SOURCE: Cook, Scott. “Zhuang Zi and His Carving of the Confucian Ox.” Philosophy East and West: A Quarterly of Asian and Comparative Thought 47, no. 4 (October 1997): 521-52.

In the following essay, Cook examines the differences and similarities in the works of Chuang Tzu and Confucius.

In an article dated to 1944, Guo Moruo puts forth the unusual conjecture that Zhuang Zi (Zhuang Zhou, ca. 365-ca. 285 b.c.) may originally have been a student of the Yan Hui (Yan Yuan, 521-481 b.c.) branch of Ruism.¹ As Guo notes, Yan is a recurring figure throughout the Zhuang Zi, especially in the “inner chapters,” and in nearly all cases is made either to speak important bits of wisdom himself, or else to serve as the recipient for edifying instruction from his master, Kong Zi (Confucius, 551-479 b.c.).² The fact that the Lun Yu describes Yan Hui as one who “did not...