成書源流

《莊子》書分內、外、雜篇，乃由戰國中晚期逐步流傳、揉雜、附益，至西漢大致成形；然而當時流傳版本，今已失傳。目前所傳《莊子》三十三篇，已經郭象整理，篇目章節與漢代亦有不同。內篇大體可代表戰國時期莊子思想核心；而外篇、雜篇發展則縱橫百餘年，參雜黃老、莊子後學形成複雜的體系。司馬遷認為莊子思想「其要本歸於老子」。然而就《莊子》書中寓言、義理及〈天下篇〉對老子思想所評述，老子與莊子思想架構有別，關懷亦不相同，所謂「道家」思想體系與《莊子》書，實經過長期交融激盪，經漢代學者整理相關材料，方才編定。

注疏

晉

• 《莊子注》廿一卷，司馬彪註。

• 《莊子注》又稱《南華真經註疏》，郭象註；唐陸德明音義孫毓修撰札記。

唐

• 《莊子注》，成玄英註。

宋

• 《莊子口義》，林希逸撰。

• 《南華真經義海纂微》百零六卷，褚伯秀撰。

明

• 《莊子通》十卷，沈一貫撰。

• 《莊子翼》，焦竑撰。

• 《南華真經旁註》，方虛名撰。

• 《南華發覆》，釋性撰。

清

• 《莊子集解》，王先謙撰。

• 《莊子集釋》，郭慶藩撰。

• 《南華經解》，宣穎撰。

內篇

內篇乃是郭象所定，可謂莊學之內，一般認為應是莊子所著，是莊子思想核心，七篇可構成完整的理論體系。內七篇篇目都為三字，與外、雜篇取各篇篇首兩字為題不同，內篇篇目皆標明題旨，應屬後人所加。

逍遙遊第一

〈逍遙遊〉為莊子哲學總綱，展現莊子思想的境界與理想。「逍遙」原是聯綿詞，但也有學者將「逍遙」解釋為「消、搖」，也就是消解、消融的意涵。篇中點出「至人無己，神人無功，聖人無名」，與儒家、墨家乃至老子的理想生命型態做出分判，同時展現「莊學」的修養境界與工夫進路，以「無己」、「無功」、「無名」的工夫，消解形軀與世俗的羈鎖，達到超越的逍遙境界。

而所謂「逍遙」的境界，即是「無待」，莊子透過「乘天地之正，御六氣之辯，以遊於無窮者，彼且惡待之」加以豁顯，而託寓「藐姑射之山之神人」呈現這樣的高遠形象。

篇首以大荒無稽的寓言「北冥有魚，其名為鯤，鯤之大，不知其幾千里也。化而為鳥，其名為鵬，鵬之背，不知其幾千里也。」開始，透過鵬鳥與蜩、學鳩的對比，點出生命境界的不同，大鵬鳥可以「摶扶搖羊角而直上者九萬里」，飛到南冥。而像斥鴳之類的小鳥，所能飛到的不過數仞之間而已。藉此點出「小知不如大知，小年不如大年」的「小大之辨」。而其中小與大的境界差別，正在於「有待」與「無待」，亦即能否超脫外在事物的負累，甚至進而超越大與小的差別。

莊子在篇中還藉由堯要讓位給許由的寓言，指出「聖人無名」的觀點。須知，此處的聖人指許由而非堯。莊子推崇的是許由無視名位辭而不受的態度，暗中批判了作為儒家精神偶像的堯以名位為重、用最高的名位來匹配最有德之人的思想。最後透過魏王贈給惠施的大瓠瓜，點出世俗之人都受困於有用無用的刻板思考，反而無法見到生命的真實樣貌，彰顯生命最適切的「大用」。

齊物論第二

〈齊物論〉有兩種意涵，有學者認為是「齊物」之「論」，也有認為指「齊」諸「物論」。歷來皆認為本篇是《莊子》思想最豐富而精微的一篇，因而也最難掌握。歷代對於〈齊物論〉的注釋、說解在莊學之中最為可觀，無形中也增加後代學者解讀與詮釋的障蔽。

