It is characteristic of humans to make distinctions and create divisions in order to make sense of things outside of our control. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is a prime example of this tendency, revealing tensions between humans, between humans and nature, and between life with and without COVID-19.

Chuang Tzu claims that all things are interconnected and that distinctions are man-made delusions. According to his teachings, we cannot assign blame to a single group, nation, or species; there is no line between perpetrator and victim. Moreover, we cannot view the pandemic as a special condition apart from normal life because our existence is an indivisible whole. In this way, Chuang Tzu presents a Daoist perspective that leads us to an alternative understanding of this global crisis.

Ever since the pandemic broke out, there has been an endless debate about who should be held responsible. Donald Trump, the former president of the United States, referred to COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus,” frequently reminding his audience that the disease originated in Wuhan, China. At the same time, the Chinese government has denied responsibility and promoted multiple theories targeting other countries as ground zero.

In Chuang Tzu, there is an allegory of a trainer who feeds his monkeys acorns twice a day. The monkeys are dissatisfied when he gives them “three in the morning and four at night” but are delighted when he gives them “four in the morning and three at night.” Although the total number of acorns is the same in both situations, the monkeys found the latter to be better. In the same way, humans might feel better about an unpleasant reality if they find the right explanation for their problems. This allegory reveals that subjective interpretations about whose fault the pandemic might be does not actually improve the situation in any meaningful way.

Beyond political divisions, the COVID-19 pandemic has also sparked a scientific debate about the relationship between mankind and nature as well as between cause and effect. We are struggling to figure out whether the pandemic demonstrates a reaction to human activity or the subjection of humans to nature’s laws. Put another way, is it us or is it nature that is really in control? To Chuang Tzu, this question is only an illusion.

The fact that all living creatures are in a mutual relationship is compatible with Daoism, which emphasizes the oneness of the world as a whole. However, Chuang Tzu asserts that this interconnectedness transcends distinction and discrimination. In one parable, he describes a dream in which he was a butterfly; once he awoke, he wondered whether “he was Chuang Chou who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Chuang Chou.” He does not present this ambiguity as something to resolve but instead implies that it is pointless to prioritize one experience over another. According to Chuang Tzu, all things are one “if you look at them from the point of view of their sameness.”

For a Daoist, acknowledging the connection between humans and nature means viewing them as a single entity rather than as involved in a conflict. Although knowledge about how humans and nature influence each other can be useful, we must be careful not to assume that they are fundamentally different or that they are at odds. Rather, Daoism teaches us to study phenomena like COVID-19 with the basic understanding that all things in the universe exist in harmony.

Chuang Tzu’s teachings challenge our perception of the coronavirus pandemic itself. In our daily conversations, we frequently treat our lives during the outbreak as separate from our lives before and after the pandemic; we mourn how life is no longer the same with COVID-19, and we postpone our happiness to the day that this crisis ends.
As exceptional as the pandemic seems, our response to it displays the human tendency to view complex issues through distinctions; we think in terms of you and me or beginning and end. Daoism offers us a holistic philosophy that underscores the oneness of all things. In essence, seeing everything as inextricably linked allows us to focus on our present situation without distortion.

From a Daoist perspective, the coronavirus does not separate us from one another or us from nature. It does not exist separately from our past or the future. It is simply a part of the whole and the now, just like the air. Therefore, we should not overanalyze the pandemic or react unnecessarily based on artificial distinctions. As a result, we might gain a more objective understanding of our reality and how to handle what is in front of us.

Soyoung Jung
Columbia University