The Wisdom of Zhuangzi

Author: Ye Zhou
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-02-01
Features: This book is a commentary on the wisdom of Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi, this extraordinary ancient philosopher, his life and the book Zhuangzi, have been shrouded in layers of mysteries piled up by the passage of time. To uncover Zhuangzi's wisdom, one must first explore the person and the book of Zhuangzi. At the beginning of this book, based on relatively reliable materials and recent research findings, a detailed and careful description and analysis of Zhuangzi's life and times are provided. Regarding the "authenticity" issue of the Inner, Outer, and Miscellaneous chapters of Zhuangzi, it neither confines itself to the views of a particular academic school nor engages in tedious textual criticism of each chapter. Instead, it examines and applies them from the perspective of the logical development of Zhuangzi's thought. In fact, Zhuangzi is the work of Zhuangzi and his school, which can be called "Zhuangxue" (the study of Zhuangzi); just as The Analects is the work of Confucius and his disciples, hence it can be called Kongxue (the study of Confucius). Therefore, when discussing Zhuangzi's thought, the author applies Zhuangzi from the perspective of Zhuangxue. In the latter part of the book, the author focuses on the relationship between Zhuangzi's thought and Chinese culture. The purpose is to enable readers to understand and grasp the position and role of Zhuangzi's thought in traditional Chinese culture from a broader perspective and more extensive background, so that they can view traditional Chinese culture, which is constructed on the complementarity of Confucianism and Taoism and integrates other schools, as a whole.