,MetacritiqueofPracticalReason,KeynoteSpeechgivenattheInternational
ConferenceKantinAsia,Hongkong2009.Freedownload:www.guenterwohlfart.de.
9
GnterWohlfart,MoralphilosophischeSplitterSpitzeBemerkungenzuKantunddemKntchenJrgen
HabermasnebsteinigenSouvenirsausdemaltenChina,Tuchan2008.Freedownload:
www.guenterwohlfart.de
10

Habermas: the claim for universality shows their spiritual affinity. It shows that Habermas
universalismintruthisasecularizedCatholicism.
I hold the view that universalism is dangerous, whichever. We should take care that we dont
universalize too quickly the principles of our own action and our own cultural values. Universal
pretension and lococentrism go very well together. We should take good care that we dont
universalizeourownlocalmorality,theownoneastheonlytrueoneandasthesuperiorone.Inmy
judgementHabermasnewuniversalismintruthisbadoldEurocentrisminanewpackaging.Iquote
asentenceIalreadyquotedseveraltimesatdifferentplacesbecauseitisverytelling.Habermassays:
that our Western European morality of abstract justice is developmentally superior ( sic! G.W.) to
theethicsofanyculturelackinguniversalprinciples.
10
BestWesternmorality!
ThebestcomesfromtheWestreally???
To impose the moral maxims of a Kantian dutyethics or a NeoKantian discourseethics on other
cultures, that is to universalize moral imperatives can be regarded as a new form of moral
imperialism. Habermas NeoKantian universalmoral of enlightenment could turn out as the Trojan
horse of a new enlightened ideological colonialism. The belief in ethical universals of a global
moralitymayinfactbenothingmorethanthenarrowmindedprovincialethnocentrismofapuffed
uplocalmorality.
Habermassuperioruniversalismholdsthedangeroftotalitarianism.
Here is no time and not the right place to tackle the problem of monism/universalism regarding
humanrights.ButIdaretoagreewithmycolleagueRogerAmes.Toassumethatthereisonlyone
modelof(universallyvalid)humanrights()simplydoesnottakeotherculturesseriously.
11

The Gandhiprize winner Johan Galtung said correctly: A concept of universal human rights, which
essentially stems from one single culture, namely from western culture, only can lead to a disaster.
TheresemblancetotheChristiancrusadesisalltooobvious.
12

Anyway:UnlikeotherbigstateswithdemocraticrightsChinasucceededinrealizingthebasichuman
right;namelytofeedits1.3billioncitizens.

Note
Let me close this part of my paper with a little remark concerning the difference between
universalizationandgeneralization.
It is the result of a discussion with my colleague Yu Xuanmeng a couple of years ago.
Ihavetothankhimforthestimulation.

10
JrgenHabermasin:H.L.Dreyfus/S.E.DreyfusWhatisMorality?APhenomenologicalAccountofthe
DevelopmentofEthicalExperienceIn:D.M.Rasmussened.Universalismvs.Communitarianism,London1990,
251.
11
RogerT.AmesinHarrov.SengerDieUnoKonzeptionderMenschenrechteunddieoffizielle
MenschenrechtspositionderVolksrepublikChinain:DieMenschenrechtsfrage,DiskussionberChinaDialog
mitChina,Nr.6derSchriftenderDeutschenChinaGesellschaft,Gttingen1998,102
12
JohanGaltung,Menschenrechteandersgesehen,Frankfurt1994,39
11

The highest concept in the pyramid of concepts, the conceptus summus, is the most universal
concept,theconceptusuniversalis.
This most universal concept is the most abstract one. It has the greatest extent (outline) but no
content. It means everything, that is, it means nothing at all, as Hegel showed with regard to the
conceptofbeingatthebeginningofhisLogic.
Ergo:Themoreuniversalconceptsare,themoremeaninglessarethey.
Nota bene: The most abstract universal human right in the strict sense of the word universal
would be tautological: All human beings have the right to be treated humane. And here the
discussion begins: What does humane in concreto mean? , and this discussion usually ends with
dissent,astheconferencesoftheUnitedNationsHumanRightsCouncilshows.
Ifthereisoneuniversalright,thenitistherighttohaverights.Andtheserightsmaybedifferentin
differentcountriesanddifferentcultures.
The lowest concept, the conceptus infimus , would be a singular (unique) concept, a conceptus
singularis,thatisindividualis.
This individual concept would be the most concrete one. In fact it is a perception (Anschauung).
But:individuumestineffabile,theindividualisineffable,unspeakable.
In ordinary life man as an animal orationale, as a speaking animal moves between these two
extremes, between the universal which is nichtssagend, which says and means nothing and the
individualontheotherhand,whichisunsagbar,ineffable.
Inthemiddlebetweentheuniversalandtheindividualisthegeneral.
To speak, means to generalize. But mind you: Generality refers to multiplicity. There is place for
diversenessandvariety.Universalityreferstoallnessandtotality.
Strictuniversalityleavesnoplacefordifferenceanddiversity.Itdoesnottoleratediversificationand
variety.Universalismwhich,intheliteralsenseoftheword,turnsorreversesallintoone(Latinunus)
tendstobetotalitarianism.
In short: Generalization is all right and necessary to overcome our particular interests.
Universalizationislikeglobalizationdangerous.Iamconvincedthatitwillnotworkout.

2.3Familyresemblances
Wittgensteinspluralismasasignpostforpostcolonialinterculturalstudies.

Ill teach you differences these are the words from Shakespeares King Lear which Wittgenstein
intendedtouseasamottoforhisPhilosophicalInvestigations.Ivechosenthemasthemottoformy
papertodaybecauseIthinkthatdifferenceisagoodsignpostforcomparativeinterculturalstudies.
To compare, first of all means to work out differences. What matters is that which makes a
difference.Myownexperienceshowedmethatitistrue:Ifyoureallygettoknowanotherculture,
12

youhavetolearnhowdifferentweare.Itisnotveryfruitfulforaninterculturalexchangetorashly
embrace identity so strongly that you suffocate differences. Precisely because of this difference
interculturalintercourselikesexualintercoursecanbereallyfruitful.
Bees produce their honey by visiting different flowers. Man may find different Weltanschauungen
andnewwaysofworldmakingbydifferentcultures.
Different ways of worldmaking include: different forms of life of different ethnic groups, different
languages, different religions, different philosophies and also different ethoi. There is not only one
language, not only one religion and not only one philosophy in the world fortunately; and there
alsoisnotonlyoneuniversalvalidglobalethosfortunately.Pluralismisbetterthanmonism.
Lets try to apply Wittgensteins results regarding his late languagestudies to intercultural studies.
IquoteWittgensteinsPhilosophicalInvestigations:
I am saying that these phenomena have no one thing in common which makes us use the same
word for all but that they are related to one another in many different ways. And it is because of
thisrelationship,ortheserelationships,thatwecallthemalllanguage
13
orculturerespectively.
That means: You cant reduce all these different phenomena of language or culture etc. to one
commondenominator.Thereisnotonlyoneoverlappingconsensusbetweendifferentoverlapping
cultural areas, there are many points of intersection. There is not only one definition, there are
definitions.Thereisnotonlyoneabstract(orabsolute)quintessence,therearemanyrelations.
FollowingWittgensteinIwouldprefertospeakofrelationalisminsteadofrelativism.
14

Wittgenstein concludes: And the result of this examination is: we see a complicated network of
similarities overlapping and crisscrossing: sometimes overall similarities, sometimes similarities of
detail. I can think of no better expression to characterize these similarities than family
resemblances.
15

As language is nothing but a family of more or less different resembling languages and language
gameswiththeirowncharacter,sowecouldsay:Mankindisnothingbutafamilyofmoreorless
resemblingdifferentracesandethnicgroupswiththeirownculturalidentity,afamilywiththeusual
family relations, quarrels and struggles between relatives. There are similarities and dissimilarities.
And exactly these family (dis)similarities and affinities are the points, where a fruitful intercultural
dialoguecantakeplace.
Of course there are differences of opinions. But ordinary differences are all right. If we cant settle
them,wejusthavetoacceptthemastheyareunsettled.Maybewecantakethemasachanceto
makeadifference,tomakeachangeforthebetter.

13
Wittgenstein,PhilosophicalInvestigations,65
14
InhislatestbookDeluniversel,deluniforme,ducommunetdudialogueentrelescultures,Fayard,2008
FrancoisJullientriestofindawaybetweeneasyuniversalismandlazyrelativism.HiswayleadstoaNeo
Kantianregulativeideaofauniversalinterculturalunderstanding.Iamconvincedthathiswayisablindalley
withadeadend.Ipleadneitherforaneasyuniversalismnorforalazyrelativismbutforadiligent
relationalism.
15
Loc.cit.66and67.
13

Meanwhile lets agree to disagree and above all lets avoid any superiority complex.
Letstrytounderstandwhywedonotunderstand.
Letstrytounderstandwhywemisunderstand.

3.FinalRemark
Interculturalexchange?
TheAnalects(Lunyu)ofConfuciusbeginwiththenotablewords:
TheMasterspoke:learningandconstantpractice:isthatnotsatisfying?Havingfriendsfromafar:is
thatnotalsopleasing?
Howdoesourwillingnesstolearnappear?
In the West there still is a definite deficiency in intercultural competence. The exchange of thought
withtheEastisnotyetbilateral.AsaGermanIrestrictmyselftoGermany.MostGermanphilosophy
professors travel to East Asia if they go there at all to export German philosophy. Importation
does not take place, mostly because of let me say ideological import restrictions. Until now
there has hardly been any real willingness to open the market to Eastern thought, and Eastern
thoughtformeisnotsynonymouswithesotericthought!
Obsoleteculturalimperialismtogetherwithnarrowmindedmissionaryenthusiasmhasleftitstraces
eventoday.Wecanteach,butmostofusarenotwillingtodowhatisdoneintheFarEastwithgreat
success,namelytolearn,tolearnfromothercultures.
Up to now, the wish of the European philosopher Leibniz, who pointed to the superiority of the
theoreticalsciencesinEurope,butalsototheinferiorityintheareaofpracticalphilosophy,hasnot
beenfulfilledthewishthatfromoursidewelearnthingsfromthem(sc.theChineseG.W.)which
areespeciallyinourinterest,aboveall,thegreatestuseofpracticalphilosophy
16

LetmeclosewiththewordsofHeisenberg,theGermanphysicistwhosaid:
it is probably true quite generally that in the history of human thinking the most fruitful
developmentstakeplaceatthosepointswheretwodifferentlinesofthoughtmeet.Theselinesmay
havetheirrootsinquitedifferentpartsofhumanculture,indifferenttimes()ordifferentreligious
traditions:Henceiftheyactuallymeet,thatis,iftheyareatleastsomuchrelatedtoeachotherthat
a real interaction can take place , then one may hope that new and interesting developments may
follow.
17

Yousee:Sometimesphysicistsaremoreopenmindedthanmetaphysicians.

16
LeibnizintheforewordtohisNovissimaSinica.
17
WernerHeisenberg,quotedafterF.CapraTheTaoofPhysics,London1992,10
14

EGOD
THEDEATHOFTHEEGO
Lecturegivenatthe18
th
SymposiumoftheAcadmieduMidiinAletlesBains/France,2010

DasIch,dasIchistdastiefGeheimnisvolle
Wittgenstein,Tagebuch5.8.1916

A.West
1.Egocentrism
1.1Descartes
1.2Kant

2.Egocriticism
Nietzsche

B.East
1.Egoforgetting
Zhuangzi

15

A.West
1.Egocentrism
1.1Descartes
OnceuponatimewebelievedinGod,intheonlyoneGodanditsuniqueness.
Inmoderntimes,sinceDescartes,webelieveinourEgoanditsidentityandunity.
ButisntourEgoanasylumignorantiae,ablackboxlikeGod?
InmoderntimestheEgoreplacedGodandinheritedhisdiseases.SinceCartesius,theforerunnerand
protagonistofenlightenment,theEgoisthenewcredo,thefirstarticleoffaithinmodernity.
Ego cogito, ergo sum , this was Descartes famous fallacy; I would call it his ontological Egoproof.
ItisasfallaciousasthefamousontologicalproofoftheexistenceofGod,asKantlateronshowedin
his Critique of Pure Reason. It is fallacious to infer existence from a concept : God is defined as the
mostperfect being,theensperfectissimum.This concept includesthatthemostperfectbeingcant
lackexistence;ergo:ensperfectissimumestensrealissimum.Godasthemostperfectthingmustbe
a real thing. Really? Of course not. The concept of Pegasos, the winged horse in Greek myth,
includesthatthishorsehaswings,butofcoursethisisnoproofthatwingedhorsesexist.
Ego cogito, ergo sum , Je pense, donc je suis is for Cartesius the first principle of philosophy as he
says in his Discours de la Methode. The fallacy is the donc, the ergo. He better should have said:
Jepensequejesuis:IthinkthatIam,insteadofIthink,thereforeIam.Intruththereisnothing
likeanEgoasarescogitans,asathinkingthingbehindmythoughts.Iammythoughtsandnothing
else.ToplaywiththedoublesenseoftheFrenchjesuis(IamandIfollow)Iwouldsay:Jesuis
mespenses,Iammythoughtsor:Ifollowmythoughtsnottheotherwayround.
LetshaveacloserlookatthefirstpartofDescartesfallacy.
Eventhisfirstpartisalreadydubiousenough:Egocogito,Jepense,Ithink.Ithink,really?DontIonly
thinkthatIthink?Isntoursubjectintruthnothingbutasubreption(Kant)underhand?Weactasif
therewouldbeanactor,calledI.ButinfacttheIisthinkersfiction,thoughaninevitablefiction,a
perspective illusion, something like a vanishing point of thoughtperspectives, in which everything
meetsasatthehorizon.Thoughtiscomparabletoanensembleofthoughtprocesses.Wetracethe
more or less concerted action of our thoughts back to a concertmaster, a conductor. In truth,
however,thesituationisthattheconductordoesnotreallyknowthepiecebeingplayed.Heletsthe
orchestraconducthimandtrickyenoughpretendstobetheconductor.
TheIdoesnotplaythoughtgamesaslanguagegames(Wittgenstein),theIisthesegames.That
means the I is not the one identical game companion or leader. In fact there is no Igamemaster.
ThisImasterandcommanderisonlyathoughtfiction,thoughaninevitablefiction.
Indeed I think means in truth it thinks and this it is no thing, no being, no res cogitans, but
thought itself. If it rains, there is also no rainer who rains. It thinks means nothing else than
thinkingthinks.Thoughtsgothroughmymind,thoughtscomeandgooftheirownaccord,without
theIescort.Tothinkdoesnotmeantohavethoughts,theyratherhaveme.Iamthesethoughts.
TheEgoisonlythewouldbedirectorofourthoughts,ahomunculusjumpingtoandfrobetweenthe
thoughts, a fantastic jumping jack. Our Oberstbchen, the castle of our mind is haunted by a
ghostcalledEgo,butwearesofamiliarwithitthatweevenmissit,ifitdoesnotappear.
16

Tospeakfigurativelyagain:TheIisnotsomuchlikeaspiderwhichsitsinthewebspinningthreadsof
thought. The Is please mind the plural (here I follow Henry Rosemont) the Is are more like the
many knots in a fishermans net, which bind the thoughtmesh together. These knots are quasi
thought synapsis. Instead of one synthetic unit of apperception(Kant), there are many synaptic
unitsofconsciousnesssotospeak.
AproposIs:thesocalledIisafamilyofmoreorlessresemblingIswhichidentifywitheachother,
touseWittgensteinstermfamilyresemblances.Theresultofthisprocessofidentificationisourso
calledIidentity.
Allowmetousealastpicture.
TheIislikeawavemovingtowardthebeachfromthesea.Whatonethinksoneseesisoneandthe
same identical mass of water. In truth there are ever new and different masses of water which
replace each other through rotation and so give the illusion of a single mound of moving water.
But you see: the one wave is an inevitable illusion, like my one and only Ego, wavering through my
mind.

17

1.2Kant
Kant,thethinkgiantofenlightenment,standsonDescartesshoulders.DespiteallofKantscritique
ofCartesius,theKantiantranscendentalphilosophyremainsanegoorientedphilosophyandcritical
reasonasubjectcenteredreason.TheIthinkisforKantthepolestarofhisphilosophicalhorizon
ashehimselfsays,hisfixedpointoforientation.
The first and presumptuous sentence in Kants Anthropologie in pragmatischer Hinsicht reads
I translate : That man in his conception can have the I, elevates him endlessly above all other
creatures on earth. The pathos of this ascension of the Ego reminds us that this Ego still reflects
thegloryoftheformerGod.AfterGodsetitslastlightbeamsintheEgohalo.ThemodernEgoisa
creationintheimageoftheChristianGod.
By the way: the first signs of his weakness and decline were the futile proofs of his existence.
Nietzsches well known later diagnosis was: God is dead. Maybe it was a bit overhasty, because
God revived. God revived in the shape of our modern Ego. Im tempted to call it our EGOD, if you
permitmethisneologism.Nodoubt:ourbelovedEgo,thesubject,becametheensrealissimum,the
most real substance in modernity. The modern Ego is the executor of the Christian God. Kants
enlightenmentoftheEgoistheprofane,mundanemetamorphosisofthelightofGod.Egocentrism
issecularizedtheocentrism.
Irepeat:Godwasthehighestbeing,thetranscendentapexofdogmaticmetaphysics.TheEgoisthe
highest being, the transcendental apex of dogmatic criticism. Kant calls the Ich denke in his
mysteriousLatinthesyntheticunityoftranscendentalapperception.HecallsthisIthinkhisfixed
star, the highest point, on which all use of reason, the whole logic itself and after it, the
transcendental philosophy must be fixed, yes, this capacity is reason (Verstand) itself.
18

Butwhataboutthesupposedunityofapperception?Isntthissyntheticunityofapperceptiononly
a focus imaginarius, a vanishing point, in which the lines of thinking seem to intersect? Isnt this
supposedsyntheticunityintruthonlysomethinglikealogicsynopticillusion?
Lets have a closer look at this I think which, according to Kant, must be able to escort all my
Vorstellungen(representations,conceptions).ThisIthinkitselfisaconceptionandconsequentlyit
should be able to escort itself. But if this would be possible I dont think so we would have two
thinkingIs.WouldntthatbesomethinglikeanEgocoreorEgonuclearfission?Wouldntthatmean
thatourEgoatom(Lat.:individuum)wouldbedividedandbecomeitsowndouble?
Mylastquestion:doesnttheselfimplicationofKantsownclaimthatmyEgomustbeabletoescort
allmyconceptionsandergoalsoitself(IthinkthatIthink),leadintheendtoaregressusininfinitum:
IthinkthatIthinkthatIthink?
IthinkthattheIthinkKantstranscendentalapperceptionisatranscendentalillusion;andthatI
say I think, that shows that this I is an indispensable illusion. Take a conspicuous example for
that, what happens in cognition and what I mean when I repeatedly speak of an indispensable
illusion.Everymorningyouseethesunrising,butitisonlyapractical,indispensableillusion.Weall
learned from Copernicus that not the sun moves but the earth. You see: as the sun rises in the
morningandendsthenight,sodoesourEgowakeupinthemorningandendsourdreams.Butas
the sun remains in the centre of our solar system up there in the silent night of the universe, Egos
wakingisalsoonlyadream,abutterflydream(Zhuangzi)ofourEgo.

18
Kant,KritikderreinenVernunft,B133Anm.
18

2.Egocriticism
Nietzsche
NietzschesprepostmoderndeconstructionoftheEgoisacritiqueofCartesianandKantianegotism
scil.subjectcentrism.InoneofhislatefragmentsNietzschesays:Wenewcomersareallopponents
ofDescartesandtakearmsagainsthislightnessindoubt.OnemustdoubtbetterthanDescartes.
19

We already learned: in the modern era beginning with Descartes the Ego has stepped into Gods
place. But isnt this modern belief in the Ego also only a I superstition as Nietzsche says in the
prefacetoBeyondGoodandEvil?
AccordingtoNietzscheweplaceawordthere,whereourignorancebegins,whereweseenofurther,
forexamplethewordI.IsntthesuperstitiousbeliefintheIlikeamodernZeus,whohurlsbolts
of thought merely the pretense of an Ego as a processor, whereas in truth the processes play
themselvesoutoftheirownaccord?
Thoughtis,thereforetheremustbeathinker,thatiswhattheargumentationofDescartescomes
down to. But that is to posit our belief in the concept of substance as an a priori certainty: that if
thereisthought,theremustbesomethingwhichthinks,issimplyaformulationofourgrammatical
habitwhichpositsadoerforeachdeed.
20

Whatseparatesmemostfundamentallyfromthemetaphysiciansis:IdonotconfessthatitistheI
which thinks, rather I take the I itself as a construction of thought, with the same position as
material,thing,substance.individual();amereregulativefiction,then,withwhosehelpasort
of continuity and thus recognition can be laid into, written into a world of becoming. The belief in
grammar,inthelingualsubject,objectandverbshasenslavedmetaphysiciansupuntilnow.Iteach
therenunciationofthisbelief.
21

ForNietzschetheIbecomesafiction,afable.TheEgoisphilosophyfiction.Wehaveaphantom
oftheIinourheadswhichdeterminesustoagreatextent.
22
TheIisthatfallacy,withoutwhich
acertaingenusoflivingcreaturescouldnotlive.
23

InrealityDescartesrescogitans,histhinkingthingforNietzscheisanothing.
Nietzsche,theprepostmodernisthasbrokentheEgomonopoly.
TheEgorolls,toplaywithNietzschesword,fromthecentreintoanX,involuntarily,byitself
Iconclude:afterNietzschewelearnedthatourbelovedEgoisonlyaPhantomoftheOperaofour
perceptions.
ButisthedeconstructionoftheEgoreallyalossorisntitratheragain?
LetsmakeabigjumpbackfromWestern(pre)postmodernismtoEasternpremodernism.

