Gems of Chinese Literature/Chuang Tzŭ-The Perfect Man

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Gems of Chinese Literature
translated by Herbert Allen Giles

The Perfect Man by Chuang Tzŭ

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CHUANG TZŬ.

4th century b.c.

[A most original thinker, of whom the Chinese nation might well be proud. Yet his writings are tabooed as heterodox, and are very widely unread, more perhaps on account of the extreme obscurity of the text than because they are under the ban of the Confucianists. What little is known of Chuang Tzŭ's life may be gathered from some of the extracts given. He is generally regarded as an advanced exponent of the doctrines of Lao Tzŭ. So late as the 4th century a.d., the work of Chuang Tzŭ appears to have run to fifty-three chapters. Of these, only thirty-three now remain; and several of them are undoubtedly spurious, while into various other chapters, spurious passages have been inserted.]

1518636Gems of Chinese Literature — The Perfect ManHerbert Allen GilesChuang Tzŭ

The perfect man is like a spirit. Were the ocean to be scorched up, he would not be hot. Were the Milky Way to be fast frozen, he would not feel cold. Of thunder which rives mountains, of wind which lashes the sea, he is not afraid; and thus, charioted on the clouds of heaven, or riding on the sun and moon, he journeys beyond the limits of mortality. Exempt from the changes of life and death, how much more is he beyond the reach of physical injury. The perfect man can walk under water without difficulty; he can touch fire without being burnt.^[1]

↑ Compare the foolish taunts of Reid and Beattie, who asked Bishop Berkeley why “he did not run his head against a post, walk over precipices, etc.; as, in accordance with his theory, no pain, no broken limbs could result.”―Lewes' Hist. of Philos. II., p. 287.

[1] Compare the foolish taunts of Reid and Beattie, who asked Bishop Berkeley why “he did not run his head against a post, walk over precipices, etc.; as, in accordance with his theory, no pain, no broken limbs could result.”―Lewes' Hist. of Philos. II., p. 287.

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