ZHUANGZI - WANG, Xianqian (ed.).

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Zhuangzi ji jie ("The Works of Master Zhuang with Critical Commentary"). An uncommon late-Qing lithographed edition of one of the most widely read philosophical texts in any language, published by Shanghai's Swept Leaves Studio (Saoye shanfang) and edited by the distinguished literatus Wang Xianqian. The Zhuangzi, a foundational Taoist text alongside the Dao De Jing, is best known for the parable of the butterfly dream, an uncannily direct meditation on the nature of existence.The writings of Zhuangzi (c.369-286) "bear the stamp of a brilliant and original mind" (Watson, p.3) that has since entertained, confounded, and inspired in equal measure. The butterfly dream epitomises Zhuangzi's departure from the ordered, delineated worldview of Confucianism: "Once upon a time, I, Chuang Tzu [Zhuangzi], dreamt that I was a butterfly, flitting around and enjoying myself. I had no idea I was Chuang Tzu. Then suddenly I woke up and was Chuang Tzu again. But I could not tell, had I been Chuang Tzu dreaming I was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming I was now Chuang Tzu? However, there must be some sort of difference between Chuang Tzu and a butterfly! We call this the transformation of things" (Palmer).Where Zhuangzi can be contemplative, he can also be bitingly satirical, as represented in another famous passage which imagines Confucius being denounced by a robber: "You invent speeches and babble away, appealing without ground to [the examples of] Wen and Wu.... The more you talk, the m

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