19
Nietzsche,DienachgelassenenFragmente,GnterWohlfart(Hg.),Reclam7118,Stuttgart1996,161f.
Fragment40(23);mytranslation.
20
Nietzsche,loc.cit.,pp.223ff.
21
Nietzsche,loc.cit.,p.149.
22
Nietzsche,loc.cit.,p.56.
23
Nietzsche,loc.cit.,p.146.
19

B.East
1.Egoforgetting
Zhuangzi
In chapter 1 of the Daoist Classic Zhuangzi we find the remarkable conclusion: zhi ren wu ji, the
ultimatemanhasnoego.Theultimatemanistheonewhoarrivedontheway(dao) .
FengYoulansaid:TobewithoutselfistheessenceofChuangTzusdoctrine.
24

I wouldnt use the word doctrine Zhuangzi has no doctrine but nevertheless I agree : to be
withoutanEgoistheemptycentreofZhuangzisthoughts.
At the beginning of chapter 2 of the Zhuangzi we find a man sitting in deep meditation. His
companionisastonishedandaskshim:Whatisthis?Canyoureallymakethebodylikeawithered
treeandthemindlikedeadashes?Themanpracticingthedaoresponds:Yes,IjustlostmyEgo,
wusangwo.Inchapter6.9thepracticingmanrespondsinotherwords:zuowang,Isitandforget.
How is that possible? Chapter 7.6 gives the answer: be empty, that is all. The perfect man(zhi ren)
uses his mind like a mirror, going after nothing, welcoming nothing, responding (ying) but not
storing.
25
And in same chapter 7.3 it says: follow along with things the way they are (shun wu
ziran)andmakenoroomforpersonalviews(wurongsi).
26

Go along with things (shun wu), selfso (ziran), forget your self (wang wo), lose your self (sang wo),
thisisthewayoftheultimatemanwithoutanEgo(wuji).Tobeontheway(dao)meanstofollow
the flow of things, selfso, selfforgetting. To avoid misunderstandings I repeat: Going selfsoing
meanslosing,forgettingtheself.Ziranandwujiaretwosidesofthesamecoin.
Whatdoesthatmeanforuspathfinders?Ithinkitmeans:LadeinSelbstsein,letyourselfbe,in
thedoublesenseofthewordletitbe.
ImcomingtothelimitsofmyrustyEnglish.Imtryingtosay:thetruebeingofmyself,isitsgoing
away,itslosing.MaybethetitleofthelastBeatlessongishelpful.Mytrueselfis(exists)onlyifIletit
be,ifIletitgo,ifIletitgoalongwiththings,selfso.
Letmemakealittledetourandtakearunupinordertojumpintoathoughtwhichiswellprotected
by a high wall of modern philosophy, a wall built and reinforced by philosophers like Descartes and
Kant. Ill try to jump into the deep water of my Self, to dive into my Ego, in order to look at its
surfacefromunderneath.
TotakemyrunupIquoteapassagefromBrookZiporynsstimulatingbookThePenumbraUnbound
where Ziporyn quotes the great neodaoist philosopher Guo Xiang, Zhuangzis commentator and
editor: My life is not generated by me; thus my whole life long ,() whether I sit, stand, walk,
stop ,move (), all my feelings (), my knowledge, my abilities, whatever I have , whatever I dont
have, whatever I do, whatever I encounter, none of it is (because of) me. It is all simply selfso.
27

WithGuoXiangswordsinmindIdivenowintothedeepwaterofmySelfandaskmyself:Whatis
thebeingofmySelf?Theabysmalansweremerges:myselfitselfisselfso.ThisismyEgokoan.
Back on the surface of my Egopond I ask myself again like Augustine : quid enim est ego?
WhatamI?andmyansweralsoistheoldone:nescioquid,Idontknowwhat.

24
YuLanFung,ChuangTzu,NewYork1964,81.
25
TheCompleteWorksofChuangTzu,translatedbyBurtonWatson,ColumbiaUniversityPress,NewYorkand
London1968,97.
26
Loc.cit.94.
27
BrookZiporyn,ThePenumbraUnbound,StateUniversityofNewYorkPress,2003,40.
20

2.TheRelevanceofaDaoistEthosinourTime
Forareturnfromapretentiousuniversalmoralitytoadaoistethosbeyondmorality
LecturegiveninShaoxing/China,2005andinTaipei/Taiwan,2006

1.Kantscategoricalimperative
2.Kongzisgoldenrule
3.Huainanzisreciprocalresonance

Introductoryremarks
Thank you very much for this friendly invitation to Taipei. I am an old German professor
of.philosophy and study ancient Chinese philosophy, especially my favourite Zhuangzi in my Shan
Zhuang,mymountainretreatinsouthernFrance.
LongtimeagoIstartedtostudyphilosophyinFrankfurt/Germany.Themainstreaminthephilosophy
department was German Idealism. Kant was a must. Like many others I specialized in Kant and
CriticalTheory.ThePhDsupervisorofmythesisonKantwasJrgenHabermas.
WhydoI talkaboutHabermashere?NotonlybecauseheisthemostfamousGermanPhilosopher
living today and because he probably is the only German philosopher who is wellknown abroad,
eveninChina,Inowlearn.HeevenisahonorarymemberoftheChineseAcademyofSocialSciences.
I talk about Habermas, because this NeoKantian with his eurocentric moral universalism is the
representative of contemporary Kantianism, and good old Kant seems to be the new model in
modernGermanphilosophyaswellasinmodernChinesephilosophy.ImetChineseKantiansatthe
AcademyofSocialSciencesinShanghaiaswellasattheAcademiaSinicahereinTaipei.
I quote a few sentences from an interesting article by Zhou Derong, published last year (21.7.04) in
theFAZ(FrankfurterAllgemeineZeitung):ThespiritualachievementsoftheChineseinthelasttwo
decadesaresolelybasedonKantscriticaltheoryofreason.IronicallyenoughKantscomebackinthe
early eighties had to do with Deng Xiaopings statement, which roughly reads: Practice is the sole
criterionforverifyingthetruth(ofapracticaltheory).
Unlike Kant I believe that this is true. And therefore I also believe that Kants critique of practical
reason itself has to be criticized. His so called practical reason is in truth very unpractical.
Moreoveritisnotpracticable;thereisnolinkbetweenhispracticalreasonandpractice.
Illcomebacktothispointinaminute.Butpleasedontmisunderstandme.Itotallyagreewiththe
prophetic words of Kant: Our age is the true age of criticism, to which everything (sic!) has to
submit. But I would like to add: everything, yes, even this criticism itself. To accept the
consequences of Kants critique ultimately means to go beyond Kant. You remember Kants famous
words from the end of his Critique of Pure Reason:The critical way alone is open. Right, but I
21

would like to take Kant seriously and go one step further: the metacritical way alone is open.
That means, we have to criticize criticism especially with regard to his critique of pure practical
reason and its pretentious and dare I say dangerous universal morality. Why dangerous?
Illtrytoexplain.Letmecometothefirstpartofmypaper.

1.Kantscategoricalimperative

What is morality? According to Kant the principle of morality is the categorical imperative. It is the
one basic moral law of what he calls pure practical reason. According to Kant the categorical
imperativeistheonlytrueexpressionoffreedomandfreedommeansforhimtheautonomyofwill.
The categorical imperative goes: Handle so, da die Maxime deines Willens jederzeit zugleich als
PrinzipeinerallgemeinenGesetzgebunggeltenknne.(Actonlyonthatmaximthroughwhichyou
can at the same time will that it shall become universal law.) In short, to simplify a bit: beware of
thepotentialuniversalityoftheprincipleofyouractions.Onlyifyoudothatcanyourwillbeagood
will,becausegoodmeansforKant.allgemeingltig,(universallyvalid).Ifyouactwithagoodi.e.
universally applicable will, you are acting dutifully and your action can be called moral.
Attention: affection (Neigung) is not allowed in Kants realm of morality, only duty (Pflicht).
ThatisinshortKantssocalleddeontologicaluniversalmoralityofpurereason.
28

Littleexcursionoftopicalinterest.
Itisobviousthattheproblemofapossibleuniversallegislationisintrinsicallylinkedwiththeclaims
forauniversalvalidityofvaluesandrights.Thereisnotimetodiscussindetailthedelicateproblem
ofhumanrightsandtheirclaimforuniversality.Onlyoneremark:thecrucialquestionseemstobe,
how far do we westerners universalize, i.e. inflate, our own best western principles and our own
human rights determined by our own western values. How far do we blow up our local morals to a
pretentious global ethos (H. Kng)? I agree with R. Ames who correctly pointed out that by
assuming that there is only one model of human rights that must be enforced by a liberal form of
government(one)simplydoesnottakeotherculturesseriously.
29

The German Sinologist H.v. Senger showed in detail that the differences between western human
rightspositionsclaiminguniversalvalidityandtheUNconceptionofhumanrightsareconsiderable.
And I must confess that I was astonished when I read in v. Sengers essay that the official human
rightspositionofthePeoplesRepublicofChinaismoreinaccordancewiththeUNconceptionthan
theEuropeanconventionofhumanrights.
What I want to say in two words is: universalisation and globalisation are two pretentious, cloudy
words.Mindyourhead!

28
DeontologicalfromGreekdei,must,haveto.
29
R.T.Ames,ContinuingtheConversationofHumanRightsin:EthicsandInternationalAffairs,vol11,N.Y..1997
p.189, quoted after: H.v. Senger, Die UnoKonzeption der Menschenrechte und die offizielle
Menschenrechtsposition der Volksrepublik China in: Die Menschenrechtsfrage, Diskussion ber China Dialog
mitChina,Nr.6derSchriftenderDeutschenChinaGesellschaft,Gttingen1998,S.102.
22

BacktoKant.
Lets recapitulate: according to Kant the moral question par excellence is: can you universalize the
maximofyourwilltoact.ThisabilitytouniversalizeiswhatKantcallsthepositivecriterionofmoral
actions.Thereisasecondcriterion,whichKantcallsthenegativeone.Thisnegativecriterionisself
contradiction. Both together are necessary and sufficient if your will with its maxims is to pass the
testofmorality.Thetestquestionofpurerationalethicsis:canyouuniversalizethemaximbywhich
youactwithoutselfcontradiction?Soundscomplicated.Twoexamplesmayclarify.
Letsgeneralizethemaximtolieandsupposethatallpeoplelie.Bydoingso,wedoindeedfallinto
selfcontradiction.Why?SupposedthesentenceEverythingisalieistrue,thenthesentenceitself
isalie.ButifthesentenceEverythingisalieisalie,theneverythingisnotalieandthesentence
itself might be true etc. We see: it is possible to generalize the maxim lie! but not without self
contradiction. Therefore it does not pass the test of morality, it is not in accordance with the
categoricalimperative.
Butletusgiveanotherexamplewithmoreseriousconsequences.Whataboutthecommandtokill?
Thisisacommandwhichisobeyedeveryday,everywhereintheworld.Ifweweretogeneralizethe
maxim that killing is permissible, it would finally lead to mass extermination and ultimately to my
own death. With regard to human life the result would be: no more human beings on earth.
Well, this may be deplorable for a philanthropist like Kant to whom mankind is sacred, but please
notethefollowing:theuniversalisationofthemaximtokilldoesNOTleadtoselfcontradiction!That
wasalreadypointedoutbyHegel
30
.Irepeat:thetotaldestructionofhumanlifemaycontradictthe
ideasoftheholinessofmankind(Kant)anditmayleadtoactualselfdestruction,butnottological
selfcontradiction. This shows: without external presuppositions like e.g. the holiness of mankind
thepurerationalcategoricalimperativeisnosufficientconditionofthepossibilityofamoralaction.
Purerationalityisnotenough.
Conclusion:themaximyoushallkillcanberegardedasaprincipleofuniversallegislation(positive
criterion)withoutleadingtoselfcontradiction(negativecriterion)andthatmeans,Imsorry,that
thismaximisinaccordancewiththecategoricalimperative.
Isntthatremarkable:Thetotalexterminationofmankindisinaccordancewiththebasicmorallaw
of Kants so called pure practical reason!? That is what I meant when I spoke of the dangers of the
Kantianpuremoralrationalism.
Do you recognize the dangers of this moralistic rationalism in the following pompous words: We
want to substitute morality for egoism, principles for habits, duty for propriety and the power of
reason for the obligation of tradition. These are not the words of Kant as I supposed when I first
read them, but the words of his contemporary Maximilien de Robespierre, the executioner of the
FrenchRevolution,amanwhosaidthathewouldevenuseterrorasameanstoachievevirtue.And
hereallydidthisuntilhisreignofmoralitywhichturnedouttobeareignofterrorcametoanend
in1794andhehimselfwasexecutedontheguillotine.
Moralistic purism, related to fundamentalism, has a tendency to turn into terrorism. They are two
sides of the same coin. And the categorical imperative of pure rational morality has a tendency to
becomeitsownopposite.Thisisitsdialectic.

30
Hegel,GrundlinienderPhilosophiedesRechts,135.
23

By the way: SeyssInquart said at the court in Nrnberg (Nuremberg) where the trials against the
Nazistookplaceafterthesecondworldwar:Thenumberofhumanbeingsyoucankillonthebasis
of hate or love of killing is limited, but the number of those you can kill cold bloodedly and
systematicallyinthenameofamilitarycategoricalimperativeisunlimited.
OncemorebacktoKantandtheproblemofhisdeontologicalmorality.
Ifmyactionisreallytodeservethepredicatemoralinthestrict Kantiansenseofthisword,then I
havetofollowreasononly.Thetruemoralactionofananimalrationalemustbepurelyreasonable
and rational, not emotional.I have to act aus Pflicht, dutifully nicht aus Neigung,not out of
affection. Compassion is according to Kant weak and blind and has not the dignity of virtue.
But I would insist that: pure practical reason is not only dangerous because the categorical
imperativeasitsbasicmorallawisnoprotectionagainstmisuse.Moreover:ifwetrytoactaccording
to the categorical imperative in a strict deontological sense, we see that pure practical reason is no
sufficientreasonforpractice.ItisimpossibletochangethebigbillofabstractKantianpurepractical
reasonintothesmallcoinsofpracticallifeintheconcretesituationofrealactions.Iaskyou:dowe
reallytrytosavethelifeofMengzischildthatisabouttofallintoawellbecauseweactdutifullyand
reasonably, that is according to the categorical imperative? I doubt it. Rather we try to because of
intuitive compassion, sympathy and affection. Is that so to say thoughtless goodness weak and
blind?
Inshort:mycritiqueofKantscritiqueofpracticalreasonis:Kantspracticalcategoricalimperative,
hisgoodwill,isnotagoodguideonourwaytopractice.Toputitmoresimply:Kantspurepractical
reason is purely unpractical, it is not practicable. Strictly speaking it is a pure abstract theory of
practice which does not contain the indispensable conditions of the possibility of concrete moral
action.
My(pseudo)categoricalimperativethereforeis:nocategoricalimperatives!
Letscomedownfromthestarsofmoraluniversalstoearthagain!IagreewithWittgenstein2,the
PostKantian,whosaid:Wehavegotontoslipperyicewherethereisnofrictionandsoinacertain
sensetheconditionsareideal,butalso,justbecauseofthat,weareunabletowalk.Wewanttowalk:
soweneedfriction.Backtotheroughground!
31

(By the way. In his essay Zum ewigen Frieden, (To eternal peace) (1795) the later Kant does touch
that rough ground. With aversion and disapproval he talks about the following unmoral sophistic
maximsofsomeunscrupulousstatesmen:
1.Facetexcusa!Actandexcuse,glossoveryouraggression!
2.Sifecistinega!Denywhatyoudid(wrong)!
3.Divideetimpera!Divideandrule!
A miracle! How could Kant have known about the American intention to divide good old Europe,
how could he have known about the stupid white man in the White House and his terrorism
aggravatingwaragainstterrorism?

31
Wittgenstein,PhilosophicalInvestigations,107
24

Seriously:theseimperativesarenotatallcategorical.Buttheyobviouslyworkverywellasguidelines
admittedlyinabadway,averybadway.Inthisregard,IagreewithKant.)

Kantscritiqueoftheimmoralityofunscrupulousmisleadersismorestrikingthanhisowntheoryof
deontologicalmoralityandmorestrikingthanhiscritiqueofthegoldenrule.
LetshaveashortlookatthislattercritiquebeforeIcometothesecondpartofmypaper.
Discussing the practical (categorical) imperative in his treatise Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der
Sitten
32
he quotes the golden rule in its Latin version and calls it trivial and unsuitable as a guiding
moralprinciple.AccordingtoKantit cant beregardedasageneral(universal)lawbecauseitisnot
deontological, i.e. it does not talk about the duties human beings have, for example, towards each
other.Thereforehepleadsforreplacingthegoldenrulebyhiscategoricalimperative.Incontrastto
Kant I personally plead for replacing his unpractical categorical imperative and for keeping to the
goodoldgoldenrule.

2.Kongzisgoldenrule

TheRomanEmperorAlexanderSeveruswassodelightedwiththeregulaaurea,i.e.thegoldenrule,
thatheposteditonhispalace:
Quodtibifierinonvis,alterinefeceris.TranslatedintoawellknownGermanrhyme:
Wasdunichtwillst,dasmandirtu,dasfgauchkeinemandernzu,
Whatyoudonotwishtobedonetoyourself,donotdotoothers.
The oldest reliable reference to the golden rule in the West is to be found in ancient Greece in the
words of Isokrates (436 338 BC). We also find it in the Old Testament
33
and in the Sermon on the
MountintheNewTestament
34
.DifferentversionsaretobefoundinIslam,BuddhismandHinduism.
Butthelocusclassicusoftheregulaaurea,themostprominentandprobablytheoldestreferenceof
thisworldwidespreadethicallaw,isinKongzisAnalects:()Isthereanysinglesayingthatonecan
actuponalldayandeveryday?TheMastersaid:Perhapsthesayingaboutconsideration:Neverdo
tootherswhatyouwouldnotlikethemtodotoyou.
35
Theonewordthatwillkeepusonthepath
to the end of our days is shu; Waley translates consideration. Others translate reciprocal
consideration, reciprocity or empathy. In Mathews ChineseEnglish Dictionary (No. 5875) it
reads:shu,theprincipleofreciprocity,makingourownfeelings(sic!G.W.)arulewherebyweare
guided in dealing with others. Indeed, the crucial point seems to be that the word shu with the

32
LayingofthefoundationsoftheMetaphysicsofMorals,section2,p.430note,published1785,betweenthe
CritiqueofpureReason(1781)andtheCritiqueofpracticalReason(1788).
33
Tob.4,15a.
34
St.Mathewsgospel7.12andLuke6.31.
35
Lunyu15.24transl.byA.Waley.ThereisanotherversioninMengzi4A9.
25

heartradical concerns primarily our own feelings and empathy with others.
36
Originally it
probablyisnot(only)aimedatour(head)mind,atourreasonandselfreflection.Itisratheraimed
atourheartmindandcompassion,ourempathyandsympathy.
37
Ittakesintoaccountthatmanisan
animalrationaleetemotionale.Kongzisgoldenrulebasicallyisnotanabstractrationaloperationof
generalizingoruniversalizingmyownwillortheintentionsofmyownego.Itisnotsomethinglikea
halfbakedcategoricalimperativeassomeGermanphilosophersandsinologists(G.PaulandH.Roetz)
haveit.Kongzisgoldenruledealswithreciprocalconsiderationandresponsibilityintheliteralsense
ofthiswordwhichhastodowithresponseandbeingresponsivetosomebody.Itiswrongtoproject
Kants iron categorical imperative with the ego as its foundation, back into Kongzis golden rule.
Kantscategoricalimperativegoesalongwithegotism,whereasKongzisgoldenrulegoesalongwith
cummunitarianism. The NeoKantian attempt to kantianize Kongzi is a variety of ideological Neo
colonialism.MyrecommendationtothoseNeoKantiansis:gobacktoRousseau!Heemphasizedthat
the real sources of the golden rule are conscience and feeling. If I am right, this applies exactly to
Kongziswords.Inmyopinion,thetruepathdoesnotleadfromKongzitoKant.Theotherwayround!
ViaRousseauitleadsfromKantbacktoKongzi.Wehavetogobackinordertotakearunupandget
ready to jump into presentday ethics and solve some of its problems. We have to go far back.
Maybe even further than Kongzi. Instead of misunderstanding Konzis golden rule as a sort of
primitive anticipation of Kants categorical imperative, why dont we try to understand Kongzis
golden rule of reciprocal consideration and responsibility as a verbal formulation of an archaic
reciprocal resonance, in other words as an expression of a preverbal intuitive way of
responding/vibratingsympathetically?Isntitpossiblethatthisarchaic
38
reciprocalresonancelingers
onintheDaoistganying?

