Chuang-Tzu Chapters in Lin Yutang's Translation ed by Tormod Kinnes MPhil (2001).pdf

Chuang Tzu Chapters

in Lin Yutang's Translation

Chuang Tzu Chapters in Lin Yutang's

Translation

1 › 3 › 6

Lin Yutang (18951976) translated eleven chapters from the Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi) into English. Here they are,

modernised with added comment, and some omissions as the case may be. TK

Introduction

1. Wanderings

2. Ruling out All Things

3. Preserving Life

4. This Human World

5. Deformities, or Evidences of a Full Character

6. The Great Supreme

7. Joined Toes

8. Horses' Hoofs

9. Opening Trunks

10. On Tolerance

11. Autumn Floods

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Chuang Tzu Chapters

in Lin Yutang's Translation

1 › 3 › 6

Introduction

1. Wanderings

2. Ruling out All Things

3. Preserving Life

Introduction

This is a partial Chuang Tzu in the translation of Dr. Lin Yutang , somewhat

modernised. I have also taken the liberty to leave out sentences I don't like in

Dr Lin's translation, and have added comments. Why have I done all this? Some

interesting ideas may germinate and lead minds into paths where there are few joys and

much confusion because of unfruitful or calamitycausing directions given at the start.

To forget to smile I won't be part of that! Instead I want to present ideas of good

quality and fit for harmony along a way fit for good fortune, if that can be had.

Lin considers Chuangtse (c. 369 BC 286 BC) the greatest prose writer of the

Chou [Zhou] Dynasty (1050256 BC). This position rests both upon the brilliance of

his style and the depth of his thought, he asserts also telling that people may read

Chuang Tzu as literature, and that his mysticism will charm some:

"He was a humorist with a wild and rather luxuriant fantasy, [a flair] for

[superb] exaggeration and for the big. One should therefore read him as

one would a humorist writer knowing that he is frivolous when he is

profound and profound when he is frivolous." [Wic 73, 75]

Lin Yutang goes on to tell that some of the best pieces of Chuangtse are outside the

first seven chapters, and believes various anecdotes have been freely added by later

generations into the very loose structure of the chapters.

Yutang chose eleven chapters for his work, including all but one of the first best

seven chapters. With one minor exception, these chapters are translated complete. He

informs that

The philosophically most important are the chapters on "Levelling All

Things" and "Autumn Floods." The chapters, "Joined Toes," "Horses'

Hooves," "Opening Trunks" and "Tolerance" belong in one group with the

main theme of protest against civilization. The most eloquent protest is

contained in "Opening Trunks," while the most characteristically Taoistic

is the chapter on "Tolerance." The most mystic and deeply religious piece

is "The Great Supreme." The most beautifully written is "Autumn Floods."

The queerest is the chapter on "Deformities" (a typically "romanticist"

theme). The most delightful is probably "Horses' Hooves," and the most

fantastic is the first chapter, "A Happy Excursion."

Lin Yutang based his translation on that of Herbert A. Giles, telling, "I owe a great

debt to my predecessor."

The translation is found in Lin Yutang's The Wisdom of China and India. (New

York: Random House, 1942, p. 62591) and his The Wisdom of China first

published by Michael Joseph Ltd in 1944 (p. 73143). The whole former book is

online.

More on Chuangtzu

There is just meagre information about Chuangtzu (also: Chuang Tzu, Chuang Tze,

Zhuangzi). He is thought to have been a native of the state of Meng. His personal name

was Chou. As a minor official at Ch'iyüan in his home state, he lived during the reign

of Prince Wei of Ch'u (d. 327 BC). If so, he lived at the same time as the philosopher

Mencius too.

Chuangtzu is best known through the book we have selected chapters from. It has

been generally agreed that the first seven chapters of it, called the "inner books," are

for the most part genuine.

The book's basic attitude may be 'enlightened fatalism', which may not suit anyone

yet sometimes he seems to transcend (go beyond) that.

The Ignorant Simpleton or Man of Sung

Chuangtzu's brand of Taoism differs in some ways from what is expounded in the Tao

Te Ching of Laotzu, tells Burton Watson. He also shows that Chuangtzu's branch of

the Taoist school is marked by the settings of the state of Sung and interestingly, the

"man of Sung" appears in the literature of late Chou (conquerors) as the ignorant

simpleton.

However, men of Sung might have been severely tied up in networks of status, with

very little personal freedom: In the later Sung state of China (9601279 AD), family

relations determined social status locally and in the capital. Social position and status

shaped personal relationships, and the other way round, states Beverly J. Bossler. [Co

8, 2; Bjb]

Others have praised the art of the man of Sung: Some of Chuangtzu's whirling

words might hint at some true Way that had been found and handed over. The Huai

nan Tzu , an eclectic work from the court of Liu An (d. 122 BC), the king of Hainan,

includes many excerpts from the Chuangtzu with the highest praise for the teachings

of the Taoist school of thinking. [Co 6, 9]

Astounding Insights

The dominant schools of thought, the Legalists, the Taoists, and the Confucians, were

established from the sixth to the fourth centuries BC. The latestcomers, the Legalists,

believed in maximal power to the state, and advised rulers how to increase that power.

The Confucians differed little from the Legalists in actual practice. And the most

interesting of the Chinese political philosophers were the Taoists. They believed in

virtually no interference by the state in economy or society.

Lao Tzu worked out the view that the individual and his happiness was the key unit

of society. Government, in sum, must be properly limited. Lao Tzu, after referring to

the common experience of mankind, came to his penetrating conclusion: "The more

artificial taboos and restrictions there are in the world, the more the people are

impoverished . . . The more that laws and regulations are given prominence, the more

thieves and robbers there will be."

The worst of government interventions, according to Lao Tzu, was heavy taxation

and war. The wisest course is to keep the government simple and inactive. Lao Tzu

counseled the now familiar Taoist path of withdrawal or retreat.

In comparison, the highly learned Chuang Tzu, an influential stylist who wrote in

allegorical parables, was an anarchist or a kind. When Chuang Tzu's fame had spread

far and wide throughout China, King Wei of the Ch'u kingdom sent an emissary to

Chuang Tzu bearing great gifts and urging him to become the king's chief minister of

state. Chuang Tzu's rejected the king's offer with one of the great declarations in

history on the virtues of the private life:

A thousand ounces of gold is indeed a great reward, and the office of

chief minister is truly an elevated position. But have you, sir, not seen the

sacrificial ox awaiting the sacrifices at the royal shrine of state? It is well

cared for and fed for a few years, caparisoned with rich brocades, so

that it will be ready to be led into the Great Temple. At that moment,

even though it would gladly change places with any solitary pig, can it do

so? So, quick and be off with you! Don't sully me. I would rather roam

and idle about in a muddy ditch, at my awn amusement, than to be put

under the restraints that the ruler would impose. I will never take any

official service, and thereby I will [be free] to satisfy my own purposes.

If rulers were to establish rites and laws to govern the people, "it would indeed be no

different from stretching the short legs of the duck and trimming off the long legs of the

heron" or "haltering a horse." Such rules would not only be of no benefit, but would

work great harm. In short, Chuang Tzu concluded, the world "does simply not need

governing; in fact it should not be governed."

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