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Columbia Encyclopedia entry: Chuang-tzu

Chuang-tzu or Chuang-tzeboth: jwäng-dzŭ, c.369–c.286 B.C., Chinese Taoist writer. Little is known about his life. He was a native of the state of Meng, on the border of present-day Shandong and Henan provinces, and is said to have lived as a hermit. The collection of essays attributed to him, called the Chuang-tzu, is distinguished by its brilliant and original style, with abundant use of satire, paradox, and seemingly nonsensical stories. Chuang-tzu emphasizes the relativity of all ideas and conventions that are the basis of judgments and distinctions; he puts forward as the solution to the problems of the human condition freedom in identification with the universal Tao, or principle of Nature. He is less political in his orientation than the earlier Taoist Lao Tzu. He is also called Chuang Chou.

See his complete works, tr. by B. Watson (1968).

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Chou
Chou, dynasty of China, which ruled from c.1027 B.C. to 256 B.C. The pastoral Chou people migrated from the Wei valley NW of the Huang He c.1027 B.C. and overthrew the Shang dynasty. The Chou ...
Taoism
Taoism, refers both to a Chinese system of thought and to one of the four major religions of China (with Confucianism, Buddhism, and Chinese popular religion). The philosophical system stems l...
Chinese literature
Chinese literature, the literature of ancient and modern China. It is not known when the current system of writing Chinese first developed. The oldest written records date from about 1400 B.C....

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