Zhuangzi, also known as Chuang Tzu, was a Chinese Daoist sage, mystic and philosopher (even considered to be a mythological figure by some) who probably lived in 300 BCE, somewhere in the state of Song during the Zhou Dynasty.
Zhuangzi is best known for the book with the same name, which is attributed to him. He is also known for his famous parable about being a man who wakes from a dream, in which he was a butterfly and then does not know if he is himself again (a man) or a butterfly who dreams that he is a man.
The two most important philosophers of Daoism, Lao Tzu and Zhuangzi can be said to have laid the foundation for the Daoist philosophy with their respective writings. According to legend, Lao Tzu wrote the book Dao de Jing which in many ways was about the unfathomability and magnificence of the Dao. According to tradition he wrote it when he was urged by a border guard just as he was leaving the country to escape the hustle and bustle of civilization. Though Zhuangzi isn’t as well-known as Lao Tzu, he is nevertheless considered to be even more important when it comes to developing Daoism into a complete philosophy. It is worth to point out that like Buddhism, Daoism is a religion and philosophy of life that lacks gods as neither Lao Tzu nor Zhuangzi placed any great importance on gods or rituals in their writings; they were much more fascinated and interested in the inner spiritual core of man in relation to the mystical powers of the impersonal cosmos they found themselves in.
Unlike Confucianism, Daoism avoids and distances itself from society and culture, as is best exemplified by the life of Lao Tzu himself, while emphasizing the wisdom and beauty of nature. Man is happiest and healthiest when he lives in harmony with the Dao. Thus Daoism is in many ways about observing and learning from the way of nature and subsequently modeling your character and life according to it, while at the same time unlearning the psychological conditioning of the society and culture you were brought up in.
A basic concept within Daoism is wu-wei, which is commonly translated into non-action, action without effort, action without intention or even action without action. What is meant by wu-wei is that one should not try to force things and that one should live spontaneously. When you try to manipulate nature or your own nature through your sense of will, you’ll inevitably end up disturbing the inherent harmony and peace present in the Dao. Instead, Daoists try to follow nature’s own path, much like running water that follows the law of least resistance. In other words, the Dao is pure spontaneity, and also without cause and purpose, at least as we understand those two things. The Dao simply is what it is, while effortlessly giving birth to innumerable worlds, as a plant or flower grows and blooms without effort.
Another interesting thing about the Daoist philosophers is that they sought intuitive insight and immediate experience of life, an experience where the boundary between the separate self and the outside world was blurred or even erased. Traditional knowledge derived from the intellect alone was often shunned by Daoists, an intellect which they regarded to be far too limited and unreliable to be of any real use for the existential fulfillment of man.
