The concept first appears in Zhuangzi. According to Zhuangzi (369?–286 BC), people and things cannot exist independently of their context, and thus are always limited and constrained by various external conditions, that is, they depend on something. But since the human mind is able to transcend the reality of its context and is not bound by external things, it can thus achieve a free and unhindered state. This is the state of the mind having nothing to depend on.
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One will need to rely on nothing if he is able to follow the rules of nature, manage the changes of weather, and enjoy everything freely in the infinite universe.
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From this point up until Liezi, people of different ages and insights are listed in turn. Each person clings to his own understanding and fails to convince others. Then if the thought of “a person dependent on nothing” is applied to the situation, the boundary between self and others will be forgetten, and the differences will be surreptitiously unified. Thus all the others gain while the self claims no merit.