The Great Master (Da Zong Shi) is the sixth chapter of Zhuangzi’s Inner Chapters and the pinnacle of his entire philosophical system. It integrates all the core wisdom from the previous five chapters: the spiritual freedom of Happy Wandering, the universal equality of Equalizing All Things, the natural alignment of Nurturing Life, the worldly tact of In the Human World, and the inner virtue cultivation of The Mark of Perfect Virtue. This chapter reaches the ultimate core of Zhuangzi’s thought: taking the eternal Dao of the universe as the supreme teacher, and achieving complete unity between humanity and the Dao.
The title “Great Master” does not refer to mortal saints or famous scholars in the secular sense. It stands for the Dao – the origin and inherent law of all cosmic things, the only eternal master of life. Centered entirely on the Dao, this chapter progresses layer by layer: distinguishing the relationship between heaven and humanity, depicting the spiritual state of the enlightened “True Person”, elaborating the essence of the Dao, revealing cultivation methods, and transcending the obsession of life and death. It constructs a complete worldview, outlook on life and death, and spiritual cultivation system.
With unrestrained writing and profound fables, Zhuangzi delivers a revolutionary truth: the highest pursuit of life is not fame, wealth, status, physical beauty, or worldly reputation. It is to perceive the Dao, follow nature, wander in unity with all existence, and attain absolute spiritual freedom and ultimate inner peace. Serving as both a sublimation of previous teachings and the ontological foundation of Zhuangism, this chapter is the ultimate guide for transcending worldly troubles, bondage and suffering to reach eternal spiritual ease.
The Starting Point of Enlightenment: Distinguishing Heaven and Humanity
The chapter opens with the ultimate cognitive boundary: To know what is heavenly and what is human is the highest wisdom.
“The heavenly” refers to the spontaneous operation of the universe, the birth and extinction of all things, and natural laws beyond human control. “The human” refers to subjective human will, intellect, deliberation, acquired effort and creation. Zhuangzi acknowledges that distinguishing and conforming to these two realms represents peak cognition – yet he immediately points out that even this state still harbors hidden anxiety.
Human cognition relies on conditional, ever-changing external references. The boundary between nature and humanity is never absolute or fixed. This breaks people’s rigid either-or cognitive obsession and lays the groundwork for the ultimate state of unity of heaven and humanity.
From this, Zhuangzi puts forward the chapter’s core proposition: Only after becoming a True Person can one possess true knowledge. Genuine enlightenment of the Dao never comes from books, speculation or acquired learning. True knowledge is not accumulated information about external things; it is an authentic state of life – pure, unified, and aligned with the Dao. It shifts the core of cognition from external pursuit to inner spiritual cultivation, completely subverting secular definitions of knowledge and wisdom.
The True Person: The Perfect Embodiment of the Dao
Zhuangzi vividly portrays the state of the ancient True Persons, offering a living model of Dao alignment. True Persons are not immortals with supernatural powers, but fully awakened beings who abide utterly by nature.
They never bully the weak with superiority, never grow arrogant over success, never scheme for trivial worldly gains. They feel no regret over missed opportunities and no elation over fortunate gains. They feel no fear on high cliffs, no dampness in water, no heat in fire – not because their bodies are invulnerable, but because their spirits transcend external disturbances and merge with the Dao, rendering outer harms powerless.
Their daily state differs entirely from ordinary people: they sleep without dreams, free from worldly desires and trivial worries; they wake without sorrow, unshaken by gain and loss, fortune and misfortune, right and wrong. They eat simply, without craving fine flavors, content with plain food. While ordinary people breathe shallowly through their throats, True Persons breathe deeply from their heels, connecting intimately with cosmic vital energy.
Zhuangzi reveals a profound rule: the deeper one’s worldly desires, the shallower one’s spiritual nature and the more restless one’s mind. True Persons maintain inner emptiness and tranquility, united with the breath of heaven and earth. Most importantly, they transcend life-and-death obsession: They do not rejoice in birth, nor resent death. They come naturally with the flow of existence and depart peacefully, viewing life and death as ordinary natural cycles, just like day and night alternation.
Without pretense or superficial adornment, they dwell in inner calm, integrating seamlessly with all things, unbound by secular norms and judgments. Every word and action follows inherent nature – this is the perfect state: inner virtue fulfilled, outer life aligned with the Dao.
The Essence of the Dao: Eternal, Formless, and All-Creating
After depicting True Persons, Zhuangzi delivers one of the most classic and profound interpretations of the Dao in Chinese philosophy, laying out the chapter’s core ontology:
The Dao is real and trustworthy, yet inactive and formless. It can be transmitted spiritually but not handed over physically; it can be attained through cultivation but not seen by eyes. Rooted in itself, it has existed eternally before heaven and earth. It empowers spirits and divinities, generates heaven and earth. It is not high above the ultimate pole, nor deep beneath the six directions; it precedes heaven and earth yet knows no longevity, endures through ancient time yet knows no aging.
The Dao is invisible, intangible, and unnameable, yet universally present and utterly authentic. Transcending all limits of space and time, it is the eternal, unchanging origin and ultimate foundation of all existence.
