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Concept
Zhuangzi (book)
Summary
The Zhuangzi (Chinese: 莊子, historically romanized Chuang Tzŭ) is an ancient Chinese text from the late Warring States period (476221) which contains stories and anecdotes that exemplify the carefree nature of the ideal Taoist sage. Named for its traditional author, "Master Zhuang" (Zhuangzi), the Zhuangzi is one of the two foundational texts of Taoism, along with the Tao Te Ching.
The Zhuangzi consists of a large collection of anecdotes, allegories, parables, and fables, which are often humorous or irreverent. Its main themes are of spontaneity in action and of freedom from the human world and its conventions. The fables and anecdotes in the text attempt to illustrate the falseness of human distinctions between good and bad, large and small, life and death, and human and nature. While other ancient Chinese philosophers focused on moral and personal duty, Zhuangzi promoted carefree wandering and becoming one with "the Way" (Dào 道) by following nature.
Though primarily known as a philosophical work, the Zhuangzi is regarded as one of the greatest literary works in Chinese history, and has been called "the most important pre-Qin text for the study of Chinese literature". A masterpiece of both philosophical and literary skill, it has significantly influenced major Chinese writers and poets for more than 2000 years from the Han dynasty (206AD 220) to the present.
The Zhuangzi is named for and attributed to a man named Zhuang Zhou, who is customarily called "Zhuangzi" ("Master Zhuang", from Mandarin Chinese 莊子). Nothing is concretely known of Zhuangzi's life. He is usually said to have been born around 369 at a place called Meng (蒙) in the state of Song (near present-day Shangqiu, Henan Province), and to have died around 301, 295, or 286. He is thought to have spent time in the southern state of Chu, as well as in Linzi, the capital of the state of Qi. Sima Qian's 1st century BC Records of the Grand Historian, the first of China's 24 dynastic histories, has a biography of Zhuangzi, but most of it seems to have simply been drawn from anecdotes in the Zhuangzi itself.
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