Zhuangzi

Zhuangzi (Chuang Tsu or Chuang-Tzo; 377?–286 B.C.), Chinese scholar and Taoist philosopher, to whom the book Zhuangzi, the first Chinese book dealing only with spiritual matters, is attributed. Zhuangzi was a minor official who several times rejected public office. He advocated a life of simplicity, submissive to and at one with nature, and renounced government, science, and even education as of no help in understanding that unity. The Zhuangzi, an interpretation of the Tao, has as its primary theme unending and inevitable change. The work was important in the development of Zen Buddhism.

See also: Taoism.