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Philosopher · ◇ Light

Zhuangzi

Zhuang Zhou · Master Zhuang

majorattestedc. 369–286 BCETaoism

The second great voice of Taoism, a wandering teacher of the 4th century BCE whose book is the funniest and most vertiginous in the tradition — full of skilled butchers, useless trees that survive by being useless, and a man who dreams he is a butterfly and wakes unsure which is the dream. Where Laozi is grave and gnomic, Zhuangzi laughs the mind loose from its certainties.

Light83
Wisdom83
Grace77
Influence72
✦Signature powerInsightReshapes how an entire age understands the world.
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Its universe

The mythic order Zhuangzi belongs to, who comes before and after in the story of this world.

Voices & connections

Figures bound to Zhuangzi, family and rivals within the myth, and the thinkers and writers who shaped how we know them.

Laoziassociated withThe Taoassociated with

Read the story

Illustrated chapters where Zhuangzi appears. Start reading in a click.

Illustrated storyThe Old Master and the GateEvery other story in this archive is a war of light against dark. This one is the tradition that refused the war. An old archivist, sick of a corrupt age, rides west on an ox to vanish from the world — and a gatekeeper will not let him pass until he writes down what he knows. The five thousand characters he leaves are the Tao Te Ching: the way of water, the empty hub, the dark and the light as one turning circle.Begin reading →