Responding to Kingship (Ying Di Wang) is the final and concluding chapter of Zhuangzi’s Inner Chapters. It gathers all the core teachings from the previous six chapters – spiritual freedom, equalizing all things, nurturing life, worldly navigation, cultivating virtue, and merging with the Dao – and channels them into one ultimate question: how to govern the world rightly.
Here, Zhuangzi establishes a complete political philosophy of Wu Wei (non‑action) that completely transcends worldly power tactics, rigid rituals, moral coercion, and clever manipulation. The “true king” Zhuangzi praises is not a ruler who dominates lives, controls power, or enforces authority. Instead, it is the enlightened sage who aligns with nature, unites with the Dao, and governs through an empty, selfless, and unforced mind.
Zhuangzi’s core principle can be summed up in one sentence: Follow the nature of all things and hold no private selfishness. True sovereigns never impose their personal will to reshape the world or restrain people. They keep their minds calm, plain, and empty, accommodate the inherent nature of all beings, and rule without prejudice, desire, or crafty calculation. Under such governance, the world settles naturally, and all life transforms and flourishes on its own.
This chapter delivers the ultimate implementation of Zhuangzi’s entire spiritual system. It reveals that the highest wisdom – whether in governing a nation, managing affairs, or cultivating the self – is never forced intervention, deliberate control, subjective judgment, or artificial discipline. It is quiet responsiveness, natural alignment, and trusting all things to unfold authentically.
Without abstract preaching, the whole chapter unfolds through seven progressive fables. They expose the absurdity and harm of forced worldly governance, portray the ideal virtue of the sage ruler, and teach every individual how to become the true master of their own life through a still, empty mind.
Ignorance as Supreme Wisdom: The True King Beyond Artificial Morality
The opening fable contrasts worldly rule and Daoist sovereignty through the dialogue between Nie Que and Wang Ni. Nie Que asked Wang Ni four detailed questions about governance, and Wang Ni answered “I do not know” every time. Instead of feeling disappointed, Nie Que rejoiced and hurried to report this insight to Pu Yizi.
Pu Yizi explained the profound truth behind this “unknowing”. The ancient sage Shun (You Yu Shi) paled in comparison to the primal Tai Shi (Fuxi). Shun ruled with deliberate benevolence and moral standards to win people’s support. Though his governance seemed virtuous, it was still confined to artificial distinctions of good and evil, right and wrong, and human‑made ethics. He restrained the world with man‑made rules and never returned to pure natural essence.
Tai Shi, by contrast, embodied perfect natural freedom. He slept peacefully and awoke effortlessly. If people saw him as a horse, he calmly accepted being a horse; if they saw him as an ox, he peacefully abided as an ox. He never defended his reputation, never flaunted morality, and never constrained others with artificial virtue. His wisdom was genuine, his virtue unadulterated, and his mind free from human manipulation. He intervened in nothing and surrendered entirely to nature – this was the true kingly Dao.
Wang Ni’s four “I do not know” answers were not real ignorance. They represented the highest wisdom beyond worldly cleverness and judgment. Worldly rulers rely on knowledge, calculation, and rigid laws to control order, yet true sovereignty begins with letting go of artificial wisdom and returning to empty, natural tranquility.
The Fraud of Forced Governance: Nature Cannot Be Disciplined
The dialogue between Jian Wu and the mad sage Jie Yu further dismantles the fallacy of assertive, rule‑based governance. Jian Wu shared a popular political idea from Ri Zhong Shi: rulers should establish uniform laws, moral codes, and behavioral standards, then compel all people to obey. In this way, no one would dare resist, and the world would be perfectly governed.
Jie Yu immediately condemned this idea as”deception of virtue” – a harmful fallacy that distorts natural goodness. He compared such governance to digging river channels while walking into the ocean or asking mosquitoes to carry massive mountains: utterly futile, overreaching, and fundamentally against nature and humanity.
Sage rulers, Jie Yu emphasized, never discipline or restrict people from the outside. They first rectify their own minds, align with stillness and non‑action, and then allow all beings to follow their inherent nature. Birds instinctively fly high to avoid nets and arrows; mice naturally dig deep burrows to escape danger. Even tiny creatures possess innate survival wisdom. Human beings, too, are born with the natural capacity to live peacefully and settle themselves.
Worldly rulers foolishly believe artificial laws and regulations create order. In truth, these man‑made systems shackle human nature and stir up chaos. People do not need moral teaching or forced discipline to live well. They only need non‑interference and freedom to follow their authentic lives. True sagehood governs by letting be, not by controlling.
