China & East Asia · c. 252–312
Guo Xiang
Editor and commentator who shaped the Zhuangzi we read
Denied any creator or “non-being” behind things: each thing generates itself and is fulfilled by following its own nature, so the sage can serve in government while remaining inwardly free. He drew heavily on Xiang Xiu’s earlier commentary.
Life and thought
Guo Xiang was an official of the Western Jin dynasty, admired for his eloquence in the salons of “pure conversation”. He edited the sprawling Zhuangzi of his day into the 33 chapters we still read and wrote the commentary that shaped how it was understood. An anecdote of the period accused him of passing off Xiang Xiu’s unfinished commentary as his own; how much he borrowed is debated, but the finished interpretation bears his name.
Against Wang Bi he denied that non-being could produce anything, since nothing comes from nothing, and he saw no need for a creator either. Each thing “is so of itself” and transforms on its own; its nature sets its allotment. The great Peng bird soaring ninety thousand li and the little dove flitting between trees are equally free if each acts according to its own nature. Freedom therefore does not require leaving society: the sage can hold office and attend to affairs while remaining inwardly at ease. This reading reconciled Daoist freedom with Confucian duty for the educated elite.