Zhuangzi further illustrates the Dao’s supremacy through ancient enlightened beings: Xi Wei regulated heaven and earth through the Dao; Fuxi harmonized cosmic vital energy; the Big Dipper orbits eternally without error; the sun and moon circulate endlessly. Even mountain spirits, river gods, ancient sage kings, the long-lived Pengzu, and the virtuous Fu Yue all attained their power and proper state by abiding by the Dao. All things in the universe exist and function because of the Dao – the supreme and eternal master of all creation.
The Path of Enlightenment: Gradual Transcendence of All Attachments
Through the dialogue between Nanbo Zikui and the ageless sage Nü Yu, Zhuangzi answers the core question: Can the Dao be learned and attained?
Nü Yu explains that Dao enlightenment is reserved for those with profound spiritual roots who can let go of worldly obsessions. He reveals the progressive cultivation path:
First, transcend the world – abandon secular power, profit, disputes and external entanglements. Second, transcend material things – let go of physical appearance, gain and loss, fortune and misfortune, freeing oneself from bodily constraints. Third, transcend life – eliminate the distinction between life and death, surpassing fear of death and attachment to existence, reaching the state of freedom from birth and demise.
When all external attachments and inner obsessions fall away, the mind achieves dawn clarity – bright, pure, empty and serene like the rising sun. In this state, one perceives the unique Dao, transcends temporal boundaries, and finally enters the realm of neither birth nor death, fully merging with eternity.
Nü Yu concludes with the essential truth: Those who transcend life’s limitations attain immortality; those who cling to life cannot find eternal life. The Dao itself is birthless and deathless. It nurtures all things yet remains unburdened by their cycles of creation and extinction. Enlightenment means merging one’s finite life into the Dao’s infinite eternity, free from the turmoil of change and mortality.
Embracing Life and Death: Surrender to Natural Transformation
The fable of Zi Si, Zi Yu, Zi Li and Zi Lai further illustrates how enlightened persons abide by destiny and transcend life-and-death suffering. The four like-minded friends all understood that birth, death, existence and perish are unified natural transformations.
When Zi Yu fell severely ill, his body twisted and deformed, his organs displaced and his appearance grotesque. Yet he remained utterly calm. When asked if he resented his condition, he smiled and replied: all physical changes are crafted by cosmic transformation. If nature turns my left arm into a rooster, I shall crow at dawn; if it turns my right arm into a slingshot, I shall hunt for food; if it turns my hips into wheels and my spirit into a steed, I shall travel freely without need for carriage. All natural shifts deserve only acceptance, not resistance.
Later, as Zi Lai lay dying, his family wept bitterly. Zi Li stopped them, forbidding disturbance to natural transformation, and asked Zi Lai what new form nature would craft for him – perhaps a rat’s liver or an insect’s limb. Zi Lai replied peacefully: humanity owes complete obedience to heaven and earth, just as children obey their parents. Nature grants life and takes life away; all changes are the work of the great cosmic furnace and divine craftsman. There is no need for resistance or sorrow. He drifted into sleep and awoke naturally, surrendering fully to life’s cycles.
These stories reveal the core Daoist attitude: enlightened people never grieve over illness, physical imperfection or death. They recognize all worldly shifts as the Dao’s spontaneous operation. Abiding by time and surrendering to destiny, joy and sorrow cannot enter their hearts – this is the true union with the Dao.
Beyond Secular Rituals: The Transcendent Freedom of Outer-Worldly Minds
The story of Sang Hu, Meng Zifan and Zi Qinzhang elevates this transcendent outlook to its peak. The three close friends fully comprehended the equality of life and death. When Sang Hu passed away, Confucius sent Zi Gong to attend the funeral. To Zi Gong’s shock, Meng Zifan and Zi Qinzhang sat beside the corpse, playing music and singing: Our friend has returned to the great Dao, while we still linger in the mortal world.
Confused, Zi Gong questioned Confucius whether such behavior violated ritual propriety. Confucius explained the fundamental divide: these wanderers dwell beyond the secular realm, free from worldly rituals, emotions and life-and-death prejudices. Ordinary people dwell within the secular realm, bound by social norms and mortal attachments. For transcendent minds, death is not an end but a return to the origin. Hence they feel no grief or joy, only peaceful acceptance. Confucius confessed his own longing for such transcendence, still trapped by secular conventions.
This fable sharply contrasts secular and Daoist views of life and death: worldly people are imprisoned by rituals and emotions, fearing death and mourning separation; enlightened beings observe life from the cosmic perspective of the Dao, embracing mortality as natural homecoming.
The Supreme Cultivation: Sitting and Forgetting
Through the dialogue between Yan Hui and Confucius, Zhuangzi reveals the ultimate practice for merging with the Dao: Sitting and Forgetting (Zuo Wang) – the highest state of Zhuangist cultivation, a profound sublimation of the “Mind Fasting” from In the Human World.
Yan Hui progressively transcended secular attachments: first forgetting benevolence and righteousness, then abandoning ritual and music. Finally, he attained complete enlightenment and told Confucius he had achieved Sitting and Forgetting.
