Who is liu xia hui Zihua Zi 子华子?

Zihua Zi

A Daoist philosopher of the Warring States period. He was a native of the state of Wei and a contemporary of Marquis Zhao of Han. His main period of activity was between 358 and 323 BCE. He advocated the principles of "valuing oneself and cherishing life" (重己贵生), disdaining anything contrary to this philosophy and paying little heed to matters of state such as warfare, which determined the fate of nations and people. Thus, when many in Wei debated military campaigns, "Zihua Zi heard of it and found it disgraceful," insisting that "the ruler should seek the Dao and nothing more" (《Zhuangzi·Zeyang》). He believed that only by valuing oneself and cherishing life could one align with the Dao.

He stated: "To preserve life wholly is the highest ideal; to impair life partially is secondary; death is lesser still; and a life of coercion is the lowest" (《Lüshi Chunqiu·Guisheng》). Here, "preserving life wholly" (全生) means desires are appropriately satisfied; "impairing life partially" (亏生) means desires are only partly fulfilled; and "a life of coercion" (迫生) means no desires are met. Thus, he concluded that a coerced life is worse than death (ibid.).

Zihua Zi further asserted that an individual's life holds supreme value. When the states of Han and Wei contested territory, leaving Marquis Zhao of Han deeply troubled, Zihua Zi displayed indifference to territorial gain and loss and proposed a pact: "If the authority to rule the entire world were placed before you, and seizing it with your left hand meant losing your right, or seizing it with your right meant losing your left—would you take it?" Ultimately, Marquis Zhao dared not agree. From this, Zihua Zi concluded: "One’s arms are weightier than the world, and one’s body is weightier still than both arms" (《Lüshi Chunqiu·Shenwei》), effectively declaring the body paramount above all else. This reflects the core tenet of the Daoist "valuing oneself and cherishing life" school.

The extant Zihua Zi in 10 volumes is a later forgery.