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Encountering the Zhuangzi : Adaptability and Emptiness in the Story of Huzi, Jixian, and Liezi
ID Chantry-Gellens, Thaddée (Author)

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Abstract
The Zhuangzi 莊子 often uses its multicoloured characters and imaginative stories to make its points. So much so that one of these characters is, I wish to argue, a stand-in for the text of the Zhuangzi itself. Huzi 壺子, when he meets Jixian 季咸 through the intermediary of his student Liezi 列子, exhibits the kind of emptiness that characterizes the text. This emptiness pertains to his ability to change forms as he wishes, for he is never fixed into one singular shape. He represents the adaptable and flexible behaviour which enables one to use specific schemes of valuation with parsimony, when they are adapted to the context, and never to remain fixed on one single such scheme. Jixian and Liezi are, in my interpretation, two readers of the text who come at it from different yet fixed angles. Their backgrounds and reactions while reading the text teach us the ways one can deal with that emptiness. One could try, like Jixian, to apply one’s own standards to the text, witness its resistance, and leave in frustration. Or one could, like Liezi, realize that the text’s emptiness is an invitation to leave the text behind and to discard fixed and single-minded valuation schemes. In the end, this cautionary tale aptly represents the text’s non-judgmental openness as well as its subtly subversive critique of the attitudes to learning and applying what one has learned prevalent in its time.

Language:English
Keywords:Zhuangzi 莊子, Huzi 壺子, adaptability, emptiness, Daoism
Work type:Article
Typology:1.01 - Original Scientific Article
Organization:FF - Faculty of Arts
Publication status:Published
Publication version:Version of Record
Publication date:09.01.2026
Number of pages:Str. 349-371
Numbering:Vol. 14, no. 1
PID:20.500.12556/RUL-178348 This link opens in a new window
ISSN:2232-5131
eISSN:2350-4226
DOI:https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2026.14.1.349-371 This link opens in a new window
Publication date in RUL:23.01.2026
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Downloads:90
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Record is a part of a journal

Title:Asian studies
Publisher:Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
ISSN:2232-5131
COBISS.SI-ID:265206272 This link opens in a new window

Licences

License:CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Link:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Description:This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

Language:Slovenian
Title:Srečanje z Zhuangzijem : prilagodljivost in praznina v zgodbi o Huziju, Jixianu in Lieziju
Abstract:
Zhuangzi 莊子svoje pisane like in domiselne zgodbe pogosto uporablja za ponazoritev svojih spoznanj. Trdim, da je tako celo v tolikšni meri, da eden izmed likov deluje kot nadomestek za samo besedilo Zhuangzi. Ko Huzi 壺子 prek svojega učenca Liezija 列子 sreča Jixiana 季咸, predstavlja vrsto praznine, ki zaznamuje celotno besedilo. Ta praznina se kaže v Huzijevi sposobnosti, da po želji spreminja svojo obliko, saj nikoli ni omejen na eno samo, določeno podobo. Predstavlja prilagodljivo in prožno vedênje, ki nam omogoča varčno oziroma preudarno uporabo določenih vrednostnih shem, kadar so ustrezne glede na kontekst, pri čemer nikoli nismo omejeni na eno samo shemo. V tem smislu Jixian in Liezi nastopata kot dva bralca Zhuangzija, ki k besedilu pristopata z različnih, toda določenih zornih kotov. Njuno ozadje in odzivi med branjem besedila nas učijo različnih načinov soočenja s to praznino. Bralec lahko, tako kot Jixian, na besedilo poskuša aplicirati lastne kriterije, naleti na odpor in v frustraciji odneha. Lahko pa tudi, tako kot Liezi, spozna, da je praznina besedila povabilo k preseganju samega besedila in opuščanju togih, enostranskih shem vrednotenja.Navsezadnje ta opozorilna pripoved ustrezno ponazarja Zhuangzijevo neobsojajočo od-prtost ter njegovo subtilno subverzivno kritiko tedanjih pristopov k učenju in uporabi pridobljenega znanja.

Keywords:Zhuangzi莊子, Huzi 壺子, prilagodljivost, praznina, daoizem

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