Descriptions of practices here are historical and educational, not personal instruction or health advice.
Life
Zhuang Zhou lived in the state of Song during the Warring States period and is paired with Laozi as a founder of philosophical Daoism. He declined office and taught through parables and dialogues: in the Dao, things have no fixed rank, and much human suffering comes from clinging to distinctions of right and wrong, gain and loss, life and death. Of the book that bears his name, the seven Inner Chapters are usually considered closest to his own thought; the rest were added by later followers.
The system
- Free wandering (xiaoyao you): freedom of mind without outer supports.
- Equalizing things (qiwu lun): right and wrong as relative viewpoints.
- Fasting of the heart and sitting in forgetfulness: practices of emptying and quieting the mind.
Key works
- Zhuangzi (seven Inner Chapters; Outer and Miscellaneous Chapters by later hands)
Where to start
- Start with the Inner Chapters.
- Burton Watson, trans., The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (Columbia University Press).
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