Chuang Tsu: Inner Chapters is a companion volume to Gia-fu Feng andJane Englishs translation of Tao Te Ching, which has enjoyed great success since its publication in 1972. This is the mass market trade version of the 2014 photograph edition.
Very little is known about Chuang Tsu, and that little is inextricably woven into legend. It is said that he was a contemporary of Mencius, an official in the Lacquer Garden of Meng in Honan Province around the 4th century B.C. Chuang Tsu was to Lao Tsu as Saint Paul was to Jesus and Plato to Socrates; he was a captivating philosopher who expanded Lao Tsus teachings. While the other philosophers were busying themselves with the practical matters of government and rules of conduct, Chuang Tsu transcended thewhang cheng, the illusory dust of the worldthus anticipating Zen Buddhisms emphasis on a state of emptiness or ego transcendence. With humor, imagery, and fantasy, he captures the depth of Chinese thinking. The seven Inner Chapters presented in this translation are accepted by scholars as being definitely the work of Chuang Tsu.
This is an updated version of the translation of Chuang Tsu: Inner Chapters that was originally published in 1974; it includes an introduction by Tai Ji master Chungliang Al Huang, who has been highly successful in bringing to the West the wisdom of the East by teaching Tai Ji, calligraphy, and the Chinese classics through his Living Tao Foundation.
Jane English, whose photographs form an integral part of the 2014 trade edition of this book, was born in Boston in 1942. She holds a bachelor's degree from Mount Holyoke College and received her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin in experimental high-energy particle physics in 1970. Her other works include Different Doorway: Adventures of a Caesarean Born, Fingers Pointing to the Moon and The Ceremony Cards. www.eheart.com Gia-fu Feng was born in 1919 in the ancient city of Suzhou. He grew up in Shanghai and came to the United States in 1947. He taught at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California and founded Stillpoint Foundation, a Taoist community in California and then Colorado, where he lived until his death in 1985.
