Could we find a judge to settle the argument? But if that judge takes one side, who’s to judge whether that judge is right? Another judge? And then how do we judge whether that second judge is right? How can we determine which of these thinkers is right, Zhuangzi asks.

This period in Chinese history was known for its “Hundred Schools of Thought.” Confucians, Mohists, and other thinkers contended over how to organize society.

Traditional modes of thought seem inadequate and people start searching for new answers. Hard times often make for great philosophy. This was a time of conflict and social upheaval. Zhuangzi lived during the Warring States Period of the Eastern Zhou dynasty. Does the Zhuangzi also help us cope with these things? The Hundred Schools of ThoughtĪ bit of context helps. After all, many of the things we get upset about plausibly don’t balance out at the end of the day. We insist on having things our way when really it makes no difference.īut that can’t be the whole story. We, too, behave like the monkeys sometimes. Either way, they get seven nuts by the end of the day. The most obvious lesson from the story of the monkeys is that the monkeys are making a fuss over nothing. Zhuangzi has the serene vision of a mystic and the lively wit of an inveterate jokester. But a lively philosophical personality shines through the text. We don’t know much about him and it’s unlikely that all the material in the Zhuangzi comes from him. The book of Zhuangzi is named after a sage of the same name (“Zhuangzi” means “Master Zhuang”) who lived in the 4th century BCE. (Note: “Zhuangzi” is sometimes spelled “Chuang Tzu” and “Daoism” is sometimes spelled “Taoism.” These differences come from two different systems for transliterating Chinese characters.) If you do, you risk being the rigid thinker at the butt of the Zhuangzi’s multi-faceted humour. But don’t suppose its meaning is straightforward. It uses gentle humour to poke fun at rigid ways of thinking. This story is typical of the Zhuangzi, a Daoist classic from China in the 3rd century BCE. He offers the monkeys four in the morning and three in the evening. A monkey trainer tells his monkeys that he will give them three nuts in the morning and four in the evening.

The parables of chuang tzu