Chuang-Tzu: Inner Chapters [Paperback]

HISTORY OF BOOK TITLED: ZHUANGZI

The present version of the ancient Taoist book on philosophy titled Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi) was edited by Kuo Hsiang around 300 CE. He edited an earlier version consisting of 52 sections down to 33 sections, the omitted 19 sections were considered inferior and of a spurious nature. The 33 sections were divided into the inner chapters (seven sections), outer chapters (15 sections) and miscellaneous chapters (11 sections.).

The inner chapters the Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu) are considered to be the most authentic chapters and most likely to have been written by Zhuangzi or at least written by a brilliant and keen mind. (The inner chapters probably date to around the second century BCE.) The inner chapters contain all the important ideas and are consistently brilliant. The outer and miscellaneous chapters are more uneven and sometimes contain excellent pieces of philosophical writing and others times are the work of a feeble scribbler--to quote the famous Chinese translator Arthur Waley.

QUALITY and READABILITY of GRAHAM'S TRANSLATION

From the above, one can see why the late sinologist Angus Graham wisely chose to only translate the inner chapters of Zhuangzi. However, at least two things are essential for a good translation, capturing the meaning and getting the flow. If a translation sounds awkward or is not otherwise enjoyable to read it is not a successful translation.

This translation is more suitable for a scholar as it is uses terminology that is technically precise, but arcane and awkward in many places. The style of this translation is very academic. It is written by a scholar who appears to subscribe to the notion that any word that is close enough in meaning is the word to use regardless of how it sounds to the reader or what images it invokes in the reader's mind. If one has handy a good English dictionary and is willing to read Graham's end notes the meaning will become clear, but this kind of reading is not an enjoyable experience as the wit, energy and spirit of Chuang Tzu is diminished by this style of translation.

The more I translate Chuang Tzu, the less I like Graham's translation. His translations often significantly differ from Watson's and others translators. He makes many unusual translation choices.

I recommend that unless you are writing an academic paper on Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi), are a philologist, or are taking a class on Chinese philosophy to skip this translation. (Note, Angus Graham also wrote a second book detailing his translation notes for this book. Again this is only suitable for a scholar, not for the non academic.)

ALTERNATE AVAILABLE TRANSLATIONS

Burton Watson's translation is superior in capturing the exuberance of Chuang Tzu. The few "mistakes" Watson makes are inconsequential as he truly captures the essential meaning and the spirit and the flow of the writing. I highly recommend Burton Watson's translation in either his book: The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu (a full translation) or his smaller paperback: Chuang Tzu--Basic Writings. (This last is a subset of the most interesting and best written parts of Chuang Tzu, and it includes all the inner chapters.)

If one wants a more poetic translation suitable for random daily study or meditation then one should seriously consider Thomas Merton's translation of selected passages of Chuang Tzu. They are very well done. And despite the fact that Thomas Merton did not know Chinese, pretty faithful to the original text. The only drawback to his book--and this is its strength as well--is that the selections tends to be short and sometimes he omits passages that are logically and thematically connected and hence probably should not have been omitted. With few exceptions Thomas Merton's selections are the cream of Chuang Tzu. Very occasionally, Merton adds in something that is not in the original Chinese, but he does it so skillfully that it reads like something that Chuang Tzu could and even should have written.

I have read (and am inclined to agree) that Arthur Waley's selected translations of Chuang Tzu in his book: Three Ways of Thought are the best written, however Waley only translated some of Chuang Tzu.

COMPARISON BETWEEN GRAHAM'S and WATSON'S TRANSLATION

The late Angus Graham was a respected sinologist, so it is surprising that his translation is flawed, both in its readability and in my opinion in the accuracy of the translation itself. Compare Graham's translation of chapter three, section three, with Burton Watson's.

Graham's

My life flows between confines, but knowledge has no confines. If we use the confined to follow the unconfined, there is danger that the flow will cease; and when it ceases, to exercise knowledge is purest danger.
...
Three years more and I never saw an ox as a whole. Nowadays, I am in touch through the daemonic in me, and do not look with the eye. With the senses I know where to stop, the daemonic I desire to run its course. I rely on Heaven's structuring, cleave along the main seams, let myself be guided by the cavities, go by what is inherently so.

Watson's

Your life has a limit but knowledge has none. If you use what is limited to pursue what has no limit, you will be in danger. If you understand this and still strive for knowledge, you will be in danger for certain!
...
After three years I no longer saw the whole ox. And now---now I go at it by spirit and don't look with my eyes. Perception and understanding have come to a stop and spirit moves where it wants. I go along with the natural makeup, strike in the big hollows, guide the knife through the big openings, and follow things as they are.

Chuang Tzu is the wisest, wittiest, and easiest-to-read of all philosophical writers, and also the greatest. And the question that A. C. Graham's 'Chuang-Tzu - The Inner Chapters' raises in an acute form is this: Do you want to read Chuang Tzu himself? Or do you want to study what a scholarly mind thinks about him, and in the process have your mind carefully adjusted so that you will end up thinking in the same way too?

