Zhuang Zhou (), commonly known as Zhuangzi (; ; literally "Master Zhuang"; also rendered in the

Wade–Giles Wade–Giles () is a romanization system for Mandarin Chinese. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Francis Wade, during the mid-19th century, and was given completed form with Herbert A. Giles's '' Chinese–English Dictionary'' of ...

romanization as Chuang Tzu), was an influential Chinese

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

who lived around the

4th century BCE The 4th century BC started the first day of 400 BC and ended the last day of 301 BC. It is considered part of the Classical era, epoch, or historical period. This century marked the height of Classical Greek civilization in all of its aspects ...

during the

Warring States period The Warring States period () was an era in History of China#Ancient China, ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded ...

, a period of great development in

Chinese philosophy Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn period () and Warring States period (), during a period known as the "Hundred Schools of Thought", which was characterized by significant intellectual and cultural developmen ...

, the

Hundred Schools of Thought The Hundred Schools of Thought () were philosophies and schools that flourished from the 6th century BC to 221 BC during the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period of ancient China. An era of substantial discrimination in China, ...

. He is credited with writing—in part or in whole—a work known by his name, the

Zhuangzi Zhuangzi may refer to: * ''Zhuangzi'' (book) (莊子), an ancient Chinese collection of anecdotes and fables, one of the foundational texts of Daoism **Zhuang Zhou Zhuang Zhou (), commonly known as Zhuangzi (; ; literally "Master Zhuang"; als ...

, which is one of the foundational texts of

Taoism Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of Philosophy, philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of China, Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmo ...

Life

The only account of the life of Zhuangzi is a brief sketch in chapter 63 of

Sima Qian Sima Qian (; ; ) was a Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty (206AD220). He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a general history of China covering more than two thousand years b ...

's ''

Records of the Grand Historian ''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese hist ...

'', and most of the information it contains seems to have simply been drawn from

anecdotes An anecdote is "a story with a point", such as to communicate an abstract idea about a person, place, or thing through the concrete details of a short narrative or to characterize by delineating a specific quirk or trait. Occasionally humorous, ...

in the ''Zhuangzi'' itself. In Sima's biography, he is described as a minor official from the town of

Meng Meng may refer to: * Meng (surname) (孟), a Chinese surname * Master of Engineering (MEng or M.Eng.), an academic or professional master's degree in the field of engineering * , "M with hook", letter used in the International Phonetic Alphabet * ...

(in modern

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

) in the state of

Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

, living in the time of King Hui of Liang and

King Xuan of Qi King Xuan of Qi (; died 301 BC) was from 319 to 301 BC ruler of Qi, one of the seven major states of the Warring States period of ancient China. King Xuan's personal name was Tian Bijiang (田辟疆), ancestral name Gui ( 媯), and King Xuan wa ...

(late fourth century BC). Sima Qian writes that Zhuangzi was especially influenced by

Laozi Laozi (), also known by numerous other names, was a semilegendary ancient Chinese Taoist philosopher. Laozi ( zh, ) is a Chinese honorific, generally translated as "the Old Master". Traditional accounts say he was born as in the state ...

, and that he turned down a job offer from

King Wei of Chu King Wei of Chu (, died 329 BC) was the king of the state of Chu from 339 to 329 BC, during the Warring States period of ancient China. He was born Xiong Shang () and King Wei was his posthumous title. King Wei succeeded his father King Xuan o ...

, because he valued his personal freedom. The validity of his existence has been questioned by Russell Kirkland, who asserts that "there is no reliable historical data at all" for Chuang Chou/Zhuangzi, and that "the ''Chuang-tzu'' known to us today" is better attributed to its "commentator", the third-century writer Kuo Hsiang''.''

Writings

Zhuangzi is traditionally credited as the author of at least part of the work bearing his name, the ''Zhuangzi''. This work, in its current shape consisting of 33 chapters, is traditionally divided into three parts: the first, known as the "Inner Chapters", consists of the first seven chapters; the second, known as the "Outer Chapters", consist of the next 15 chapters; the last, known as the "Mixed Chapters", consist of the remaining 11 chapters. The meaning of these three names is disputed: according to Guo Xiang, the "Inner Chapters" were written by Zhuangzi, the "Outer Chapters" written by his disciples, and the "Mixed Chapters" by other hands; the other interpretation is that the names refer to the origin of the titles of the chapters—the "Inner Chapters" take their titles from phrases inside the chapter, the "Outer Chapters" from the opening words of the chapters, and the "Mixed Chapters" from a mixture of these two sources. Further study of the text does not provide a clear choice between these alternatives. On the one side, as Martin Palmer points out in the introduction to his translation, two of the three chapters

