Residing in De: contentment, home & finding one’s place in the Liezi & Zhuangzi

Abstract

Although traditionally recognized as a classic, the Liezi 列子 has remained one of the most understudied and, in some ways, most misunderstood texts within the Daoist canon. The present study first elucidates the Liezi’s conception of de 德 as it relates to contentedness with one’s particular allotment (or fen 分) in life. Special attention is paid to the exchange between Beigongzi and Ximengzi (found in the Li Ming 力命 [Endeavor and Destiny] chapter). Here, in spite of his mean status and circumstances, Beigongzi discovers that contentment arises in the recognition of the virtue/worth/value inherent in his particular ming (命) from heaven. Whereas Ximengzi’s privileged status, and apparent happiness, was a result of his heaven-allocated luck, Beigongzi, and by extension the Liezi’s readers, learns that true happiness resides in making the most of one’s de, the inborn manifestation of dao 道 within all things. The paper then moves on to explore similar themes in the Zhuangzi, teasing out the various ways in which the text both supports and expands the Daoist conception of locating contentment and “home” within one’s “heavenly mandate” (tian ming 天命). As we read in Zhuangzi 4, “To serve one’s own mind so that neither sadness or joy sway or move it; to comprehend that what you can do nothing about and rest content it as your ming 命, this is de 德 perfected” 自事其心者, 哀樂不易施乎前, 知其不可奈何而安之若命, 德之至也. Who and what we are ultimately resides in our homeground, the perfection of the virtue provided to each of us by heaven’s allocation.