This book is concerned with the philosophy of Daoism based on the adapted beliefs of Zhuang Zi
(369-286 B.C.) and not the religion of Daoism which developed centuries later. A gifted
philosopher and a literary giant as well as a keen observer and a humanist Zhuang Zi developed
Daoism in his own way. Furthermore as a cynical philosopher he was against the establishment
and critical of the teachings of the sages.Throughout the years there have been several
editions of Zhuang Zi's book with significant differences in certain parts of the text. Not
every word in the book came from Zhuang Zi's pen. Contributions were made by his disciples and
there have been many changes to the original text: errors in hand copying the text in
mistaking notations for text and in outright forgery throughout centuries. Chen Guying's 1976
edition of the book an eclectic study of all the editions that identifies probable forgeries
is used as the text reference in the present translation.This work is the first translation to
include annotations and commentaries in addition to hundreds of notes. These provisions will
help guide readers to get the most out of the text. Courses related to Asian literature and
philosophy would benefit greatly by using this book.
