Zhuang Zhou (), commonly known as Zhuangzi (; ; literally "Master
Zhuang"; also rendered in the
Wade–Giles romanization as Chuang Tzu), was an influential Chinese
philosopher who lived around the
4th century BCE during the
Warring States period, 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. He is credited with writing—in part or in whole—a work known by his name,
the ''Zhuangzi'', which is one of the foundational texts of
Taoism.
Life
The only account of the life of Zhuangzi is a brief sketch in chapter 63 of
Sima Qian's ''
Records of the Grand Historian'', 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, 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 Chuang-Tze was especially influenced by
Lao-Tze
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 of ...
, 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
Sima Qian 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 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
Laozi 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 society and historical figures are humorous and at times ironic.
Influence
Zhuangzi has influenced thinking far beyond
East Asia. The German philosopher
Martin Buber translated his texts in 1910. In 1930,
Martin Heidegger asked for Buber's translation of Zhuangzi after his Bremen speech "On the Essence of Truth". In order to explain his own philosophy, Heidegger read from chapter 17, where Zhuangzi says to the thinker
Hui Shih:
The historian of ideas
Dag Herbjørnsrud
Dag Herbjørnsrud (born 1971) is a historian of ideas, author, a former editor-in-chief, and a founder of Center for Global and Comparative History of Ideas ( Senter for global og komparativ idéhistorie, SGOKI) in Oslo. His writings have been publ ...
concludes: "It may therefore be difficult to say where the philosophies of Lao Tzu and Zhuangzi end and where the most influential German thinking of the twentieth century starts
..
The 20th century Chinese philosopher and essayist
Hu Shih
Hu Shih (; 17 December 1891 – 24 February 1962), also known as Hu Suh in early references, was a Chinese diplomat, essayist, literary scholar, philosopher, and politician. Hu is widely recognized today as a key contributor to Chinese libera ...
considered Zhuangzi a
Chinese forerunner of evolution. In the chapter "''Supreme Happiness''", Zhuangzi described the
transmutation of species.
See also
*
Dream argument
The dream argument is the postulation that the act of dreaming provides preliminary evidence that the senses we trust to distinguish reality from illusion should not be fully trusted, and therefore, any state that is dependent on our senses shoul ...
*
Goblet word
(, literally "goblet words") is an ancient Chinese rhetorical device, supposedly named in analogy with a type of wine vessel that tilts over when full and rights itself when empty. The Daoist classic first recorded this term for a mystical ...
*''
Liezi''
*''
Tao Te Ching''
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
ZhuangziBilingual Chinese-English version (
James Legge'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
Zhuangzi The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Zhuangzi Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
translated by
Patricia Ebrey
Chuang-tzu at Taopage.orgThe Legge translation of the complete Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi) updated
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhuang Zhou
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