莊子透過〈齊物論〉意圖消解人類對於世俗價值的盲從與執著，解開「儒墨之是非」等各種是非對立的學說論辨。莊子並不對各種價值高低或學說議論重作衡定、釐清，認為如此反而治絲益棼，所謂是非更無終止。莊子認為止辯之關鍵，在於「照之以天」，洞澈價值與學說彼此之間相異卻又相生的道理，進而消辯、忘辯。因為所有辯論的爭端，都來自於人類對自我的「成心」，各學說都對其終極價值有所執著與預設，難以去除，根本無從建立論辯各方共同承認的前提，因而所有的辯論也無從解決任何爭端。所以莊子透過忘言忘辯的進路，超越彼此相非相生的對立，依順著萬物天生的自然，達到「道通為一」的境界。

人類對於萬物的指稱，並非確定不變的，所有對於「指稱」、「名相」的執著或否定，總會陷入無窮無盡的迴旋之中。而所有的指稱、名相，都不是所指稱的「物」自身。所以莊子認為應讓所有的「彼」、「此」，所有的萬物各自依順本性，才能保持心靈真實的虛明與自由。

〈齊物論〉首段透過南郭子綦與子遊問答，提出「天籟」、「地籟」、「人籟」的不同，所謂「天籟」乃是「夫吹萬不同，而使其自已也，成其自取，怒者其誰也！」，也就是讓萬物能全幅展現自身，所謂的「天」就是「天然」，就是天生萬物的自然面目。南郭子綦說「吾喪我」，就是指透過主體工夫的修養，不讓心思外馳，無止盡地追求，而體察內在「真君」。所謂的「我」是指人的「成心」，會隨著言語，不斷往外追索。而「吾」是人的「超越主體」，莊子稱為「真君」、「真宰」，人心應回復最自然的虛靈狀態。這就是〈齊物論〉的工夫與境界。

養生主第三

這是一篇談養生之道的文章。「養生主」意思就是養生的要領。莊子認為，養生之道重在順應自然，忘卻情感，不為外物所滯。

全文分成三個部分。

第一部分至是全篇的總綱，指出養生最重要的是要做到緣督以為經，即秉承事物中虛之道，順應自然的變化與發展。

第二部分是庖丁解牛的寓言，以廚工分解牛體比喻人之養生，說明處世、生活都要「因其固然」、「依乎天理」，而且要取其中虛「有間」，方能「遊刃有餘」，從而避開是非和矛盾的糾纏。

餘下為第三部分，進一步說明聽憑天命，順應自然，「安時而處順」的生活態度。包含公文軒見右師、澤雉十步一啄、秦失弔老聃、薪火相傳四個寓言。

莊子思想的中心，一是無所依憑自由自在，一是反對人為順其自然，本文字裡行間雖是在談論養生，實際上是在體現作者的哲學思想和生活旨趣。

人間世第四

此篇談論自處與處世之道。包含七部分：

1.顏回與孔子：心齋。

2.葉公問孔子。

3.愛有所亡。

4.櫟社樹。

5.無用之樹。

6.「支離」。

7.楚狂接輿。

莊子以為人要有慈悲心和責任感，而又能「乘物以遊心，託不得已以養中」。所以顏回想拯救衛國人民；而子之愛親與臣之事君，二「大戒」也無可逃避。但是，一味直接求取「大用」，必遭橫禍；一味退隱自願「無用」，又白來這一趟，都不圓滿。必須知道要「入遊其樊而無感其名，入則鳴，不入則止」、盡人事而「自事其心」、「就不欲入，和不欲出」，因無用而大用。「因無用而大用」就是人間世合情合理的人生真實與態度。

德充符第五

此篇談論德。包含四部分：

1.三名兀者。

2.魯哀公問仲尼。

3.有人之形，無人之情。

4.惠子與莊子談論情。

「道德內全之無形符顯」就是莊子所說的「德充符」。《文始經》說：「聖人終不能出道以示人。」「道德內全」之人，外表是看不出來的。所以，《金剛經》也說：「不可以三十二相見如來。」〈德充符第五〉中，王駘、申徒嘉、叔山無趾、哀駘它等人，都是殘障或貌醜之人，可是他們都是「立不教，坐不議，虛而往，實而歸」、「不言而教，無形而心成」之才德內全的聖人。雖然五體殘障或面貌醜陋，只要道德內全，自有無形的符顯，使他們成為比身體健壯、面貌美好的人更尊貴的聖人。「道不在五形或肉身」，這是〈德充符第五〉的要義。

