The sage has the sun and moon by his side and the universe under his arm. He blends everything into a harmonious whole.
Chuang-Tzu once dreamed he was a butterfly. When he awoke, he no longer knew if he was a butterfly dreaming he was a man, or a man who had dreamed he was a butterfly.
From a literary point of view the Chuang Tzu is one of the richest texts in all of philosophy. At times the language has a diamond-like density in which every word counts. At times it is extended, full of dialogues, parables, stories, examples and images based on the whole of human life from low to high, and on natural phenomena.
The book was probably written by a number of followers of Chuang Tzu. It expresses a deeply compassionate insight into human weaknesses and sufferings, and a refreshing concern with common folk and the poor which is unusual in ancient texts.
Chuang Tzu was a full precursor of scientific pantheism. Like Heraklitus he accepted the reality of constant flux, and the full reality of physical death. Like most Chinese philosophers he did not believe in an afterlife.
He did not believe in any creator God, or any God at all in the Western sense. But he did believe in an underlying Tao, Way or One, from which the Heaven and Earth derived. This One transfused everything in the universe from the lowest to the highest.
The individual could attain mystical unity with this One by achieving complete emptiness or hs?/i> - a timeless state free of worries or seflish desires, open to impressions but transcending all individual material objects.
Much of the Chuang Tzu focusses on the benefits of inaction. On this it followed the Tao-te-Ching, but took its philosophy to extremes. People should abandon concern for fame, power and wealth and follow a simple life. They should distrust ethical and political schemes and follow their instincts.
Life should be enjoyed while it lasts, and death should not be feared. When Chuang Tzu's wife died he banged on a drum and sang. His colleagues questioned the propriety of this. `If I were to fall sobbing and wailing for her,' he replied, `I should think that I did not understand what was appointed for all. Therefore I restrained myself.' [xviii]
Chuang Tzu probably lived some time in the fourth century BC, but his dates are uncertain, as are the details of his life. His philosophy drove him to avoid all public action - he was, it is said, invited to become prime minister, but he declined, so as to retain his freedom. Later Chinese philosophers condemned this attitude as irresponsible. The twelfth century Confucian Chu Hsi said: `Lao Tzu still wanted to do something, but Chuang Tzu did not want to do anything at all. He even said that he knew what to do, but just did not want to do it.'
His philosophy of social inaction is one that cannot be applied in practice. It means fatalism, acceptance that one can change nothing, indifference to the fate of others, and social irresponsibility.
Nor did Chuang Tzu abide by this philosophy. He condemned those who wished to become `storehouses of schemes', and to be famous teachers. If he had stuck to his own principles, we should never have heard of him.
The texts are from Wing-Tsit Chan, A Sourcebook in Chinese Philosophy, Princeton University Press, 1963; and James Legge, The Texts of Taoism, Dover Publications, New York, 1962.
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