The Way of Chuang Tzu

by Thomas Merton and Merton Thomas

Book Overview

Working from existing translations, Thomas Merton composed a series of his own versions of the classic sayings of Chuang Tzu, the most spiritual of Chinese philosophers. Chuang Tzu, who wrote in the fourth and third centuries B.C., is the chief authentic historical spokesperson for Taoism and its founder Lao Tzu (a legendary character known largely through Chuang Tzu's writings). Indeed it was because of Chuang Tzu and the other Taoist sages that...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811218511
• ISBN13: 9780811218511
• Release Date: March 2010
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

More wise than others you can imagine

If you like the Tao Te Ching, you will love this book. The work of Chuang Tzu continues in the tradition of the Tao, and also dates back over 2,300 years. So this work has survived the test of time. This book is a wisdom classic. Some aspects I love even more than the Tao Te Ching. There are great stories about and by Chuang Tzu, and even Lao Tzu. You sense the feisty nature of Chuang Tzu. I particularly love the story The Joy of Fishes, which I gave to a few people in the office. They in turn copied it and distributed it to friends. Judge for yourself. Chuang Tzu and Huih Tzu were crossing Hao river by the dam. Chuang said "See how the free the fishes leap and dart, that is their happiness." Hui replied "Since you are not a fish, how do you know what makes fishes happy?" Chuang said "Since you are not I, how can you possibly know that I do not know what makes fishes happy?" Hui argued " If I, not being you, cannot know what you know, It follows that you not being a fish cannot know what they know." Chuang said "Wait a minute! Let us get back to the original question. What you asked me was 'How do you know what makes fishes happy? From the term of your question you evidently know that I know what makes fishes happy." "I know the joy of fishes in the river Through my own joy as I walk along the bank." The Owl and The Phoenix is a short but extremely effective story. There is a story about a special monkey. Some of these stories have twists you would not predict. The best story, I think is the Inner Laws, which seems to concentrate a few concepts from the Tao into a single powerful statement. As you read this book, if you are like me, you feel as if you are in a darkened room, and you flick the light switch on. Instead of being in a darkened room, you are in a stadium, and as you watch you see all these lights coming on providing a much greater degree of light than you imagined possible. That said, there are portions of this book I find difficult to understand, and I need to give these a little more thought. The other vignettes of wisdom are beyond excellent and worthy of the Tao.

More wise than others you can imagine

If you like the Tao Te Ching, you will love this book. The work of Chuang Tzu continues in the tradition of the Tao, and also dates back over 2,300 years. So this work has survived the test of time. This book is a wisdom classic. Some aspects I love even more than the Tao Te Ching. There are great stories about and by Chuang Tzu, and even Lao Tzu. You sense the feisty nature of Chuang Tzu. I particularly love the story The Joy of Fishes, which I gave to a few people in the office. They in turn copied it and distributed it to friends. Judge for yourself. Chuang Tzu and Huih Tzu were crossing Hao river by the dam. Chuang said "See how the free the fishes leap and dart, that is their happiness." Hui replied "Since you are not a fish, how do you know what makes fishes happy?" Chuang said "Since you are not I, how can you possibly know that I do not know what makes fishes happy?" Hui argued " If I, not being you, cannot know what you know, It follows that you not being a fish cannot know what they know." Chuang said "Wait a minute! Let us get back to the original question. What you asked me was 'How do you know what makes fishes happy? From the term of your question you evidently know that I know what makes fishes happy." "I know the joy of fishes in the river Through my own joy as I walk along the bank." The Owl and The Phoenix is a short but extremely effective story. There is a story about a special monkey. Some of these stories have twists you would not predict. The best story, I think is the Inner Laws, which seems to concentrate a few concepts from the Tao into a single powerful statement. As you read this book, if you are like me, you feel as if you are in a darkened room, and you flick the light switch on. Instead of being in a darkened room, you are in a stadium, and as you watch you see all these lights coming on providing a much greater degree of light than you imagined possible. That said, there are portions of this book I find difficult to understand, and I need to give these a little more thought. The other vignettes of wisdom are beyond excellent and worthy of the Tao. If you were to find this review helpful, please click yes.

The Way of Thomas Merton

~I used this as a text in a highschool class on meditation. I chose it after looking at all the translations I could get my hands on (my Chinese, alas! is not yet up to reading the original.) Other translations were sometimes more literal and accurate, and some did a better job of conveying Chuang's brilliant word-play, but the overall impression they left of Chuang was either of a pedant (the older translations) or a sneering, bitter stand-up comic (the newer ones). This is much more deeply untrue to Chuang-Tzu than any passing inaccuracy or missed word-play could ever be. There is only one way in which Merton is more qualified than Chuang's other interpreters: he, like Chuang, was a serious, long-time contemplative, a person who spent hours a day at meditation and prayer. But this qualification seems to me to have trumped all others. Merton and Chuang were brothers: no matter that they were two millenia and half a world apart. Somewhere right now they are walking together at a river's edge, watching the fish leap."I know the joy of fishes In the river Through my own joy, as I go walking Along the same river"My students, by the way -- rather to my surprise -- loved this book as much as I did.

The perfect companion to the _Tao Te Ching_.

This little book is the perfect companion to Lao-Tzu's _Tao Te Ching_. Thomas Merton assembled it with admirable spiritual insight and sensitivity. Here is the path of the ancient sages. It is not a "how to" manual, for, "He who knows does not speak, and he who speaks does not know." And yet, this book somehow indirectly gives you a sense of what it is to be centered in the Tao. You get a fleeting sense of what it is like to live a life of such centerness and simplicity that it is difficult to tell where your own consciousness ends and the currents of the cosmos begin. This is the state of Wu Wei, effortless action in complete resonance with the Tao. I suppose that what I found so refreshing during this rereading was the confirmation that men of wealth, station, and learning are not to be admired. They are the least enlightened of men. Indeed, the true man of Tao will live humble in simplicity and obscurity- and yet such beings are the true wellsprings of cosmic harmony between heaven and earth....

An inspiring look at one of the wellsprings of Taoism.

'The Way of Chuang Tzu' was written from previous translations of Chuang Tzu's writings, and as such may seem to have little to recommend it. In fact, Thomas Merton's deep spirituality and obvious love of Asian culture bring these writings alive. Direct translations from the Chinese are often spiritless and confusing, or at best unintentionally humorous. Merton's inspirational writings make it clear why this work has lasted for 2000 years. For a similar treatment of the Tao Te Ching, read Stephen Mitchell's translation.