Chuang-Tzu

Chuang-Tzu ( c. 369 - 286 BC), also Zhuang-zi, was the follower of Lao-tse, perhaps the second most important figure in Taoism. He was opposed to Confucianism and their values of order, control, and hierarchy. Rather he believed in primal and innate rules of nature, which he thought enable the perfect state of being. He was the cofounder of Taoism.

Wisdom & Quotes

• Chuang-tzu fished in the P'u River. The king of Ch'u sent two grandees to present themselves before him and say , " I wish to trouble you with the administration of my state."

Chuang-tzu held the fishing rod, did not turn his head, and said, " I have heard that there is a sacred tortoise in Ch'u, and that she has been dead for three thousand years. The king keeps her, wrapped in cloth and placed in a box, in the ancestral temple. As regards this tortoise now, would she rather have died and because of that leave behind her bones and be held in honour? Or would she rather have stayed alive and trailed her tail in the mud?"
The two grandees said, "She would rather have stayed alive and trailed her tail in the mud."
Chuang-tzu said, "Go away. I will trail my tail in the mud."

• The knowledge of the ancients reached the highest point - the time before anything existed. This is the highest point. It is exhaustive. There is no adding to it.
• The living all find death unpleasant; men mourn over it. And yet, what is death, but the unbending of the bow and its return to its case?
• One day, Chuang-tzu saw a skull. ... During the night he dreamed that the skull appeared to him and said..."In death, there are no rules above and no subjects below. The course of the four seasons is unknown; our life is eternal. Even a king among men can experience no greater happiness than is ours."

Chuang-tzu .. asked, "If ... I could restore your body to you, renew your bones and flesh and take you back to your parents, your wife, and children and old friends, would you not gladly accept my offers?"
The skull opened its eyes wide, furrowed its brows, and said, "Why should I throw away a happiness greater than a king's to once again thrust myself into the troubles and anxieties of mankind?"

• I was given life because it was my time, and now I take leave of it according to the same law. Content with the natural sequence of these events, I am touched neither by joy nor by grief. I am simply hanging in the air ... incapable of freeing myself, tied by the threads of things.
• He who dreams ...does not know he is dreaming. ...Only when he awakens does he know he has dreamt. But there is also the great awakening (ta-chiao) , and then we see that (everything) here is nothing but a great dream. Of course, the fools believe that they are already awake - what foolishness! Confucius and you, both of you, are dreams; and I , who tell you this, am also a dream.

- Chuang-tzu (conversation between Ch'u Ch'iao, a disciple of Confucius, and Chuang-tzu)

• If you step on a stranger's foot in the marketplace, you apologize at length. ... If you step on your older brother's foot, you give him an affectionate pat; and if you step on your parent's foot, you know you are already forgiven. The treat politeness is free of formality; perfect conduct , free of concern.
• Our joy has not ended when grief comes trailing it. We have no way to bar the arrival of grief and joy, no way to prevent them from departing. Alas , the men of this world are no more than travellers, stopping now at this inn, now at that, all of them run by "things" ...(but) from these mankind can never escape. And yet there are people who struggle to escape from the inescapable - can you help but pity them?
• If we look on heaven and earth as a single crucible, and on the creator as a founder, would there be any place I could not go? When it is time, I will fall asleep, and when the right time comes, I will wake up again.
• Those who realise their folly are not true fools.
• When I look at what the world does and where people nowadays believe they can find happiness, I am not sure that that is true happiness. The happiness of these ordinary people seems to consist in slavishly imitating the majority, as if this were their only choice. And yet they all believe they are happy. I cannot decide whether that is happiness or not. Is there such a thing as happiness?
• "True men" ...are strong willed, have dignity in their demeanour, serenity in their expression. They are cool like autumn, warm like spring. Their passions arise like the four seasons, in harmony with the ten thousand creatures, and no one knows their limits.
• Inaction is the master of all knowledge. ... Be empty: that is all. The perfect man's use of his mind is like a mirror. He does not anticipate (event), nor does he go counter to them. He responds, but he does not retain. Thus he is able to master things and not be injured by them.
• Perfect happiness is the absence of happiness; perfect glory is the absence of glory.
• Once upon a time, Chuang Chou dreamt that he was a butterfly, fluttering happily like a butterfly. He was conscious only of his happiness as a butterfly, unaware that he was Chuang Chou. Suddenly he awakened, and there he was, veritably Chuang Chou himself. Now he does not know whether the butterfly is a dream of Chuang Chou or whether Chuang Chou is a dream of the butterfly.
• The Portal of God is non-existence.
• Great understanding is broad and unhurried; little understanding is cramped and busy.
• Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious.
• To labour without ceasing all one's life, and then, without living to enjoy the fruit, worn out with labour, to depart, one knows not wither - is not this a just cause for grief ?

Menander