Religion: Taoism, ZHUANGZI (The Perfect Book of Nanhua)

TAOISM (DAOISM), Religion TAOISM (DAOISM), TAOISM (DAOISM)Religion. ZHUANGZI (The Perfect Book of Nanhua):

ZHUANGZI (The Perfect Book of Nanhua)

The Author of the Book of Nanhua :

Zhuangzi, named Zhou and styled Zixiu or Zimu, was a native of the kingdom of Song (i.e., northeast of present-day Shangqiu, Henan) during the Warring States period. He lived about 369-286 BC, and was a mandarin of Qiyuan, Meng. Poor but fond of Dao, he did not yearn for wealth or power. It is recorded in the Bibliographies of Laozi, Zhuangzi, Shenzi, Hanfeizi and Liezi in the Records of the Historian that Zhuangzi had extensive learning and wrote over one hundred thousand words. His works are based on Laozi's theories. They inherit and develop Laozi's "Dao", which follows the example of Spontaneity and thus is in every place. Moreover, they stress that things come into being and change by themselves and negate the existence of any controller. They put forward the ideas that "the Vital Breath exists in everything", and that "the birth of a man is the convergence of the Vital Breath, which forms life, and the breaking-up of the Vital Breath causes death". Hence Zhuangzi became the founder of his school of teachings. During the Wei, Jin, and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the doctrines of Laozi and Zhuangzi turned became the core of the teachings of Daoist Philosophy, and Zhuangzi was regarded as a Divine Man. In the second month of the first Tianbao year during the reign of emperor Xuanzong of the Tang dynasty (AD 724), Zhuangzi was granted the title " Perfect Man of Nanhua ", and the Book of Master Zhuang written by him was titled the Perfect Book of Nanhua by imperial order. During the reign of emperor Huizong of the Song dynasty, he was granted the title "Perfect Sovereign of Numinous Subtlety and Original Pervasion".

Composition and Style:

The Book of Master Zhuang originally consisted of seven inner chapters, fifteen outer chapters, and eleven miscellaneous chapters, and the Book of Nanhua follows this composition. Scholars generally admit that the seven inner chapters were written by Zhuangzi himself and embody the magnificence of Zhuangzi's doctrines, spirit and writing style. The other chapters are elaborations and explanations, and some of them were written by Zhuangzi's disciples or supplemented by people of later ages. Now we briefly state the main theories of the seven chapters to show the essential content of the Book of Nanhua.