3.Huainanzisreciprocalresonance

TheconceptsofyingandganyingarebasicconceptsineastAsianethics.
IwillconcentrateonDaoism.EspeciallyinDaoistethics,whichwecouldcallanegativeethicsorin
other words: an ethos without morality, these concepts play an outstanding role. Ying means to
respondspontaneously(ziran);inthatsenseitcanberegardedasanexplanationofthatotherdaoist
conceptwuwei,whichmeanstodooractwithoutintentionspontaneously.
Whatdoesyingmeanindetail?InMathewsChineseEnglishDictionary(no.7477)wereadthatying
means:ought,should,must;suitable,right,fitting;necessaryetc.andwithadifferentintonation:to
reply, to respond, to echo, to correspond etc. And ganying means (no.3232): moved to response
through the feelings and affections, induction. I agree with Charles le Blanc who emphasized in his
detailed translation and analysis of the central chapter six of the HUAINANZI a corpus of texts
whichwecanregardastheencyclopediadaoisticaitishereassumedthatitwasaroundtheidea
of resonance (ganying) that the philosophy of Huainanzi was elaborated. Chapter six () is devoted

36
Cf.U.Unger,GoldeneRegelundKonfuzianismus,in:minimasinica2/2003,p.1941.
37
The Greek word sympathy originally meant something like a sympathetic vibration, for example of bronze
vessels.Inmusicitwasusedofchordswhichvibratetogether.
38
IfIsayarchaic,Iamthinkingmainlyoftheoldbartersocietywithitsconcreteexchangevaluesandwithout
abstractcashvalues.
26

explicitlytotheideaofresonance.
39
IntheintroductiontohisFrenchtranslationofchap.6LeBlanc
says: Lequivalence du nonagir (wuwei) et de la rsonance (ying) est le nerf de largument du
chapitre.
40
The most perfect form of government is that of nonaction (wuwei) for it operates
throughthenatural(tzujan)resonance(kanying)ofallthings.
41

LookingforoldersourcesoftheDaoistkeytermyingLeBlancreferstotheZHUANGZI.
42
Indeedthe
notionyingoccursinseveralchaptersoftheZhuangzi,forexampleinthestoryofwheelwrightFlatin
chap.13.8.Ihavetoskipthatandconcentrateonawellknownsayingattheendofchap.7,followed
bythefascinatinghundunstory.ThepassagereadsinBurtonWatsonstranslation:Theperfectman
uses his mind like a mirror, going after nothing, welcoming nothing, responding (ying) but not
storing.
43
This is repeated in the Huainanzi, in chap. VI, 6b in a context, in which the author talks
aboutxiangying,reciprocalresonance,andgivestheinterestingexampleoftheburningmirrorfusui,
which gathers fire from the sun.
44
Probably this burningmirror was a concave bronzemirror which
wasusedinZhuangzisdaystofocusthesunraysinordertomakefire.
45
Isnttheresponseyingof
this burningmirror fusui a very practical and striking example for the Daoist wei wuwei or wuwei
ziran?Itisanexampleofdoingsomething(lighting,makingfire)withoutinterferenceofmyself,only
by responsive selfsoing (ziran). It is an example of a speculation (from lat. speculum, mirror)
withoutintellectualspeculation,anexampleofareflexionwithoutarationalreflection.
Yingalsooccursinasimilarpassageinmiscellaneouschap.33.5of theZhuangzi,which islateron
repeatedinchap.4oftheLiezi.Itisinterestinginsofarasitoffersmorethanthecomparisonwiththe
mirrortoexplainthemeaningofying:Moving,belikewater/Still,belikeamirror/Respondlikean
echo.
46
Thisminimamoraliadaoisticawithoutmoralitytalksnotonlyaboutopticalreflection
but also about acoustic resonance and thus reminds us of the acoustic and musical origin of the
notion of ying. Chap.VI,6b of the Huainanzi gives a famous example of spontaneous reciprocal
resonance, the example of the two zithers: When the lutetuner strikes the kung (gong) note (on
oneinstrument),thekungnote(ontheotherinstrument)responds(ying)Thisresultsfromhaving
corresponding musical notes in mutual harmony,
47
The two instruments corresponding, i.e.co
responding,respondingtoeachotherreciprocally(xiangying)andbeinginmutualharmony,arelike
the fishes enjoying each other and the heartminds of people who vibrate in reciprocal resonance.
They act in reciprocal spontaneity (xiang ran, conaturalit) without acting on purpose. They forget
each other (xiang wang)
48
and respond in reciprocal oblivion, in reciprocal resonance and

39
Charles le Blanc, HuaiNanTzu, Philosophical Synthesis in Early Han Thought, Hongkong University Press,
1985, p.9. Two years ago the first complete translation of the Huainanzi into a western language was
published under the direction of Charles le Blanc and Remi Mathieu, Philosophes taoistes, II, Huainanzi, Paris
2003.AsfarasIcansee,theFrenchtranslationisexcellent.
40
Philosophes taoistes II, ibid. p.257. Cf. also XXI: Pour le Huainanzi cette notion (ganying) est un aspect
essentieldelaspontaneitnaturelle,ziranetdunonagir,wuwei,desideestaoistes.
41
LeBlanc,HuaiNanTzu,ibid.p.192.
42
PhilosophestaoistesII,p.259.
43
B.Watson,TheCompleteWorksofChuangTzu,NewYorkandLondon,1968,p.97.
44
Ibid.chap.VI,4aa.Cf.LeBlanc,HuaiNanTzu,p.120andPhilosophestaoistesII,p.267.
45
Cf. H.H. Oshima, A Metaphysical Analysis of the Concept of Mind in the ChuangTzu, in: V.H. Mair (Ed.),
ExperimentalEssaysonChuangTzu,p.63ff.
46
TheBookofLiehtzu,translatedbyA.C.Graham,NewYork1990,p.90.Cf.alsoLaozichap73:tianzhidao
buyanershanying,thedaoofheavendoesnotmakewordsbutisgoodatresponding.
47
LeBlanc,HuaiNanTzu,p.138,cf.PhilosophestaoistesII,p.271.
48
IntheZhuangzi,chap.6.6itreads:Confuciussaid:fishthriveinwater,manthrivesintheway()Forthose
thatthriveinthewaydontbotheraboutthemandtheirliveswillbesecure.Soitissaid,thefishforgeteach
27

concordance. This intuitive spontaneous reciprocity and harmony results by itself (ziran, selfsoing)
withoutmyself,withoutanyrationalreflectionordeductionandwithoutmoralprinciples.TheDaoist
sage responds by itselfso (ziran ganying). This inductive, sympathetic, compassionate co
respondance results from a natural feeling of responsibility which is beyond morality and before
moralityinthesenseofmoralprinciples,lawsandduties.Itisarsonanceducoeur,aresonanceof
theheartmindwithoutreasoning.
Pleasedontmisunderstandme:ziranganyingisnodaoistcategoricalimperative,nouniversallaw,
not even a prescription, as a prescription it would be selfcontradictory. Its just a description how
goodtogethernessfunctions.
Is all this too harmonious, too idyllic, too romantic? I dont think so. This spontaneous, natural
resonancefollowsthespontaneousnecessitytodowhathastobedone.(N.b.pleaserememberthat
yingalsomeansnecessary,fitting,suitableetc.)Yingmeansthenecessaryfittingresponseaccording
to the changing situation. Right and wrong are situational. In the appropriate situation nothing is
wrong. Without the appropriate situation, nothing is right.
49
In the Liezi we read: In any case,
nowhere is there a principle which is right in all circumstances or an action that is wrong in all
circumstances.Themethodweusedyesterdaywemaydiscardtodayanduseagaininfuture,there
arenofixedrightandwrongtodecidewhetherweuseitornot.
50

Wellnow,IsupposethattheDaoistganyingandxiangying,thisnaturalreciprocalresonance,which
doesnotonlyrefertohumanbeings,ismoreprimordialthan theConfucianshu,therule ofhuman
reciprocity. It seems that the Daoist xiang ran, natural conaturalit is the natural basis of the
Confucianren,humanity. Itisthebasisintheliteralsense,howwemovephysically,with ourbody,
following the right way, going together selfsoing, communicating with each other by forgetting
eachother.
But is this Daoist ethos without a reasonable morality not a bit too naturalistic or even primitive,
good enough for fish and other irrational, unreasonable animals but not good enough for man as a
rational animal? What about our human mind which makes us different from animals or so we
think?Dontworry!Ofcoursewehavetouseourmindfromtimetotimeandthinkofeachother.
InthisrespecttheDaoistxiangranandxiangyingintheheartandtheConfucianshuandreninmind
arecomplementary.
But we should not forget: despite the fact, that the Confucian shu leads to a (golden) rule which
undoubtedly has to do with reason and brings Confucianism closer to rationalism, whereas the
Daoist xiang ying has more to do with sense a natural form of common sense, so to speak :
both ways, the Daoist and the Confucian, have a similar starting point: intuition and feeling
inoneword:prerationality.Thisprerationalbasis,onwhichtheConfuciansbuildthebelletageof
their golden rule, is what distinguishes both Confucianism and Daoism more or less from a pure
rationalethicslaKantorasocalleddiscursiveethicsofthosewhofollowinKantsfootsteps.
Onceagain:pleasedontmisunderstandme.Ofcourseweneedrationalrules,normsandlaws.They
arenecessarybutnotsufficienttoplayourgameoflife.

other in the rivers and lakes, and men forget each other in the arts of the way. B. Watson, The Complete
WorksofChuangTzu,p.87.
49
TheTaoofPoliticsLessonsoftheMasterofHuainan,translatedbyTh.Cleary,KualaLumpur1992,39.
50
TheBookofLiehtzu,translatedbyA.C.Graham,NewYork1990,p.163.
28

Lets take Wittgensteins example of the tennisgame in 68 of his `Philosophical Investigations:

It is not everywhere circumscribed by rules, but no more are there any rules for how high one
throwstheballintennis,orhowhard,yettennisisagameforallthatandhasrulestoo.
Dont take me for a naturalistic antirationalist or irrationalist. I am pleading for a wellunderstood
impure reason, one which does not forget its own reason, its own ground. I plead for a cognition,
which does not misunderstand itself as the opposite of nature, but recognizes its own nature and
realizesthatitisitselfaveryspecialsiteofnature.
Iamdeeplyconvinced:themorewestrawdogsrealizethatweareanimalbeings,themorewe
becomerealhumanbeings,rationalanimals.Wehavetobearthisinmindinourethics.
Inshort:IbelievethattheseancientChineseideasDaoistethosevenmorethanConfucianethics
in my opinion can rescue us from our present Kantian headstands and enable us to walk on our
way.

FinalRemark

The best comes from the West??? Do we westerners really have the bloody best western ethics in
theworld???
JrgenHabermas,theNeoKantianmoralphilosopherandtherepresentativeofthemodernproject
of a universal morality says: our Western European morality of abstract justice is developmentally
superiortotheethicsofanyculturelackinguniversalprinciples.
51

I would diagnose a western superiority complex. To impose the moral principles of a Kantian duty
ethicsoradetranscendentalizedNeoKantiandiscourseethicsonotherculturesandtouniversalize
moralimperativeshowevernobletheymaybeisanewformofideologicalimperialism.Kantian
andNeoKantianuniversalismisasecularizedChristianuniversalism.Themissionarypretensionisan
unmistakablesignforit.LetusbewaryofWesternmoralizers,whethertheologians,philosophersor
politicians,whoinflatetheirlocalvaluestoglobalvalues,letusbewaryofthemoralinflation!
(N.b. Of course we have to generalize. Every concept is a conceptus communis. Our ordinary
languagedoesntworkwithoutgeneralizations,butfortunatelywedohavelanguagesinsteadofone
universal language. We should be very reluctant to universalize. Universalism goes as the word
itselfsaystogetherwithmonismandmonism,forexampleinformofmonotheismhasanintrinsic
tendencytobeintolerant.)
Well,youChinesetooktoheartthoseremarkablefirstwordsfromKongzisLunyuandhavealready
learnedfromtheWestformanyyears.WhataboutusWesterners?300yearsagoLeibnizsaidinthe
preface to his Novissima Sinica: It is desirable that we for our part learn from them (scil. the

51
J. Habermas , in: H.L. Dreyfus/ S.E. Dreyfus What is Morality? A Phenomenological Account of the
DevelopmentofEthicalExperiencein:D.M.Rasmussen(ED.)Universalismvs.Communitarianism,London1990
p.251.
29

Chinese)firstofalltheapplicationofapracticalphilosophy.
52
ButuptonowmostWesternersare
notyetreadytolearn.ItrytofollowLeibnizadviceandlearnfromChinesepracticalphilosophy.
AndhereismyfinalhintforallChinesephilosopherswhoarekeentolearnthebestfromtheWest.
Pleaselearnfrommeasa modernpostmodernWesternerandbelieveme:weallChineseaswell
asWesternersstillhavemuchtolearnfromancientChinesephilosophy,especiallyfromDaoism.

52
G.W.Leibnizin:DeutscheDenkerberChina,A.Hsia(Hg.),Frankfurt1985p.17.
30

3.FollowinginZhuangzisFootsteps
SomeNotesonChinesePoetryandPainting
InauguralMeetingoftheChineseDaoistSalon
Zhengzhou/March2010

Daofaziran
Laozi,chap.25

Preface
Letmebeginwithsomewordsontheway,Ihavefollowedinmyownlife.
Tocutalongstoryshort:OnceuponatimeIdreamtofphilosophyasloveofwisdom.
I went to university and became a good German Idealist Kant, Hegel etc., ideal at least to get a
good universityjob in Germany. I got one, a comfortable chair in the philosophy department of an
uglyGermancity.IevenbecamedeanoffacultyalittleVIP;andIwasdissatisfied,unhappy.
Why?Well,whenIwasyoungandnaive,Ihaddecidedtostudyphilosophy,becauseIthoughtithad
something to do with the art of living, with wisdom of life, wisdom I could use in my own life
stupidme!
After20yearsasaprofessionalphilosophyprofessorIwasdisillusioned.Toomuchdust.
I retired early and live now since 10 years in our mountaincottage on the eastern slope of Mont
Tauch in Southern France. I take care of the mountain goats of my wife and cultivate my garden.
Iwritepoems,drinkmybottleofwineandmostlyIamnotunhappyrarely.
Yousee:ItakegoodoldTaoYuanming(TaoQian)asanexample.Hedidwellwithhisreturntothe
countryside.
Meanwhile I searchedfor apracticalphilosophyandcameacrosstheLaozi.I started toprepare my
own translation translation is interpretation together with some young colleagues; one of them
was HansGeorg Moeller. I even organized together with a former Chinese friend the first
international Laozi conference in Germany. I went East and traveled to China, again and again,
uptotoday.
OnedaymyfriendJohnMinford,thetranslatoroftheHongloumeng,saidtome:WhyalwaysLaozi?
TrytheZhuangzi,youwilllikeitevenmoreandhewasright.ItastedtheZhuangzi,Iruminated
on it (shu du ) and became more and more a EuroDaoist, as Peter Sloterdijk said disparagingly.
I dont care. I continued with my Zhuangzi, translated parts of it and published two little pocket
books.
I wanted to introduce the great poetphilosopher Zhuangzi to German philosophers and literati,
becausehestillisnearlyunknownamongnonsinologists.Oneofmyformerphilosophercolleagues
31

asked me once, if the Zhuangzi is one of these delicious Chinese fishdishes. Well, in a way he was
right,indeedheisdelicious.Formeasaphilosopherwhobelievesthatphilosophymeansartoflife
and hastodowithyangsheng,nourishinglife,for measa philosopherwith apoeticstreak,theold
laughingdaofoolZhuangziistheonewhopreparedmyway.
Itrytofollowinhisfootsteps.TodayIllmakethreelittlesteps.
FirstIllremindyouofZhuangziswellknownstoryofthedancingcookandtheox.
SecondIllmakesomeremarksonthe11
th
.centurybamboopoetSuShi(SuDongpo).
ThirdlyIllsaysomethingonthe17
th
.centuryonestrokepainterShitao(Daoji).

Themottoofmypaperisthelastwordinchapter25oftheLaozi:
daofaziran,daoslaw:selfso.

32

MainPart
1.Zhuangzi:Thestoryofthecookandtheox(Zhuangzi,chap.3.2)
Ithinkyouallknowthefamousstoryofthecookandtheox.Itisoneofthemostinfluentialtextsin
Chineseaesthetics.
I repeat the first part in order to draw your attention to two words, or rather to the translations of
thesetwowords,whichcouldclarifythemessageofthestory:careforlife(yangsheng).
IwillusethetranslationofVictorH.Mair,fortworeasons:
First, I like this translation on the whole because I believe it catches Zhuangzis spirit much better
thanmostothertranslations.
Second I use it, because Mairs translation was the basis for the first complete German Zhuangzi
translation,publishedin1998(sic!)bymyfriendStephanSchuhmacher.
(Richard Wilhelms first commendable, but incomplete and because of its Christian projections
sometimesinadequatetranslationappeared1912.)
I also used the Mair/Schuhmacher translation for my own pocketbook version of the seven inner
chapters.
But, nevertheless I have to criticize this translation. In the story of the cook it is especially the
translationoftwowordswhichinmyopinionpresentsadistortedpictureofZhuangzismessage.
Truthliesintranslation,inthedoublesenseofthewordlies.
Well, lets first listen to Mairs whole translation of the story, afterwards Ill come to my two little
criticalfootnotes.
AcookwascuttingupanoxforLordWenhui.Wherever
Hishandtouched
Hisshoulderleaned,
hisfootstepped
hiskneenudged,
thefleshwouldfallawaywithaswishingsound.Eachsliceofthecleaver(dao.G.W.)wasrightintune,
zip zap! He danced in rhythm to The Mulberry Grove, moved in concert with the strains of The
ManagingChief.
Ah,wonderful!saidLordWenhui,thatskillcanattainsuchheights!
Thecookputdownhiscleaver(sic.G.W.)andresponded:Whatyourservantlovesistheway(dao),
which goes beyond mere skill. When I first began to cut oxen, what I saw was nothing but whole
oxen.Afterthreeyears,Inolongersawwholeoxen.Today,Imeettheoxwithmyspirit(shen,G.W.),
rather than looking at it with my eyes. My sense organs stop functioning and my spirit moves as it
pleases.()Wonderful!saidLordWenhui.Fromhearingthewordsofthecook,Ihavelearnedhow
tonourishlife.
53

53
WanderingontheWay,EarlyTaoistTalesandParablesofChuangtzu,trans.byVictorH.Mair,Universityof
HawaiIPress1998,26.
33

Note1
The Chinese character which Mair translates by cleaver (Schuhmacher has Hackmesser) is dao. His
translation is a bit clumsy. Cook Ding does not chop, nor hack. The blade of his knife like Burton
WatsonIpreferknifesings,plays,dances,asitsaysinthetext:yourentheplayofthebladein
theemptyspace between thejoints.(Bytheway:Theyouistheyouweknowfrom chapteroneof
theZhuangzi:xiaoyaoyou.)
And please mind Zhuangzis wordplay : dao, the knife is wandering (you)on the dao, the way.
Remember what the cook says : What your servant loves is the way (dao). After three years
practice (!) the cook is so skillful that he can forget all skills and just go along with the natural
structure. He is able to follow things as they are without intervening intentionally. He himself no
longerchops,theknifeitselfslicesselfso,wuweiziran.
(By the way: the second part of ziran, ran appears three times in Zhuangzis description of the
rhythmicdanceoftheknife.)
Note2
Mysecondcritiqueis tobeseeninconnectionwith thefirstone,butseems tobe moreimportant.
I tried to point out that the cook himself does not any longer intervene personally, actually neither
withhisperception(guan)norwithhisunderstanding(zhi),asitsaysclearlyinthetextandasBurton
Watson, in my opinion the most reliable translator of all, also translates correctly: Perception and
(myunderliningG.W.)understandinghavecometoastopandspiritmoveswhereitwants.
54

WhenMairtranslates.Mysenseorgansstopfunctioningandmy(myunderliningG.W.)spiritmoves
asitpleases,thenhemakestheoldmistakeofWesternerstoreadthedichotomyofsensualityand
rationalityintothetext.Inthetextistobefoundnoconfrontationofmysenseorgansontheone
hand and my spirit on the other hand. In the text we rather find the confrontation of my
perception and my understanding on the one hand and shen on the other hand, and shen is more
thanmyspirit.
Shen,relatedtotheJapaneseshinShintoisthewayofthegods,shenhasoriginallytodowith
gods, spirits and ghosts, of the living as well as of the dead. Shen is, to quote Angus Graham ,
55

something daemonic, which moves where it wants; mind the important difference: not where I
want to move, not where my perception, my understanding or my spirit moves. From Legge and
WilhelmuptoMairandSchuhmacher:alwaysthesameoldtrickoftranslation:
toconjuremetaphysicalrabbitsoutofaDaoisthat.Lostintranslation!
Well, I prefer to translate shen by inspiration in order to make clear that not I am the leader and
commander,notmyself.Thehighestmastery,whichcookDingreachedafterthreeyearspractice,is
toletitgo,selfso;thisleadstotherightway;wujiziran.Themessageistoforgetmyself(wusang
wo)andfollownature.Thisistherightwaytonourishlife(yangsheng).