The Core of Wu Wei Governance: Drift in Calm, Yield to Nature, Abandon Self
The conversation between Tian Gen and Wu Ming Ren delivers the chapter’s central formula of perfect governance, serving as the spiritual climax of the whole text.
While wandering by the Liao River, Tian Gen met Wu Ming Ren and respectfully asked how to govern the world. Wu Ming Ren replied with impatience: “Go away! Your vision is shallow. Why disturb my peaceful wandering with trivial worldly governance? I roam with the creator of all things; when weary, I ride upon empty mist, transcend the six directions, and dwell in the boundless void. Do not disrupt my spirit with mortal affairs.”
Undeterred, Tian Gen asked again. Wu Ming Ren finally revealed the ultimate truth: “Let your mind drift in detachment, harmonize your spirit with vast emptiness, follow the nature of all things, and hold no private self – then the world governs itself.”
This single sentence is the supreme principle of Zhuangzi’s political philosophy. Drift in calm detachment means freeing the mind from fame, profit, emotion, gain and loss, maintaining unclouded inner peace. Harmonize with vast emptiness means aligning with the quiet rhythm of the cosmos, avoiding forced action and deliberate disturbance. Follow nature and hold no self means abandoning all personal desire, prejudice, and manipulation, never imposing one’s will upon the world.
When a ruler achieves inner emptiness and selflessness, all things grow naturally, people live peacefully, and the world settles into perfect order without enforced governance. Wu Ming Ren’s initial impatience was not rudeness, but disdain for the worldly obsession with “doing something”. The highest rule is no rule at all – non‑action that accomplishes everything.
The True Bright King: Merit Unclaimed, Virtue Unseen
Through the dialogue between Yang Ziju and Laozi, Zhuangzi depicts the demeanor of the true sage king. Yang Ziju asked Laozi whether a person who is quick‑witted, perceptive, diligent, and devoted to the Dao could be compared to a bright sovereign.
Laozi shook his head and replied that such people are merely trivial officials trapped by their own cleverness. Just as tigers and leopards are hunted for their beautiful fur, and monkeys are captured for their agility, intelligent and active people are burdened by their own talents. Their “ability” becomes their cage – far from true kingship.
Yang Ziju then asked what genuine sage governance looks like. Laozi answered: The true bright king’s merits cover the whole world, yet seem unaccomplished by him. His blessings nurture all beings, yet people feel no dependence on him.
He lets all things attain their proper place and flourish naturally. Dwelling in profound stillness and unfathomable emptiness, he hides his virtue, conceals his achievements, and displays no will or ambition. He never boasts of his deeds, never demands gratitude, and never dominates people with authority. Under his rule, people feel no ruler’s presence at all – as if peace and order are the natural way of the world.
Worldly rulers crave recognition, display their wisdom, and take credit for all stability, driven by hidden selfishness that disrupts natural order. The true king rules silently, serves invisibly, and lets all life thrive unforced.
The Unfathomable Mind of the Sage: Hu Zi’s Four Spiritual Realms
The lengthy fable of the divine shaman Ji Xian and the master Hu Zi illustrates the ideal mental state of a true ruler: still, formless, unpredictable, and unshakable by external appearances.
Ji Xian, a famous fortune‑teller in Zheng, could precisely predict people’s life, death, fortune, and misfortune, striking fear into all locals. Liezi deeply admired Ji Xian’s supposed profound power and told his teacher Hu Zi that Ji Xian surpassed all spiritual mastery.
Hu Zi asked Liezi to invite Ji Xian to observe his spiritual state. Over four days, Hu Zi revealed four different Daoist realms, completely confounding the shaman:
- First day: The Earth Pattern – utter stillness, no visible vitality. Ji Xian judged Hu Zi would die within ten days, for his spirit looked ashen and lifeless.
- Second day: The Heavenly Realm – gentle vitality subtly emerged. Ji Xian claimed Hu Zi was saved and blessed with new life.
- Third day: Supreme Equilibrium – perfect harmony of yin and yang, no bias or traceable state. Ji Xian grew confused, declaring Hu Zi’s mind unstable and unreadable.
- Fourth day: The Origin of the Dao – complete return to the formless, boundless, unfathomable Dao. Before he could speak, Ji Xian fled in terror, unable to grasp Hu Zi’s infinite, shapeless spirit.