cited in his biography of Zhuangzi, come from the "Outer Chapters" and the third from the "Mixed Chapters". "Neither of these are allowed as authentic Chuang Tzu chapters by certain purists, yet they breathe the very spirit of Chuang Tzu just as much as, for example, the famous 'butterfly passage' of chapter 2." On the other hand, chapter 33 has been often considered as intrusive, being a survey of the major movements during the "Hundred Schools of Thought" with an emphasis on the philosophy of

Hui Shi Hui Shi (; 370–310 BCE), or Huizi (; "Master Hui"), was a Chinese philosopher during the Warring States period. He was a representative of the School of Names (Logicians), and is famous for ten paradoxes about the relativity of time and space, ...

. Further,

A.C. Graham Angus Charles Graham, FBA (8 July 1919 – 26 March 1991) was a Welsh scholar and sinologist who was professor of classical Chinese at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He was born in Penarth, Glamorgan, Wales ...

and other critics have subjected the text to a stylistic analysis and identified four strains of thought in the book: a) the ideas of Zhuangzi or his disciples; b) a "primitivist" strain of thinking similar to

in chapters 8-10 and the first half of chapter 11; c) a strain very strongly represented in chapters 28-31 which is attributed to the philosophy of Yang Chu; and d) a fourth strain which may be related to the philosophical school of Huang-Lao. In this spirit, Martin Palmer wrote that "trying to read Chuang Tzu sequentially is a mistake. The text is a collection, not a developing argument." Zhuangzi was renowned for his brilliant wordplay and use of parables to convey messages. His critiques of

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

society and historical figures are humorous and at times ironic.

Notes

Citations

References

* Ames, Roger T. (1991), 'The Mencian Concept of Ren Xing: Does it Mean Human Nature?' in Chinese Texts and Philosophical Contexts, ed. Henry Rosemont, Jr. LaSalle, Ill.: Open Court Press. * Ames, Roger T. (1998) ed. Wandering at Ease in the Zhuangzi. Albany: State University of New York Press. * Bruya, Brian (translator). (2019). ''Zhuangzi: The Way of Nature''. Princeton: Princeton University Press. . * * * Graham A.C, ''Chuang-Tzû, the seven inner chapters'',

Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It went on to become one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and to establish an ...

, London, 1981 ** ''Chuang-tzu: The Inner Chapters and other Writings from the Book of Chuang-tzu'' (London: Unwin Paperbacks, 1986) * * Hansen, Chad (2003). "The Relatively Happy Fish," ''Asian Philosophy'' 13:145-164. *Herbjørnsrud, Dag (2018).
A Sea for Fish on Dry Land
" the blog of the Journal of History of Ideas. * * *
(Google Books)
* Merton, Thomas. (1969). ''The Way of Chuang Tzu''. New York: New Directions. * * * * * Waltham, Clae (editor). (1971). ''Chuang Tzu: Genius of the Absurd''. New York: Ace Books. * **''The complete work of Chuang Tzu'', Columbia University Press, 1968 * *

External links

Zhuangzi
Bilingual Chinese-English version (

James Legge James Legge (; 20 December 181529 November 1897) was a Scottish linguist, missionary, sinologist, and translator who was best known as an early translator of Classical Chinese texts into English. Legge served as a representative of the London ...

's translation) -

Chinese Text Project The Chinese Text Project (CTP; ) is a digital library project that assembles collections of early Chinese texts. The name of the project in Chinese literally means "The Chinese Philosophical Book Digitization Project", showing its focus on books ...

The Zhuangzi "Being Boundless"
Complete translation of Zhuangzi by Nina Correa
Chuang Tzu at Taoism.net
Chuang Tzu's Stories and Teachings - translations by

Derek Lin Derek Lin is a Taiwanese-American author in the Tao genre. Lin translated the Tao Te Ching and annotated it. His translation is published by Skylight Paths Publishing in 2006. Lin is also the author of four books published by the Tarcher imprin ...

Zhuangzi
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Zhuangzi
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

translated by

Patricia Ebrey Patricia Buckley Ebrey (born March 7, 1947) is an American historian specializing in cultural and gender issues during the Chinese Song Dynasty. Ebrey obtained her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chicago in 1968 and her Masters and PhD fro ...