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Stories
of
Chuang
Tzu
Chuang
Tzu
(Zhuangzi)
is
thought
to
have
been
a
Chinese
philosopher
who
lived
in
the
4th
Century
BC
and
whose
teachings
are
considered
amongst
the
most
important
in
the
Taoist
tradition.
Many
stories
have
been
attributed
to
him
or
told
about
him.
Here
are
some
of
them.
1.
Chuang
Tzu
and
mourning
Chuang
Tzu’s
wife
had
died.
Hui
Tzu
came
to
the
house
for
the
rites
of
mourning
and
found
Chuang
Tzu
drumming
on
an
upturned
bowl
and
singing,
apparently
happy.
‘Have
you
no
respect
for
your
poor
dead
wife,’
Hui
Tzu
protested.
‘
She
brought
up
your
children
and
grew
old
with
you.
Now
she
is
gone
and
you
show
no
grief
at
all!’
Chuang
Tzu
smiled
and
then
looked
more
serious
for
a
moment.
‘You
are
wrong,’
he
said
simply.
‘I
loved
my
wife
dearly
and,
when
she
died,
I
felt
a
deep
despair.
But
then
I
pondered
and
I
considered
that
man’s
being
has
its
seasons,
just
like
the
spring
and
the
summer
and
the
autumn
and
the
winter.
If
a
person
is
tired
and
has
gone
to
lie
down,
we
don’t
chase
after
them
screaming
and
shouting
for
them
to
wake
up
again,
not
if
we
have
any
respect
for
them.
The
lady
that
I
have
lost
has
lain
down
to
sleep
in
the
Great
Inner
Room.
Breaking
in
on
the
peace
she
has
found
with
lamentations
and
sighs
and
sobs
would
be
ignorance
of
nature’s
laws
and
ways.
And
so
I
have
ceased
to
mourn.’
2.
Chuang
Tzu
and
the
skeleton
Chuang
Tzu
once
dreamed
a
skeleton
and
he
even
spoke
to
it.
‘Had
I
the
power
to
give
you
back
your
flesh
and
to
clothe
you
and
give
you
back
your
father
and
your
mother,
your
wife
and
your
child
and
your
friends
and
your
home,
I
am
sure
you
would
not
refuse.
For
surely
life
is
better
than
death.’
If
a
skeleton
can
frown,
this
one
certainly
did.
If
a
skeleton
can
laugh,
this
one
did
that
too.
‘Why
ever
would
you
think
that
I
would
throw
away
such
joy
as
my
spirit
has
found,’
it
chuckled.
‘A
joy
that
is
greater
than
the
pleasure
any
king
had
upon
the
finest
of
jade
thrones,
deeper
than
the
peace
any
priest
found
in
the
most
sacred
temple.
Why
would
I
call
that
spirit
to
go
back
to
the
toils
and
troubles
of
your
world?’
3.
Chuang
Tzu
and
the
butterfly
_____________________________________________________________________
Chuang
Tzu
once
dreamed
he
was
a
butterfly,
flitting
through
summer
meadows,
drinking
the
nectar
of
the
flowers.
When
he
woke
up
he
said
that
he
could
not
decide
which
was
the
truth
of
his
state
of
existence:
whether
he
was
Chuang
Tzu
who
had
dreamed
he
was
a
butterfly
or
a
butterfly
dreaming
he
was
Chuang
Tzu.
5.
The
Turtle
Chuang
Tzu
became
famous
for
his
wisdom
but
fame
can
bring
difficulties
and
he
knew
this.
When
the
emperor
needed
a
new
counsellor
to
join
his
court,
Chuang
Tzu
was
scarcely
surprised
when
the
soldiers
arrived
and
ordered
him
to
come
with
them
to
the
palace.
The
old
man
smiled
at
them
from
the
shade
of
the
ancient
tree
under
which
he
was
lounging.
‘Have
you
heard
of
what
happened
to
the
turtle?’
he
asked
them
innocently.
The
soldiers
said
that
they
had
not
and
Chuang
Tzu
continued,
‘Well,
you
see
he
was
a
big
big
turtle
in
a
muddy
mud
pool
and
that
was
just
fine
as
far
as
he
was
concerned.
But
he
was
captured
and
taken
off
to
be
sacrificed
and
served
up
in
the
royal
soup.
Having
tht
happen
to
him
was
a
great
honour
no
doubt,
but
I
wonder
whether
you
think
that,
if
he’d
been
asked,
he
might
have
preferred
his
own
muddy
mud
pool
to
his
courtly
duties.’
‘Of
course,’
the
captain
of
the
soldiers
agreed.
‘Well
this
is
my
answer
to
the
emperor:
please
leave
me
in
my
mud
pool.’
6.
The
Butcher
and
the
knife
___________________________________________________________________
It
wasn’t
just
the
cutting,
it
was
the
way
the
butcher
did
it
that
fascinated
his
customer.
The
meat
and
the
bone
simply
parted
company
without
the
slightest
argument.
‘That’s
incredible,’
sighed
the
customer,
‘you
must
have
to
keep
that
knife
very
sharp
to
do
that.
What’s
your
method?
‘I
don’t
have
a
method,’
said
the
butcher
because
I
don’t
need
to
sharpen
this
knife.
It’s
the
same
one
I’ve
used
year
after
year.’
