presented probably the most important manifesto of his poetics, “The
‘I’ Without Purpose: An Outline of Natural Philosophy” (Meiyou
mudi de “wo”: ziran zhexue gangyao). In it Gu Cheng sums up his
brand of “natural philosophy” (ziran zhexue) and raises the concept
of “the ‘I’ without purpose”:
The “I” without purpose is free, having an unimaginably distinctive per-
sonality, because he has been relieved from the bondage of all purposes
and concepts, relieved from the bondage of the concepts of life and
death. Neither the principles of human existence nor any corresponding
moral consciousness concern him. His spontaneous action puts him
forever into creation. He takes not only life but also death as a game.
(Hong and Zhao 1993: 214)Gu Cheng cites Zhuangzi and the Monkey King as two examples
embodying this attitude. Regarding the Monkey King, Gu Cheng adds
that
it [the Monkey King] is a breaker of all order, and yet also an embodi-
ment of the will to live. He does evil and also good, and he kills and also
saves people, not out of any moral concerns—since he doesn’t belong to
the human world—but purely in accord with his own liking. The figure
of the Monkey King is the embodiment of the consciousness of “no
inhibition” in Chinese philosophy. (Hong and Zhao 1993: 215)The third example that Gu Cheng cites, which no doubt dismays many
critics, is again Mao himself, whom Gu Cheng regards as the contem-
porary embodiment of both Zhuangzi and the Monkey King:
If the Monkey King is just a spirit, then Mao Zedong could be seen as a
human who has been possessed by such a spirit... The Cultural
Revolution that he made was practically the concrete incarnation of
Zhuangzi’s anti-cultural consciousness. He destroyed his enemies and his
own state machinery, which is the application of “wreaking havoc in
heaven” in the human world. What is astounding is not his actions, but
his playful attitude. He looks at the revolution that he started with
sarcasm, like the Buddha looking at the Monkey King who is turning
somersaults in his palm. While he says “carry the revolution to the
end,” he also says: “we will all be laughable after ten thousand years.”
(Hong and Zhao 1993: 215)Gu Cheng’s final portrait of “the ‘I’ without purpose” comes down to:
One who is in the natural state is free. He does not take “I” as the point
of departure, or have any purpose beyond himself, and thus has infinite
possibilities in reality. He might have a long and peaceful life, or a138 Yibing Huang