In other words, are you a mature and sensible person with an enquiring mind, who for some reason or other has become interested in China's most brilliant philosophical rascal - one who would have let out a howl of laughter if shown the present book? Or are you a student being run through society's ideological mill, and one needing to grub up on the history of Chinese philosophy and Chuang Tzu's relation to the Mohists and Logicians and other such extraneous stuff, a mill for whom Chuang Tzu is just another 'philosopher' (a word that hardly describes him since he's something much bigger)?

If you are one of the latter, perhaps Graham, who is one of the world's foremost Sinologists and a brilliant translator, is the man for you. So far as Graham is concerned, and many agree, most of the received text of Chuang Tzu wasn't written by Chuang Tzu at all. He feels that only the first seven chapters, the 'Inner Chapters,' are Chuang Tzu's own work, the other chapters being a collection of pieces written by others, and in his edition has rearranged the text to bring it into line with his thesis.

Consequently his book falls into six parts: 1. Introduction; 2. The Inner Chapters and related passages; 3. A 'School of Chuang-tzu' selection; 4. The essays of the Primitivists; 5. The Yangist miscellany; 6. The Syncretist writings.

The 40-page Introduction is both detailed and informative. Each of the remaining six parts has its own introductory note, and is annotated with other long notes. The book is rounded out with a List of Chinese Characters (sinographs) and an Index. All in all, then, this is a thorough and scholarly production in which Graham presents a very persuasive and convincing case for his complex rearrangement of Chuang Tzu's text, and one backed up by lots of impeccably logical argument.

So why did I say it would have made Chuang Tzu howl with laughter? Well, because Graham's rationalist approach violates the whole spirit of Chuang Tzu, a man who had seen through the folly of the overemphasis on reason. Graham founds himself squarely in reason, while failing to note that reason can never really arrive at the truth. Chuang Tzu, in contrast, and although he was certainly capable of a reasonable use of reason, was more a bubbling and sparkling fountain of joyous insights, brilliant insights into the nature of man and woman and reality, and he doesn't need any commentators. All you need to read him is a mind of your own.

Confronted by the kind of mindset represented by Graham, we should never forget what Lu Chi (+ 754-805) reminds us of in his brilliant 'Essay on Literature,' the 'Wen fu,' when he tells us that: 'Theses are convincing - but deceptive...' I can just see Chuang Tzu smiling and nodding his head in approval.

So if you are a student, and if you need a heavily annotated scholarly (though rearranged) translation because you have to grub up for an exam on Chinese Philosophy, Graham's edition can certainly be recommended. Others, however, who may be approaching Chuang Tzu for the first time, would be wiser to look for something less cluttered, something that allows them more immediate access to this scintillating writer without the distractions of a mass of extraneous matter. Two uncluttered and excellent translations that can be strongly recommended are those of Lin Yutang and Burton Watson.

And for the simplest and easiest approach of all to Chuang Tzu there is Thomas Merton's quite brilliant reworking and abridgement, 'The Way of Chuang Tzu.' Merton, who was not a scholar of Chinese, may not have given us Chuang Tzu's actual words in his selection of these ironic, witty, and sophisticated stories. But as a man of insight he's succeeded wonderfully in capturing the spirit of the old rascal.

Purists may scowl, but I think I spot Chuang Tzu looking down from his dragon as it flaps him across the heavens, and beaming and nodding in approval of Merton too.

This is one of the best translations of the writings attributed to the brilliant Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu. Although less well known outside of China than "Lao Tzu," the reputed author of the _Tao Te Ching_, Chuang Tzu, who lived in the 4th century B.C., is both one of history's greatest anti-rationalist philosophers and one of the best prose stylist of world literature. Among the most famous (and moving) passages in his eponymous work is the story of how Chuang Tzu (whose full name is Chuang Chou) dreamed he was a butterfly, and, upon awakening, "does not know whether he is Chou who dreams he is a butterfly or a butterfly who dreams he is Chou."

Graham gives a complete translation of the "Inner Chapters," which are regarded by many scholars as the authentic works of Chuang Tzu, and also gives selections from later Taoist works, attributed to Chuang Tzu (but probably from other philosophers). Graham's interpretive Introduction (with sections on such tasty topics as "Rejection of Logic" and "Death and Mutilation") is itself one of the classic interpretations of Chuang Tzu's philosophy.

Readers familiar with the _Chuang Tzu_ from other translations will notice that Graham has rearranged some sections of the text. This is not mere whim on Graham's part, but part of his thoughtful view that parts of the text have been moved from their original locations due to textual corruption as the book was recopied by generations of scribes.

As you can see, this book is currently out of print (which is a testament to both the poor taste of much of the book-buying public, and to the near-sightedness of publishers). I sincerely hope that some publisher will pick up the rights to this outstanding translation.

Other excellent translations of the _Chuang Tzu_ include those by Burton Watson, _Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings_, and Victor Mair, _Wandering on the Way_. Two fine collections of interpretive essays on Chuang Tzu's thought are Paul Kjellberg and Philip J. Ivanhoe, eds., _Essays on Skepticism, Relativism, and Ethics in the Zhuangzi_, and Victor Mair, ed., _Experimental Essays on Chuang-tzu_.