Zhuangzi. Chinese-English edition: 2 Volumes

by Zhuangzi, Wang Rongpei (Translator), Quin Xuqing (Translator)

Zhuangzi, also known as The Holy Canon of Nanhua, is a Taoist classic written by the Warring States period philosopher Zhuangzi and his students. The book is composed of 33 chapters including 7 Inner Chapters, 15 Outer Chapters, and 11 Miscellaneous Chapters.

In this book, Zhuangzi inherited and developed Laozi's viewpoint of "the ways of Tao being conditioned by the self-so. "Taking Tao as the origin of the world, he held that Tao is self-sufficient and eternal whereas the difference between things is relative. To correspond with this world outlook, Zhuangzi advocated an outlook on life of "non-action in face of nature, "which recommended maintaining personal freedom of body and mind, and of attaining a spiritual plane of complete liberty and of harmony between man and nature.

Before being translated into modern Chinese, the original Chinese text of the present edition has been checked and punctuated with reference to Guo Qingfan's A Vatiorum Zhuangzi. The English translation, which is its latest complete edition, has been accomplished with reference to the existing complete as well as selected English translations of the book.

Genres: Philosophy

630 pages, Hardcover

Published January 28, 1999

About the author

庄子 or 莊子 Zhūangzi (c. 369 BC - c. 286 BC).
Zhuangzi, or “Master Zhuang” (also known in the Wade-Giles romanization as Chuang-tzu) was, after Laozi, one of the earliest thinkers to contribute to the philosophy that has come to be known as Daojia, or school of the Way. According to traditional dating, he was an almost exact contemporary of the Confucian thinker Mencius, but there appears to have been little to no communication between them. He is ranked among the greatest of literary and philosophical giants that China has produced. His style is complex—mythical, poetic, narrative, humorous, indirect, and polysemic.

Reviews

[TheNomad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think Wang Rongpei did a great job with the translation. Overall, superbly done.