Zhenren

Zhenren

ZHENREN. The term zhenren ("real person") is first encountered in parts of the Zhuangzi that are thought to date from the third century BCE. Zhenren may also be translated "perfect person" or "true person" (most Sinologists now translate it "Perfected"). Zhuangzi's "real person" is one who does not oppose the human and the natural, who knows how to accept both defeat and victory, joy and sorrow, life and death without being affected by them. Ordinary people, according to Zhuangzi, "wallow in their passions because they are out of touch with the workings of Heaven. The 'real person' of ancient times knew neither to love life nor to hate death…He took pleasure in what he received; he forgot what he gave back. This is what it means not to throw away the Dao with the heart, not to use what is human to help out what is heavenly. This is what is called a 'real person'" (chap. 6). The "real person" is thus one who possesses what is for Zhuangzi the highest form of knowledge, the knowledge that enables him to "make all things equal" and so renders him invulnerable to the vicissitudes of human life.

Zhuangzi uses a range of terms to refer to this ideal person, among them "divine person" (shenren), "accomplished person" (zhijen), and "saintly person" (shengren).

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