54
Zhuangzi,BasicWritings,trans.byBurtonWatson,ColumbiaUniversityPress,NewYork,2003,46.
55
Chuangtzu,TheSevenInnerChaptersandotherWritingsfromtheBookChuangtzu,transl.byA.C.Graham,
London1981,63.
34

Now Ill say something about poetry and painting. You will easily find the signs pathfinder Zhuangzi
left behind. More than in the West, poetry and painting go well together in Chinese tradition.
ThepoetpainterSuShisaidaboutthegreatTangpoetpainterWangWei,themasteroftheWhite
clouds:
IfoneenjoysWangWeispoems,onefindspaintingsinit.
IfonecontemplatesWangWeispaintings,onefindspoemsinit.

2.SuShi(SuDongpo)
SuShih(10371101G.W.)wasoneofthefewChineseliteratitohavemasteredvirtuallyallliterary
and artistic forms shih poetry, tzu poetry, fu, prose essays, calligraphy, and painting. The shih,
especially the sevencharacter oldstyle poetry, was known for its spontaneity. () The tendency to
beunrestrainedcharacterizesSusstyle.Theartofwritingprose,accordingtohim,wasnomorethan
lettingwordsflowwheretheyshouldflowandstopwheretheyshouldstop.Suoftencomparedthe
art of painting to the art of poetry, saying that both should, like streaming water, run
spontaneously.
56

AccordingtoLaozisworddaofaziranIwouldsaywithregardtoSuShi:shifaziran,thelawofpoetry
isspontaneity.
My dear colleague KarlHeinz Pohl says in his book on Chinese aesthetics that Su Shi was so
influentialinpoetryaswellasincalligraphyandpaintingthatonecouldregardthehistoryofChinese
aestheticsinthelastmillenniumasfootnotestoSuShi.
57

LetmeaddapersonalfootnotetotellyouwhenIfirstcameacrossSuShi.
Several years ago, we went to a Chinese restaurant in Hangzhou named Dong Po. My Chinese
daughterinlawexplainedthatitwasnamedafterSuShi.DuringhisexileinHangzhouhecontented
himselfwiththelonelylifeoffarmingandcomparedhimselftoTaoQian.Helikedthislifesomuch,
that he began to call himself Dongpo, Eastern Slope, after the name of his farm in Hangzhou.
58

As a memento of Su Dongpo I planted a little bambooforest at our farm on the Eastern Slope of
MontTauchinSouthernFrance.
Like his friend Wen Tong (called Yuke) Su Shi loved to write(xie) bamboo. In one of his poems he
saysaboutWenTongsartofwriting:
IfYukewritesbamboo,heonlyseesbambooandnevermen.
Butitsnotonlythatheneverseesmen,likeintrancehehasforgottenhimself.

56
William.H.Nienhauser,Jr.(Ed.),TheIndianaCompaniontoTraditionalChineseLiterature,SouthernMaterials
Center,Inc.Taipei,1986,729.
57
KarlHeinzPohl,sthetikundLiteraturtheorieinChina,VonderTraditionbiszurModerne,in:Geschichteder
chinesischenLiteratur,Bd.5,VerlagK.G.Saur,Mnchen2007,245.
58
KarlHeinzdrewmyattentiontoamistakeinmytext.SoDongpofoundhissobriquetDongponotin
HangzhoubutduringhisfirstexileinHuangzhou,notfarawayfromWuhan.Ihaventbeenthereyet,butIm
surethatthisplacemusthavebeenasbeautifulasthehillsbehindHangzhou.
35

(AnallusiontoZhuangzichap.2.1:wusangwo,G.W.)
Hehimselfbecamebamboo,whichpermanentlygrowsfreshly.

A disciple of the great Japanese Haiku poet Basho (1644 1694), who, like Su Dongpo, admired
Zhuangzi,records:
The master said: Learn about a pine tree from a pine tree, and about a bamboo plant from a
bambooplant.Whathemeantwasthatapoetshoulddetachthemindfromhisownpersonalself.
Nevertheless some poets interpret the word learn in their own ways and never really learn. For
learn means to enter into the object, perceive its delicate live and feel its feelings, whereupon a
poemformsitself.Aluciddescriptionoftheobjectisnotenough:unlessthepoemcontainsfeelings
whichhavespontaneouslyemergedfromtheobject,itwillshowtheobjectandthepoetsselfastwo
separateentities,makingitimpossibletoattainatruepoeticsentiment.Thepoemwillbeartificial,
foritiscomposedbythepoetspersonalself.
Dontlookatthebamboo,lookasthebamboo.
The poem is sans sujet as the French philosopher Derrida said. (The French word sujet has the
doublemeaningofsubjectandobject.)
BacktoChinaandtoSuDongpo.
HegivesanexcellentexampleoftheaestheticmeditationofhisfriendWenTong.
First you have to concentrate patiently, but then in the very moment of action, you act
spontaneously,selfsoing,asRogerAmessays;andyourbrushmoveslikeahawkwhoswoopsdown
to catch the rabbit. Please remember this impressive picture when I talk about the onestroke
techniqueofthepainterShitaoinaminute.
Thecrucial pointisparadoxicallyspeaking shufa ziran,thelawofspontaneityandnaturalnessin
theartofwriting.
AfamouspoemofSuDongpocontainshisminimapoetica:
Whowritesapoemfollowingrules(fa)hasnoideaofpoetry.
Poetryandpaintingarefoundedonthesameprinciple:liketheworkofnatureclearandfresh.
59

Otherwiseitdoesntbreathefreely,ithasnoqi,norespirationinspiration.
Qiistheflowofthedao.Qiflowsnaturally,spontaneouslyziran.Theflowofqiisselfso.
The secret of Su Dongpos poetry as well as Shitaos paintings is the rule of norule, wu fa er fa.
LBenzhong,acontemporaryofSuDongpo,calleditlivelyrules,huofa.
Thedeathofmywordsgivebirthtothewords,theycomeandtheygolikethewhitecloudsinthe
wind.

59
Mytranslation.Cf.KarlHeinzPohl,loc.cit.,243.
36

3.Shitao(Daoji)
Shitao, also called Daoji, the great painter and calligrapher from the 17th. century (1641? 1717?)
respected Su Dongpo highly. Like him he was mainly inspired by Daoism. Lin Yutang called Shitaos
Treatise on the Philosophy of Painting (Hua yulu, 1700) the revised version Hua pu was published
1710asthebestessayonart,everpublishedbyafamousChineseartist.
Theessaybeginswiththewords:
In remote, ancient days there were no principles (fa). The primordial po( pu G.W.) or state of
uncarved block had not been dispersed. As soon as the primordial po was dispersed, principles
emerged. How did these principles emerge? They were founded upon the oneness of strokes ( yi
hua).Thisonenessofstrokesistheoriginofallbeings()Theprincipleofonenessofstrokesissuch
thatfromnomethod(wufa)methodoriginates.
60

InchapterthreeShitaoadds:
The perfect man has no method. Not that he has no method whatsoever, but, nomethod is the
method which is the perfect method (wu fa er fa ).
61
Shitaos method of no method is the direct
application of the Daoist wei wuwei or wuwei ziran.The true way of painting doesnt follow a fixed
method (wu fa), it emerges spontaneously, naturally, selfso. Dao fa ziran. No misunderstanding :
thisspontaneityisnoarbitrariness.Itistheresultofalongtraining.Itsimmediacyismediated,itis
the result of a long pictorial meditation. Shitao describes his method of spontaneity (wu fa ziran)
according to which the one stroke (yi hua)emerges naturally with the following words: When the
brushmovesoutward,itislikecuttingsomething(likecuttinganox!G.W.),whenthebrushmoves
inwarditislikeliftingsomething.Tomakeeitherasquareoracircle,tomakeastraightlineorabent
line, either upward or downward, left or right, all of these movements are similar to water flowing
naturallydownwardandflamesburningupward.Theyarenatural(ziran)andfreefromtheslightest
artificiality.Alloftheseactionspossessalivelyspiritandtheirmethodsarealwaysintegrated.
62

Thehighestartiswithoutart(ificiality).Thelivingonestrokeisspontaneouslikeaflyingdragonanda
dancingphoenix.ShitaospainterwriteslikeZhuangziscook cuts.Theplayingbrushaswellasthe
playing blade find their way selfso (ziran). No need that the artist himself intervenes.
When he grasps the brush, it is as if he were doing nothing, as Shitao says.
63
But in the very
momentwhen,afteratimeofmotionlessconcentration,windarisesundertheelbowoftheman
withthebrush,then,allofasudden,thebrushmovesselfsolikeahawkwhoswoopsdowntocatch
therabbit.
Theartofwritingpoemsandpicturescorrespondtothemartialarts,andtothemartialartsofliving
anddying.
Butthisisanotherstory.PleasehavealookatmylittlebookDieKunstdesLebens.
(www.guenterwohlfart.de,freedownload).

60
EarleJeromeColeman,PhilosophyofPaintingbyShihTao,AtranslationandExpositionofhisHuaPu,
MoutonPublishers,TheHague,ParisNewYork,1978,35f.
61
Coleman,loc.cit.47f.
62
Coleman,loc.cit.39f.
63
Coleman,loc.cit.102.
37

Epilogue:Superfluouswordsonmyownpoeticalessays
Mymotto:xiyanziran,fewwordsselfso(Laoz,chapter23)
Aproposxiyan.
Apoetdoesntmakemanywords.Lessismoreminimalart.
The poet doesnt make beautiful words xin yan bu mei sincere words are not beautiful (Laozi
chapter.81)Hecallsaspadeaspade.
The poet is not sentimental. His heartmind (xin) is empty like a mirror (Cf. Zhuangzi, chapter 7.6).
Thenheisaspeculatorintheoriginalsenseoftheword(Lat.speculum=mirror).
ThenheisaresonatorinthesenseoftheChinesewordying,resonance.Thepoeticalwordisanecho
ofthemusicofthe10.000things;itrespondstothem.Onlyiftheheartmindofthepoetisnottoo
full of himself and his feelings, then he can be inspired (shen) and catch the spirit of the moment.
Thepoemisnotpoetical,toofullofsentiments;itisnotsweet.Itisratherbitter,atitsbestbitter
sweet,astheGreekpoetSapphosaid.
The Chinese poet Yang Wanli ( 1127 1206) gave a remarkable answer to the question What is
poetry?Didyouevertastesweetsandtea?Thereisnobodywhodoesntlikesweets.Butfirstofall
sweets taste sweet, but afterwards sour.(They can cause heartburn. G.W.) The tea however tastes
bitteratthebeginningbutbeforehisbitternessends,hissweetnessismatchless.Itsthesamewith
poetry.
64

Aproposziran.
Howtowriteapoem?Dontmakewordsyourself,letitwriteitself.Ifyouaresensitive,thewords
ofpoetryorganizethemselves,selfso.Icallthispoeticalautopoiesis.Donotinterveneinthenatural
selfproduction of the poem. No artificiality! The highest art means to overcome artificiality and
reach spontaneous naturalness, as we can learn for example from the Chinese poet Su Dongpo.
Language(itself)speaks(Heidegger)andwritingwrites,ifyourverselistenstotheconversationof
thewordsamongeachother.Thewordstalktoeachothersilently,forexamplethroughtheirtones,
theirrhythm,theirresonance(ying),theirauraofconnotationsetc.Thepoetisthemasterofwords
insofarasheobeyswords.Hefollowsthepotentialenergy(shi)oftheflowofwords.
Zhuangzisaid:zhirenwuji(Zhuangzichapter1.1),thehighestmaniswithoutanego .
AccordinglyIwouldadd:shirenwuji,thepoetiswithoutanego.
Thetaskofthegreatpoetistomakehimselfuntraceable.
YourememberwhatYanYu(1180?1235?)saidaboutthegreatTangmasters:
Theywerelikegazelleswhichhangthemselvesontheirhornsintothebranchesofthetreesinorder
toleavenotracebehind.
Thesenseofmyminimalisticlanguagegamesinonesentence:
asfewwordsaspossibletocatchthespiritofthemoment.

64
MytranslationfollowingKarlHeinzPohl,loc.cit.277.
38

4.EternalPeaceEternalWar
ReflectionsonPolitics
Kant,Heraclitus,SunziandtheDaoists
Lecturegivenatthe16
th
SymposiumoftheAcadmieduMidiinAletlesBains/France,2006

1.Kant Eternalpeace:asweetdream
2.HeraclitusEternalwar:warasthefatherofallthings
3.Sunzi Theartofwar:howtodefeattheenemywithoutfighting

ThepapertriestoshowhowancientChinesephilosophycanhelpustorespondinamorepeaceful,
defensive way to the continual dangers of war and find a practicable way between outright
bellicosityontheonehandandalltoogoodpacifismontheotherhand.

1.KantEternalpeace:asweetdream
Kant,thepredominantfigureofEnlightenmentinGermany,tellsusaboutaDutchinnwithaplaque
showingagraveyardandtheironicalinscription:Toeternalpeace.
The Dutch innkeeper was probably not a German idealist and daydreamer. But some people
maybe some of you too? still dream the sweet dream of eternal peace
65
, especially some
philosophers like Kant and some of the Kantians and incorrigible Neo Kantians who follow in his
footsteps, like my former PhD supervisor Jrgen Habermas. They wont believe that eternal peace
only will come true on the graveyard of mankind.
66
Like Kant they believe that the evil is self
destructive and therefore will although in slow progress make place for the moral principle of
good.
67
In the last words of his famous essay on eternal peace Kant says that eternal peace is no
emptyideabutsomethingthatcanbereachedincontinualprogress.
68

Thissweetdreamofasteadyprogressforthebetterandforthefinalstateofeternalpeacebelongs
tothedeepslumberofEnlightenment.
In his essay on Enlightenment Kant claims that progress of Enlightenment is the original destiny of
mankind.
69
AccordingtoKantpurepracticalreasonentitlesustopresumedadieWeltimganzen

65
Kant,ZumewigenFrieden,Reclam,Stuttgart1984,p.3
66
Cf.ibid.p.8
67
Cf.ibid.p.47
68
Cf.ibid.p.56
69
Kant,WerkeinsechsBnden,BandVI,WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft,Darmstadt1966,p.58.
Elsewherehesays:DieBestimmungdesmenschlichenGeschlechtsimganzenistunaufhrlichesFortschreiten
(incessantprogress).R.Eisler,KantLexikon,OlmsVerlagsbuchhandlung,Hildesheim1964,p.156
39

immer zum Besseren fortschreitet (that the world on the whole always progresses for the
better).
70
Idoubtit!
In his late essay Der Streit der Fakultten
71
Kant differentiates between three possible cases of
futurehistoricaldevelopment:
1. constantregressionfortheworse,whichKantcallsmoralterrorism.
2. continuingprogressionforthebetterand
3. eternalstandstill.
72

Of course he favours the second of these and refers to the historical event of his time, the French
Revolution,whichinhisopinionprovesthemoraltendencyofmankind.
73

Lets have a look at the way of thinking of the most prominent revolutionary in this revolution. He
claims:wewanttosubstitutemoralityforegoism,principlesforhabits,dutyforproprietyandthe
powerofreasonfortheobligationoftradition.
74
ThesepompouswordsarenotthewordsofKantas
I supposed when I first read them, but the words of his contemporary Maximilien de Robespierre,
theexecutioneroftheFrenchRevolution,amanwhosaidthathewouldevenuseterrorasameans
toachievevirtue.Andhereallydidthisuntilhisreignofmorality,whichturnedouttobeareignof
terror,cametoanendin1794andhewasexecutedontheguillotine.
Moralisticpurism,relatedtofundamentalism,hasthetendencytoturnintomoralterrorism.They
are two sides of the same coin. And the categorical imperative of pure rational morality has a
tendencytobecomeitsownopposite.
75
Thisiswhatoneofmyformerteachers,Theodor.W.Adorno,
calledtheDialecticofEnlightenment.
In fact, in truth, it is not the belief in a continuing regression for the worse that deserves to be
labelled as moral terrorism as Kant did but quite the reverse: it is the unrealistic, blind belief of
the Enlightenment in the continuous progression towards the better that in fact may lead to
regressionandfinallytoselfdestruction.

Please dont misunderstand me. Im not an enemy of Enlightenment. But an unenlightened

Enlightenmentinevitablyturnsintoitsopposite,intomythology.Thatsitsdialectics.Weneedanew
HumetowakeupKantandallthelittleKantiansafterhimtheKntchenasJeanPaulcalledthem
to interrupt their critical slumber of Enlightenment. Enlightenment about Enlightenment is the

70
Cf.ibid.
71
Theessaydatesfrom1798,threeyearsafterZumewigenFrieden(1795).
72
Kant,Werke,BandVI,p.352f.
73
MorepreciselyhespeaksofthewayofthinkingofthespectatorsoftheFrenchRevolution,ibid.p.357ff.
74
Cf.H.Mainusch,AufdemWegzueinemWeltethos,in:J.Thesing/Th.Awe(Hg.),DaoinChinaundimWesten,
BouvierVerlag,Bonn1999,p.200.
75
Bytheway:SeyssInquartsaidatthecourtinNrnberg,wherethetrialsagainsttheNazistookplaceafter
thesecondworldwar:Thenumberofhumanbeingsyoucankillonthebasisofhateorloveofkillingis
limited,butthenumberofthoseyoucankillcoldbloodedlyandsystematicallyinthenameofamilitary
categoricalimperativeisunlimited.Cf.ibid.p.205.
40

indispensable consequence of the project of modern Enlightenment. I totally agree with the
prophetic words of Kant: our age is the true age of criticism
76
and Enlightenment
77
to which
everything(sic!G.W.)mustsubmit.ButIwouldliketoadd:everything,yes,eventhiscriticismand
Enlightenment itself. To accept the consequences of Kants critique ultimately means to go beyond
Kant.AsforthefamouswordsfromtheendofhisCritiqueofPureReason:Thecriticalwayalone
isopenIwouldliketoremark:right,butanuncriticalcriticismfallsbackintodogmatismjustasan
unenlightened Enlightenment falls back into mythology. That means, we have to criticise criticism,
especiallywithregardtoKantscritiqueofthesocalledpurepracticalreasonandhiswishfulthinking
ofmoralprogressforthebetterwhichisindangeroffallingbackintoregressivemoralterrorism.
ThereforeIemphasize:
Themetacriticalwayaloneisopen.
Onlyacritiquewhichdoesntsparecritiqueitselfleadsbackfromsweetcriticaldreamstoreality.

AlastwordtoKant.HownaveKantsfaithinmoralprogresswas,becomesapparentwhenwefollow
hisargumentsagainsthissocalledmoralterrorismofaregressionfortheworse.Kantarguesthat
such a regression cannot continue permanently because it would be selfdestructive after a time.
Obviouslyitdidntenterhismindthatsuchaselfdestructionofmankindreallycanhappenoneday.
Andoneneednotbeapessimistorevenaterroristtorealizethatitwillhappensoonerorlater.
Oneonlyneedstobearealist.
In the first sentences of his book Straw Dogs
78
John Gray remarks: belief in progress is a
superstition.
79
The irrational faith in progress
80
is dangerous. Progress and mass murder run in
tandem.Asthenumberskilledbyfamineandplaguehavewaned,sodeathbyviolencehasincreased.
Asscienceandtechnologyhaveadvanced,sohasproficiencyinkilling.Asthehopeforabetterworld
hasgrown,sohasmassmurder.
81
Iagree:
Thehopeforabetterworldineternalpeaceisadelusion.Hopeisdope.Itlullsustosleepwithsoft
wordsandproducessweetdreamsinsteadoffacingreality.
UptonowHiroshimaandNagasakiaretheonlyplacesintheworldwherenuclearmassdestruction
weaponswereusedagainstthecivilianpopulation.Halfacenturyafterthedazzlingsuccessofthe
USinHiroshimaandNagasakianuclearwarismoreprobablethaneverbefore,astheNobelpeace
prizewinnerElBaradeilatelyacknowledged.Fromthestoneaxeonwards,humanshaveusedtheir
toolstoslaughteroneanother.Humansareweaponmakinganimalswithanunquenchablefondness
forkilling.
82

Sooner or later they also will use massdestruction weapons and exterminate each other. The self
destruction of Man seems to be only a question of time. I agree with John Gray: heaven and earth

76
Kant,KritikderreinenVernunft,AXI,Anmerkung.
77
Kant,WasheitAufklrung,WerkeBandVI,p.59.
78
JohnGray,StrawDogs,GrantaBooks,London2003.ItwasHansGeorgMllerwhodrawmyattentiontothis
remarkablebook.
79
Ibid.p.XI
80
Ibid.p.29
81
Ibid.p.96
82
Ibid.p.92
41

will treat us as straw dogs to remind you of the Laozi.