大宗師第六

大宗師就是道德與能力都達到頂點的真人或師者。他們已經「知天之所為，知人之所為」，而且「用兵也，亡國而不失人心；利澤施於萬物，不為愛人。」〈大宗師第六〉中，真人境界的描述很多，例如：「古之真人，不知說生，不知惡死；其出不訢，其入不距；翛然而往，翛然而來而已矣。不忘其所始，不求其所終；受而喜之，忘而復之。是之謂不以心捐道，不以人助天。是之謂真人。若然者，其心志，其容寂，其顙頯，淒然似秋，煖然似春，喜怒通四時，與物有宜，而莫知其極。」

但是真人不必「駕鶴飛昇」，就能自由出入於仙境與人間，他們的言行心境是如何？〈大宗師第六〉說：「吾師乎！吾師乎！齏萬物而不為義，澤及萬世而不為仁，長於上古而不為老，覆載天地、刻彫眾形而不為巧。此所遊已。」又說：「墮肢體，黜聰明，離形去知，同於大通。」所以，入於「遊戲三昧」，「同於大通」，才是真正莊子所說的大宗師。

應帝王第七

〈應帝王第七〉談的是君主治理國家應該採用的方法。道家治國的理念是「民主自由，無為而治」，〈應帝王第七〉的見解當然也是一樣。所以，「正而後行，確乎能其事者而已矣」，「功蓋天下而似不自己，化貸萬物而民弗恃，有莫舉名，使物自喜，立乎不測，而遊於無有者也」，「遊心於淡，合氣於漠，順物自然，而無容私焉，而天下治矣。」

道家視宇宙萬物為一體，所以有「天地一指也，萬物一馬也」的說法。因此，莊子對萬事萬物的態度，也一樣採取不幹預的方法。對民心民情、萬事萬物，若「用心若鏡，不將不迎，應而不藏」，就能勝物而不傷。否則，（寓言）對渾沌「日鑿一竅，七日而渾沌死」，就大大不美矣！

外篇、雜篇

外、雜篇來源駁雜，秦漢以來，多數仍認為與內篇同屬莊子作品。宋代蘇軾指出其中有四篇，應非莊子所作。清代王夫之論析外、雜篇思想與內篇不同，不是莊子之書。至今，一般認為外雜篇，應是莊子後學及道家相關學者所作，經長期積累，由漢朝人所編匯，附於內篇之後。外雜篇之編纂，反映漢朝人對莊子思想與道家體系的理解。《史記》中司馬談〈論六家要旨〉所論道家，與今日學者所論，差異很大，即可見其中梗概。《莊子》外、雜篇，篇目雖雜，大體包括述莊、黃老、無君等主要內容。

