Zhuangzi and Musical Apophasis David Chai 1 Published online: 10 July 2017 # Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2017 Abstract Whether music is a catalyst for virtuous or licentious behavior, decadent or sparse thoughts, there is no doubting its importance to human civilization; but what of the sounds of Nature? For the Daoist philosopher Zhuangzi 莊子, the sounds of Nature are the epitome of what humanity calls music. Neither contrived nor laden with predispositions, they reflect the unity of things in Dao 道. Focusing on the xianchi 咸 池 story in Chapter 14 of the Zhuangzi, this article argues that the true value of music for Zhuangzi is not to be found in the moral or aesthetic symbolism of its notes but in its ability to return humanity to Dao. For this to happen, one must transcend the particularities of human music so as to recognize the oneness of sounds arising from Nature. Equipped with such awareness, one can then listen for the soundless music of Dao. However, music of this magnitude is so profound that conventional terminology will fail to encapsulate it, thus the xianchi story can be read as an instance of musical apophasis. Keywords Zhuangzi 莊子 . xianchi 咸池 music . apophasis 1 Introduction There are as many theories of what constitutes music as there are controversies over said theories. Many people believe that what makes music special is its ineffability, that it somehow possesses its own private language (Kramer 2013: 20). In ancient China, music was used as much for entertainment as for aiding in the moral regulation of society and government. For example, in the Chuci 楚辭 (Songs of the South) we read how music is used as an emotional catharsis: “Bells clash in their swaying frames … pipes and zithers rise in wild harmonies, the sounding drums thunderously roll … men and women now sit together, mingling freely without distinction; hat-strings and Dao (2017) 16:355–370 DOI 10.1007/s11712-017-9562-x * David Chai davidchai@cuhk.edu.hk 1 Department of Philosophy, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong