Chuang-tzu

Chuang-tzu (Zhuangzi) (c. 369–c. 286 B.C.E.) a Chinese thinker important in the development of philosophical TAOISM Chuang-tzu is known for a collection of essays that goes by the same name, Chuang-tzu. Only selected essays in the collection actually seem to come from Chuang-tzu. Chuang-tzu's language is highly imagistic. As a result, it is often diffi cult to determine the precise meaning of the texts. The essays pose puzzles designed to teach that truth, goodness, happiness, and everything in life is relative—everything, that is, except the Tao or way of nature. The Tao cannot be encapsulated in language. Rather, it can only be grasped intuitively. In perhaps the most famous portion of the book, Chuang-tzu dreams that he is a butterfl y. Then he wakes up and wonders whether he is actually a man who is dreaming he was a butterfl y, or a butterfl y that is dreaming it is Chuangtzu.