外篇

駢拇第八

馬蹄第九

胠篋第十

本篇闡述老子思想，反對聖人、仁義等概念，主張「聖人不死，大盜不止」，蘊含反智論點。姚鼐說：「胠篋篇是先秦時文字，此人蓋有慨於始皇，故言最憤激。」

在宥第十一

此篇類似胠篋，闡發老子思想。但羼入莊子泯是非的主張，以及黃帝和廣成子談長生的段落，結構較駁雜。

天地第十二

此篇談論道本於自然。包括黃帝遊於赤水北、堯與許由、孔子問老聃離堅白、子貢南遊等部分。

天道第十三

此篇混雜老子、莊子、儒家思想，假託堯、舜、齊桓公、老子、孔子等人之對話，文中出現「素王」一詞，應為漢代作品。

天運第十四

此篇主張以天地為宗，師法自然。文中出現六經一詞，為漢代作品。開頭有問天三段，之後皆為責難孔子之文。

刻意第十五

繕性第十六

秋水第十七

以起首二字為篇名。秋水的思想本於齊物論。但形式上，秋水比齊物論有更嚴密的推理邏輯，談論認知事物的複雜性。

包括七段：

1.河伯與北海

2.夔、蚿、蛇、風。

3.孔子匡之圍。

4.公孫龍問魏牟。

5.楚國神龜。

6.鴟得腐鼠，因嚇鵷鶵。

7.濠梁之辯。

文中提到公孫龍與魏牟對談、燕王噲讓國、秦代建立的「太倉」等，大概是秦漢間的作品。

至樂第十八

達生第十九

本篇闡發養生主。認為養生是與自然化合，王夫之評論其文句深刻。包含以下部分：

1.總論通達本性的重要。

2.列子問關尹。

3.痀僂者承蜩。

4.仲尼論外重內拙。

5.田開之論養生。

6.祝宗人說彘。

7.齊桓公見鬼。

8.鬥雞寓言。

9.孔子觀於呂梁。

10.梓慶削木。

11.東野稷御。

12.工倕。

13.扁子論至人之德。

山木第二十

田子方第二十一

知北遊第二十二

雜篇

庚桑楚第二十三

徐無鬼第二十四

則陽第二十五

外物第二十六

寓言第二十七

讓王第二十八

盜跖第二十九

說劍第三十

漁父第三十一

列禦寇第三十二

天下第三十三

以「天下」為題。全篇分七段，是記錄先秦諸子百家歷史淵源，並且加以批評的總結性文章，是中國學術批評史的開山之作，歷來都頗受學者重視。與之類似的總結性的先秦論文是《荀子·非十二子》。

天下篇首次提出了「內聖外王」概念。基本思想是，「古之人其備乎」，貫徹內聖外王之道，後世分裂為百家，「皆有所明，不能相通」，「不見天地之純」。「悲夫，百家往而不反，必不合矣！後世之學者，不幸不見天地之純，古人之大體，道術將為天下裂。」

關于作者有三種說法：一派認為是莊子，一派認為是戰國末期的莊子後學，一派認為本篇成于西漢初期。

篇目舉隅

《刻意》是《莊子·外篇》中一篇，一共分為三節。篇名按取自文章首句「刻意尚行」，刻意是「克制欲意，雕飾心志」的意思。本篇是論述養神之道。《知北游》是《莊子·外篇》中的一篇，以篇首的三個字為篇名，可自然分為十一個部分。主要論述宇宙的本原和本性及人應怎樣對待宇宙和外部事物。「道在屎溺」語出其中。《盜跖》是《莊子·雜篇》中的一篇，盜跖為人名，可分為三部分。中心是抨擊儒家，指斥儒家觀點的虛偽性和欺騙性，主張返歸原始，順其自然。

風格特色

《莊子》汪洋恣肆，浪漫主義色彩濃厚，變化莫測，幽默諷刺，採用大量神話傳說與寓言故事來表達主題，「寓言十九，重言十七」，引証歷史故事與古人的話。修辭方面，善用譬喻和擬人法，詞彙豐富，文辭變化多端（「卮言日出」）。

陶弘景《真誥》稱「仙書《莊子內篇》，義窮玄任之境」，同《妙法蓮華經》、《上清經》，足以包括萬象，體具幽明。

參考書目

以下為莊子的相關參考論著資料：

• 晉郭象注、唐成玄英疏：《莊子》

• 清郭慶藩：《莊子集釋》

• 清王先謙：《莊子集解》

• 王叔岷：《莊子校釋》

• 陳鼓應：《莊子今注今譯》

• 黃華珍：《莊子音義研究》（北京：中華書局，1999）。

• 吳怡：《莊子內篇解義》

History

Authorship and textual history

The Zhuangzi is named for and attributed to a man named Zhuang Zhou, usually known as "Zhuangzi"from the Mandarin Chinese Zhuāngzǐ , meaning "Master Zhuang". Almost nothing is concretely known of Zhuangzi's life. He is generally said to have been born around 369 at a place called Meng (蒙) in the state of Song (in present-day Henan around Shangqiu), 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. In the introduction to his Zhuangzi translation, the American scholar Burton Watson concluded: "Whoever Zhuang Zhou was, the writings attributed to him bear the stamp of a brilliant and original mind."

