The Book of Chuang Tzu

Chuang Tzu was, with Lao Tzu, one of the main thinkers of Taoism. If Lao Tzu left us the Tao Te Ching, a poetical collection of verses, beautiful but, honestly, at time quite difficult to fully get, Chuang Tzu deepen his philosophy by taking a completely different approach: gathering stories and anecdotes portraying a whole set of historical or fictional characters, so as to shape a funny, original, and subversive anthology. The Butterfly Dream, the metaphor of the frog trapped in a well... They are all in here!

Sure, scholars still quarrel in between themselves deciding which tales were actually written by him and which ones by his disciples. But who cares? They read as a whole, and their messages won't fail to strike a few chords.

He show more obviously defends the three golden treasures (humility, simplicity, compassion). He invites us to let go, guided by the Tao yet aware of everything that could threaten our internal peace and happiness. He, above all, goes even further; by rejecting those 'intellectualising' the Tao, these scholars of the Hundred Schools that he accuses of overcomplicating it all and so confusing us. Confucius, especially, gets his fare share of criticism! Chaung Tzu indeed had no patience for conventions and rituals, that he thoughts were killing off spontaneity and freedom.

Obviously, as an Ancient text it has its fair share of misguided outlook. For instance, he believed mankind to be born with the Skies and Earth, and so man to be naturally good and perfectly capable to live in full harmony with a supposed compassionate environment. Yet, it can also be strikingly insightful; as when he laughs at our arrogance in defining ourselves as the pinacle of Creation, mocking by the same token our constant and silly anthropocentrism when looking at the world. You get it: there are in here some lessons for everyone...

Radical, funny and sharp, these little stories surely are provocative. Here's a witty collection that deserves to be discovered! show less

Chuang Tzu is the author of the first seven chapters, and they are brilliantly chaotic and muddy. In other words, he invented a style of writing that reflects the character of the Taoist sage as described in the Tao Te Ching. It seems as though he has turned everything on its head; however, if you read these passages carefully and recognize the intended humor, they'll make sense to you. The remaining chapters are believed to be by his students. They are not nearly as clever. Burton Watson's introduction is helpful in pointing the way to understanding this extraordinary book.

A lot of fun to read and looking forward to reading more. Nothing conveys a philosophy better than laying out the supposed world it speaks to than through a series of poems, stories, discourses and expositions. Initially grabbed this due to a quote in Feyerabend's Discourses and reading it in context made it all the more interesting and enlightening, so I'll complete this short comment with the same (though many others were tempting, you just can't beat this concision):

> The Emporer of the South Sea is known as Change. The Emperor of the North Sea is called Dramatic. The Emperor of the Centre is called Chaos. Change and Dramatic met every so often in the region of Chaos. Chaos always treated them kindly and virtuously. Change and show more Dramatic said, "Everyone has seven orifices so they can see, hear, eat and breathe. Chaos does not have these. Let us bore some holes into him." Each day they bored a hole into Chaos…, but on the seventh day Chaos died.

So many potential goodies packed into one story told in one paragraph. show less

I'm a budding biologist taking a pit stop in my course work to enjoy some eastern philosophy. I found the Tao Te Ching to be too detached and esoteric from the every day. The Chuang Tzu seems to be a cure. Involving anthropomorphic creatures and humorous personages belonging to cicadas and doves as well as humans. Its refreshing and enjoyable. The common sense employed by Chuang Cho is sharp and cuts to the bone.

Sigh, another work of philosophy that I just couldn't finish. Perhaps I am a victim of Western linear thinking, but endless anecdotes that don't make any sense just make me run out of steam. Add to that the footnotes which make it clear that much of the translation is educated guesswork and I wonder what the point is.

Chuang Tzu, rightly called "Genius of the Absurd" is unquestionably the father of a new type of a philosophy and satire united in a complementary union. Unknown to the West until the nineteen century
he must be regarded, in part, as an ancient predecessor of our modern western philosophical-satirical literature ... there are also many brilliant flashes of philosophical insight.

By the founder of Taoism; anti-Confucian; need more research on translation.