General Preface

The philosophy of Master Zhuang is as deep as the sea and as fathomless as the abyss. His prose surges with unbounded freedom; his principles are subtle beyond exhaustion. The chapter "Gengsang Chu" stands at the end of the Outer Chapters of the Zhuangzi yet carries forward the themes of the Inner Chapters. Within it, the passage "When the inner universe is tranquil and settled, celestial light emanates" (yu tai ding zhe, fa hu tian guang) has long been prized by readers of the Zhuangzi. Though the passage comprises only a few dozen characters, the principles it harbors reach upward to the Way of Heaven, downward into human affairs, inward to the nature of the mind, and outward to embrace the myriad things. It is, in truth, a pivotal nexus of Zhuangzian philosophy.

This article undertakes an exhaustive, character-by-character and sentence-by-sentence examination of this passage from the perspectives of pre-Qin and high antiquity. Every text cited is drawn from pre-Qin literature; every argument is situated within the intellectual context of the pre-Qin era. The article marshals extensive quotations from the original texts of the Laozi, the Zhuangzi, the Yijing (Book of Changes), the Shangshu (Book of Documents), the Shijing (Book of Odes), the Lunyu (Analects), the Mengzi (Mencius), the Guanzi, the Xunzi, the Hanfeizi, the Mozi, the Guoyu (Discourses of the States), the Zuozhuan (Zuo Commentary), the Lushi Chunqiu (Springs and Autumns of Mr. Lu), the Heguanzi, the Huangdi Sijing (Four Classics of the Yellow Emperor), and others, striving to restore, through the methods of "explaining the classics by the classics" and "explaining the Zhuangzi by the Zhuangzi," the original significance of this passage within the world of pre-Qin thought.

The original text of the passage is as follows:

When the inner universe is tranquil and settled, celestial light emanates. From the emanation of celestial light, one's true person becomes visible. When a person cultivates, only then does constancy arise; with constancy, people relinquish him and Heaven assists him. One whom people relinquish is called a citizen of Heaven; one whom Heaven assists is called a son of Heaven. To learn is to learn what cannot be learned; to act is to act what cannot be acted; to discourse is to discourse upon what cannot be discoursed upon. To know to halt at what one cannot know -- that is the utmost. If there are those who do not accord with this, the Heavenly Potter's Wheel shall undo them.

This passage appears near the end of the "Gengsang Chu" chapter, forming part of Gengsang Chu's transmission to Nanrong Chu of the teachings of the Most High (Laozi). The entire passage may be divided into five layers of meaning: first, the relationship between "the tranquil inner universe" and "celestial light," treating the generative connection between inner quiescence and outward radiance; second, "one's true person becomes visible," treating the self-manifestation of the authentic person; third, "cultivation" and "constancy" together with "people relinquish him" and "Heaven assists him," treating the constancy of spiritual practice and the encounter between Heaven and humanity; fourth, the naming of "citizen of Heaven" and "son of Heaven," treating the position of the perfected person within the order of Heaven and humanity; and fifth, the transcendence of "learning," "acting," "discoursing," and "knowing," together with the judgment of "the Heavenly Potter's Wheel," treating the surpassing of intellective limits and the equilibrium of the Way of Heaven.

In what follows, this article will examine each of these five layers of meaning in exhaustive detail.