CONTENTS.
| Page | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction | [v] | ||
| Note on the Philosophy of Chuang Tzŭ, by Canon Moore | [xviii] | ||
| CHAPTER | I | —Transcendental Bliss | [1] |
| " | II | —The Identity of Contraries | [12] |
| " | III | —Nourishment of the Soul | [33] |
| " | IV | —Man among Men | [38] |
| " | V | —The Evidence of Virtue Complete | [56] |
| " | VI | —The Great Supreme | [68] |
| " | VII | —How to Govern | [91] |
| " | VIII | —Joined Toes | [99] |
| " | IX | —Horses' Hoofs | [106] |
| " | X | —Opening Trunks | [110] |
| " | XI | —On Letting Alone | [119] |
| " | XII | —The Universe | [135] |
| " | XIII | —The Tao of God | [157] |
| " | XIV | —The Circling Sky | [173] |
| " | XV | —Self-Conceit | [190] |
| " | XVI | —Exercise of Faculties | [195] |
| " | XVII | —Autumn Floods | [200] |
| " | XVIII | —Perfect Happiness | [220] |
| " | XIX | —The Secret of Life | [229] |
| " | XX | —Mountain Trees | [245] |
| " | XXI | —T'ien Tzŭ Fang | [261] |
| " | XXII | —Knowledge travels North | [276] |
| " | XXIII | —Kêng Sang Ch'u | [294] |
| " | XXIV | —Hsü Wu Kuei | [311] |
| " | XXV | —Tsê Yang | [335] |
| " | XXVI | —Contingencies | [352] |
| " | XXVII | —Language | [363] |
| " | XXVIII | —On Declining Power | [370] |
| " | XXIX | —Robber Chê | [387] |
| " | XXX | —On Swords | [407] |
| " | XXXI | —The Old Fisherman | [413] |
| " | XXXII | —Lieh Tzŭ | [423] |
| " | XXXIII | —The Empire | [437] |
| Index | [455] | ||
| Errata and Addenda | [466] | ||
Introduction.
Chuang Tzŭ[1] belongs to the third and fourth centuries before Christ. He lived in the feudal age, when China was split up into a number of States owning a nominal allegiance to the royal, and weakly, House of Chou.
He is noticed by the historian Ssŭ-ma Ch'ien, who flourished at the close of the second century B.C., as follows:—
Chuang Tzŭ was a native of Mêng.[2] His personal name was Chou. He held a petty official post at Ch'i-yüan in Mêng.[3] He lived contemporaneously with Prince Hui of the Liang State and Prince Hsüan of the Ch'i State. His erudition was most varied; but his chief doctrines are based upon the sayings of Lao Tzŭ.[4] Consequently, his writings, which extend to over 100,000 words, are mostly allegorical.[5]
He wrote The Old Fisherman, Robber Chê, and Opening Trunks, with a view to asperse the Confucian school and to glorify the mysteries of Lao Tzŭ.[6] Wei Lei Hsü, Kêng Saṅg Tzŭ, and the like, are probably unsubstantial figments of his imagination.[7] Nevertheless, his literary and dialectic skill was such that the best scholars of the age proved unable to refute his destructive criticism of the Confucian and Mihist schools.[8]