The Music of Heaven and Self-transformation: On Zhuang Zi's View on Relativism

For many modern scholars doing the history of Chinese philosophy,Zhuang Zi's philosophy is labeled as relativism,which,however,neither does justice to the positive role Zhuang Zi plays in Chinese culture,nor accords with the text of Zhuang Zi.By an examination of the central concepts in Zhuang Zi's philosophy such as tian(heaven) and tian lai(the music of heaven),the present author argues that Zhuang Zi the relativist is a misreading, which is due partly to the paradoxical style of narration on the part of Zhuang Zi,but most importantly,is owing to the influence of Guo Xiang's self-transformation interpretation.The most decisive misunderstanding is the idea about tian lai and emanating from itself.