〈山木〉第二十，是延續〈人間世〉第四而來，是《莊子》一書中論述處世之道的重要篇章。其撰述的處世哲學可歸於虛己和順應自然，這兩道修養工夫可以說是「無」的內涵之一，透過「順」和「虛」，即可以達到「無」的境界，也就是莊子所謂的「道」。
雖說〈山木〉是〈人間世〉的延伸，但就內容上而言，〈人間世〉主要講求心齋的功夫，力求無用為用之理。而〈山木〉除了對〈人間世〉無用之用的道理做了闡發，更透過虛無與因順的要求，鼓勵人們放下一切，回歸到最純樸的建德之國的理想世界。從技巧上來說，寓言、重言及包含二者的卮言乃是莊子最擅用的表現技巧。而將兩者並列看之，更可以清楚看出其義理的延續性、一致性。將〈山木〉和〈人間世〉一起閱讀，可以更全面地了解莊子的處世哲學。
本文擬從〈山木〉談起，敘其篇章結構、表現手法，由於〈山木〉與〈人間世〉重在處世哲學之論述，故本論文藉由〈山木〉與〈人間世〉處世哲學的比較，希冀能更凸顯〈山木〉的內容精義。

〈Mountain wood 〉 the 20th, a follow-up of 〈Human world〉the 4th, is an important chapter in〈Zhuangzi〉 on how to deal with the world. Life philosophy depicted in the chapter can be categorized into humbling oneself and complying with the nature. These two self-cultivation skills can be seen as part of the connotation of “nothingness”. Through “compliance” and “humbleness”, man can reach the state of “nothingness” ,which Zhuangzi named it “Enlightenment”.
Although 〈Mountain wood 〉 is an extension of 〈Human world〉, but speaking of the content, 〈Human world〉 mainly stresses the skill of mental fasting and the endeavor to obtain the meaning of considering uselessness as usable. Except for expounding the meaning of considering uselessness as usable in 〈Human world〉,〈Mountain wood 〉even encourages us to forsake everything and return to the ideal world of built virtues through nothingness and compliance. Technically，fables、quotation and situational sayings, they consist both of the aforementioned and that still is the techniques Zhuangzi was most excellent at. Survey the construction of these two chapters; it revealed the continuity and consistency of the connotation clearly. Thus, grasp Zhuangzi philosophy on how to deal with the world more comprehensively by reading 〈Mountain wood 〉 and 〈Human world〉 together.
This article is designed to start with the discussion of 〈Mountain wood 〉,depicting it’s contextual structure、expression skills. Because 〈Mountain wood 〉and 〈Human world〉 emphasize the discourse of life philosophy, therefore, this thesis strives to manifest the subtle connotation of the content of 〈Mountain wood 〉by comparing the life philosophy of 〈Mountain wood 〉and 〈Human world〉.