About Zhuangzi

Zhuangzi (about 369 BC - 286 BC), named Zhou, was born in Mongolia, Song Dynasty (now Shangqiu, Henan Province) during the Warring States Period. A famous thinker, philosopher, and writer, he is a representative of the Taoist school and the inheritor and developer of Laozi's thoughts. Later generations will call him "Laozi and Zhuangzi" together. He is also known as Meng Li, Meng Zhuang and Meng So.

Zhuangzi once worked as a clerk in Qiyuan, and his life was very poor. According to "Zhuangzi, Waipian, Qiu Shui", King Wei of Chu sent someone to invite Zhuang Zhou to manage the political affairs of Chu. Zhuangzi refused the invitation of King Zhuang of Chu on the grounds that he would rather be a turtle playing in the mud than a turtle in the temple. He was indifferent to fame and wealth all his life, advocating self-cultivation, being quiet and inactive, and living a secluded life. .

Zhuangzi was a cynical person. There is a penetrating discussion in "Zhuangzi's Only View": "People only know the sorrow of Sanlu, but they don't know that the sorrow of Qiyuan is worse than that of Sanlu. Gai San The sorrow of the Lu is in one country, but the sorrow of the Lacquer Garden is in the world; the sorrow of the Three Lu is in one moment, but the sorrow of the Lacquer Garden is in the world.” (Three Lu is Qu Yuan)

Zhuangzi’s philosophical thoughts can be generally understood. It is summarized into the ontology with Tao as the entity and the relativistic epistemology of "all things are one", which leads to its unique tendency of subjective idealism and relativistic sophistry. Based on this, while profoundly exposing the political reality that "those who steal the country are princes", Zhuangzi and Laozi are of the same line and advocate a social ideal of rule by inaction and a small country with few people. At the same time, Zhuangzi advocated a kind of "unity of nature and man" and a theory of human nature and ethics based on nature, which provided the possibility of another way of life and values ??for later generations of Chinese intellectuals.

Zhuangzi also used a literary method to explain his thoughts, which is the method of fables. This method makes Zhuangzi's thoughts as whole as water, and he will not be afraid of being dismembered by future generations. At the same time, his views will not be lost to history. Reading it at different times will give you newer meanings. Zhuang Zhou's Dream, Chaos' Enlightenment, Cook Ding Jie Niu... are all his outstanding fables. Zhuangzi's writing can be called a wonder in the history of Chinese literature, pushing pre-Qin prose to a new peak.

Compared to Laozi, Zhuangzi’s thoughts tend to be the pursuit of art and freedom. It can be seen from Zhuang Zhou's dream of a butterfly and Zifei Yu'an knowing the joy of fish.

Traditionally, it is generally believed that the inner chapters of Zhuangzi were written by Zhuangzi, while the outer chapters and miscellaneous chapters were written by Zhuangzi, his disciples and later scholars. However, some people believe that most of the outer chapters and miscellaneous chapters were still written by Zhuangzi himself, but they were written in different periods. Although there are some works named after them by later generations, they are not many.