‘Not
this
one,
maybe
not
any
knife
if
you
know
the
way
of
right
use,
though
I
can
only
speak
for
this
one.
’
The
customer
was
perplexed.
He’d
used
knives
and
chisels
and
all
sorts
more
himself;
they
were
always
blunted
after
a
while
and
had
to
be
sharpened
on
a
stone.
That’s
just
what
happened
with
cutting
tools.
‘Can
you
explain
please?’
he
asked,
overcome
with
curiosity.
The
blacksmith
smiled
as
he
went
on
with
his
task.
‘Not
exactly.
All
I
can
say
is
that
I
allow
the
knife
to
discover
its
own
path
through
the
meat.
I
don’t
try,
I
don’t
make
an
effort,
even
when
there’s
tough
muscle
and
cartilage.
I
just
let
it
cut.
This
is
how
I
do
my
work.
This
is
how
I
live
my
life.
Somehow
the
blade
stays
always
sharp.
’
Hui
Tzu
decided
that
he
needed
to
act
and
gave
his
orders.
The
soldiers
went
out
searching
of
Chuang
Tzu
night
and
day
–
three
nights
and
three
days.
There
was
no
sign
of
him
anywhere.
No
one
could
or
would
say
where
he
was;
he
must
have
gone
into
hiding,
fearful
of
what
his
enemy
would
do
to
him.
So
the
prime
minister
was
surprised
when
the
philosopher
walked
coolly
into
the
court
as
if
from
nowhere,
looking
untroubled
and
calm.
‘Respected
minister,
let
me
tell
you
a
story,’
Chuang
Tzu
said,
bowing
gently
to
this
powerful
politician.
‘The
tale
of
the
Phoenix
and
the
Owl.
Do
you
know
it?’
Hui
Tzu
said
that
he
did
not
and
the
sage
went
on,
‘As
you
may
know,
the
great
phoenix
rises
out
of
the
ocean
of
the
south
flies
in
glory
to
the
ocean
of
the
north.
It
touches
no
land
in
all
that
time,
perching
only
on
sacred
trees
and
feeding
itself
only
on
the
rarest
of
fruit
growing
on
those
hallowed
branches.
It
goes
about
its
purposes
in
this
way,
scarcely
noticing
what
happens
on
the
ground
below.
‘Now
there
was
once
an
owl.
With
patience,
skill
and
undoubted
determination,
it
had
caught
a
fat
rat
and
killed
it.
This
it
had
been
feeding
on
when
it
looked
up
to
see
the
phoenix
passing
overhead.
‘Get
away,
foul
thief,’
the
owl
screeched
angrily
and
suspiciously
at
the
fiery
bird,
guarding
the
dead
rat
jealously.
‘How
dare
you
come
trying
to
steal
away
the
fruits
of
my
efforts?’
Chuang
Tzu
paused
and
then
smiled
disarmingly
at
Hui
Tzu.
‘My
dear
sir,’
he
said
simply,
‘why
ever
do
you
think
you
need
to
screech
so
at
me.
You
are
very
welcome
to
your
prize.’
With
the
autumn
rains
swelling
all
the
streams
that
fed
it,
the
Yellow
River
soon
burst
its
banks
and
flooded
all
the
land
around.
The
River
God
laughed
in
delight.
All
the
beauty
of
the
world
seemed
to
have
fallen
into
his
power.
He
was
able
simply
to
obliterate
it
in
this
way
if
he
chose.
You
couldn’t
see
an
ox
of
a
horse
for
miles,
just
the
waters
of
the
river.
Onwards
those
waters
tumbled
until
they
came
at
last
to
the
ocean.
Only
then
was
the
River
God
awakened
from
his
dream
of
omnipotence
as
he
saw
the
much
greater
vastness
of
the
waters
he
had
reached
stretching
away
to
far
horizons.
‘Alas,
he
cried
out
humbly
to
the
Ocean
God,
‘I
should
have
listened
to
the
wisdom
of
the
sayings.
Haven’t
I
heard
it
said
often
enough
that,
just
because
you
have
a
hundred
ideas,
you
don’t
know
so
very
much.
Now
at
last
I
understand
what
true
power
is.’
‘Are
you
sure
of
this?’
the
Sea
God
smiled.
‘
Have
you
heard
that
talk
of
the
sea
means
nothing
to
a
frog
in
a
well?
Do
you
know
that
a
dragonfly
has
not
much
notion
of
ice?
Have
you
noticed
that,
learned
though
the
great
doctors
of
philosophy
might
be,
they
understand
little
or
nothing
of
the
Way
of
Life?’
N.B.
These
stories
have
been
rather
freely
re-‐told
for
this
presentation
from
memory
and
also
using
a
variety
of
contrasting
sources.
I
have
no
claim
on
the
essence
of
any
of
the
tales
-‐
they
have
been
around
for
centuries
in
one
form
or
another
so
far
as
I
know.
Please
feel
free
to
use
them
practically
for
re-‐telling
and
in
all
sorts
of
other
informal
ways.
The
wordings
here
are
copyright
for
publishing
purposes,
so
I’ll
only
ask
that,
if
you
want
to
use
any
of
the
stories
for
your
own
professional
purposes,
you
should
please
re-‐tell
the
tale
in
your
own
way
just
as
I
have
done.