“Hold Du Meridian Still” and “Align the Body along the Du Meridian”: A Study on Body Experience and Body Technique as a Newly Discovered Method for Bridging the Studies of Laozi and Zhuangzi
Resource
臺大中文學報, 34, 001-054
Journal
臺大中文學報
Journal Issue
34
Pages
001-054
Date Issued
2011-06
Date
2011-06
Author(s)
Abstract
This paper argues that, rather than purely philosophical speculation, various passages in Zhuangzi indicate an embodied way of thinking resulting from “sense of body,” bodily experience and body technique. The disregard of the bodily experience makes the intellectualistic tradition that dominates the study of Zhuangzi rather questionable. To interpret Zhuangzi from the perspective of body experience and body cultivation involves a basic change from that of the “knowing what” to that of the “knowing how.” Knowing how the body is cultivated and the experience derived from such practice would greatly enhance our understanding of the text. The present study centers on “Align the body along the Du meridian (緣督以為經)” as a major body technique. By examining it with the newly discovered materials from Mawangdui and corroborating it with text from Silk Lao Tzu and other bodily practice such as Taiji Quan and Pilates, it is hoped to uncover a direct understanding of the textual meaning other than the conventional detour through semantic exegesis. By doing so, we may find that the new interpretation of this sentence makes the following text in the original paragraph of Zhuangzi much more understandable.
Although “Align the body along the Du meridian” is a crucial teaching about how to lead our body, it is entirely different from those body practices that tried to manipulate our body intentionally. To Zhuangzi, “Align the body along the Du meridian” is a natural, non-intentional body technique that goes beautifully together with his non-intentional and non-artificial cultural and spiritual/psychological ideas. The paradox in Zhuangzi and Laozi’s thought, as was defined by Edward Gilman Slingerland, does not really exist if we can see through this way.
This study goes through different times and cultures. The semantic systems between different cultures and even times may be incommensurable and each interprets the body in a unique way. Nevertheless, the experience of the same human body may be comparable under similar cultivation practice. It is through this “embodied” experience, we may transcend the barrier of time and culture and rediscover the possible true meaning of Zhangzi.
Subjects
關鍵詞：莊子、督脈、帛書老子、馬王堆、身體主體、身體感、身體規訓、身體Keywords: Zhuangzi, Du Meridian, Silk Lao Tzu, Mawangdui, subject destined to the world, body experience, body discipline, body technique, expert, Wu Wei, Zi Ran, Taijiquan, pilates
Type
journal article
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