Shocked, Confucius asked for its meaning. Yan Hui answered:I cast aside my limbs and body, dismiss my intelligence and wit, abandon physical form and worldly knowledge, and unite completely with the universal Dao. This is Sitting and Forgetting.
“Casting aside the body” means letting go of all obsession with physical form, health and mortality, breaking free from bodily bondage. “Dismissing intelligence” means abandoning secular cleverness, judgment, argument and calculation, purging acquired prejudice and subjective fixation to restore inner emptiness. “Abandoning form and knowledge” eliminates all boundaries between self and things, right and wrong, life and death. “Uniting with the great penetration” means complete integration with the eternal operation of the universe.
Sitting and Forgetting is not empty staring or numb indifference. It is thorough spiritual liberation: releasing all inner and outer attachments to achieve pure mental clarity and perfect unity with the Dao. While Mind Fasting purifies and calms the mind, Sitting and Forgetting achieves total transcendence of body and mind, reaching the ultimate state of forgetting self and all things, uniting heaven and humanity. Astonished by this attainment, Confucius expressed his willingness to learn from Yan Hui.
Abiding by Destiny: Peace Amid Life’s Inevitability
Zhuangzi further elaborates the unity of heaven and humanity through the friendship of Zi Yu and Zi Sang. After ten consecutive days of heavy rain, Zi Yu worried that Zi Sang suffered from hunger and went to visit him. He heard Zi Sang singing and weeping softly to his lute, murmuring of heaven, earth and hardship.
When asked the reason, Zi Sang replied calmly: he did not complain, but pondered the truth. Heaven and earth are impartial, nurturing all things without bias. His poverty stemmed not from worldly injustice, but from inevitable destiny and natural arrangement. Life and death are destiny; day and night are natural law. Some worldly matters lie beyond human control, destined by the Dao’s operation.
Abiding by destiny is not passive resignation. It means ceasing futile struggle against immutable truths, accepting natural arrangements with inner peace, and remaining undisturbed by fortune or adversity. Enlightened people act within their power and surrender peacefully to what cannot be changed – this is the wisdom of aligning with the Dao.
Natural Freedom vs. Artificial Moral Bondage
In the dialogue between Yi Erzi and Xu You, Zhuangzi critiques the artificial constraints of Confucian benevolence, righteousness and rituals, highlighting the Dao’s natural non-action.
When Xu You learned that Yao had taught Yi Erzi to uphold benevolence and distinguish right from wrong, he commented that these moral teachings were like branding and mutilation, binding people with artificial norms and severing their connection to natural freedom. Bound by man-made morality, one can no longer wander freely with the transforming Dao.
Yi Erzi hoped to heal his constrained spirit through the Dao, citing ancient sages who transcended their own talents and vanity in Dao cultivation. Xu You finally explained the true demeanor of the great Dao: it nurtures all things yet claims no righteousness, benefits all generations yet boasts no benevolence, transcends ancient time yet knows no aging, creates heaven and earth yet displays no cleverness. To wander with the Dao is to follow nature utterly, without intention, obsession or bondage.
Zhuangzi distinguishes sharply between Confucian artificial cultivation and Daoist natural non-action. Benevolence, righteousness and rituals are man-made constraints that distort human nature; the Dao is spontaneous and unforced. True freedom comes from abandoning artificial moral judgment and returning to original natural essence.
The Ultimate Conclusion: Forget All in the Dao
The chapter closes with Zhuangzi’s most timeless maxim: Fish forget each other in rivers and lakes; people forget each other in the Dao.
Fish swim freely in vast waters, needing no mutual help or attachment. Similarly, humans dwelling in the great Dao should abide by their inherent nature, free from secular bondage of morality, ritual, emotion and judgment. Helping each other through dry times with moist breath is inferior to forgetting one another in the freedom of vast waters. Forced worldly connection and mortal attachment cannot compare with the natural ease of dwelling in the Dao.
The highest state of cultivation is to wander between heaven and earth, united with the Dao, abiding peacefully by all circumstances, transcending life and death, right and wrong, physical form and all obsessions. Unburdened and free, one attains the ultimate life state: taking the Dao as the supreme master, taking nature as the eternal teacher, and reaching the perfect harmony of heaven and humanity.
Timeless Wisdom for Modern Anxious Life
The Great Master constructs a complete spiritual system from cognition to practice, from state to method. It teaches us that the universe’s essence is the Dao – eternal, infinite, natural and non-action. Humanity’s highest mission is to perceive the Dao, become True Persons, and achieve cosmic unity.
In today’s anxious, conflict-ridden world, we are endlessly trapped by fame, profit, appearance, gain and loss, mortality and judgment, suffering constant inner turmoil. Zhuangzi’s wisdom offers the ultimate remedy: let go of external obsessions, return to life’s original essence, follow natural laws, and take the Dao as your master. True life meaning lies not in chasing secular gains, but in inner fulfillment and spiritual eternity. Only by merging with the Dao can we transcend all worldly troubles and reach the supreme state of forgetting self and all things, uniting heaven and humanity.
This millennia-old wisdom still comforts and guides modern souls, serving as an eternal compass for spiritual peace and ultimate freedom.
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