"There is a fish in the North Sea, and its name is Kun. The Kun is so big that it cannot be stewed in a pot." It means: There is a fish in the North Sea, and its name is Kun. Kun is so huge that even a large pot cannot stew it.
This sentence is modified from "There is a fish in the North Ming Dynasty, and its name is Kun. Kun is so big that I don't know how many thousands of miles it is." It should be modified by netizens for the sake of humor.
--------Where does it come from--------
Pre-Qin Zhuang Zhou's "Xiaoyaoyou"
--- -----Excerpt from the original text--------
There is a fish in the North Ming Dynasty, and its name is Kun. The Kun was so big that it was unknown how many thousands of miles away it was; when it turned into a bird, its name was Peng. The Peng's back is thousands of miles away, and it flies away in anger, its wings are like clouds hanging down from the sky. It is a bird, and the sea will migrate to Nanming. Nan Ming is also Tianchi. Those who are "Qixie" are also those who are ambitious and strange. "Xie" says: "The Peng migrates to Nanming. The water hits it for three thousand miles, and it surges upward for ninety thousand miles. It goes to breathe in six months." Wild horses are also dust, and living things breathe. Phase blow also. The sky is blue, is it righteous or evil? Is it so far away that it is extremely evil? It looks down upon it, and if so, that’s it. Moreover, if the accumulation of water is not thick, it will not be able to carry a large boat. Put a cup of water on the col hall, and the boat will be made of mustard; if you place the cup on top, it will be glued. The water is shallow and the boat is big. If the accumulation of wind is not thick, its large wings will be weak. Therefore, for ninety thousand miles, the wind is blowing down, and then it is today's Peifeng; those who carry the blue sky on their backs and do not care about Yaolan, then they are today's general Tunan.
--------Vernacular translation--------
There is a fish in the North Sea, and its name is Kun. Kun is very huge, and it is unknown how many thousands of miles it is. Kun transformed into a bird, and its name was Peng. Peng's back is thousands of miles long; when it flaps its wings and flies straight up, its wings are like clouds hanging in the sky. This bird will migrate to the southern sea when strong winds blow the sea water. The sea in the south is a large natural pool.
The book "Qixie" is a book that records some weird things. The book records: "When Peng migrates to the sea in the south, its wings beat on the water, stirring up waves of three thousand miles, flying around the whirlwind to an altitude of ninety thousand miles, and leaving with the strong winds of June." Like a wild horse galloping. The same swimming air, flying dust, and living creatures all move because of the wind. The sky is vast and vast, perhaps it is the true color of heaven? Is its vastness and loftiness also endless? When Peng looked down, he should have seen something like this.
If the collected water is not deep, then it will not have the strength to carry a large ship. Pour a glass of water into a low-lying area in front of the hall, and a small piece of grass can be regarded as a boat. If you put a cup on it, it will stick to it. This is the reason why the water is shallow but the boat is big. If the gathering wind is not strong enough, then there will be no power to carry a huge wing. Therefore, Peng flew at an altitude of 90,000 miles, with the wind beneath him. With the force of the wind, it carried the blue sky on its back without any obstruction, and then began to fly south.
--------Content Analysis--------
This article uses fables skillfully, the writing style is varied, and it is full of romanticism. The idea advocated by Zhuangzi is to be quiet and do nothing, and to take care of your life. His explanation of the world's size, nobility, longevity, right and wrong, gains and losses, honor and disgrace, etc. is relativistic. His ideological attitude towards society and life, whether negative or inspiring, has a profound impact on future generations. He hates the society where "those who steal hooks will be punished and those who steal the country will be martyred", refuses to cooperate with the rulers, despises wealth and wealth, and denies the existence of ghosts and gods. These all have positive meanings and are worthy of recognition. However, his delusional thought of escaping reality and pursuing unconditional spiritual freedom was a negative and impossible-to-realize view of absolute subjective idealism, both at the time and now.
--------Explanation--------
"Xiaoyao" is also written as "Xiaoyao", which means the look of leisurely travel; "Xiaoyao" "You" means to move freely without any restrictions.
The full text can be divided into three parts. The first part is "The Nameless Saint", which is the main body of this article. By comparing many examples of people who cannot be "free", it is shown that in order to truly achieve the state of freedom, one must "No self", "no merit", "no name". The second part to "Xiaoran loses his world" follows the previous part and further elaborates, explaining that "selflessness" is the only way to get rid of all kinds of constraints and dependence. As long as you truly forget yourself and everything, you can achieve freedom. Only those who are "selfless" are the ones with the highest spiritual realm. The remaining part is the third part, which discusses what is truly useful and useless, explaining that we should not be stagnate by things, but should use the useless. It further expresses our opposition to actively participating in social activities, and aims to pursue a leisurely and contented life without any restraint.
This chapter is one of the representative chapters of "Zhuangzi" and a famous chapter among hundreds of scholars. It is full of peculiar imagination and romantic color, and contains reasoning in fables and vivid metaphors, forming a unique style. "Happy wandering" is also an important aspect of Zhuangzi's philosophical thought. The whole article repeatedly elaborates on the idea of ??having no basis to rely on and pursues absolute freedom in the spiritual world. In Zhuangzi's eyes, everything in objective reality, including human beings themselves, are antagonistic and interdependent. This means there is no absolute freedom. If you want to have nothing to rely on, you must have no self. Therefore, he hopes that everything will follow nature and transcend reality, deny all human roles in social life, and mix human life with the survival of all things; he advocates not being stuck in things and pursuing unconditional spiritual freedom.
--------How to write this article--------
1. A creative method based on fables. "Zhuangzi" claims that its creative method is to "use 卮yan as the main source, use tautology as the truth, and use fables as the broad". Fables are the main way of expression. Many articles use fables as the backbone of the articles. A large number of fables are used to make the composition of "Zhuangzi" scattered, intermittent, endlessly changing, and elusive. For example, the first half of "Xiaoyaoyou" spares no effort in writing and uses a lot of fables and tautology to exaggerate. The content from Kunpeng spreading his wings to Liezi walking on the wind is not the main theme of the work, but "The perfect person has no self, the saint has no merit, and the god has no self." The title sentence "Unnamed" is like a dragonfly touching water, passing by in one stroke.
2. Unexpected imagination and fiction. The fables in "Zhuangzi" show extraordinary imagination and form a strange world of images, "unexpected and strange in writing". The imagination and fiction in "Zhuangzi" often transcend the limitations of time and space and the distinction between things and myself, and are strange, fantastic, and ever-changing. For example, in "Xiaoyaoyou", the fish in Beiming turns into a roc, "flying in anger, its wings like clouds hanging from the sky". The strange imagination of "Zhuangzi" is to express its philosophical thoughts. Combining truth with creation and reality with mystery are the main features of "Zhuangzi".
3. Debate with a strange image. 1. Use metaphors and symbols instead of logical reasoning. 2. Less direct expression of one's own opinions and attitudes, but allowing readers to experience and understand from strange, absurd and vivid fables. For example, at the end of "Xiaoyaoyou", Zhuangzi adds another fable to the fable, using "the medicine that is not easy to use" to illustrate the "difference of use", and what is useless becomes useful.