Abstract
The purpose of this work is to point out the thinking pattern of "absolute nothingness" of Zhuangzi through clarifying the meaning of "huanzhong" within Zhuangzi's thought. This thinking pattern is not only different from Confucianism, but also different from Tao. The "nothingness" in this thinking pattern is beyond "non-being". Such "nothingness" is no longer thought from the "beingness", it is thought from the "nothingness" that embraces the "beingness" and not being embraced by the "beingness". Such "nothingness" expresses the beingness-nothingness relation that differs from the meaning in "absolute beingness". The clarification of this beingness-nothingness relation is an evidence that Zhuangzi is capable to constantly reply the essential query from History of Thought. This work contains four steps. Step 1, how to clarify " huanzhong" within the context of History of Thought's beingness-nothingness query? Step2, on what meaning that Zhuangzi's "huanzhong" can differ from Wang Fuzhi's "huanzhong" in interpreting Zhuangzi? "Huanzhong" with these two meanings are derived from different thinking system, and is believed to be distinguished by the way in opening "huanzhong's" structure of "dahuo's" meaning. We try to point out that Zhuangzi's "dahuo" essentially implies the "depth", and, in step 3, the "depth" can only implies the "break", which is the key message that "absolute nothingness" is beyond "non-being". Step 4, we try to think of a more positive expression of Confucianism's "substance-function" relation through the viewpoint of "absolute nothingness". Only when one seizes the "fei" in the concept of "ji", transferring from "xiangji" to "jifei", the absolute-relative relation mentioned in "substance-function" can be fully disclosed. This transition may point out the bottleneck of the conversation between Zhuangzi and Confucianism, and forming the confrontation.