Since ancient times, the Zhuangzi first seven chaptersthe "inner chapters" (nèi piān 內篇)have been considered to be the actual work of Zhuangzi, and most scholars agree with this view. But how many, if any, of the remaining 26 chaptersthe "outer chapters" (wài piān 外篇) and "miscellaneous chapters" (zá piān 雜篇)were written by Zhuangzi has long been debated. Chinese scholars recognized as early as the Song dynasty (9601279) that some parts of the book could not have been written by Zhuangzi himself. Today, it is generally accepted that the middle and later Zhuangzi chapters are the result of a process of "accretion and redaction" by other authors "responding to the scintillating brilliance" of the inner chapters. Despite the uncertainty over the later chapters' authorship, however, scholars have accepted all of the Zhuangzi 33 surviving chapters as compositions dating from the 4th to 2nd centuries BC.

Details of the Zhuangzis textual history prior to the Han dynasty (206 – AD220) are largely unknown. Traces of its influence in late Warring States period (475221) philosophical texts such as the Guanzi, Han Feizi, Huainanzi, and Lüshi Chunqiu suggest that Zhuangzi's intellectual lineage was already fairly influential in the states of Qi and Chu in the 3rd century. In Records of the Grand Historian, Sima Qian refers to a 100,000-word Zhuangzi work and references several chapters that are still in the text. The Book of Han, finished in AD 111, lists a Zhuangzi in 52 chapters, which many scholars believe to be the original form of the work. Several different versions of the Zhuangzi survived into the Tang dynasty (618907), but a shorter and more popular 33-chapter form of the book prepared by the philosopher and writer Guo Xiang around AD 300 is the source of all surviving editions.

In 742, an imperial proclamation from Emperor Xuanzong of Tang canonized the Zhuangzi as one of the Chinese classics and awarded it the honorific title True Scripture of Southern Florescence (Nánhuá zhēnjīng 南華真經). However, most orthodox Chinese scholars did not consider the Zhuangzi to be a true "classic" (jing 經) due to its non-Confucian nature.

Manuscripts

Portions of the Zhuangzi have been discovered among bamboo slip texts from Warring States period and Han dynasty tombs, particularly at the Shuanggudui and Zhangjiashan Han bamboo texts sites. One of the slips from the Guodian bamboo texts, which date to around 300 BC, contains what appears to be a short fragment from the "Ransacking Coffers" ("Qu qie" 胠篋) chapter.

Many Zhuangzi fragments dating from the early Tang dynasty were discovered among the Dunhuang manuscripts in the early 20th century by the expeditions of Hungarian-British explorer Aurel Stein and French Sinologist Paul Pelliot. They collectively form about twelve chapters of Guo Xiang's version of the Zhuangzi, and are preserved mostly at the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Among the Japanese national treasures preserved in the Kōzan-ji temple in Kyoto is a Zhuangzi manuscript from the Muromachi period (13381573). The manuscript has seven complete chapters from the "outer" and "miscellaneous" chapters, and is believed to be a close copy of an annotated edition written in the 7th century by the Chinese Daoist master Cheng Xuanying (成玄英; fl. 630–660).

Content

The Zhuangzi consists of a large collection of anecdotes, allegories, parables, fables, and "goblet words", which are often humorous or irreverent in nature. Most Zhuangzi stories are fairly short and simple, such as "Lickety" and "Split" drilling seven holes in "Wonton" (chapter 7) or Zhuangzi being discovered sitting and drumming on a basin after his wife dies (chapter 18), although a few are longer and more complex, like the story of Master Lie and the magus (chapter 14) and the account of the Yellow Emperor's music (chapter 14). Unlike the other stories and allegories in other pre-Qin texts, the Zhuangzi is unique in that the allegories form the bulk of the text, rather than occasional features, and are always witty, emotional, and are not limited to reality.

Unlike other ancient Chinese works, whose allegories were usually based on historical legends and proverbs, most Zhuangzi stories seem to have been invented by Zhuangzi himself. Some are completely whimsical, such as the strange description of evolution from "misty spray" through a series of substances and insects to horses and humans (chapter 18), while a few other passages seem to be "sheer playful nonsense" which read like Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky". The Zhuangzi is full of quirky and fantastic characters, such as "Mad Stammerer", "Fancypants Scholar", "Sir Plow", and a man who fancies that his left arm will turn into a rooster, his right arm will turn into a crossbow, and his buttocks will become cartwheels.

