Author

Zhuangzi

Daoist philosopher of freedom, perspective and spontaneity.

c. 4th century BCE

Also known as Chuang Tzu, Zhuang Zhou

Biography

Zhuang Zhou, known as Zhuangzi, “Master Zhuang”, lived in the fourth century BCE, in the Warring States period. According to Sima Qian he came from Meng, in the state of Song, and held a minor post in charge of a lacquer garden. A famous story tells that when the king of Chu sent envoys to offer him high office, he replied that he would rather be a live turtle dragging its tail in the mud than a dead one honoured in a temple.

The book that bears his name survives in the edition of thirty-three chapters made by Guo Xiang in the third century CE, divided into the inner, outer and miscellaneous chapters. Scholars generally regard the seven inner chapters as closest to Zhuangzi himself, and the others as the work of later followers and other schools.

The Zhuangzi is one of the great works of Chinese literature: playful, paradoxical and full of stories, among them the butterfly dream, Cook Ding carving an ox, and his debates with his friend the logician Huizi. It shaped Chinese Buddhism, especially Chan, and Chinese poetry and painting.

Major works

The Writings of Kwang-ze: In The Texts of Tâoism, Sacred Books of the East, vols. 39–40Translation, tr. James Legge, 1891Legge’s complete translation of the thirty-three chapters of the Zhuangzi, with its stories of the butterfly dream, Cook Ding and the useless tree, and its arguments on perspective, freedom and the equality of things.

Philosophical ideas

Scholarship

All views are relative to a standpoint; the sage does not take sides in the quarrels of “this” and “that”, but sees from the Dao, the pivot at which every perspective turns.

Freedom is to wander at ease, following the nature of things; life and death are transformations, like the seasons, and need not be feared.

Cite this entry

Chicago (bibliography): “Zhuangzi.” Author. The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society. Last modified November 7, 2026. https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/authors/zhuangzi.
Chicago (note): “Zhuangzi,” author, The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, last modified November 7, 2026, https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/authors/zhuangzi.
MLA: “Zhuangzi.” The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, 7 Nov. 2026, www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/authors/zhuangzi.
BibTeX: @misc{authors-zhuangzi, title = {{Zhuangzi}}, howpublished = {The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society}, note = {Author. Last modified November 7, 2026}, year = {2026}, url = {https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/authors/zhuangzi} }

Related authors

Influenced by: Laozi

Related concepts

Related traditions

DaoismTraditionThe Chinese philosophical and religious tradition of the Dao, the Way.