With the exception of a few anecdotes preserved by tradition, and whose historical foundation is far from certain, the life of Zhuang zi is practically unknown to us. We only know that he lived in the principality of Song ( in Henan now ) around 285 BC, at the end of an existence marked by indifference to honours, wandering and misery and it is believed that he must have died at an advanced, voluntary age.
It was not until the Han dynasty (towards the end of the 1st century BC) that his name was associated with that of the famous Lao zi and that his writings were included among the masterpieces of the Tao school.
The approach was all the more justified since he was undoubtedly the one who « understood » the Dao, this great principle of universal order, widening the field of his reflection on the place of man in the universe, his self-realization, his happiness, his possible immortality, his destiny or even, his freedom.
Under the Tang dynasty, the hour of consecration struck when the Taoist emperor Xuan Zong ordered by decree, in 742, to award Zhuang zi the nickname of « Nanhua zhenren ». (The Perfect Man of the Flowery South). The eponymous work, supposed to bring together his words and his thoughts was at the same time elevated to the rank of classic and received the title of « Nanhua zhenjing » (The Perfect Classic of the Flowery South), a name by which it is still sometimes referred to.
Later, in the Song dynasty (960-1279), Zhuang zi received further homage when he was bestowed the nickname « Weimiao yuantong zhenjin » (The Perfect Lord of Primordial Wisdom and Understanding).The exegetical work of the thinker Guo Xiang (circa 252-312) marks a decisive stage in the transmission of the writings attributed to the master: it is to this honorary scholar that we owe the current recension of the Zhuang zi, composed of a little over 65,000 characters !
The traditional belief that only those forming the first section, of particularly fine handwriting, should be attributed to Zhuang zi himself (the others, though bearing the mark of the master, being of more uncertain authenticity have been judged apocrypha in China for a long time), is far from unanimous today.
There is no one to dispute, moreover, that the work – deserves to be ranked among the major works of Chinese literature, and it is not surprising that it has, since antiquity, aroused the admiration of generations of scholars and inspired a multitude of learned commentaries: Zhuang zi is not only a brilliant representative of Chinese philosophical thought, he is also a writer wielding an elegant and harmonious pen, with an abundant and pure style, which marvelously knows how to take advantage of the multiple resources offered by literary art…
The style of a real writer
So, he has always been regarded as one of the most difficult authors to translate. It is true that the lexicological richness, the inventiveness of his language by turns lively and nervous, impetuous and lively, supple and flowing, poetic and imaginative, the frequent conciseness of the expression sometimes making the meaning of certain passages ambiguous, do not facilitate.
Zhuang zi is the first to have been able to combine so successfully the depth of ideas with the charm of their exposition, and this is undoubtedly the reason why he has never ceased to be read, studied and admired.
The historian Sima Qian (around 145-86 BC) was not mistaken: in the brief notice he devoted to him, he did not fail to raise his literary genius and to underline the subtlety and penetration of his intelligence.
The Book « Zhuang Zi »
At first glance, the work is singular and disconcerting. Far removed from the famous Daode jing (“Book of the Way and Virtue”), attributed to Lao zi and made up of rhymed aphorisms with sometimes obscure content, the Zhuang zi is protean, with no apparent structure or order. Some sinologists characterized this captivating and unclassifiable book very well in many respects. “The Daode Jing », he writes, « is like an individual song; the Zhuang zi is an orchestra. By a prestigious sequence of movements, sometimes serious, sometimes cheerful, and through a series of free pieces, themes and variations, this book is reminiscent of a symphony. In fact, imaginary dialogues, fictitious anecdotes, poetic allegories, fantastic tales, existential considerations or metaphysical meditations follow one another over the pages for the greatest pleasure of the reader, making of this work, one of the most original of the playful production in Chinese philosophy ».
All chapters of this book have one thing in common: that of encouraging reflection, all the more subtly as they sometimes lend themselves to several levels of reading. Contrary to masters who are reluctant to shed the austere gravity that they consider inherent to their function, Zhuang zi, convinced that a playful and playful tone has never prevented him from tackling the highest subjects, knows that a lesson proves, where appropriate, to be more profitable when, to stimulate the pupil’s thinking, it judiciously associates fantasy with the seriousness of the subject.
Finally, he makes use of a freedom of tone unknown until him, and it is undoubtedly, with a poetic way of philosophizing which is specific to him, what best characterizes his work.
The golden age of Chinese philosophy
Zhuang zi lived at a turning point in the Warring States period (453-221 BC), a time of upheavals and profound political, economic and cultural changes, marked by bloody conflicts and an unprecedented intellectual effervescence, favoring the flowering of a multitude of currents of thought. All these rival schools fought for influence or opposed each other in bitter disputes, some favoring dialectics to better promote their teachings. It was the golden age of Chinese philosophy, that of theoreticians and ideologists. It was the era of the “Hundred Schools”.
The youth of Zhuang zi bathed in this atmosphere of stimulating confrontation of ideas. Contemporary of renowned masters such as Mencius, heir to Confucian thought, or Hui Shi, eminent representative of the school of the Logicians, or even Yang Zhu, founder of a philosophical movement swinging, it seems, between Taoism and a refined Epicureanism, his spiritual training – obviously very careful – was deeply marked by his time.
Moreover, his consummate art of controversy and his knowledge of the terminology then in use in certain schools attest to how familiar these fields were to him. If none of the main currents of thought is foreign to him, the work that bears his name shows at all times his concern to display an independent spirit, foreign to any filiation, his refusal to be attached to a school rather than to another: a step which would have been in contradiction with his fiercely libertarian nature.
Zhuang zi doubts certainties, distrusts commonly held ideas that are too easily accepted, and never ceases to question the very notion of knowledge, — or what men consider as such —, doing everything possible to demonstrate its fragility, making use of an irony that is all the more devastating in that it spares neither the most prominent masters of wisdom, nor the best established doctrines, nor the dogmas with which men have become encumbered over the years, centuries, and which represent for him so many shackles from which he must free himself.
A rebellious spirit
As rebellious spirit, he is the cantor of all transgressions, and none of the foundations of traditional society escapes his banter and his impertinence. It stigmatizes the conduct of the big and powerful, thirsty for money and power, hardly differentiated from common criminals; he denigrates benevolence, justice, rectitude (eminently Confucian virtues), lowered to rank of the lesson givers.
What an astonishing gallery these characters come from his imagination or are inspired by reality ! When they are questioned, both of them, ignoring conventions, do not hesitate to strike out the most disarming truths, leaving their interlocutor speechless, or to give replies as unexpected as they are disconcerting. If these know how to disturb minds so well, it is because they share the ability to highlight, better than all the licensed masters of wisdom, the true Way, and to intuitively perceive the reality of this immanent Dao, that indefinable that governs and regulates the universe.
Zhuang Zi surprises with his projections and his verve, disturbs with his libertarian spirit, charms with his talent as a fabulist, seduces with the inexhaustible richness of his imagination. He also nurtures a real mystical sensibility, as evidenced by the many metaphysical meditations that dot his work, whose poetic depth is not the least of its qualities.
