“Life is a temporary sojourn, death a return.” – Yu the Great
Zhuangzi’s wife had died. His close friend Huizi went to console him, only to find him sitting idly on the ground, pounding a pottery basin like a drum, and singing.
Huizi said to him: “When someone has lived with you, raised children, grown old and died, not to mourn is shocking enough. But to drum on the basin and sing! Isn’t that going too far?”
“Not really,” said Zhuangzi. “When she first died and I was alone, how could I not grieve? But I reflected that originally, human beings had no life; not only no life, but no form; not only no form, but no vital energy. In a vague, indistinct state, a transformation occurred and there was vital energy; Vital energy transformed and there was form; Form transformed and there was life. Now another transformation has taken her to death.
It is like the progression of spring and fall, summer and winter. She is now dead, laid out in this great chamber of heaven and earth (meaning the grave). By sobbing and wailing over her I was showing a lack of understanding of the natural order. And so I stopped.”
Origin: Zhuangzi – Perfect Happiness
#30 鼓盆而歌
“生者寄也，死者归也。” – 大禹
庄子的妻子死了，惠子前去吊唁，却看到庄子正岔开脚坐在地上一边敲着瓦盆，一边唱歌。
惠子说：“她和你做了这么多年夫妻，为你生儿育女，现在她年老去世了，你不哭也就算了，居然还要敲着盆子唱歌，这不是太过分了吗？”
庄子说：“不然。她刚死的时候，我怎么可能不悲伤呢？但我又想，人原本没有生命；没有生命的时候，也就没有形体；没有形体的时候，也就没有气息。在恍恍惚惚之间，变化产生了气息，气息变化有了形体，形体变化有了生命。现在她又变化而死去。这就像春夏秋冬四季运行一样自然。
现在她安然地睡在天地这间大屋子里（指坟墓），我却还要跟在一旁号啕大哭，我认为这是不通天命的表现，所以就不再哭了。”
出自《庄子 至乐》