Ziran

Ziran (Chinese: 自然; pinyin: zìrán; Wade–Giles: tzu-jen; Korean: 자연; Japanese: 自然 (じねん・しぜん, jinen shizen)) is a key concept in Daoism that literally means "self so; so of its own; so of itself" and thus "naturally; natural; spontaneously; freely; in the course of events; of course; doubtlessly". This Chinese word is a two-character compound of zi (自) "nose; self; oneself; from; since" and ran (然) "right; correct; so; yes", which is used as a -ran suffix marking adjectives or adverbs (roughly corresponding to English -ly). In Chinese culture, the nose (or zi) is a common metaphor for a person's point of view.

Origin

The word 'ziran' first occurs in the Daodejing (17, 23, 25, 51) and refers to the structure of Dao, which cannot be referred back to anything else. It is generally accepted that the philosopher Laozi, author of the Daodejing, coined the term. Ziran is a central concept of Daoism, closely tied to the practice of wuwei, or effortless action. Ziran can be seen as the positive side of the Dao, with wuwei opposing it as the negative. Ziran refers to a state of "as-it-isness," the most important quality for anyone following Daoist beliefs. To become nearer to a state of ziran, one must become separate from unnatural influences and returned to an entirely natural, spontaneous state. Ziran is related to developing an "altered sense of human nature and of nature per se". When it comes to sensibility of Taoism, the moral import can be most found in ziran.