Ziran and Continuous Orderly Transformation: New Interpretation of Ziran in Daodejing

The term ziran first appears in the Daodejing, yet its precise meaning and attribution remain ambiguous in this book, sparking ongoing scholarly debate. This paper argues that Laozi’s idea of ziran fundamentally pertains to all things and the common people, rather than the Dao or the ruler, and its realization depends on the noncoercive action (wuwei, 無為) of the Dao and the ruler. While ziran is commonly understood as “natural” or “free from external force”, Laozi reinterprets it beyond its literal meaning, integrating the notion of order through its relationship with wuwei and thus imbuing it with theoretical significance. In this framework, ziran encompasses orders of internal senses and orders of external activities inherent in all things while simultaneously excluding excessive and disorderly desires. It thereby serves as a criterion for assessing the orderliness of desires. Furthermore, by elucidating ziran as the continuous transformation of things, the standard to which the ideal ruler or the sage resorts to curb the disorderly desires of the common people is established.