83
Then finally the eternal war,
accompanied by the sweet dream of an incessant progress in Enlightenment with the ultimate goal
ofeternalpeace,willcometoanend.
dievollendsaufgeklrteErdestrahlt(sic!G.W.)imZeichentriumphalenUnheils.
84

Difficult to translate: The totally enlightened earth shines (radiates) in the sign of triumphant
disaster.
Iresumethefirstpartofmypaperin5words:
Eternalpeaceisadream.

2.Heraclitus Eternalwar:warasthefatherofallthings
IgobacknowfromKanttoHeraclitusinordertotakearunupforabigjumpfromtheWesttothe
FarEastinthethirdpartofmypaper.
OneofthemostcrypticfragmentsofHeraclitus,thedarkone,isfragmentB52,afragmentofonly
8 words. The fragment reads: aion pais esti paizon, pesseuon; paidos h basili. Kirk, one of the
great Heraclitusspecialists translates: Aion is a child at play, playing draughts; the kingship is a
childs.
85

WhydoIbotheryouwiththisriddle?BecausethereareonlytwoHeracliteanfragmentsdealingwith
basileus(king)andbasili(kingship).ThefirstisfragmentB52,whereHeraclitustalksaboutthe
basili,thekingshipofAion,thesecondoneisfragmentB53,whereHeraclitussaysthatpolemos,
war,isthebasileus,theking,ofall.

Before we come to the warfragment B 53, which is the focus of our attention, let us have a short
lookatthestrangeAionfragmentB52.Maybewecancrackthesetworoyalnutstogether.Maybe
thereisanintrinsicrelationbetweenpolemos,war,andAion.
WhatdoesAionmean?WhoisAion?
Apartfromchronos,theonewhodevourshischildren,andkairos,thebaldheadedonewiththecurl
on the forehead, symbolizing the right moment to grasp an opportunity, Aion is the third, not very
wellknownconceptoftimeinancientGreece.Inasmalldictionaryyouprobablywillfind(a)eon,
era or simply eternity. If you have a look at the LiddleScottJones , the classical GreekEnglish
Lexicon, youll find out that the case is much more complicated and that the usual translation
eternity is only the metaphysical end of a long developmental history of Aion, which originally

83
Laozi,chap.5
84
Th.W.Adorno,DialektikderAufklrung,QueridoVerlag,Amsterdam1955,p.13
85
G.S.Kirk,Heraclitus,TheCosmicFragments,CambridgeUniversityPress,1954,p.XIII.MyGermantranslation
reads:DasLebenisteinKnabespielend,brettspielend;desKnaben:dasKnigtum.Ithinkthegamewas
backgammon.Cf.G.Wohlfart,AlsosprachHeraclitus,HeraklitsFragmentB52undNietzschesHeraklitRezeption,
AlberVerlag,Freiburg/Mnchen1991,p.198.InthisbookIwasted200pagesontheinterpretationof8words!
WhenIlatelyhadalookatthisbook,IfounditevenmorecrypticthanfragmentB52itself.
42

meantsomethingveryphysical.Letmecutthislongstoryoftimefortimereasonsveryshort.
In later times Aion meant eternity, the ages, a very long time, but originally it meant
generation,age,lifetimeandmoreconcretelytheprocessofgenerating,engenderinglife.One
meaningofAionwasspinalmarrow(sic!TheancientGreeksbelieved,thatthespermcamefrom
the spinal marrow.) No doubt: Aion did not mean anything static or constant like an unchanging
eternity. It rather meant the constant change of life(time). It meant the eternal i.e. never ending,
periodicalprocessofgeneratinglife:Aionwasthecycleofgeneration(anddegenerationordecline);
the periods of becoming and passing by. This Aion is personified in Heraclitus fragment B 52 as a
boy,playingaboardgameandthisboyistheking(basileus),thekingship(basili)ishis.
Butwhathasallthistodowithwar?
Waitaminuteplease.InallprobabilitythegameAionplayed,wasasortofwargameandthewarin
question was the war par excellence: the Trojan war. Here is not enough time to prove in detail to
whatextenttheHeracliteanlogoshasitsrootsintheHomericmythbutinthemythicbackgroundof
the allegory of life(time) as a playing boy in B 52 we find a simile of Apollo playing in the Trojan
battlefieldgivenbyHomerinhisIliad15.360ff:ApollodestroysthewalloftheAchaeanslikeaboy
buildingsandcastlesonthebeachonlytodestroythemafterwards.Aion,theking,playshis(board)
game of life like Apollo, the god, plays his wargame with the Trojans and the Achaeans as
opponents.
Thesefewhints mayallowmetoturntothefamouswarfragmentB53,whichfollowsin ourmost
reliablesource,inHippolytusrefutationsdirectlyafterB52.
86

FragmentB53readsIquotethefirst8wordsinGreek:Polemospantonmenpateresti,pantonde
basileusKirktranslatesthewholefragment:WaristhefatherofallandKingofall,andsomehe
showsasgods,othersasmen:somehemakesslavesandothersfree.
87

Asfragment B52combinesAion,life,withbasili (kingship),soinfragment B53Polemos,war,is

called basileus(king). My hypothetical interpretation is this: there is indeed an intrinsic relation
between Aion and Polemos, or to be more daring : Aion is Polemos , life is war. Our own lifetime
frombirthtotheoldageaswellasthetimesandagesareaneternal(cycleorperiodof)war.
Lets now have a closer look at warfragment B 53 to see if my hypothesis is tenable. I again follow
Kirk,whostatesthatfragmentB53isconcentratedontheworldofmen.
88

war here may be simply the war of the battlefield

89
War in this fragment is personified and
endowedwiththepowernormallyascribedtoZeus
90
andnotablyitishe,whoexercisesultimate
controlovertheTrojanbattlefield.
91

86
Despitethefactthatbothfragmentstalkexpressisverbisaboutking(ship)anddealimplicitly(B52)or
explicitly(B53)withwar,thereisasfarasIcanseeuptonownoessaytoreadbothfragmentstogether.
87
G.S.Kirk,Heraclitus,ibid.P.245.
88
Ibid.p.246.
89
Ibid.p.248.
90
Ibid.p.249.
91
Ibid.p.246.
43

Yousee:asinfragmentB52fragmentB53inallprobabilityhastodowiththeTrojanwarasthewar
par excellence at the time of Homer and Heraclitus. The statement about the Trojan battlefield is
probablyanillustrationofamoregeneralcontentionbyHeraclitus.
92

FragmentB53probablyrestatesinmoreconcretetermstheassertioninfragmentB80,whichsays
that ton polemon eonta xunon Kirk translates: One must know that war is common (my
emphasis G.W.) and right is strife and that all things are happening by strife and necessity.
93
The
fragmentassertsthatwariscommonnotonlytoallmen,buttoallthings.Warisuniversal
94
andof
course inevitable. War and strife seem to have symbolized for Heraclitus the inevitability of
change
95
BothwarfragmentsB53andB80assertthenecessityforthecontinuationofchangein
the world, which again shows their affinity to fragment B 52. And all change for Heraclitus is
obviouslyrelatedtothereactionbetweenopposites.
96

Thetotalbalanceinthecosmoscanonlybemaintainedifchangeinonedirectioneventuallyleads
to change in the other, that is, if there is unending strife (or war
97
G.W.) between opposites.
98

Heraclitus and many of his contemporaries in the West as well as in the East seem to have
believedthat.
In the words of Nietzsches commentary on Heraclitus: Aus dem Krieg des Entgegengesetzten
entstehtallesWerden.
99
ThewarbetweentheTrojansandtheAchaeanswasjustanillustrationof
the universal and eternal interaction of opposites. The Trojan war in the background of Heraclitus
fragmentsB52andB53wasjustaconcreteexamplefortheeternalwar.
From the beginning of the history of mankind there always have been wars and in all probability in
thefuturetherealsowillbewars.Heraclitusknewthat.
Bytheway:theSpanishphilosopherSavatercountedthatinthelast5500yearsabout1240million
peoplewerekilledin14513wars.Maybehehasforgottensome
Iresumethesecondpartofmypaperin5words:
Eternalwarisourreality.

92
Ibid.p.246.
93
Ibid.p.238.
94
Ibid.p.238.
95
Ibid.p.187.
96
G.S.KirkJ.E.Raven,ThePresocraticPhilosophy,Cambridge1957,p.195.
97
Warandstrifearedifferentwordsforthesameconcept.
98
Ibid.p.195.
99
Nietzsche,KritischeStudienausgabe,Band1,VerlagdeGruyter,Berlin1980,p.825.
44

3.SunziandtheDaoists,Theartofwar:howtodefeattheenemywithoutfighting
There is always war, everywhere even in our own heartmind.
100
Facing reality is no pessimism
but realism. Realism is disillusionment of optimism. Glossing over doesnt make things better. Lets
call a spade a spade: War is inevitable. If this is the case, what shall we do and even more
important, what shall we not do? War is unavoidable. If this is so, what is the best way for us to
survive? In order to find and to go this way which is more difficult than only theorizing about
eternalpeaceandwarwemustpracticetheartofwar.
Thefinestartofwariswarwithout(making)war.Itisdefeatingtheenemywithoutfighting.Inthe
Laozi (chap. 73) we read: Tians way(dao) is winning the war without going to battle.
101
Its true
thattheLaozioffersaphilosophyofwarfarenotunlikethatoftheSunzi.
102

IntheSunzi bingfaitsays:Ultimateexcellenceliesnotinwinningeverybattlebutindefeatingthe
enemy without ever fighting.
103
John Minford states in his commentary : This famous axiom of
MasterSunsliesattheveryheartofhistreatise.
104

Buthowisitpossibletodefeattheenemywithoutfighting?MasterSunsanswer:ifweuseshiand
actaccordingtoitwithoutactingintentionally(followingourownwillandemotions).Shiisthekey
wordintheSunzi.
105

What does shi mean? Roger Ames states that shi can combine a whole cluster of meanings, among
them: situation, circumstance, configuration, force, momentum and strategic advantage.
106
In the
context of The Art of War shi means potential energy, or strategic advantage within a particular
configuration of space and time.
107
In short: shi means the situational energy or the dynamic,
potential energy of the situation.
108
According to Lin Yutang shi denotes that which the situation is
going to become.
109
Our task is it, to understand the dynamic of the situation in which we find
ourselves and respond accordingly. We should not cling to fixed principles but go along with things
andreactselfsoing(ziran)accordingtothesituationalpotencyorenergy(shi).Inotherwords:we
shouldact(withoutpersonalaction,weiwuwei)insituationalsynergie.

100
KeinenAugenblickistderMenschvonkriegerischenGedankenfrei()WasimHerzensichregt,ganzim
Verborgenen,istderKrieg.Lshichunqiu,bersetztvonRolfTrauzettel,FrstenmoralimChinadesAltertums,
in:TtenimKrieg,AlberVerlag,Freiburg/Mnchen,ohneJahreszahl,p.126.
101
Roger.T.AmesandDavid.L.Hall,DaoDeJing,BallantineBooks,NewYork2003,p.192.TheChinesetext
reads:tianzhidaobuzhengershanshengwhichmeansliterallyHimmeldessenWegnichtkmpfenaber
gutsiegen.CfalsoAmescommentariestoLaozichap30,31and68.
102
Cf.ibid.P.124.Cf.alsoTheArtofWar,Suntzu,translatedwithanIntroductionandCommentarybyJohn
Minford,VikingPenguin,NewYork2002,p.XXII:MasterSunshared(somewouldclaim,abused)manyofthe
Taoistsbasicnotions.
103
Ibid.P.XXVIIandp.14.Cf.R.T.Ames,TheArtofWarfare,BallentineBooks,NewYork,1993,p.85and111.
104
J.Minford,TheArtofWar,ibid.p.133.Minfordtoldmethathesenthistranslationwiththisaxiomonthe
backsidecovertoJ.W.Bush.Thebellicistdidntreply.
105
J.Minfordsaysthatshi,togetherwiththequotedaxiom,liesattheveryheartofTheArtofWar.J.Minford,
TheArtofWar,ibid.p.161.
106
R.T.Ames,TheArtofWarfare,ibid.p.73.
107
J.Minford,ibid.P.161.
108
Ibid.p.XXVandp.111.
109
Ibid.p.XXVI.
45

In the Huainanzi we read: Right and wrong are situational. In the appropriate situation nothing is
wrong.Withouttheappropriatesituation,nothingisright.
110

AndintheLieziitsays:Inanycase,nowhereisthereaprinciplewhichisrightinallcircumstances,
oranactionthatiswronginallcircumstances.Themethodweusedyesterdaywemaydiscardtoday
and use it again in the future, there are no fixed right and wrong to decide whether we use it or
not.
111

Inchapter1oftheSunziitreads:Followtheadvantageandmasteropportunity:thisisthedynamic
( shi) .
112
In the central chapter 5 we find an illustration: A rushing torrent carries boulders on its
flood,suchistheenergy(shi)ofitsmomentum.
113
MeiYaochencommentsthatpassage:logsand
boulders are heavy objects. It is their own energy that enables them to move with ease. To move
thembyforceisdifficult.Foranarmytofightwiththenaturalenergyofthesituation,andnotwith
force,isthewayofnature(ziran,theofitselfnaturalnessoftheTao).
114
Theskilfulwarriordoesnt
exhausthisownenergy.Theskilfulwarriorexploitstheshi.
115
Headaptstothesituation,hefollows
themoment(yinshi).
Let metrytoillustrate thiswithalittlejoke.ADaoistartistof warandagoodChristianhaveone
thing in common. They are both not aggressive, they dont strike first and if they get a slap on the
face they turn out the other cheek. The little difference is, that our Daoist who is no Christian
skilfullyavoidsanycontactwiththeaggressorwhomissestheDaoist,clutchesatthinairbecauseof
theforceofhisownattackandprobablylooseshisbalance.
Theartofwaristobethereattherightmoment,butthefinestartofwarisnottobethereatthe
rightmoment.ThisismorethanaKarateKidwisdom.
Napoleons Russiancampaign in 1812 ended in a disaster just because the Russian troops were not
there and Napoleons army got stuck in the Russian winter. Like the General of the Russian troops
andlikethegreatartistofwar,HoTschihMinintheVietnamesewar
116
Zhuangzisskilfulswordsman
exploitsthepotentialenergy.Herevealshisemptinesstohisopponent,giveshimanadvantageous
opening, makes his move after him, (but G.W.) arrives before he does.
117
The crucial point is: he
doesnotmakethefirstmove.Inchapter15oftheZhuangziitsays:Rousedbysomethingoutside
himself,onlythendoeshe(thesage)respond;pressed,onlythendoeshemove;findinghehasno
choice,onlythendoesheriseup.
118
Attackistheworstdefence.Dontstrikefirst!Andaboveall:no
preemptivestrikes!

110
TheTaoofPoliticsLessonsoftheMastersofHuainan,transl.byTh.Cleary,KualaLumpur1992,p.39.
111
TheBookofLietzu,transl.byAngus.C.Graham,NewYork,ColumbiaUniversityPress,1990,p.163.
112
J.Minford,ibid.p.6.
113
Ibid.p.27.R.T.Amestranslates:Thatthevelocityofcascadingwatercansendbouldersbobblingaboutis
duetoitsstrategicadvantage(shih).R.T.Ames,SunTzu,p.12o.
114
J.Minford,ibid.p.175.
115
Sunzi,chap.5.Cf.J.Minfordibid.p.29.
116
Cf.FrancoisJullien,Traitdelefficacit,Paris1996,deutsch:berdieWirksamkeit,MerveVerlagBerlin,
1999,p.202.
117
Victor.H.Mair,WanderingontheWay,EarlyTaoistTalesandParablesofChuangTzu,BantamBooks,
UniversityofHawaiiPress,Honolulu1994,p.314.
118
TheCompleteWorksofChuangTzu,translatedbyBurtonWatson,ColumbiaUniversityPress,NewYorkand
London1968,p.168.
46

Invulnerabilityisdefence,vulnerabilityisattack.
119
Prendrelinitiative,cestlechemindelaruine,
ragirendernier,cestloriginedusuccs.
120

The secret of successful action according to the potential energy of the situation (shi) is the
spontaneous reaction. What matters is to react in response (ying) to constantly changing
circumstances. In chapter 6 of the Sunzi it says: Victorious campaigns () take form in response
(ying G.W.) to the infinite varieties of circumstance.
121
The quoted text continues. Military
dispositions take form like water () Water shapes its current from the lie of the land. The warrior
shapes his victory from the dynamic of the enemy. War has no constant dynamic. Water has no
constant form.
122
Francois Jullien comments :Of itself , water has no form. It is constantly con
forming.
123
Supreme military skill lies in deriving victory from responding (ying) to the changing
circumstances in conformity with the potential energy of the situation (shi). If the skilful strategist
(re)acts accordingly, he is able to defeat the enemy without doing battle. He reaches the ultimate
excellence which lies not in winning every battle, but in defeating the enemy without fighting
124
,
aswealreadyhavelearned.Hecanwinawarwithoutmakingwar.
Letmecometotheendwithaharshorevenapocalypticfinalremark.
WebloodyGermansmadetwoWorldWarsandwelostbothofthem.Wedidntlearnafterthefirst
onebutIbelievethatwelearnedafterthesecond.
TheUSwonthesecondonefortunately.
ButtheAmericanEmpirealsolaunchedseveralregionalwars.TheylostthewarinVietnam
fortunatelyandnowtheylostpeaceinIraqandAfghanistan.ButImafraidthattheUSsuperpower
didntlearn.AndIamafraidthatitisnotonlythisstupidwhitemanintheWhiteHousewhoisnot
willingtolearn.
InallprobabilitywewillhaveathirdWorldWarsoonerorlater.AndinallprobabilitytheUSwillbe
involved. This new World War could be the first and probably the last nuclear one. And then it
couldbetoolatetolearnforallofusburnedstrawdogs.

119
J.Minford,ibid.p.21.
120
PhilosophestaoistesII,Huainanzi,Textetraduit,prsentetannotsousladirectiondeCharlesLeBlancet
deRmiMathieu,EditionsGallimard,Paris2003,p.29.
121
J.Minford,ibid.p.37.Itisnotimeheretogointotheconceptsying,ganyingandxiangyinginmoredetail.
TheyarekeyconceptsofancientChineseethics.Cf.especiallychap.VIoftheHuainanzi.
122
J.Minford,ibid.p.37f.
123
Fr.Jullien,berdieWirksamkeit,chap.XI,BildervomWasser,especiallyp.234f.
124
Sunzi,chap.3.
47

5.BeyondWords
RemarksonaDaoistPhilosophyofLanguage
SecondPartofaLecturefirstgiveninGermanduringtheSymposiumFormundGehaltinTextender
GriechischenundChinesischenPhilosophieinTrier/Germany,2008

Abstract
InterpretationofthefishtrapsimileinZhuangzi,chapter26.
Philosophicalremarksonthemeaningofmeaning.
Conjecturesonthewordlessnessofwordsinpoetry.
125

Chapter26oftheZhuangzicloseswithafamoussimile,whichonecouldcalltheparvadaolinguistica.
Thesimilegoesasfollows:
A fishtrap is for catching fish; once youve caught the fish, you can forget about the trap.
Arabbitsnareisforcatchingrabbits;onceyouvecaughttherabbit,youcanforgetaboutthesnare.
Words are for catching ideas; once youve caught the idea, you can forget about the words.
126

TheparallelismoftheChinesetextshowstheanalogicallogicofthetext.
Quanzhesuoyizai yu,de yuerwang quan;
Tizhesuoyizai tu,de tuerwang i;
Yanzhesuoyizai yi,de yi
127
erwang yan.
The Zhuangzi compares fishtraps (quan) and rabbitsnares (ti) with words (yan), and fish (yu) and
rabbits (tu) with yi. According to Mathews Chinese English Dictionary yi means idea, opinion,
sentiment, thought, meaning, wish, will, purpose. Victor Mair, as well as Angus Graham, translate
Idea.FollowingBurtonWatsonIprefertotranslateyibymeaning.
Letshaveacloserlookattheparallel.
Therearefish,whicharecaughtinfishtrapsandtherearerabbitscaughtinrabbitsnares.Whenyou
havecaughtthefishand/ortherabbitsyouarecontent.Youcanforgetaboutthefishtrapsandthe
rabbitsnaresandlookforwardtoyourmeal.
Andnowtothewords.
Words normally have a meaning (Bedeutung). They point (deuten) metaphorically speaking at
something outside of themselves. To make things easier let us assume that this something is a real
thing, an object, for example : the moon. The meaning of the word moon is the moon. The word
moonpointssotosaytothemoon.
Imaginethefollowingromanticsituation:DuringduskItakeawalkwithafriend.Allofasuddenshe
points to the sky and whispers: Look there : the moon! She also only could have said a little bit
moremysteriously:Lookupthere!orshesimplycouldhavepointedsilentlytothemoonwithout
makingwords.Whathappensafterwards?

