5/27/2023 0 Comments The parables of chuang tzu![]() ![]() ![]() In this post, I’ve selected four parables of craft from the Zhuangzi. I find these passages particularly relevant to the creative practice, though of course they are metaphors that can lend their meaning to many aspects of life. ![]() Zhuangzi likes to find transcendent principles in humble places, and many of the stories talk about the special skills of servants and artisans. It argues for radical acceptance of the world, suggesting that we should give up complaining and striving, and instead seek to discover our oneness with the mysterious forces that make and move the world. It mocks the Confucian impulse to reform the world as well as the logician’s claims to pure reason (even though it often puts its arguments in the mouth of Confucius and other traditional sages). Much of the material is satirical or fantastical, using wild imagery, odd turns of phrase, and absurdity to crack conventional and complacent ways of thinking. Zhuangzi is a collection of parables and philosophical dialogues on Daoist themes, dating to the third or fourth century BCE, and attributed to a writer named Zhuang or Zhuangzi or Chuang Tzu. ![]()
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