After witnessing this, Liezi finally understood that Ji Xian’s superficial divination was trivial craft, while Hu Zi’s empty, unfixed Dao state was true mastery. He retreated home for three years, living simply, cooking for his family, feeding pigs with equal care, abandoning vanity and pretense, and returning to plain, natural, selfless simplicity.
This fable carries profound political symbolism. Ji Xian represents shallow worldly rulers who judge by surface appearances, rely on clever observation, and mislead themselves with superficial knowledge. Hu Zi embodies the true sovereign’s mind: empty, tranquil, formless, adaptable to all changes, and never trapped by fixed states or external distractions. Only such unfathomable stillness can govern the world without error.
The Perfect Mind: Mirror Response – Respond Without Attachment
Zhuangzi further elevates the Wu Wei state with his iconic maxim: The perfect person’s mind is like a mirror.
“It does not send off the past nor welcome the future. It responds yet retains nothing. Therefore it encounters all things without being harmed.”
No farewell, no welcome means no obsession with the past, no anxiety for the future. It meets all arriving things naturally and lets departing things go without clinging. Respond yet retain nothing means reflecting reality purely without subjective bias, leaving no lingering trace in the mind after events pass. Encounter all things without harm means navigating endless worldly changes without being shaken, exhausted, or tainted.
A mirror reflects beauty and ugliness equally without joy or disgust. Similarly, sage rulers and enlightened individuals engage with worldly affairs, human conflicts, and changing fortunes without preference, resistance, or attachment. Their inner clarity remains unspoiled. Ordinary people suffer because their minds cling, judge, fear, and crave. The sage governs with mirror‑like emptiness: responsive yet unperturbed, active yet unforced, engaged yet untainted.
The Death of Chaos: The Tragedy of Forced Improvement
The chapter concludes with its most iconic and devastating fable – the death of Hun Dun (Chaos) – delivering the ultimate warning against assertive governance.
Shu was the ruler of the South Sea, Hu the ruler of the North Sea, and Hun Dun the formless, gracious ruler of the center. Shu and Hu often met in Hun Dun’s domain, and Hun Dun treated them with great kindness. To repay his grace, Shu and Hu noticed that all humans have seven apertures – for seeing, hearing, eating, and breathing – while Hun Dun had none. They resolved to carve seven holes into him to “improve” him.
They carved one aperture each day. On the seventh day, the seven openings were complete – and Hun Dun died.
This simple story encapsulates the entire essence of Zhuangzi’s political thought. Hun Dun symbolizes original nature, integral wholeness, and the perfect Wu Wei world – free of artificial judgment, moral division, rigid rituals, and calculating wisdom, harmonious and complete in its natural state.
Shu and Hu represent well‑meaning worldly rulers who force their own standards, knowledge, and “good intentions” upon nature and people. The seven apertures stand for artificial right and wrong, moral codes, regulations, and intellectual manipulation.
Even with kind motives, forced transformation destroys innate wholeness. All worldly governance that imposes human will upon nature inevitably damages life, disrupts harmony, and brings ruin. The death of Hun Dun is an eternal warning: every forced intervention rooted in self and cleverness kills natural goodness. Only non‑interference, non‑action, and trusting things to unfold naturally preserves the world’s purity and peace.
The Timeless Wisdom of Becoming Your Own Sovereign
Responding to Kingship builds a complete political and spiritual system through its seven fables: it criticizes the futility of assertive rule, reveals the core method of Wu Wei, depicts the mirror‑like mind of the true sage, and ends with the tragic lesson of forced transformation.
For Zhuangzi, the true king is not a dominator of power, but a guardian of the Dao and nature. Governance is not about controlling, regulating, or taking credit – it is about emptying the self, removing interference, and protecting the natural freedom of all beings. This truth applies equally to governing a nation, managing daily affairs, and governing one’s own mind.
In the modern age of overcontrol, forced perfection, anxious intervention, and endless manipulation, Zhuangzi’s wisdom is more vital than ever. We constantly strive to control life, reshape others, and force outcomes with our subjective standards – only creating more chaos, exhaustion, and conflict.
Zhuangzi teaches us to let go of forced action, selfish obsession, and subjective bias. Calm your mind, follow natural law, accommodate the true nature of all things, and act without forcing, clinging, or scheming. In this way, all affairs resolve naturally, all beings find their place, and the mind abides in peaceful freedom.
The highest rule for a nation, a life, and a heart has never been complicated: Follow the nature of all things and hold no private self. This is the eternal wisdom of Responding to Kingship – and the path to becoming the true sovereign of your own life.
Leave a Reply