125
Lecturegivenindifferentversionsin2008attheUniversitiesofKarlsruheandTrier/Germany.
126
VictorH.Mair,WanderingOnTheWay,EarlyTaoistTalesAndParablesOfChuangTzu,UniversityofHawaiI
Press,Honolulu1998,276f.
127
Deyiliterallymeanstoget(de)themeaning(yi).Asabinomdeyialsomeanstobecontent,happy.
ItsobviousthatmasterZhuang,wholovedpuns,playswiththisdoublemeaning.
48

WhenIunderstandthemeaningofherwordsorherwordlessgesture,Iprobablywilllookforavery
shortmomentatherfinger(tofindoutinwhichdirectionitpoints),andthen,withoutregardingthe
finger any longer, or listening to her words any longer, I will look up and watch the moon.
Mindyou:Withouttheverbalorgesticulatoryindication,Iperhapswouldnthavebecomeawareof
the moon. But nevertheless: No matter how necessary the indication might have been: once I
understood themeaning, thatis: Once Igotthe message,Ihavetoforgetaboutthepointingfinger
orthewordmooninordertowatchthemoon,thehazypalefaceofthefullmoon.
Lets rest one more minute at this longwinded description of moonwatching because it might be
instructivewithregardtothemeaningofthewordmeaning.
Well:Thecomprehensionofthemeaningofthewordmoonortheunderstandingofthegesture
leads me beyond the verbal indication and beyond the mere idea of the moon to the visual
contemplationofthe moon.What mattershereisthetransitionfromthewordmoontothemoon,
or in other words: The transition from the concept moon and the conception of the moon to its
perception.
Thepointis:theperceptionofthemoonnecessarilytranscendsnotonlythisspecialverbalindication.
No.Ittranscendseveryattemptofaverbalconceptionordescriptionofthemooninitsuniqueness
andsingularity.Theperceptionofthemooninitsmomentaryappearancecantbecaughtinwords.
Itsindividualityisunspeakable,unutterable.Individuumestineffabile.
Concepts, articulated in words, are abstract, general conceptions (AllgemeinVorstellungen); they
never reach the concrete, single perception (Anschauung) of a thing in its individuality and
uniqueness.Itissensustrictuaswellincomprehensibleasunspeakable.Wordsonlycanpointtothe
ineffablehaecceitasi.e.suchnessorthisnessofathing.
(Of course not all words do that. We shouldnt forget Wittgensteins arguments against Augustines
theoryoflanguageinthefirstparagraphsofhisPhilosophicalInvestigations.Butdespitesomefamily
resemblancesbetweenAugustineandZhuangzi,theirpointofviewisdifferent.)
Lets come back again to Zhuangzis simile with the fishtraps, the rabbitsnares and the words.
WhenIhaveunderstoodtheverbalindicationandreallywatchthemoon,thenprimavistaIdont
think and/or talk about the moon, I just watch. During my perception (Anschauung) I forget the
wordandtheconcept(Begriff)ofthemoon.
Thepointis:Intheverymoment(Augenblick)Iunderstandthemeaningofthewordmoon,thatis:
InthemomentIfollowtheindicationandthuscometotherealsensorialperceptionofthemoon,I
dontstareanylongertothepointingfingerbutwatchthemoon.
Irepeat:thewordmoonisanabstract,generalconception(AllgemeinBegriff);
the moon is a concrete perception (EinzelAnschauung). Kant told us: Anschauungen ohne Begriffe
sind blind, perception without conception is blind. Regarding Zhuangzis simile this would mean:
I use the concept (and the word ) moon so to speak as spectacles, look through them and
forgetting them as spectacles just look. I dont think, but look (Wittgenstein). In other words:
I use the word moon as an indexfinger and forgetting it as an indexfinger I go with the word
moon beyond the word moon and look at the moon. The word is a means. Its meaning points
throughtheword(sic!)beyondtheword,andthepointis:dontstareatthepointingfinger,stupid!
In chapter 13.7 of the Zhuangzi it says: Writing is that means by which the world values the Way,
butwritingisnomorethanwordsandwords,too,havevalue.Meaning(yiG.W.)iswhatgivesvalue
49

towords,butmeaningisdependentonsomething.Whatmeaningdependsoncannotbeexpressed
inlanguage
128

Thechapterendswithafamoussaying,whichistobefoundseveraltimesintheZhuangzaswellas
intheLaozi:zhizhebuyan,yanzhebuzhi.Thetraditionaltranslationreads:
Onewhoknowsdoesnotspeak,onewhospeaksdoesnotknow.
129

Zhimeanstoknowbutalsotoperceive,tobeawareof.Totranslatezhibyperceiveisunusual,butit
makes sense, especially in view of the story in the following chapter 13.8 , the story of the
wheelwright, whose knack cant be put in words. Therefore I follow Jean Francois Billeter who
translatesasfollows:
Quandonpercoit,onneparlepas.Quandonparle,onnepercoitpas.
130

Ifoneperceives,onedoesnttalk.Ifonetalks,onedoesntperceive.
BilleterreferstoWittgensteinandtoaremarkofPaulValryinhisCahiers:cequejepensegenece
quejevois,whatIthinkhinderswhatIsee.
OncemorebacktoZhuangzisfishtrapsimile.
Whatwecanlearnis:Itisimportanttofindtherightwordattherightmomentinordertocatchthe
idea, in order to understand the meaning of something. Words are not at all worthless(sic!), as we
haveheardintheZhuangzi,atleastasvaluableasfishtrapsandrabbitsnares.Butoncewecaught
(comprehended) the meaning(sense) of a thing , in ordinary life there normally comes the point,
wherewehavetostopmakingwordsandcomeadrem,zurSachetothematter.
Ifonecaughtfishandrabbits,intheenditmatterstopreparethemwellandenjoythemeal.Butone
couldfinditbothersometothinkoftrapsandsnaresduringourmeal.Ifwegotoarestaurant,read
themenuandunderstandthemeaningofsmokedsalmon,weprobablyputthemenuasideandwait
forthesalmon.Onlytoreadthemenuwillnotbeenoughtosatisfyus.
Inshort:Intheendwordsasmeaningfulastheymightbemustbeforgotteninordertocometo
theconcretesensualexperience.Thecolourofthefloweroftheartichoke,thesoundofthebamboo
flute, the fragrance of thyme are as ineffable as the summerwind on your skin or as the taste of a
goodsmokedsalmon.Theyallarebeyondwords,notinametaphysicalbutinaveryphysicalsense.
Generallyspeaking:Inordinarylifewesometimeshavetoforgetwords,concepts,ideas,opinions,
wishesandintentionsinordertofollowtherealcourse(dao)oflife,thecourseofthings,thecourse
of time The Daoist sage, whose wisdom (sapientia) simply means to take things as they are and
taste(sapere)themastheyare,isamasterofoblivion.
Zhuangzissimilecloseswitharemarkablesentence.Mostsinologiststhinkthatitisparadoxicaland
translate it as follows: Where can I find a person who knows how to forget about words, so that I
canhaveafewwordswithhim?
131
TheChinesetextreads:
Wuandefuwangyanzhireneryuzhiyanzai.
Thebasicmeaningofthecharacteryuinthesecondpartofthesentenceiswith,totakepartin,to
participate. The traditional translation suggests that I want to find somebody who has forgotten
wordsandthenhaveachatwithhim.Iaskmyselfifitwouldntmakemoresensetounderstandthe
yuzhiyanlikethis:Iwanttotakepartin,toparticipateinhisforgottenwords.
Thetranslationthenwouldreadasfollows:WherecanIfindsomebodywhohasforgottenwords,

128
VictorH.Mair,WanderingOnTheWay,.128.
129
VictorH.Mair,loc.cit.128and211.
130
LeanFrancoisBilleter,LeconssurTchouangTzu,EditionsAllia,Paris2002,28.
131
VictorH.Mair,loc.cit.277.
50

soIcanparticipateinthose(forgotten)words?How?
For example this could happen, if I watch the moon together with my friend without making any
morewordsandsilentlyparticipateinherpleasure.
In my opinion the point in this last sentence is not, to make words again, but rather to take part in
the wordlessness. Then the famous last sentence would not be paradoxical but rather trivial. Im
convincedthatthegreatZhuangzicommentatorandeditorGuoXiangalsounderstoodthesentence
in this way when he comments: If two sages dont have any longer yi (ideas ,opinions, thoughts,
wishes),thentheydonthaveanylongersomethingtotalkabout.
Asimportantastofindtherightwordsintherightmomentisit,toforgetthemintherightmoment.
The Daoist sage forgets his ego ( wu sang wo ) as well as his words. He says something without
makingwords(yanbuyan).Thehighestmaniswithoutanego,zhirenwujiIwouldliketoadd:
atleasttemporarilyheiswithoutintentionsandideas(yi).FrancoisJullienshowedthisinhisbook
Unsageestsanside.
I repeat: The sage, that is the man who arrives on the right way (dao), forgets at the right time
himself,hisideas,histhoughtsandhiswords.
Andalastwordtowordoblivion:Asthehighestactioniswithoutaction(weiwuwei)thehighest
speechiswithoutwords,itsayssomethingwithoutmakingwords(yanbuyan).

LookingbacktothefamousfishtrapsimileofourpoetphilosopherZhuangzi,Idliketomakeafew
finalremarksonpoetry.Inpoeticlanguagethesemanticworkofordinarylanguagebecomesmore
evident.FollowinginZhuangzisfootstepsIclaim:
Thepoetuseswordstoletusforgetwords.
Thepoetdoesntmakemanywords,especiallynobeautifulwords.Thepoetdoesntmakewordsat
all.xiyanziran,sparingwordsselfsoasitsaysintheLaozi.
Thepoetswordsareerasers.Theyerasethemselves.Theyareonthewaytosilence.
The poets words are signs of silence, utterances of the unutterable. They show the things in their
ineffableindividuality.
(First of all I think of the verbal minimalism of the Japanese Haiku, the socalled wordless word.)
Thepoetlikethesageletsusforgetwordsandideas;hissapientiaistoletustastethesapor,
thetasteofthings.Heletsussmellthefragranceofsuchness.
TheChinesepoetYangWanli(11271206)appliedZhuangzissimiletopoetry.
How do you make poetry? Words are most important! No, better : the real poet should forget
words and appreciate ideas (yi). No, better: the real poet should forget ideas! But if he forgets
wordsandideas,whatelseistheessenceofpoetry?Well,justforgettingwordsandforgettingideas,
thatistheessenceofpoetry,thatistherealessenceofpoetry.

I made too many words. The one who makes words on wordlessness is like the legendary turtle.
Shewantedtocoveroverhertracebutsheonlymadeitbroader.

51

6.OntheWay
NotesofanOldDaoFool
Lecturegivenatthe19
th
SymposiumoftheAcadmieduMidiinAletlesBains/France,2012.

Preface
Passengers
BashoandLiBo
MainPart
AugenBlicke
ZhuangziandLaozi
FinalRemark
Homecoming
TaoYuanming

Preface
ThepoetictraveldiaryOkunohosomichi,NarrowroadtotheInteriorofthegreatJapaneseHaiku
MasterBasho(16441694)beginswiththewords:
Sunandmoon,daysandmonthsstayonlyforashorttimeasguestsofaeonsoftime.
ItisaquotationofthegreatChinesepoetLiBo(LiBaiorLiTaipo)(701?762).
AtthebeginningofhisPrefaceforthePoetryfromaSpringEveningPartyformyCousinsinaPeach
BlossomGardenhesays:
Heavenandeartharetheguesthouseforthethousandthings,wherelightanddarknesspassbyas
gueststhroughaeonsoftime.Lifeinthistransitionalworldislikeadream.Whoknowshowoftenwe
willlaughagain?
132

132132
Cf.ClassicalChineseLiterature,Vol.1,Ed.byJohnMinfordandJosephS.M.Lau,ColumbiaUniversity
Press,Y.Y.,TheChineseUniversityPressH.K.2000,723andAChineseCompaniontoClassicalChinese
Literature,281/82.
52

MainPart
Imsorryforbotheringyouwithphilology.
Butsometimesphilosophyishiddeninphilology.
In my Li Bo quotation I used the old presocratic term aeon (cf. Heraclitus , Fragment B52) to
translate the Chinese bai dai , which literally means hundred dynasties, generations, periods
(cf. Mathews Chinese English Dictionary Nr. 5996).The Greek word aeon, normally translated by
eternity originally meant the circular, periodical (re)generation of life. Beside chronos and kairos it
was the third meanwhile nearly forgotten concept of time as a circuit in Ancient Greece.
It reminds me of the Daoist concept of time, for example in the Zhuangzi, chapter 13 tian dao.
Thereitsays:
Thewayofheavenrevolvesceaselessly
Thewayoftheemperorsrevolvesceaselessly
Thewayofthesagesrevolvesceaselessly
133

ThecrucialChinesecharacterhereisyun,whichmeanstorevolve,acircuitoftime.
(cf.MathewsNr.7763)
My point here is: The way (dao) , the way of heaven (tian dao) as well as the way of the sage
(shengdao)isacircuit.
IntheLaozi,Chapter40itsays:Reversal(fan)isthemovementoftheDao.
134
HansGeorgMoeller
comments: The reversal here pertains to the circular movement of the course of Dao.
135
Right.
RemindsoftheZhuangzi.
But what does the Laozi say about the movement of the sheng ren, the sage who is on the way?
Doeshemoveatall?

In the Laozi, Chapter 47 we find a surprising answer, which embarrassed me, an old globetrotting
daofool,whenIreaditfirst:
Nottogooutofthedoor
toknowtheworld.
Nottolookoutofthewindow
toknowtheDaoofheaven(tiandao)
Thefurtheronegoesout,
thelessonewillknow.
Thereforethesage(shengren)
knowswithoutgoing
nameswithoutseeing
completeswithoutacting.
136

133
WanderingontheWay,EarlyTaoistTalesandParablesofChuangTzu,VictorH.Mair,UniversityofHawaiI
Press,Honolulu1994,119.
134
DaoDeJing,translatedwithIlluminatingExplanationsbyHansGeorgMoellerOpenCourt,ChicagoandLa
Salle,Illinoisa2007,97.
135
Cf.loc.cit96.
136
Cf.loc.cit.113.
53

Whatdoesthatmean?Noliforasire(Augustine):Dontgoout!
Turnyoureyesinward!Stayinyourcellandpray!?
Nothanks!ThankGodImanatheist.
And as a philosophizing pagan nomad Im not prepared to become a nidicolous animal rationale.
Butwhatelseisthemeaningofthisconfusingchapter47intheLaozi?
Is there really a contradiction between the behavior of the sage in the Laozi and in the Zhuangzi?
IimaginelegendaryMasterZhuangsxiaoyaoyou,hisfreeandeasywandering.
Hewasawayfarer.Heismymodel,Imfollowingorratherlimpinginhisfootsteps.
ButwhataboutLaozisbuchuhu,dontgoout?DoesitgotogetherwithZhuangzisxiaoyaoyou?

Ofcoursethereisadifferenceatfirstsight.Butatsecondsightthereisalsoanidentityindifference.
Letmytrytoexplain.
FirstsightIdisagreewiththeLaozi:Inordertoarriveontherightway,wehavetogoaway,wehave
toleave.
We need no utopia, but we need the heteros topos (Foucault), the other place to turn back and re
flect. Only if we leave the hometown (of our ideas), we are able to recognize its skyline and its
limits.
The shortest way to arrive here and now may sometimes even lead around our globe, for example
viatheoriensextremus,viaChina.
One may stay away, but one also may turn back , and make a periagogae(Plato), a Kehr(Tauler),
a Umkehrung des Bewutseins(Hegel). We may complete our circuit and come back home for
examplefromChinaandseethehomefortressofGermanIdealismwithdifferenteyes.
ThiscircularcurriculumvitaejustforfunIcallitacirculusvirtuosusremindsmeremotelyofthe
way of the sage in the Zhuangzi. He had no bicycle yet to cycle around the globe like some
backpackers do today. But I can imagine the old freak on his aimless pilgrimages rambling without
destination. The TangpoetWangWei(701761)tellsusina poemon MasterZhuangthathespent
his time far away from politics as a guardian, wandering about, counting the trees in his garden.
Hiscircuitfollowsfreeandeasythecycleofnature.Hegoeswiththeflowofnature.
Naturalitasestmortalitas,mortalitasestnaturalitas.
The leaves of the trees fall back to the roots, and their end will be the beginning of a new growth.
Likeinacircletheendisthebeginning.
ThefirstchapteroftheZhuangzihasthetitle:xiaoyaoyou,freeandeasywandering.Attheendof
thefirstpartofthischapterwefindawordwhichtheChinesephilosopherFengYoulanregardedas
thecentreofMasterZhuangsthoughts:zhirenwuji.
Usually it is translated like this: The ultimate man or the perfect man has no ego.
Let me forget about our big Ego today. I talked about this Egod at the last Symposium of this
Acadmy.Letmeconcentrateonthesocalledperfectman.
Well,attheendofthemovieSomelikeithotwelearnedthatNobodysperfect.
Therefore I look for a better translation of the zhi ren. Zhi means to reach ,to arrive at ,very, the
extreme,greatest,best.(cf.MathewsNr.982)ThecontextintheZhuangzishowsthatthezhirenisa
synonymoftheshengren,thesage,whosewayrevolvesceaselessly,aswehavelearnedinchapter
13already.
Ergo: if the zhi ren arrives at the most extreme point of his ceaselessly revolving way which is a
54

circuit hefinallyarrives atthe beginning.Hisjourneyleadsina circlefromAviaB,C,Detcinthe

endbacktoA.

And this brings me back to the Laozi and to the family resemblances between the Laozi and the
Zhuangzi.
Backhomeintheendthezhirenmaycometotheconclusionthattherewasnoneedtoleavehome
andgooutofthedoor.Theonlychangeisachangeofaspect(Wittgenstein).
Thecrucialpointistoreachanotheraspectofthehereandnow.
And this very change of aspect is it, what Zhuangzis traveling sage has in common with Laozis
homedwelling sage. The change of aspect, the Umkehrung is the identity in difference between
them.
Buthowtoreachthisnewpointofview?
Whatisthebestwaytoarrive?Impromptu,orafteralongtimeofpractice?
Subito,rightawayorgradually,afteralongwayofgoing?
Dowereallyhavetotravel,maybeevenasfarasChina?Maybe,maybenot.
Maybe we have to travel in order to arrive and understand, that there was no need to travel.
Theonlythingwefinallymaybeafteraverylongway,maybenothavetodo,istorealizethatwe
arrivedandmindyou:Thisalsomayhappenifweneverwentawayandtraveledaroundtheworld;
itmayhappenjustafteraturnaroundrighthere.
What we are looking for, is always ( on all ways), already (all ready) here and now, in this very
AugenBlick.SowecouldsaywiththeLaozi:Dontlookoutofthewindow!Dontsearchitfaraway,
it is right here on the way in front of your eyes. Open your eyes, stupid, nothing is hidden!
ButwiththeZhuangziwecouldobject:Sometimesitmayneedalongtimeandalongwaytoarrive
attheAugenBlickandthenfinallyithappensinnotime.AndthehappeningofthisAugenBlickis
whatmattersintheend.Theimportantthingistorealizewhathappens.
Thisisthesadhappinessofthesage,hisserenity.
Wittgenstein, the second, who was a WestZenMaster without knowing it, put it this way:
The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and
familiarity.(One is unable to notice something because it is always before ones eyes.)
137

Inotherwords:Wewanttounderstandsomethingthatisalreadyinplainview.Forthisiswhatwe
seeminsomesensenottounderstand.
138

Ergo: Dont try to look behind, dont search beyond or underneath, stupid metaphysician,
itsallhiddenonthesurface.
Well:Thejourneyofthesage,thatmeansoftheonewhoarrives,finallyisawonderfuljourneyinto
thehereandnow.Thewayishereunderyourfeet,whatyousearchisnowinthisAugenBlickin
frontofyoureyes.
With the following stories we come to a meetingpoint of Daoism and Chan Buddhism.
There is an old Zenanecdote of a Japanese steamship which went up to the lower reaches of the
Amazonriver.Theriverwassobroadthatthecrewthought,theywerestillintheocean.Theysawa
British ship far out and asked them by signal to please spare some freshwater for them. To their
surprisetheBritishshipsignaledback:Putyourbucketsdownintothewater.

