Systematic Interpretation of Heavenly
Consonance and True Self over
Ego—Review of Chen Zhian’s Perspective
and Research of Three Consonances in
Zhuangzi
Su, Wei-Ling
Abstract
The explanation of heavenly consonance is not only one of the most critical concepts in Zhuangzi but also a significant issue which has continued being discussed in the study of Zhuangzi. Disagreements as to the definition of heavenly consonance, nevertheless, have existed in academia. The paper is divided into three parts: first, the researcher uses a methodical approach to detail previous studies, displaying four fundamental sorts of interpretations on heavenly consonance. Second, the researcher, from Chen Zhian, who explained the thinking of Zhuangzi in the Ming Dynasty, concludes that the fifth interpretation of heavenly consonance is “harmonize them by means of the unity of God and the truth in the sentence”, using Chen’s interpretive system of “true self over ego,” compared with the previous studies and the past arguments. Third, the researcher specifies how Chen’s spillover saying theory was formed to explain the notion of heavenly consonance. The purpose of this paper is to enrich contents of Zhuangzi Study through the extensive exploration in the matter of heavenly consonance and to further comprehend the ideas of Chen Zhian.
Keywords: Chen Zhian, heavenly consonance, true self over ego, spillover saying theory
