Zhuangzi

The Daoist masterpiece of stories and paradoxes, teaching freedom through the tale of the butterfly's dream.

Core Characteristics

Named for the 4th-century BC philosopher Zhuang Zhou, with chapters of disputably different dates and hands.
Teaches by anecdote, not argument: the useless tree, the cook's effortless cleaver, the happiness of fish.
Its humour and scepticism made it the counterweight to Confucian solemnity for two millennia.