137
Wittgenstein,PhilosophicalInvestigations,129
138
Loc.cit.89.
55

Themessageofthestoryis:Youareinthemidstofitrightnow.Ifyoutrytodirectyourselftowardit,
yougoaway fromit!Noneedtosearchforit.You alreadyarrived.The moreyousearch forit, the
further you get away from it, as Rinzai put it, the great Chinese Chan Master (9
th
Century A.D.)
Didhehavechapter47oftheLaoziinmind:buchuhu?
Tosearchforthetruth,orforthemeaningoflifeislikesearchingfortheoxwhileridingonhisback.
Themeaningoflifeislife.
Nothingbehind,beyond.Notranscendence.
Noredemptionwhichcanbereached.
Noparadisetoarriveat.
Noenlightenmenttowaitfor.
No hope for progress. Hope is Pandoras dope. Progress is regress in our cyclical way of life.
Notreasureofwisdomtofind.WefinallycomebackwithemptyhandslikeDogenthegreatJapanese
ZenMaster (1200 1253) came back from China, and this emptiness, this nothingness was his
treasure.
No philosophers stone. Ive thrown away everything and I found the stone of wisdom said the
disciple.Themasterreplied:Throwitalsoaway,otherwiseitwillbeinyourway.
Thewisemanknew:Thereisnohigherwisdomtostrivefor.
By the way: my wisdom as an old daofool is: To get really wiser when we age, probably means to
cometotheconclusionthatwedontgetreallywiserwhenweage.
Theonlysapientiaofthesageistoletustastethesaporofthe10.000things.
(ItranslateKantsfamoussapereaudedifferently:daretotaste)
Daretotastethebittersweettasteofthe10.000things!
I guess, what these guys who arrived wanted to say was simply : In principle we already have
everything we need in the end. But we are not aware of it. It is already in front of our eyes in this
veryAugenBlick.Thesecretisanopenone.Itishereinnotime.Notimetowaste.Dontwaitfor
thefuture!Dontgoaway!Ifyoudontrealizeithereandnowyounevershall.
Rightawayyouwillbedead.

Letmetellyouanotherhilariouslittlestory.
One day a monk said to his master: You found it! May I ask you, how you made it? The master
laughedandreplied:Inevermadeit,Ineverfoundit.AllofasuddenIrealized,thatIneverhadlost
it.Thebrightsunlightonthatstoneoverthereisnotasymbolofasocalledenlightenment,which
revealssomethinghiddenbehind.ThesunlightitselfisIT.
Thesunlaughs:mysticismbrightasday,taghelleMystik(Musil).Whatcouldbemoremysterious
thantheclearnessofthesunlight?Intheclearnessofthatlightthestonerevealsitselfasastone.
Nothingbehind.Nometaphysics,notranscendenceatmostintotheimmanence.Theessenceis
nothiddenbehindthebushesofphenomena.Thephenomenaitselfaretheessence.
Andanotherlittlestory.
OneautumndayMasterMaidoandhislaydiscipleKosangokutookawalktogetheronthemountain.
MaidoaskedKosangoku:CanyousmellthefragranceoftheMokusaitree?
Yes,Ican.answeredKosangoku.
I have nothing to hide from you, was the Masters reply, which greatly impressed his lay disciple.
ImsuretheslyfoxMaidohasstolenhisimpressivewordaboutthefragranceofsuchnessfromgood
old Kongzi. In the Lunyu we read: The master said: my friends, I know you think that there is
56

somethingIamhidingfromyou.ButthereisnothingatallthatIhidefromyou.
139

Nosatoti,noenlightenment.Paradoxicallyspeaking:Enlightenmentisthesuddeninsight,thatthere
is no such thing as an enlightenment in the sense of a transcendent mysterious apparition, an
aurora borealis philosophica, a bright philosophical northern light or to put it more rudely:
higheresotericnonsense.
All of a sudden in one AugenBlick, in a blinking of the eye, in one AugenBlitz, in a flash, an
ordinarythingastoneorabrokenrooftilecomestolight,byitself.Thatsall,thatsIT.ITsnothing.
Master Easturb inquired of Master Chuang, saying, Where is the socalled Way(dao) present?
Theresnoplacethatitisnotpresent,saidMasterChuang.
GivemeanexamplesothatIcangetanidea,saidMasterEasturb.
Itsinants,saidMasterChuang.
Howcanitbesolow?
Itsinpanicgrass.
Howcanitbestilllower?
Itsintilesandshards.
Howcanitbestilllower?
Itsinshitandpiss.
140

ProfanePanDaoism.Itseverywhere.Hereandnow,justasitisthisisIT.
Ifwerealizethis,weallofasuddenmayburstintoagreatlaughter.
Just for fun and mocking on Kant I called it transcendental laughter. (Kant defined laughter as an
emotionresultingfromthesuddentransformationofeagerexpectationintonothing.)

Please allow me to make a few more superfluous words about this puzzling AugenBlick.
You may say that Im going to project my own romantic ideas about this AugenBlick into
Daoism and Zenism respectively and the result is a sort of Old Age mixture of EuroDaoism and
WestZenism.
Well,Imnotafraidofintellectualmixedmarriagesininterculturalintercourse.
And I think that it would be a misunderstanding to believe that we completely can avoid
misunderstandings.Understandingneedstranslation.Andtranslationisinterpretation.
Truthliesintranslation,inthedoublesenseofthewordlies.
Thereforewetransculturaltravelersarealwayslostintranslationinaway.
Butifyoutravel,youcan getlost.And maybethatstherealadventureoftraveling;theadventure
(fromLatinadvenire)toarrive,therewherewedidntstrivetoarrive.
Ok.BacktotheAugenBlick.
WirlebennurAugenblickeundsehndenTodumher,saidtheGermanpoetHlderlininhisHyperion.
For40yearstheAugenblickhasbeentheLeitmotivofmywork.DerAugenblickwasthetitleofmy
firstbookandAugenblickeisthetitleofmylastbook,publishedintheinternet.Soletmetrytocut
a very long story very short and summarize my ideas about these fulfilled Augenblicke Hlderlin
talkedabout.
Forthelasttimeabitphilology.
How to translate AugenBlick? Moment from Latin momentum, indicating a movement,

139
Lunyu,VII.23.
140
Zhuangzi,chap.22.6.Cf.VictorH.Mair,WanderingontheWay,p.217.
57

orinstantfromLatinstaretostand,indicatingastandstill?
These fulfilled Augenblicke seem to be something like instantaneous moments, a contradiction.
Letmetrytoexplain.
Sometimes it may happen, that we, maybe still half dreaming, waking up from a sort of butterfly
dream,stareintothelandscapeinfrontofoureyesand,foroneAugenBlick,ataglance,allofa
sudden realize something: there is a mossy stone or an old rooftile in the setting sun, anything.
Themossystoneseemstotransubstantiateitselfintoitself.
What happens? For a moment the constant movement in the flow of time seems to stand still.
Thismomentisaninstant;itisastandingnow,anuncstans,timeseemstostandstillinnotime.
NietzschecalledthisfulfilledAugenBlicksuddeneternity,BenjaminprofaneepiphanyandMusil
talkedaboutdaylightmystics.
I would say with Proust: These AugenBlicke are timecrystals, twinkling with petites mmoires
involontaires, they are bright crystals in the stream of time, frozen moments in the flow of time.
These bright crystals are beaming with the sudden clarity of suchness. They are, so to say with
Hlderlinswordsinmind,lightningsoflifeinthenightofdeath.

FinalRemark
ReturnHomecoming
Reversal (fan) is the movement of the dao. This was the beginning of chapter 40 of the Laozi.
141

The way of heaven revolves ceaselessly.This was the beginning of chapter 13.1 of the Zhuangzi.
It revolves ceaselessly as well as the way of the sage. His heartmind (xin) is empty (xu), thus it can
mirrorthewhiteclouds,comingandgoing,selfsoing.
(FollowingRogerAmesItranslateziranliterallybyselfsoing.)
ForTaoYuanming,thegreatoldnaturepoet(365427)
thelifeofmanislikeashadowplay
whichmustintheendreturntonothingness.
142

InhisRhapsodyTheReturnhesays:
Togetoutofthisandgobackhome!
MyfieldsandgardenwillbeovergrownwithweedsImustgoback
Thecloudsaimlesslyrisefromthepeaks,
Thebirds,wearyofflying,knowitistimetocomehome.
SoImanagetoacceptmylotuntiltheultimatehomecoming.
RejoicinginHeavenscommand,whatistheretodoubt?
143

Enoughdaoromanticism.
SomeyearsagoIreadapaperonDaoisminHongKong.
ChadHansen,awonderfulguy,wasthereaderofasupplementarypaper.
Afterwardshesaidtome:Gnter,youareaDaoRomantic.
AtthattimeIwasabitupset.MeanwhileIthinkhewasright.Nevermind.

141
DaoDeJing,trans.byHansGeorgMoeller,OpenCourt,ChicagoandLaSalle,Illinois2007,97.
142
ClassicalChineseLiterature,loc.Cit.501)
143
Loc.cit.518/19.
58

Anhang

7.QI
Daoistische Geschichten vom Holzschnitzer Qing vom Fltenspiel des Himmels
undvomgroenTuschedummkopfShitao
144

1.QiimZhuangzi
DerSchnitzknstler
DasFltenspieldesHimmels

2.QiinderchinesischenLiteraturundMalerei
CaoPisEssayberdieLiteratur(Lunwen)
ShitaosTraktatberdieMalerei(Huayulu)

Nachwort
Malenohnezumalen

144
DerTextwurdeam17.April2009anderHochschulederKnsteBerninderSchweizvorgetragen.
59

1.QiimZhuangzi

DerSchnitzknstler(Kap.19.9)

DerHolzschnitzerQingschnitzteGlockenstnderauseinemStamm.
ErwareinsogeschickterSchnitzer,dassdieStnderseinerGlockenspieleaussahen,alsseiensievon
Gtter oder Geisterhand (shen)
145
gemacht. Als der Herzog von Lu ihn fragte, was das Geheimnis
seiner Kunst sei, antwortete der brave Mann: Ich bin nur ein einfacher Handwerker, welche Kunst
sollteichschonbesitzen?
AberdaisteineSache.WennichanfangeGlockenstnderzuschnitzen,erlaubeichmirnicht,meinqi
zuverschwenden.IchbetreibeHerzGeistFasten(xinzhai).
Die hohe Kunst des Schnitzens ohne einen Schnitzer zu machen erreicht der Schnitzer nur dadurch,
dasserHerzGeistFastenpraktiziert,wieersagt.
Was heit das? Das heit: Er leert sein Herz und er leert seinen Geist. Er vergisst sich und seinen
Krper,derwieverdorrtesHolzwird.
So entspricht die innere Natur des Holzschnitzers sozusagen das Holz, aus dem er geschnitzt ist
dem Holz, das er schnitzt. Jetzt kann man von ihm sagen: he doesnt look at the object but as the
object.
Es ist ihm geglckt, das Natrliche mit dem Natrlichen zu verbinden, wie es im Text heit. Der
Zhuangzi Editor Guo Xiang kommentieret die Stelle mit den Worten: Es besteht keine Trennung
mehrvonderNatrlichkeit(ziran).Aufdiesesziranwerdeichnochmehrfachzurckkommen.
Wasistpassiert?
Unser guter Holzschnitzer hat seinen subjektiven Geist sein gelassen und sich ganz auf die Sache
eingelassen. Er hat geantwortet (ying) auf das so genannte Objekt, das aufgehrt hat ein bloes
Objekt zu sein. Er hat ganz selbstvergessen geantwortet, vonselbstso (ziran). Indem er dies getan
und sich ganz natrlich dem Naturbelassenen Rohholz angepasst hat, hat sich das Kunstwerk ohne
alle Knstlichkeit und gleichsam ohne eigenes Zutun (wuwei), wie von selbst gemacht. Alle Spuren
selbstbewusster Kunstfertigkeit sind aufgehoben, so wie die Spuren jener sagenhaften Gazelle, von
derYanYuinseinenGesprchenberdieDichtungerzhlt.
146
SiehngtsichnachtsanihrenHrnern
ineinenBaum,umihrenHschernzuentgehen.
SohltesdergroeKnstlerauchmitdenKunstkennern,dieseinegroeKunsterhaschenwollen.
GroeKunstsiehtsoaus,alsbedrfeesdazukeinergroenKunst.
GroeKunstistKunstohneKunst.
NocheinWortzumVerhltnisvonqiundxinzhai,demHerzGeistFasten.
Im4.KapiteldesZhuangziheites:

145
DasSchriftzeichenshenspielteineentscheidendeRolleindemberhmtenStckvondeminspirierten
Metzgermeister.
146
HeinrichGeiger,DiegroeGeradheitgleichtderKrmmung,Alber,Freiburg/Mnchen2005,90f.
60

Darf ich fragen was das HerzGeistFasten ist? Kongzi (bei diesem Kongzi handelt es sich um einen
fiktivendaoistischenKongziG.W.)sagte:
HrenichtmitdeinenOhren,hremitdeinemHerzGeist(xin).
Nein,hrenichtmitdeinemHerzGeist,hremitdeinemLebensatem(qi).()derLebensatem(qi)()
wartetleer(xu)aufdieDinge.()imLaufderDinge(dao)sammeltsichLeere(xu).Leere(xu)istdas
FastendesHerzGeistes(xinzhai).
Sei leer (xu), das ist alles. Der hchste Mensch gebraucht seinen HerzGeist wie einen Spiegel (),
erantwortet(ying).

DasFltenspieldesHimmels

Bevor ich versuche zu erklren, was es mit diesem seltsamen qi auf sich hat und was es mit dem
Themaflowzutunhat,macheichesnochetwasspannendunderzhleIhneneinezweiteGeschichte
ausdemZhuangzi.
Zu Anfang des zweiten Kapitels des Zhuangzi geht es zunchst wieder um die Selbstvergessenheit,
umdenToddesEgounddannscheinbarunvermitteltumdasFltenspieldesHimmels.
Meister Qi vom Sdwall sa und lehnte sich an sein niedriges Tischchen, schaute auf zum Himmel
und atmete langsam aus (xu)
147
. In Meditation versunken schien er seinen IchBegleiter verloren zu
haben. Yancheng Ziyou, der vor ihm stand, um ihn zu bedienen, sagte: Was ist das ? Knnen wir
wirklich bewirken, dass der Krper wie verdorrtes Holz (gao mu) und der HerzGeist (xin) wie kalte
Asche wird? Derjenige, der sich jetzt an das Tischchen lehnt, ist nicht derjenige, der sich vorhin an
dasTischchenlehnte.
Meister Qi sagte: Es ist gut, dass du das fragst, Yan. Gerade habe ich mein Ich verloren (gerade ist
meinEgogestorben)(wusangwo).
Kennst du das? Du hrst die Fltentne der Menschen (ren lai), aber du hrst nicht die Fltentne
der Erde (di lai). Du hrst die Fltentne der Erde, aber du hrst nicht die Fltentne des Himmels
(tianlai).
Ziyousagte:Darficheswagenzufragen,wasdasheit?
MeisterQiantwortete:DergroeKlotz(dakuai)blstseinenLebensatem(qi)aus,dessenNameist
Wind.
Klarist:DieTnederMenschensinddieTnederBambusrhrenderFlte.
Die Tne der Erde sind die Tne, die der Wind in den Lchern und Hhlungen der Erde erzeugt.
AberwassinddanndieseTnedesHimmels?
GuoXiangkommentiert:WennZhuangzivomHimmel(tian)spricht,dannmeinternichtdenblauen
Himmel,sondernermeintziran,dasNatrliche,Spontane.
TianistimZhuangziofteinSynonymfrdao,frdennatrlichenLaufoderFluderDinge,der,wie
es am Ende von Kapitel 25 des Laozi heit vonselbstso verluft (dao fa ziran). In der Tat ist tian,

147
DaschinesischeSchriftzeichenxu,blasen,z.B.eineFlte,bedeutetwrtlich:langsamLuftausdemMund
ausstoen.EsbestehtausdemZeichenfrMundundfrleer(xu)undwirdgenausogesprochen.
61

Himmel,nichtetwasvonren,Mensch,undvondi,Erde,Verschiedenes,sonderndernatrlicheund
spontaneLaufdieserbeiden.
Also: Das Fltenspiel der Tne des Himmels ist ein freies Spiel der Tne des dao, die vonselbstso
(ziran) erklingen, im Spiel der Bambusflte des Menschen wenn sich der Fltist mit langsamem,
langemAtemwirklichaufdenWechselderTneversteht,ebensowieimSingendesWindes,dem
Lebensatem(qi)derNatur.
Insofern fgen sich Anfang und Ende unseres ZhuangziTextes, der Tod des Ego und das Fltenspiel
desHimmelszusammen.BeidescheinenjaaufdenerstenBlickwenigmiteinanderzutunzuhaben,
womit ja auch einige Interpreten in ihrer TranslationInterpretation offenbar einige Schwierigkeiten
hatten.
AufdenzweitenBlickaberzeigtsich:DieAntwortaufdieFragenachdemGeheimnisderFltentne
des Himmels ist zugleich die Antwort auf die Frage, wie es zu bewirken ist, dass der Krper wie
verdorrtes Holz und der HerzGeist wie kalte Asche wird. Dies ist nur zu bewirken, wenn es mir
gelingt,meinEgozuverlieren,meinEgosterbenzulassen.
Wenn ich mein Selbst vergesse, es in den vonselbstso verlaufenden Flu der Dinge einlasse und
demspontanen,natrlichenZusammenspielderDingegehorche,danngehorchtesganzinsHren
aufdieFltentnedesHimmelsverlorendemhimmlischendao(tiandao).
Wenn ich mich selbst verliere (wu sang wo), HerzGeistFasten (xin zhai) be und zum NichtIch
werde(wuji),nichtigundleer(xu),dannfolgeichvonselbstden10000DingenunterdemHimmelin
ihrem natrlichen Lauf (ziran). So entstehen auch die vollkommenen Fltentne des Menschen, die
TnedesgroenFltisten,indemdieFltentnedesHimmelsdurchihntnen.

Im 7. Kapitel des Zhuangzi heit es an einer schnen Stelle, die mein franzsischer Kollege Francois
JullienzumAusgangspunktseinerElogedelafaduergenommenhat:
LadeinenHerzGeist(xin)treiben(you)imFaden(dan),vereinigedeinenLebensatem(qi)mitdem
Gleichgltigen,demWsten(mo),gehmitdenDingen(shunwu)ganzvonselbstso.

2.QiinderchinesischenLiteraturundMalerei
Was ist nun dieses ominse qi, dem wir an verschiedenen Stellen im Zhuangzi immer wieder
begegnetsind?
Qi ist eines der Urworte, das von den Anfngen der chinesischen Kultur bis in die Gegenwart die
Mentalittentscheidendbeeinflussthat.
Qi bedeutet zunchst einfach Gas, Luft, Atem, Hauch sowie im bertragenen Sinne Vitalitt, lan
vitale,Lebensenergie,Lebensatem.
DieEtymologiedesZeichensqiistaufschlussreich.DerRadikalbautaufdreiparallelenLinienauf,die
alsPiktogrammfrWolkenangesehenwerden.InChinaistimSommerhufigzubeobachten,dassin
bestimmten Regionen die Luftfeuchtigkeit zu Wolken kondensiert, die am Himmel als dnne,
62

paralleleDunstschichtenerscheinen.SieerinnerndeutlichandiedreiStricheeinesaltenZeichensin
den Orakelknocheninschriften aus dem 2. Jahrtausend vor unserer Zeit. Sehr alt ist auch die
Vorstellung des Drachens als Regen und Fruchtbarkeit bringendes Wolkentier. Da die Wolkenbilder
manchmalandieGestaltdesDrachenserinnern,istqialsLebensenergieengmitderVorstellungdes
Glck bringenden Drachens verbunden. Der Drache verkrpert den Rhythmus der Natur durch den
ZyklusderWolken.
Qi spielt auch in der chinesischen Geomantik fengshui wrtlich: Wind und Wasser sowie in der
chinesischenMedizineinewichtigeRolle.
In Analogie zur Kraft des Windes als dem Atem der Natur wurde der ueres und Inneres
verbindende Atem des Menschen und die mit ihm verbundene Lebenskraft als qi bezeichnet. Der
freieKreislaufdesqiindenMeridianendesKrpersentscheidetamEndedarber,dasswirnichtzu
frh das Leben aushauchen, wie wir sagen. Der freie, natrliche Fluss des qi kann durch bung
befrdertwerden.Qigongbedeutet:bungdesqi.

ErinnernSiesichnocheinmalandenAnfangderZhuangziGeschichtevomFltenspieldesHimmels,
wo Meister Qi vom Sdwall in Meditation versunken sitzt und langsam ausatmet.
Auch beim gewhnlichen Sprechen atmen wir aus. Intensiver ist die Atmung beim Gesang,
der poetischen Muttersprache des menschlichen Geschlechts, wie Hamann sie genannt hat.
Oft ist der Gesang begleitet vom Tanz, dessen Bewegung z.B. auch beim Tanz des Pinsels in der
Malerei der vollkommene Ausdruck der Lebensenergie ist. Oft war dabei der Tanz des Drachen
vorbildlich.
Nicht nur in Malerei und Kalligraphie spielt das qi eine entscheidende Rolle. Auch poetische
Komposition und musikalische Performanz gehrten, und gehren, in der chinesischen Tradition als
Ausdruckdesqiinnerlichzusammen.AlleskommtanaufdielebendigeEnergiederBewegung.
DemmchteichjetztzunchstinderLiteraturunddanninderMalereinochetwasnhernachgehen.

