The fables in Zhuangzi use stories to illustrate his intentions—that’s what we call allegory. Of course, about 80% of the content in Zhuangzi consists of fables—almost nine out of ten parts are allegorical. What is “zhongyan” (重言)? In the future, when we write academic papers, we will need “zhongyan,” which means citing authoritative figures. However, Xu Fugui contrasted “zhongyan” with “fu” (rhapsody) and suggested that it should not be pronounced as “zhòng” but as “chóng,” meaning elaboration—layered buildup, parallel sentences. This is one interpretation, but I find it quite interesting. As for the “xing” (兴) in “fu, bi, xing,” it corresponds to what Zhuangzi called “zhiyan” (卮言). What is “zhiyan”? It refers to drinking—the “zhi” is a wine vessel, so it symbolizes the spirit of Dionysianism. This Dionysian spirit must permeate throughout your writing, especially in poetry, where the entire emotional atmosphere should be infused with it. Look, here we’ve taken an example from the Book of Songs—the one Confucius cited most frequently. Since the 305 poems in the Book of Songs were compiled by Confucius and his disciples, he summarized them in one phrase: “The 300 poems can be summed up in one word—’Si Wu Xie’ (思无邪).” “Si” here refers to thought or thinking. What does “Si Wu Xie” mean? It expresses the idea that the Book of Songs is profoundly pure. However, objectively speaking, Confucius, as a leading figure of Confucianism, did appropriate much of our ancient cultural heritage as Confucian—this is true for the I Ching, the Book of Songs, and the Book of Documents alike.
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