- For the book with the same name, see Zhuangzi (book)
was an influential Chinese philosopher
who lived around the 4th century BCE
during the Warring States Period
, corresponding to the Hundred Schools of Thought
philosophical summit of Chinese
thought. His name is sometimes spelled Chuang Tsu, Chuang Tzu, Zhuang Tze, Chouang-Dsi, Chuang Tse or -- in English -- Master Chuang.
Zhuangzi allegedly lived during the reign of King Hui of Liang and King Xuan of Qi, in the span from 370 to 301 BCE. Zhuangzi was from the Town of Meng (蒙城, Méng Chéng) in the State of Song (now Shāngqiū 商邱, Henan). His given name was Zhou (周, Zhōu). He was also known as Meng Official, Meng Zhuang, and Meng Elder (蒙吏, Méng Lì; 蒙莊, Méng Zhuāng, and 蒙叟, Méng sǒu, respectively).
In general, Zhuangzi's philosophy
is mildly skeptical
, arguing that our life is limited and the amount of things to know is unlimited. To use the limited to pursue the unlimited, he said, was foolish. Our language
in general presuppose a dao
to which each of us is committed by our separate past—our paths. Consequently, we should be aware that our most carefully considered conclusions might seem misguided had we experienced a different past. "Our heart-minds are completed along with our bodies." Natural dispositions to behavior combine with acquired ones—including dispositions to use names of things, to approve/disapprove based on those names and to act in accordance to the embodied standards. Thinking about and choosing our next step down our dao or path is conditioned by this unique set of natural acquisitions.
Zhuangzi's thought can also be considered a precursor of relativism in systems of value. His relativism even leads him to doubt the basis of pragmatic arguments (that a course of action preserves our lives) since this presupposes that life is good and death bad. In the fourth section of "The Great Happiness" (至樂 zhìlè, chapter 18), Zhuangzi expresses pity to a skull he sees lying at the side of the road. Zhuangzi laments that the skull is now dead, but the skull retorts, "How do you know it's bad to be dead?"
Another example about two famous courtesans points out that there is no universally objective standard for beauty. This is taken from Chapter 2 (齊物論 qí wù lùn) "On Arranging Things", or "Discussion of Setting Things Right" or, in Burton Watson's translation, "Discussion on Making All Things Equal".
Men claim that Mao [Qiang] and Lady Li were beautiful, but if fish saw them they would dive to the bottom of the stream; if birds saw them they would fly away, and if deer saw them they would break into a run. Of these four, who knows how to fix the standard of beauty in the world? (2, tr. Watson 1968:46)
However, this subjectivism is balanced by a kind of sensitive holism in the conclusion of the section called "The Happiness of Fish" (魚之樂, yúzhīlè). The names have been changed to pinyin romanization for consistency:
Zhuangzi and Huizi were strolling along the dam of the Hao Waterfall when Zhuangzi said, "See how the minnows come out and dart around where they please! That's what fish really enjoy!"
Huizi said, "You're not a fish — how do you know what fish enjoy?"
Zhuangzi said, "You're not I, so how do you know I don't know what fish enjoy?"
Huizi said, "I'm not you, so I certainly don't know what you know. On the other hand, you're certainly not a fish — so that still proves you don't know what fish enjoy!"
Zhuangzi said, "Let's go back to your original question, please. You asked me how I know what fish enjoy — so you already knew I knew it when you asked the question. I know it by standing here beside the Hao." (17, tr. Watson 1968:188-9)
The butterfly dream
Another well-known part of the book, which is also found in Chapter 2, is usually called "Zhuangzi dreamed he was a butterfly" (莊周夢蝶 Zhuāng Zhōu mèng dié). Again, the names have been changed to pinyin romanization for consistency:
Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know he was Zhuangzi. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuangzi. But he didn't know if he was Zhuangzi who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi. Between Zhuangzi and a butterfly there must be some distinction! This is called the Transformation of Things. (2, tr. Burton Watson 1968:49)
This hints at many questions in the philosophy of mind
, philosophy of language
, and epistemology
. The name of the passage has become a common Chinese idiom
, and has spread into Western languages as well. It appears, inter alia, as an illustration in Jorge Luis Borges
' famous essay "A New Refutation of Time
", and may have inspired H. P. Lovecraft
's 1918 short story "Polaris
Zhuangzi's philosophy was very influential in the development of Chinese Buddhism, especially Chán (also known as Zen).
According to Murray Rothbard
, Zhuangzi was "perhaps the world's first anarchist
"; Zhuangzi said, the world "does not need governing; in fact it should not be governed," and, "Good order results spontaneously when things are let alone." Rothbard claims that Zhuangzi was the first to work out the idea of spontaneous order
, before Proudhon
Alan Watts, who in his mature and later years was sympathetic to minarchical libertarianism, declared that Zhuangzi was a libertarian .