CaoPisEssayberdieLiteratur(lunwen)
In seinem Kommentar zu Cao Pis (187 226) berhmtem Discourse on Literature (lunwen), dem
ersten der Literatur gewidmeten Essay im alten China, sagt Stephen Owen im Blick auf den Text:
Chi (qi G.W.) may be a something. But it is an ongoing something, something in progress.
148

Entscheidenddabeiist:Qiflowsnaturally,spontaneously(ziran).
Wiemanvomdaosagenkann:daoisflowingselfsoing,sogiltauchvomqi:
Theflowofqiisselfso(ziran).
Dem entspricht das chinesische Verstndnis der Poesie als einer ex tempore ongoing performance,
alseinerimprovisierten,spontanenPerformanz.

148
StephenOwen,ReadingsinChineseLiteraryThought,HavardUniversityPress,Cambridge,Massachusetts
andLondon,1992,66.
63

FarmorethanintheWest,theChinesetraditionrecognized,orhopedtorecognize,thepoemasan
eventintime.Chi,moreover,givesatextananimateunity()Inlatertheoreticalwritingtheunity
of chi will often be described as yichi , in a single breath, it is the momentum and continuity of
ongoingmovement.
149

EinAtemzugeinAugenblickeinStrich(yihua)beimTanzdesPinsels:
Sieentsprecheneinander.BeiShitaowerdeichgleichdaraufzurckkommen.
Der erwhnte Essay Cao Pis ber die Literatur (lunwen) ist, wie gesagt, die erste ganz der Literatur
gewidmete Errterung. Sie ist deutlich dem Zhuangzi verpflichtet. Der Traktat, der den Beginn der
LiteraturkritikinChinamarkiertentstand,bevorCaoPiimJahr220alsersterKaiserderWeiDynastie
fungierte.
Cao Pis Essay beginnt brigens mit einem Satz, der in China sprichwrtlich wurde: Die Literaten
schtzeneinandergering(wenrenxiangqing),daswarschonimmerso.
150
Wohlwahr.
Am bekanntesten aber wurde Cao Pis Essay, abgesehen von jenem Verdikt, fr seine Bemerkungen
zumZusammenhangvonqiundliterarischemSchaffen.
InderLiteraturistVitalkraft(qi)dieHauptsache(wenyiqiweizhu).
151

Regeln drfen den freien, natrlichen flow des qi nicht beeintrchtigen, wie wir auch von spteren
DichternwieWangShizhen(15261590)undYeXie(16271703)hren.
152

Diese Einsicht des Dichters Ye Xie verbindet ihn mit dem bereits erwhnten zeitgenssischen Maler
Shitao(16411717),vondemjetztgleichnochdieRedeseinwird.
ZuvormchteichIhreAufmerksamkeitnochaufvierWorteeinessehrvielfrherenMalersausdem
5.Jahrhundertlenken,indemesumdieArtderBewegungdesqigeht.
Es handelt sich um einen der bedeutendsten Stze der chinesischen Kunsttheorie, der auf den
PersonenmalerXieHe(ca.450510)zurckgeht.
Er lautet: qi yun sheng dong und wurde so unterschiedlich bersetzt, dass man zunchst nicht
vermuten wrde, dass es sich um bersetzungen ein und desselben Satzes handelt. Giles z.B. hat
bersetzt: Rhythmic Vitality, Waley:Spirit Harmony Lifes motion und Petrucci: La rvolution de
lespritengendrelemouvement(delavie).
153

Wrtlichheites:
QiLebensatem,Lebenskraft
yuntransportieren,inGangbringen;Kreislauf(sic!)
shenggebren;Leben
dongsichbewegen,verndern.

149
Loc.cit.67.
150
KarlHeinzPohl,GeschichtederchinesischenLiteratur,Hg.WolfgangKubin,Bd.5,sthetikund
LiteraturtheorieinChina,Mnchen2007,89.
151
Loc.cit.91.Cf.auchStevenOwen,loc.cit.65ff..
152
KarlHeinzPohl,loc.cit.313ff.u.361ff..
153
HeinrichGeiger,DiegroeGeradheitgleichtderKrmmung,KarlAlber,Freiburg/Mnchen2005,88.
64

Einewrtlichebersetzungknntealsovielleichtsolauten:
QiKreislaufLebenverndern.
Ichbinnichtsicher.
Bemerkenswertscheintmiraberjedenfallszusein,dassyunnichtnurdieBedeutunghat:to
transport, sondern auch: to revolve, a circuit or period of time.
154
Die Bewegung des qi ist offenbar
eineKreisbewegung.
DiesistimBlickaufdasZhuangzinichtsehrberraschend.
Das Schriftzeichen yun begegnet uns zum Beispiel in dem bedeutungsvollen ersten Satz des 13.
KapitelsdesZhuangzi,woesheit:tiandaoyun,derWegdesHimmelsnimmtseinenkreisfrmigen
Lauf.
DiesemWegdesHimmelsbzw.diesemKreislaufderNaturentsprichtderfreie,natrlicheKreislauf
desqiauchunsereigenerHerzGeistKreislauf.
Ihm folgt der Weise, der sein Leben nhrt ebenso wie der Dichter und der Maler, und zwar indem
sie nicht ihrem eigenen Selbst folgen, sondern selbstvergessen dem vonselbstso verlaufenden
natrlichenKreislaufdesdao.
Wasknntedaskonkretbedeuten?

ShitaosHuayulu
Das besagte yun, die Kreisbewegung des qi, von der Xie He sprach, begegnet uns wieder in Shitaos
Gesprchen des Mnchs Bittermelone,undzwarimTiteldessechsten KapitelsMotionsof thewrist,
wieColemanbersetzt.
155

Gegen Ende des Kapitels heit es vom Maler: He must first begin his practice with a revolving
wrist.
156
Ermussben,umdenrichtigenDrehdesHandgelenksrauszubekommen.
Durch die kreisenden Bewegungen des Handgelenks wird die Lebendigkeit des Bildes erreicht.
When the wrist is gifted in flexibility, it flies and dances to unlimited heights.
157
Das Kapitel endet
mitdemSatz:Ifthewristhasspirit,thenstreamsandmountainpeakspresenttheirsoul.
158

Coleman,dershen,inspirationebensowieqidurchspiritbersetzt,beschlietseinenKommentar
derPassagemitdenWorten:
Inthecontextofpainting,theidealbecameadisclosureofthechipossessedbyallforms.Grasping
the chi of things was deemed of greater significance than capturing mere sensuous beauty. Chi
might, therefore, be conceived of as the animating influence of Tao in a painting, the vibrations of
TaoorTaoenergy.
159

154
Cf.MathewsChineseEnglishDictionary,Nr.7703.
155
PhilosophyofPaintingbyShihTao,ATranslationandExpositionofhisHuaPu,EarleJeromeColeman,The
Hague,Paris/NewYork,1978,60.
156
Loc.cit.64.
157
Ibid.
158
Loc.cit.65.
159
Ibid.
65

Im Folgenden mchte ich etwas nher auf Shitao (oder Daoji) eingehen, den Mnch Bittermelone
oderdenGroenTuschedummkopf,wieersichselbstnannte.DiesergroechinesischeMalerund
Kalligraphdes17.Jahrhunderts(1641ca.1717)warvorallemvomDaoismusinspiriert.LinYutang
bezeichnetdie Gesprche des Mnchs Bittermelone (Huayulu),dasinvernderter Fassung 1710als
Huapuerschien,alsdenbestenundscharfsinnigstenEssayzurKunst,denjeeinEpochemachender
Knstlergeschriebenhat.
160

ShitaosEssaybeginntmitdenWorten
161
:
In der Urzeit gab es keine Methode. Das anfngliche Chaos wies noch keine Unterschiede auf. Als
das uranfngliche Chaos Unterschiede aufwies, entstand die Methode (fa).Wie entstand diese
Methode?SieentstandausdemEinStrich(yihua).
162

Shitaofhrtfort,dassmit der Einfhrung der EinStrichMethodeeine Methodeder NichtMethode

(wufazhifa)geschaffensei,eineMethode,diealleMethodeninsichbirgt.
Im3.Kapitelergnzter:DervollkommeneMenschhatkeineMethode.Damitistnichtgesagt,dass
erkeineMethodehat,erbesitztvielmehrdiebesteallerMethoden,nmlichdieMethodederNicht
Methode(wufaerfa).
Der Weg (dao, griechisch: odos) des Malens bzw. des Schreibens , den man zur Methode machen
kann,istnichtderbestndigeWeg(daokedaofeichangdao).
163

DerwahreWegfolgtkeinerMethode(wufa),erfolgtsichselbst,bzw.demziran.
Dao fa ziran.
164
Das wu fa, ohne Methode, entspricht dem wuwei, ohne Tun;das wuwei ziran, ohne
Tunvonselbstso,demwufaziran,ohneMethodevonselbstso.
DieseMethodeohneMethode,nachderderPinselsichspontanundnatrlichvonselbstsobewegt
und der Strich freiheraus kommt, beschreibt Shitao im 1. Kapitel seines Essays mit den folgenden
Worten:
der Strich schiet heraus, hlt inne, er kann viereckig oder rund, gerade oder gewunden sein,
aufwrts oder abwrts verlaufen, nach rechts oder nach links.So steigt er auf und sinkt herab in
jhemWechsel,reitsichlosoderschlgteinenkrzerenWegein,wiedieSchwerkraftdesWassers
oder das Aufflackern einer Flamme, ganz von selbst (ziran) und nicht im Geringsten auf Wirkung
bedacht. Auf diese Weise erfasst er die innere Natur der Dinge, gibt jeden Ausdruck wieder, nie
auerhalbderMethode(derNichtMethodeG.W.)underflltallesmitLeben.
165

Im16.KapitelderGesprcheheites:SeineTuscheistwievonselbstda,undderPinselscheintsich
ohneseinZutunfortzubewegen.
166

Und in einer Beischrift: Besitzt man das rechte Verstndnis, lsst man bei dieser Beschftigung
seinem Pinsel lediglich freien Lauf und schon werden tausend Berge und Tler sichtbar, prchtigen
WolkengleichundeindrucksvollenBlitzen,dieaufdemPapieraufflammen.
167

160
LinYutang,ChinesischeMalereieineSchulederLebenskunst,Stuttgart1967,144.
161
bersetzunginsEnglischeLinYutang,deutschLiselotteEder.
162
Loc.cit.147.
163
Laozi,Kap1.
164
Laozi,Kap.25.
165
LinYutang,loc.cit.148.
166
Loc.cit.161.
167
Loc.cit.166.
66

EinknochigerStrichfliegendesWei.
DerlebendigePinselstrich,erflltvomqi,derdaoEnergieistspontanwieeinfliegenderDracheund
ein tanzender Phnix. Shitao lsst seinem Pinsel freien Lauf, der sich bewegt, als schnitte er etwas,
wie es im 1.Kapitel der Gesprche heit. Er malt bzw. schreibt wie jener Koch Ding im Zhuangzi
seinen Ochsen tranchierte. Er lie das Messer selbst seinen Weg finden. Dieser Kochknstler wie
jener Schreibknstler waren ohne Selbst, so waren sie sich selbst nicht im Weg und konnten dem
dao folgen, von selbst so. Die Poesie eines Bildes entsteht in einem bestimmten Augenblick()
EineechteInspirationstelltsicheinwieeinBildineinemSpiegel.
168

DerKnstlergebrauchtseinenHerzGeistwieeinenSpiegelundantwortetspontan.Hismovement
islikewater.Hisstillnessislikeamirror.Hisresponseislikeanecho.
169

ShitaoschtztedenDichterSuDongpo(10361101)sehrhoch.
SuDongposKunstdesSchreibenswasnomorethanlettingwordsflowwheretheyshouldflowand
stop where they should stop. Su often compared the art of painting to that of poetry, saying that
bothshould,likestreamingwater,runspontaneously.
170

IneinemGedichtberBambusbilderseinesFreundesWenTongschreibtSuDongpo:
WennWenTongBambusmalte,
SahernurBambus,aberkeineMenschen.
NichtnursaherkeineMenschen,
WieinTrancehatteerauchseinKrperIchverlassen.
SeinKrperIchverschmolzmitdemBambus,
AufunergrndlicheWeisebrachteer(desBambus)reineFrischehervor.
171

VonBasho,demgroenjapanischenHaikuDichterausdem17.Jahrhundert,derdemZhuangzisehr
verpflichtetwar,wirdeinAusspruchberliefert,denjederDichter,derkeinbloerWorteMacherist,
in seinem HerzGeist bewegen sollte. Ich werde deshalb nicht mde, ihn immer wieder zu zitieren.
WiebeiSuDongpogehtesumdasAufgehendesIchSelbstdesDichtersimDaselbst.
DerBashoSchlerHattoriDohoerklrtesso:
The master said: Learn about a pine tree from a pine tree, and about a bamboo plant from a
bambooplant.Whathemeantwasthatapoetshoulddetachthemindfromhisownpersonalself.
Nevertheless some poets interpret the word learn in their own ways and never really learn. For
learn means to enter into the object, perceive its delicate life and feel its feelings, whereupon a
poemformsitself.Aluciddescriptionoftheobjectisnotenough,unlessthepoemcontainsfeelings
whichhavespontaneouslyemergedfromtheobject,itwillshowtheobjectandthepoetsselfastwo

168
Ibid.
169
Zhuangzi,Kap.7.bersetzungvonVictorH.Mair,WanderingontheWay,Honolulu1994,341.
170
TheIndianaCompaniantoTraditionalChineseLiterature,W.H.NienhauserJr.,EditorandCompiler,SuShih,
p.729.
171
ZitiertnachRolfTrauzettel,VerlustderPeripherie,in:minimasinica,2002,59.
67

separateentities,makingitimpossible toattaina truepoeticsentiment. The poemwillbeartificial,

foritiscomposedbythepoetspersonalself.
172

Wordsflowing,selfsoing,mitdemLebensatemderDinge,diezuWortkommen.
Ja,siewrezufinden:dieAntwortaufdas,wasmichohneWorteanspricht,
dieAntwortaufdas,wasmirohneWortezusagt,eineAntwortohneWortezumachen.
Daraufkmeesan:aufdaswortloseWort.
Esglcktnichtoft.

Nachwort
Malenohnezumalen
DerBambusisteinbeliebtesMotivinderchinesischenMalerei.Eriststarkundelastisch,erhatfeste
KnotenunderistinnenhohlleeresHerz,leererGeist.
Der (Bambus)Maler ist wie der Dichter gedankenlos und gefhllos, er hat seine Gedanken und
seine schnen Gefhle an die Dinge verloren. Er findet sich selbst in den Dingen. Wie gesagt:
Dontlookattheobject,butastheobject.
DuselbstbisdaselbstimfrischenGrndesBambus.Essiehtsichindir.NichtichsehedenBambus
da, vielmehr ereignet sich das Sehen des Bambus im Sinne des genitivus subiectivus et obiectivus.
MeinSehenseineristseinSehenmeiner.
IndiesemAugenblickbetrachtestdudirnichts,sondernduglotztalsHohlkopfinwiedergewonnener
Bldigkeit, so hohl wie der Bambus, so leer wie ein Spiegel. Es ist der Augenblick des groen Todes
desEgo.IndiesemAugenblickbistdunichtsalsBambus,NichtsalsBambus.
DasistderstilleAugenblickdesGesichtsderDinge,derAugenblickderrealizationdesSelbstsoder
Dinge,dasSprenihresLebensatems,derdieTuschespurzumLebenerweckt.
Wenn ein TuschespurMeister ein Meister ist und kein bloer SchnSchreiber(Kalligraph), dann
wird er seine schnen Gefhle und alle Spuren seiner eigenen Kunstfertigkeit verschwinden lassen,
so wie jene Gazelle des YanYu. Wenn ein Maler ein Maler und kein bloer BilderMacher ist, dann
wirderjenenPunkterreichen,andemnichter,sondernandemsichdasBildselbstverfertigt.Indem
Moment, in dem der HerzGeist sich von dem, was sich zeigt, hat bewegen lassen, macht sich auf
einmal das Bild ganz von selbst. Der Maler malt, was sich in ihm sieht. Er malt ohne zu malen.
DasMalenmalt.
Dazu muss der Maler Stille schaffen. Es zeigt sich, dass sich in dem wortlosen Gedicht der Stille des
Bildes diese Stille an besonderen Stellen zu verdichten scheint. Ist es berraschend, dass sich diese
StellenalsleereStellenerweisen?
GeradedieStellevlligerLeerekanndiesinnvollste,ikonischdichtestesein.
Das Papierwei, das uns so oft in chinesischen Bildern begegnet, ist ein Schweigen, das pltzlich
beredtwird;esisteineLeerediegelesenwerdenkann.
DenMeistererkenntmanandem,waserweggelassenhat.

172
ZitiertnachMakotoUeda,MatsuoBasho,Tokyo/NewYork/London1982,167f..
68

AndiesenleerenStellenalsdenKulminationspunktendesBildessammelnsichdieFarbengleichsam
imWei.DieFarbenscheinensichaufzuhebeninSchatten.DieFarbtneverklingeninsTonlose.Um
diesemKlangzufolgen,mussderMalervollkommenesEchosein,vollkommeneResonanz.
WiehieesdochimZhuangzivomwahrenMenschen:Hismovementislikewater,hisstillnessislike
amirror,hisresponseislikeanecho.
173

EinWort,dasdiechinesischenMalervonaltersherbeherzigthaben.

ObCzannewohlinsgeheimeinChinesewar,sowieVanGogheinJapaner?
In einem Gesprch mit Gasquet sagte Czanne etwas, das mir so gut gefallen hat, dass ich es auch
hieralsSchlusswortzitierenmchte:
Was soll man von den Toren denken, die sagen, der Maler sei geringer als die Natur! Er ist ihr
nebengeordnet. Wenn er nicht eigenwillig eingreift() Sein ganzes Wollen muss Schweigen sein. Er
soll in sich verstummen lassen alle Stimmen der Voreingenommenheit, vergessen, vergessen, Stille
machen,einvollkommenesEchosein.
174

175

173
VictorH.Mair,WanderingontheWay,Honolulu1994,341.
174
PaulCzanne,berdieKunst,GesprchemitGasquet,Hamburg1957,9.
175
DerTextdiesesVortragsrekurriertim1.TeilaufdasZhuangziBchleindesVerfassers:Meisterder
Spiritualitt,Zhuangzi,Herderspektrum,Freiburg2002.
Der2.TeilbercksichtigtbeidenBemerkungenzuShitaoPassagenausdem5.KapitelmeinesBuches:
DerPhilosophischeDaoismus,EditionChora,Kln2001.
DiebeideninzwischenvergriffenenBcherknnenjetztfreiimInternetheruntergeladenwerden:
www.guenterwohlfart.de

69

REFERENCES:
Introduction
CriticalRemarksonWesternUniversalism
PaperpresentedattheForumonChinaStudies,
TheThirdGeneralConference,Shanghai/China,2008.
AshorterversionwaspresentedattheSixthGeneralMeetingoftheWorldForumDialogueof
Civilizations,Rhodes/Greece,2008.

Lecture1
EgodTheDeathoftheEgo
EgocentrismEgocriticismandEgoforgetting,
Lecturegivenatthe18
th
SymposiumoftheAcadmieduMidiinAletlesBains/France,2010.

Lecture2
TheRelevanceofaDaoistEthosinourTime
ReturnfromaWesternUniversalMoralitytoaDaoistEthosbeyondMorality.
LecturegiveninShaoxing/China,2005andinTaipei/Taiwan,2006.

Lecture3
FollowinginZhuangzisFootsteps
NotesonChinesePoetryandPainting
LecturegivenattheInauguralMeetingoftheDaoistSalon,Zhengzhou/China,2010.
ItwillbegivenagainattheThirdCrossStraitSinologyForum,Xiamen/China,2012.

Lecture4
EternalPeaceEternalWar
ReflectionsonPolitics
Lecturegivenatthe16
th
SymposiumoftheAcadmieduMidiinAletlesBains/France,2006.

Lecture5
BeyondWords
RemarksonaDaoistPhilosophyofLanguage
LecturefirstgiveninGermanduringtheSymposiumFormundGehaltinTextenderGriechischenund
ChinesischenPhilosophieattheUniversityofTrier/GermanyandattheUniversityof
Karlsruhe/Germany2008.
Lecture1and2werealsogivenattheKunsthoegskoleninOslo/Norway,2011.
Lectures15werealsogivenattheIcelandicCentreforAsianStudies/UniversityofIcelandin
Reykjavik/Iceland,2012.
70

Lecture6
OntheWay
NotesofanOldDaoFool
Lecturegivenatthe19
th
SymposiumoftheAcadmieduMidiinAletlesBains/France,2012.

Lecture7
Qi
DaoistischeGeschichtenberdenLebensatem
VorlesunganderHochschulederKnsteinBern/Schweiz,2009.
IwastoolazytotranslatethetextintoEnglish.Thedearreadermayforgiveme!