Some have named the Wenzi (Wen Tzu) the fourth most influential Daoist text after the Dao De Jing, Zhuangzi, and Liezi. However scholars have questioned its authenticity because it contains Confucian, Legalist, and Mohist philosophies. (Creativity and Intertextuality, pages 8, 23, 25, 32, 61-65, 81, and 84).
Chapter Five is named Morality and discusses right and wrong, leadership, and emptiness.
Right v. Wrong
Right and wrong is highly subjective. If someone doesn’t like something they are likely to think it’s wrong.
“There are no fixed judgments of right and wrong in the world. People each judge as right whatever they consider pleasant and judge as wrong whatever they consider unpleasant.”
Therefore there is no ultimate truth but the real question is do others agree with your likes and dislikes.
“Thus the search for right is not search for truth, but search for those who agree with oneself; it is not a departure from wrong, but a departure from those who disagree with one’s feelings and ideas. Now if I want to choose what is right and abide by it, and pick out what is wrong to depart from it, I do not know what society calls right and wrong.”
Leadership
When one leads they should reflect before taking action.
“So govern a large country like cooking small fry; don’t stir, that’s all.”
Emptiness
One can not reach a state of emptiness by planning. Instead one must flow with life adjusting as needed.
“If you want to be in emptiness, then you cannot be empty. When you do not contrive emptiness but are spontaneously empty, this is what is desired, and it brings everything.”
It is the natural state of being which allows one to be grounded in a chaotic world.
“So communion with the Way is like the axle of a carriage, which does not move itself yet enables the carriage to travel thousands of miles, turning in an inexhaustible basis.”
Conclusion
Right and wrong is highly subjective and there is no ultimate morality. Something is wrong when you dislike it. A leader should avoid taking rash action. Emptiness is in accordance with the Dao and involves being flexible and centered.
Resources
Wen-Tzu, Understanding the Mysteries, Thomas Cleary, Translator. 1991.
The Wenzi: Creativity and Intertextuality in Early Chinese Philosophy (Studies in the History of Chinese Texts, 9), Paul Van Els, Brill Academic Publisher, 2018.
