Chuang Tzu, with the given name of Zhou, lived probably between 369-286 B.C. as a native of Meng in the State of Song (northeast of the present Shangqiu, Henan Province). He was another representative of Taoist school of thought after Lao Zi, as well as an excellent litterateur and philosopher. He expatiated on the essence of Taoist thought and developed the Taoist theory in his book Chuang Tzu (also known as Nanhuajing), and made it a philosophical school with a profound influence on the coming generations.

In his lifetime, Chuang Tzu was indifferent to fame and gain, which seemed to him like devils rather than angels, and had long pursued spiritual freedom. He probably lived in poverty throughout his life and served only as a low-ranking official. However, he refused high official positions and fortune offered by the King of Chu by saying: "Get out of here and don't humiliate me! I would rather live happily like a tortoise in the pond than be limited by the king! I won't be an official in my lifetime, and I will be free for ever!" On this point, he may be counted as the first stoic in the real sense of the term in the history of China.

Chuang Tzu took Tao as the universal basis, and held that Tao lies in everything, and it is the root and basis of all existence and transformation. He proposed the “all-in-one” idea, and believed that everything in the universe originates from the same thing, and it is an integral whole in various forms. Based on this point, he claimed that all the difference between big and small, living and dead, right and wrong, etc., is relative and such kind of differentiation turns out to be meaningless.

Dissatisfying with the social reality and tired of the worldly life of that time, Chuang Tzu tried to escape from the worldly stipulation and to attain spiritual freedom. He believed that all man-made systems and cultural measures only killed people’s nature, blinded their vision and made them unable to see the essence of the universe. So in his mind, the saints and immortals should be absolutely free, subject to no limits, dependent on nothing; and by taking only breeze and dew, he could go anywhere in the universe. He also advocated abandoning all earthy care to become one with the essence of the universe in order to gain absolute spiritual freedom. In fact, what he pursued was a kind of transcendency, a state where one wouldn't be affected by anything, no matter right or wrong, good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, and a state where one could get free and full development. He regarded those who were after fame and gain as shortsighted sparrows and cicadas, who were incomparable to the ambitious rocs. He treated life and death simply as a kind of natural transformation like seasonal change. In his eyes, nothing was worthy of celebrating or grieving; or rather, death was a way to escape from the worldly tortures.

His view of life and death can be typically illustrated by Chuang Tzu’s reaction to his wife’s passing away. When his wife died and Hui Shi came to convey his condolences, he found Chuang Tzu squatting with his knees out, drumming on a pan and singing. “You lived with her, and she raised your children, and you grew old together,” Hui Shi said. "Not weeping when she died would have been bad enough. Aren't you going too far by drumming on a pan and singing?”

"No," Chuang Tzu said, "When she first died how could I have escaped feeling the loss? Then I looked back to the beginning before she had life. Not only before she had life but before she had form. Not only before she had form, but before she had vital energy. In this confused amorphous realm, something changed and vital energy appeared, - when the vital energy was changed, form appeared; with changes in form, life began. Now there is another change bringing death. This is like the progression of the four seasons of spring and fall, winter and summer. Here she was lying down to sleep in a huge room and I followed her sobbing and wailing. When I realized that my actions showed I hadn't understood destiny, I stopped."

With vast wisdom in it, the Taoist thought of Chuang Tzu has left an indelible imprint on the Chinese nation. His “all-in-one” theory marks a big advance in people's efforts of trying to know the world. He argued that judgment can't be made subjectively, because while the world is infinite, the cognitive ability of an individual is finite; it is impossible for human being to know completely about the world. In this way, he raised two basic questions in terms of epistemology. Although his answer is not necessarily right, or rather, ex parte or wrong, the questions themselves were of great significance. Despite the fact that Chuang Tzu 's philosophy tends to be pessimistic, it does give consolation to an oppressed people and help them gracefully face failure in the real world.

In Chuang Tzu view, genuine truth could not be communicated through language, thus resulting in the beauty of his great book of Chuang Tzu lying not in strict logic but in its resplendent imagination and descriptive ease and verve. Chuang Tzu tells readers one imaginary story after another in a language alive with unique charm, and with the passionate feelings communicated, and he enlightened, instead of trying to, persuade people to accept the ideals he pursued. Specifically, the book of Chuang Tzu consists of 33 articles, including Neipian (inner section), Waipian (outer section) and Zapian (mixed section). It is generally believed that Neipian was written by Chuang Tzu himself, but the other two were done by his pupils and his other followers. The romanticism and lyrical style in the book of Chuang Tzu have been passed down to later generations from which many great writers in ancient China have derived great benefit.

The following excerpts can show some positions held by Chuang Tzu.

內篇　2．齊物論
昔者莊周夢為蝴蝶，栩栩然蝴蝶也。自喻適志與，不知周也。 俄然覺，則蘧蘧然周也。不知周之夢為蝴蝶與？蝴蝶之夢為周與？ 周與蝴蝶，則必有分矣。此之謂物化。
Inner chapters: On leveling all things
Once upon a time, I, Zhuang Zhou， dreamt that I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes of a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Zhou. Soon I awaked, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man. Between a man and a butterfly, there is necessarily a distinction. The transition is called the transformation of material things.

外篇　17．秋水
莊子釣於濮水。楚王使大夫二人往先焉，曰：“願以境內累矣。”莊子持竿 不顧，曰：“吾聞楚有神龜，死已三千歲矣，王巾笥而藏之廟堂之上。此龜者， 寧其死為留骨而貴乎？寧其生而曳尾於涂中乎？”二大夫曰：“寧生而曳尾涂中。” 莊子曰：“往矣！吾將曳尾於涂中。”
Outer chapters: Autumn floods
Chuang Tzu was fishing on the Pu River when the Prince of Chu sent two high officials to see him and said, "Our Prince desires to burden you with the administration of the Chu State." Chuang Tzu went on fishing without turning his head and said, "I have heard that in Chu there is a sacred tortoise which died when it was three thousand (years) old. The prince keeps this tortoise carefully enclosed in a chest in his ancestral temple. Now would this tortoise rather be dead and have its remains venerated, or would it rather be alive and wagging its tail in the mud?"

莊子與惠子游於濠梁之上。莊子曰：“鯈魚出游從容，是魚之樂也。” 惠子曰：“子非魚，安知魚之樂？”莊子曰：“子非我，安知我不知魚之樂？” 惠子曰：“我非子，固不知子矣；子固非魚也，子之不知魚之樂，全矣。” 莊子曰：“請循其本。子曰，‘汝安知魚樂’云者，既已知吾知之而問我。 我知之濠上也。”
Chuang Tzu and Huizi had strolled on to the bridge over the Hao. When the former observed, "See how the small fish are darting about! That is the happiness of the fish." "You not being a fish yourself," said Huizi, "how can you know the happiness of the fish?" "And you not being I," retorted Chuang Tzu, "how can you know that I do not know?" "If I, not being you, cannot know what you know," urged Huizi, "it follows that you, not being a fish, cannot know the happiness of the fish." "Let us go back to your original question," said Chuang Tzu. "You asked me how I knew the happiness of the fish. Your very question shows that you knew that I knew. I knew it (from my own feelings) on this bridge."

(Source: chinaculture.org)