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Cumulative Structure in Zhuangzi's “The Great and Venerable Teacher”

Cumulative Structure in Zhuangzi's “The Great and Venerable Teacher” The secret of the “cumulative structure,” one of Zhuangzi's favorite rhetorical devices, is “adding.” To add is not to repeat but to arrange meanings of different shapes in various incremental parallel structures. This effective tool is used in his chapter titled “The Great and Venerable Teacher” to explicate the highest order of true understanding of the Way, or zhenzhi, and to symbolize the climactic pursuit of the Daoist truth. Vertically the Daoist epistemological value system, with the zhenzhi at its apex, is extended into a graphic hierarchy; horizontally the step-by-step progressive process of the attainment of this true knowledge is sometimes subjected to contemplative examination and sometimes compressed along the axle of time flow into an intense moment of sudden enlightenment. Since the cumulative structure works as a living body of correlation, the palpable contour of which corresponds to the message it conveys, it enables the readers to experience—not just to understand—Zhuangzi's teaching. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture Duke University Press

Cumulative Structure in Zhuangzi's “The Great and Venerable Teacher”

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Copyright
Copyright © 2021 by Duke University Press
ISSN
2329-0048
eISSN
2329-0056
DOI
10.1215/23290048-9299619
Publisher site
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Abstract

The secret of the “cumulative structure,” one of Zhuangzi's favorite rhetorical devices, is “adding.” To add is not to repeat but to arrange meanings of different shapes in various incremental parallel structures. This effective tool is used in his chapter titled “The Great and Venerable Teacher” to explicate the highest order of true understanding of the Way, or zhenzhi, and to symbolize the climactic pursuit of the Daoist truth. Vertically the Daoist epistemological value system, with the zhenzhi at its apex, is extended into a graphic hierarchy; horizontally the step-by-step progressive process of the attainment of this true knowledge is sometimes subjected to contemplative examination and sometimes compressed along the axle of time flow into an intense moment of sudden enlightenment. Since the cumulative structure works as a living body of correlation, the palpable contour of which corresponds to the message it conveys, it enables the readers to experience—not just to understand—Zhuangzi's teaching.

Journal

Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture – Duke University Press

Published: Nov 1, 2021

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