Wandering on the Way

I have read a lot of books on Taoism. This is the first book that I have read on Taoism that gives a thorough, detailed, and seemingly accurate historical presentation on the three main sages of Taoism; Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, and Lieh Tzu. The author, college Professor Victor Mair, backs his presentation on the history of Taoism with many references from sources that supports his historical analysis. For example; Professor Mair cites many sources that claim that two of the three main sages of Taoism, Lao Tzu, and Lieh Tzu, never existed. Mair also cites many sources that claim that the third main sage of Taoism, Chuang Tzu, may have existed, and he may not have existed. That is remarkable information, considering that Lao Tzu is credited with writing the TAO TE CHING, which is the main book of Taoism, and the second most popular spiritual book in history, right behind the Bible. On page XXXi of the Preface, Professor Mair says the following, " The evidence for the existence of a historical Chuang Tzu ( Master Chuang ) is only slightly greater than that for a historical Lao Tzu ( Old Master ), the alleged author of the TAO TE CHING, which is virtually nil. In fact, we have seen the Old Master was most likely not a single historical personage at all but a congeries of ancient sages." Professor Mair says in the book that a man named Chuang Chou, was also credited as being Chuang Tzu. They were supposedly the same person. Professor Mair says the following about Chuang Chou on Preface page XXXViii, " In short, Chuang Chou did not write the CHUANG TZU. For the sake of convenience, however, we may collectively refer to the nominal author( s ) of the core passages of the CHUANG TZU as Master Chuang ( Chuang Tzu ), which is to say that we associate the text with the school of thought that was grouped around that shadowy name." This book is filled with Taoist insights about life, written in short parable like stories. You will need to read this book with a dictionary at your side, because this book could be used as a text book in one of Professor Mair's college classes. Another good book on Taoism is Jean C Cooper's book titled, AN ILLUSTRATED INTRODUCTION TO TAOISM. Cooper also points out that Lao Tzu probably never existed; thus, he probably did not write the Tao Te Ching, even though he has been accredited as the author of the TAO TE CHING. Cooper was a Taoist who grew up in China, and her presentation about Taoism is about ORIGINAL TAOISM, before it was combined with Buddhism. Cooper's book, besides having fascinating information about ORIGINAL TAOISM, is a fascinating book filled with beautiful pictures of Taoist art. Its really as much a Taoist art book, as it is an Introduction to Taoism.

This text was required for a course I was taking, so I ordered it and enjoyed it even after I was done using it for my academic puruits. Without the guidance of my professor I think I might have been lost in the whimsical nature of Chuang Tzu, my attention captured by the comical way in which he (or they, depending on how you look at it) introduces concepts and ideas in the stories. This particular translation is quite good, and easy to follow (although not as easy to truly understand the underlying concepts). It's not for the faint of heart, and probably not something that a beginner to the Tao or Japanese culture. But it's a nice collection. I dare you to buy it and read it, and dare you to find meaning reflected in your own life.

Was excited to dig into this text, but found it aimless and frankly boring. I was following up from "The Way of the White Clouds" and other subject-related books, but this one landed with a thud. Already in my give-away box.

The scholarly background, philological care and sweet writing that Mair provides, allow the reader to decide for himself what to make of and what to do with, (the) Chuang Tzu.

The Chuang Tzu (rendered Zhuangzi in pinyin, which is becoming the standard transliteration these days) is second only to Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching in its popularity and veneration in the Taoist world. If you've not heard of or read this book before, you're in for a real treat! The first time I read the Inner Chapters of the Chuang Tzu was like a revelation--the thoughts and ideas expressed in these passages still resonate today for their acuity, humor, satire, stabbing profundity, and life-changing potential. Indeed, after better understanding the thought this book expresses, I felt like so many loose ideas and insights I'd gleaned from other philosophy, literature, music, and poetry had been tied up together and formulated into a concise and elegant package that is urgently relevant to every day life--pretty amazing for a text that is well over 2000 years old!I recently finished reading Mair's translation of the Chuang Tzu--it was the third complete translation I've read, and while I found that it accurately conveys the spirit and ideas of the Chuang Tzu, it doesn't get my vote for best translation. As a side note, I chose Mair's Chuang Tzu translation after being very impressed by his excellent and illuminating rendering of the  Tao Te Ching . As he states in his introduction, Mair's mission in translating the Chuang Tzu is to convey the fact that it is primarily a literary classic (as opposed to a philosophical classic), and rather than expose it to philosophical scrutiny, his desire is to provide the most philologically-accurate translation possible, attempting to translate both the exact words of the Chinese, but also the exact style of the writing (poetry vs. prose, etc.) in a way he feels hasn't been done by other translators. I think he succeeded in his mission, but that his success is not one that benefits readers of his translation in an extremely meaningful way.The problem, I think, is that ancient Chinese is just so different from English that attempts to transfer the poetic and structural beauty of the Chinese to English are doomed to come up short. Although Mair sets off poetic passages in the text's formatting, this effect doesn't really enhance the writing or ideas, and it's tough to get a feeling for why the Chinese is so linguistically beautiful. Likewise, his goal of omitting ornamentation (e.g. a modern translator subbing "exclaimed" for the more boring and repetative [but accurate] "said") is noble, but really doesn't impact the force of the text. In my opinion, as long as the ideas and beauty of Chuang Tzu's thought is clearly expressed, the exact wording and accuracy of translation is not necessarily of paramount importance (it seems Chuang Tzu would agree, given his attitude toward the ultimate unreliability of language). Finally, Mair tends to translate the names of people and places into English (for example, he translates Lao Tan--Lao Tzu's given name--as "Old Longears"). These translations can be illuminating from an ideological perspective, but they tend to read very awkwardly and don't look like names on paper--I can't imagine a person named "Gorge Worker" or "Sir Square."Nevertheless, Mair's translation is mostly very readable. Since modern understanding of ancient Chinese is so distant, the more translations you read of a book like the Chuang Tzu, the more likely you are to better understand all of its sections--there were numerous passages that I thought Mair rendered the most powerfully and insightfully out of all the translations I've read, and it was a worthwhile read for that reason alone. I do wish, though, that he had included footnotes or more in-depth introductions to each chapter. Especially with the Outer and Miscellaneous chapters, where the ideas and philosophy gets progressively more diluted with other traditions, some scholarly guidance really helps with understanding the text and enjoying it as much as the more readable Inner chapters.If you haven't read the Chuang Tzu before, I'd recommend that you start with Burton Watson's  Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings , which includes all the Inner chapters and most of the highlights from the rest of the book. If you're looking for your first complete translation, I'd go for Watson's  The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu , which is the same translation as his Basic Writings, but it includes the rest of the text as well. I find Watson's translation is the most accurate representation of the spirit imbued in the Chuang Tzu, the most flowing and beautifully-worded translation, and the perfect balance of commentary and uncluttered translation. If you're well familiar with the text and want to dive deeper into understanding it, A.C. Graham's difficult-to-read but very insightfully structured  The Inner Chapters  is the most academic translation I've read.

Charming, insightful, cutting and very funny at times - master chuangs volume is wonderful and I would recommend to literally anyone

A wonderful translation of the Chuang Tzu. Really keeps the humourus spirit of Master Chuang alive. Way more readable than Richard Wilhelms version!