Chuang Tzu’s Philosophy of Transcendence of the Here and Now

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Chuang Tzu – Transcendence of Here and Now
Chuang Tzu describes the infinite transformation of things and the need to accommodate one’s mind to all transformations. The book’s perception of change relates to the flexibility and relativity of things and views themselves. Unlike the Greek philosophy of change that focuses on identifying the epistemic truth of the particular thing, Chuang Tzu’s philosophy of change takes a more pragmatic view of part-whole associations instead of the epistemic truth of the particular thing. It calls for changing modes of separating and differentiating change: rather than recognizing the various changes of things or fixating on them, the book proposes making a practical sense of these transformations in words, views, and states. This essay will discuss Chuang Tzu’s philosophy of transcendence of the here and now and how it involves reconciling one’s minds with all transformations.
A significant concept of Chuang Tzu is the change of things, which entails a number of critical aspects. First, Chuang Tzu posits that the transcendence of things is universal and that all things transform continuously without exception. Second, this transcendence involves transformations of natural things and people: neither things nor people can avoid transforming. Consequently, what we identify as one thing entails several alterations from one into the other. Transcendence, therefore, occurs among numerous things and also within everything.
An example is that of Chuang Tzu’s wife, whose death is described as a series of transformations: “When she first died, I certainly mourned just like everyone else! However, I then thought back to her birth and to the very roots of her being before she was born. Indeed, not just before she was born but before the time when her body was created. Not just before her body was created but before the very origin of her life’s breath” (Palmer et al.). Here, Chuang Tzu declares the impracticality of any stationary existence, including death. Instead, he describes life and the world as a continuous transformation.
Another critical aspect is the infinite nature of these transcendences, which he asserts do not start to reach an end: The four seasons appear in sequential order as do the ten thousand rivers that flow into the ocean but never fills it: “At Wei Liu, the water disappears, but the ocean never empties. Spring and autumn bring no changes. It pays no attention to floods or drought” (Palmer et al.). The book asserts that things are in an infinite process of transcendence and that no external factors can deter the natural course of transformation. Consequently, the world of things is forever changing, and one “cannot define the capacity of things: time never stops; there is nothing constant in fat; beginning and end have no regulation” (Palmer et al.). The author searches for the historical roots of the changes, but it is impossible to look for the end of the future. Defining the reason for this continuous and infinite state of transformation is pointless since everything starts and finishes with things. Therefore, the book questions the possibilities of limitless ca...