A master of language, Zhuangzi sometimes engages in logic and reasoning, but then turns it upside down or carries the arguments to absurdity to demonstrate the limitations of human knowledge and the rational world. Some of Zhuangzi's reasoning, such as his renowned argument with his philosopher friend Huizi (Master Hui) about the joy of fish (chapter 17), have been compared to the Socratic and Platonic dialogue traditions, and Huizi's paradoxes near the end of the book have been termed "strikingly like those of Zeno of Elea".

Notable passages

"The Butterfly Dream"

The most famous of all Zhuangzi stories—"Zhuang Zhou Dreams of Being a Butterfly"—appears at the end of the second chapter, "On the Equality of Things".

The well-known image of Zhuangzi wondering if he was a man who dreamed of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being a man is so striking that whole dramas have been written on its theme. In it Zhuangzi "plays with the theme of transformation", illustrating that "the distinction between waking and dreaming is another false dichotomy. If one distinguishes them, how can one tell if one is now dreaming or awake?"

"The Death of Wonton"

Another well known Zhuangzi story"The Death of Wonton"illustrates the dangers Zhuangzi saw in going against the innate nature of things.

Zhuangzi believed that the greatest of all human happiness could be achieved through a higher understanding of the nature of things, and that in order to develop oneself fully one needed to express one's innate ability. In this anecdote, Mair suggests that Zhuangzi humorously and absurdly uses "Wonton"a name for the Chinese conception of primordial chaos that later lent its name to wonton soupto demonstrate what he believed were the disastrous consequences of going against things' innate natures.

"The Debate on the Joy of Fish"

The story of "The Debate on the Joy of Fish" is a well-known anecdote that has been compared to the Socratic dialogue tradition of ancient Greece.

The exact point made by Zhuangzi in this debate is not entirely clear. The story seems to make the point that "knowing" a thing is simply a state of mind, and that it is not possible to determine if that knowing has any objective validity. This story has been cited as an example of Zhuangzi's linguistic mastery, as he subtly uses reason to make an anti-rationalist point.

"Drumming On a Tub and Singing"

Another well-known Zhuangzi story—"Drumming On a Tub and Singing"—describes how Zhuangzi did not view death as something to be feared.

Zhuangzi seems to have viewed death as a natural process or transformation, where one gives up one form of existence and assumes another. In the second chapter, he makes the point that, for all humans know, death may in fact be better than life: "How do I know that loving life is not a delusion? How do I know that in hating death I am not like a man who, having left home in his youth, has forgotten the way back?" His writings teach that "the wise man or woman accepts death with equanimity and thereby achieves absolute happiness."

Zhuangzis death

The story of Zhuangzi's death, contained in chapter 32 of the text, exemplifies the colorful lore that grew up around Zhuangzi in the decades after his death, as well as the elaboration of the core philosophical ideas contained in the "inner chapters" that appears in the "outer" and "miscellaneous chapters".

List of chapters

Themes

The stories and anecdotes of the Zhuangzi embody a unique set of principles and attitudes, including living one's life with natural spontaneity, uniting one's inner self with the cosmic "Way" (Dao), keeping oneself distant from politics and social obligations, accepting death as a natural transformation, showing appreciation and praise for things others view as useless or aimless, and stridently rejecting social values and conventional reasoning. These principles form the core ideas of philosophical Daoism. The other major philosophical schools of ancient Chinasuch as Confucianism, Legalism, and Mohismwere all concerned with concrete social, political, or ethical reforms designed to reform people and society and thereby alleviate the problems and suffering of the world. However, Zhuangzi believed that the key to true happiness was to free oneself from the world and its standards through the Daoist principle of "inaction" (Wu wei wúwéi 無為)action that is not based on any purposeful striving or motives for gainand was fundamentally opposed to systems that impose order on individuals.

The Zhuangzi interprets the universe as a thing that changes spontaneously without a conscious God or will driving it, and argues that humans can achieve ultimate happiness by living equally spontaneously. It argues that because of humans' advanced cognitive abilities, they have a tendency to create artificial distinctionssuch as good versus bad, large versus small, usefulness versus uselessness, and social systems like Confucianismthat remove themselves from the natural spontaneity of the universe. To illustrate the mindlessness and spontaneity he felt should characterize human action, Zhuangzi most often uses the analogy of craftsmen or artisans. As Burton Watson described, "the skilled woodcarver, the skilled butcher, the skilled swimmer does not ponder or ratiocinate on the course of action he should take; his skill has become so much a part of him that he merely acts instinctively and spontaneously and, without knowing why, achieves success." The term "wandering" (yóu遊) is used throughout the stories of the Zhuangzi to describe how an enlightened person "wanders through all of creation, enjoying its delights without ever becoming attached to any one part of it."