In Chapter 18, Zhuangzi also mentions life forms have an innate ability or power (机) to transform and adapt to their surroundings. While his ideas don't give any solid proof or mechanism of change such as Alfred Wallace
and Charles Darwin
, his idea about the transformation of life from simple to more complex forms is along the same line of thought. Zhuangzi further mentioned that humans are also subject to this process as humans are a part of nature.
Points that Zhuangzi makes
- Everything is everything.
- There is no good or bad, only thinking makes it so.
- The world around us may be perceived as an illusion from our senses our experiences and our interpretations, thus illusions are irrelevant to conclude a definite right or wrong way.
- Death is just a passage of the illusion of life.
The Zhuangzi text is widely regarded as both deeply insightful in thought and as an achievement of the Chinese poetical essay form. It uses the Chinese language in complex, multi-layered, and often playful ways, and is notoriously difficult to translate. Nevertheless, some sinologists have tried. There are complete English translations of all thirty-three chapters by Frederic Balfour, James Legge, Herbert Giles, James Ware, Burton Watson, Martin Palmer, Victor H. Mair, Wang Rongpei, and Nina Correa. There are selected translations of the seven "inner chapters" by Fung Yu-lan, Burton Watson, Gia-Fu Feng, A. C. Graham, Thomas Cleary, and David Hinton. There is also a translation of the seven "inner chapters" and twelve additional chapters by Jerome Seaton and Sam Hamill. There are interpretations of selected Zhuangzi passages by Thomas Merton and Brian Bruya. Graham's is, to date, the most academically thorough, but Watson's is highly praised for its poetic style. Mair's translation also has its highlights, including his decision to translate the poetic parts of the text into English poetry.
- Balfour, Frederic Henry (translator). (1881). The Divine Classic of Nan-Hua; Being the Works of Chuang Tsze, Taoist Philosopher. Shanghai: Kelly & Walsh.
- Bruya, Brian (translator). (1992). Zhuangzi Speaks: The Music of Nature. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-00882-0.
- Cleary, Thomas (translator). (1992). The Essential Tao: An Initiation into the Heart of Taoism Through the Authentic Tao Te Ching and the Inner Teachings of Chuang-Tzu. HarperSanFrancisco. ISBN 978-0-06-250177-6 (one of several)
- Feng, Gia-Fu and English, Jane (translators). (1974). Chuang Tsu: Inner Chapters. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0394719905.
- Fung, Yu-lan (translator). (1933). Chuang-tzǔ: a new selected translation with an exposition of the philosophy of Kuo Hsiang. Shanghai: The Commercial Press. Reprint: 1964. A Taoist Classic: Chuang-Tzu. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press. ISBN 978-7-119-00104-3.
- Giles, Herbert Allen (translator). (1926). Chuang Tzǔ: Mystic, Moralist, and Social Reformer. Shanghai: Kelly & Walsh. Reprint: 1974. New York: AMS Press. ISBN 0404569153.
- Graham, A. C. (translator). (1981). Chuang-tzǔ: The Seven Inner Chapters and other writings from the book Chuang-tzǔ. London: George Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-0-04-299010-1. Reprint: 2001. Chuang-tzǔ: The Inner Chapters. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-87220-582-6; ISBN 978-0-87220-581-9 (paper).
- Hinton, David. (1997). Chuang Tzu: the Inner Chapters. New York: Counterpoint. ISBN 978-1-887178-34-1.
- Legge, James (translator). (1891). The Sacred Books of China: The Texts of Taoism, Part I. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Reprint: 1962. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0486209906.
- Mair, Victor H. (translator). (1994). Wandering on the Way: Early Taoist Tales and Parables of Chuang Tzu. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-553-37406-3.
- Merton, Thomas. (1969). The Way of Chuang Tzu. New York: New Directions.
- Palmer, Martin et al. (translators). (1996). The Book of Chuang Tzu. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-019488-3.
- Seaton, Jerome and Hamill, Sam. (1998). The Essential Chuang Tzu. Boston: Shambhala Press. ISBN 1-57062-336-8.
- Waltham, Clae (editor). (1971). Chuang Tzu: Genius of the Absurd. New York: Ace Books.
- Wang Rongpei (translator). (1999). Zhuangzi (Library of Chinese Classics: Chinese-English edition). Beijing: Foreign Languages Press. ISBN 978-7-5438-2087-6.
- Ware, James R. (translator). (1963). The Sayings of Chuang Chou. New York: Mentor Classics.
- Watts, Alan with Huan, Al Chung-liang (1975). Tao: The Watercourse Way. New York: Pantheon Books.
- Watson, Burton (translator). (1964). Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings. New York: Columbia University Press. Reprint: 1996. ISBN 978-0-231-08606-6; ISBN 978-0-231-10595-8 (paper).
- Watson, Burton (translator). (1968). The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0231031479.