The Zhuangzi vigorously opposes formal government, which Zhuangzi seems to have felt was problematic at its foundation "because of the opposition between man and nature." The text tries to show that "as soon as government intervenes in natural affairs, it destroys all possibility of genuine happiness." It is unclear if Zhuangzi's positions amounted to a form of anarchism, as the political references in the Zhuangzi are more concerned with what government should not do, rather than what kind of government should exist.

Western scholars have long noticed that the Zhuangzi is often strongly anti-rationalist. Mohism, deriving from Zhuangzi's possible contemporary Mozi, was the most logically sophisticated school in ancient China. Whereas reason and logic became the hallmark of Ancient Greek philosophy and then the entire Western philosophical tradition, in China philosophers preferred to rely on moral persuasion and intuition. The Zhuangzi played a significant role in the traditional Chinese skepticism toward rationalism, as Zhuangzi frequently turns logical arguments upside-down to satirize and discredit them. However, Zhuangzi did not entirely abandon language and reason, but "only wished to point out that overdependence on them could limit the flexibility of thought."

Influence

The Zhuangzi is the most influential purely literary Chinese work dating from before China's imperial unification in 221. Its literary quality, imagination and creativity, and linguistic prowess were unprecedented in the period of its creation. Virtually every major Chinese writer or poet in history, from Sima Xiangru and Sima Qian during the Han dynasty, Ruan Ji and Tao Yuanming during the Six Dynasties, Li Bai during the Tang dynasty, to Su Shi and Lu You in the Song dynasty were "deeply imbued with the ideas and artistry of the Zhuangzi."

Early times

Traces of the Zhuangzis influence in late Warring States period philosophical texts such as the Guanzi, Han Feizi, Huainanzi, and Lüshi Chunqiu suggest that Zhuangzi's intellectual lineage was already fairly influential in the states of Qi and Chu in the 3rd century. However, during the Qin and Han dynastieswith their state-sponsored Legalist and Confucian ideologies, respectivelythe Zhuangzi does not seem to have been highly regarded. One exception is Han dynasty scholar Jia Yi's 170 work "Fu on the Owl" (Fúniǎo fù 鵩鳥賦), the earliest definitively known fu rhapsody, which does not reference the Zhuangzi by name but cites it for one-sixth of the poem.

After the collapse of the Han dynasty in AD 207 and the subsequent chaos of the Three Kingdoms period, both the Zhuangzi and Zhuang Zhou began to rise in popularity and acclaim. The 3rd century AD poets Ruan Ji and Xi Kang, both members of the famous Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, were ardent Zhuangzi admirers, and one of Ruan's essays, entitled "Discourse on Summing Up the Zhuangzi" (Dá Zhuāng lùn 達莊論), is still extant. This period saw Confucianism temporarily surpassed by a revival of Daoism and old divination texts, such as the Classic of Changes (I Ching 易經), and many early medieval Chinese poets, artists, and calligraphers were deeply influenced by the Zhuangzi.

Daoism and Buddhism

The Zhuangzi has been called "the most important of all the Daoist writings", and its "inner chapters" embody the core ideas of philosophical Daoism. In the 4th century AD, the Zhuangzi became a major source of imagery and terminology for a new form of Daoism known as the "Highest Clarity" (Shangqing 上清) school that was popular among the aristocracy of the Jin dynasty (266–420). Highest Clarity Daoism borrowed notable Zhuangzi terms, such as "perfected man" (zhēn rén 真人), "Great Clarity" (Tài Qīng 太清), and "fasting the mind" (xīn zhāi 心齋), and though they are used somewhat differently than in the Zhuangzi itself, they still show the important role the Zhuangzi played at the time.

The Zhuangzi was very influential in the adaptation of Buddhism to Chinese culture after Buddhism was first brought to China from India in the 1st century AD. Zhi Dun, China's first aristocratic Buddhist monk, wrote a prominent commentary to the Zhuangzi in the mid-4th century. The Zhuangzi also played a significant role in the formation of Chan ("Zen") Buddhism, which grew out of "a fusion of Buddhist ideology and ancient Daoist thought." Among the traits Chan/Zen Buddhism borrowed from the Zhuangzi are a distrust of language and logic, an insistence that "the Dao" can be found in everything, even dung and urine, and a fondness for dialogues based on riddles or paradigm-challenging statements known as gōng'àn (公案; Japanese kōan).

Medieval and early modern

The Zhuangzi retained prominence throughout Chinese history as the preeminent example of core Daoist philosophical ideals. The 17th century scholar Gu Yanwu lamented his government's flippant use of the Zhuangzi on the imperial examination essays as representative of a decline in traditional morals at the end of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). In the great Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong lou meng 紅樓夢), the main protagonist, Jia Baoyu, often turns to the Zhuangzi for comfort amidst his despair over conflicting love interests and relationships. The story of Zhuangzi drumming on a tub and singing after the death of his wife inspired an entire tradition of folk music called "funeral drumming" (sàng-gǔ 喪鼓) in central China's Hubei and Hunan Provinces that survived into the 18th and 19th centuries.

Modern

Outside of China and the traditional "Sinosphere", the Zhuangzi lags far behind the Tao Te Ching in general popularity, and is rarely known by non-scholars. A number of prominent scholars have attempted to bring the Zhuangzi to wider attention among Western readers. In 1939, the British translator and Sinologist Arthur Waley described the Zhuangzi as "one of the most entertaining as well as one of the profoundest books in the world." In the introduction to his 1994 translation of the Zhuangzi, the American Sinologist Victor H. Mair wrote: "I feel a sense of injustice that the Dao De Jing is so well known to my fellow citizens while the Zhuangzi is so thoroughly ignored, because I firmly believe that the latter is in every respect a superior work."

Notable translations

• Herbert Giles (1889), Chuang Tzŭ: Mystic, Moralist and Social Reformer, London: Bernard Quaritch; 2nd edition, revised (1926), Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh; reprinted (1961), London: George Allen and Unwin.

• James Legge (1891), The Texts of Taoism, in Sacred Books of the East, vols. XXXIX, XL, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• Fung Yu-lan (1933), Chuang Tzu, a New Selected Translation with an Exposition on the Philosophy of Kuo Hsiang, Shanghai: Shang wu.

• Burton Watson (1964), Chuang tzu: Basic Writings, New York: Columbia University Press; 2nd edition (1996); 3rd edition (2003) converted to pinyin.

• Mitsuji Fukunaga (1966), Sōshi Zhuangzi, 3 vols., Tokyo: Asahi.

• Burton Watson (1968), The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, New York: Columbia University Press.

• Liou Kia-hway 劉家槐 (1969), L'œuvre complète de Tchouang-tseu Complete Works of Zhuangzi, Paris: Gallimard.

• Kiyoshi Akatsuka (1977), Sōshi Zhuangzi, in Zenshaku kanbun taikei Interpreted Chinese Literature Series, vols. 16-17, Tokyo: Shūeisha.

• A. C. Graham (1981), Chuang-tzu, The Seven Inner Chapters and Other Writings from the Book Chuang-tzu, London: George Allen and Unwin. Translation notes published separately in 1982 as Chuang-tzu: Textual Notes to a Partial Translation, London: School of Oriental and African Studies.

• Victor H. Mair (1994), Wandering on the Way: Early Taoist Tales and Parables of Chuang Tzu, New York: Bantam Books; republished (1997), Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

• Philip J. Ivanhoe, Bryan W. Van Norden (eds.) (2001) Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy (Second Edition), Chapter 5, translated by Paul Kjellberg, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.

• Brook Ziporyn (2009), Zhuangzi: The Essential Writings with Selections from Traditional Commentaries, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.

• Viktor Kalinke (2017), Zhuangzi: Gesamttext und Materialien, Leipzig: Leipziger Literaturverlag

• Brook Ziporyn (2020), Zhuangzi: The Complete Writings, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.