SOURCE: Wu Kuang, Ming. “Trying without Trying: Toward a Taoist Phenomenology of Truth.” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 8, no. 2 (June 1981): 143-66.

In the following essay, Wu Kuang explores the philosophical tension Chuang Tzu creates when he formulates the conflict between trying-not-to-try and not-trying-to-try.

Nothing defies classification as does the thought of Chuang Tzu. Elements of joy and suffering, magic and politics, buffoonery and austerity, poetry and science, and above all, jokes, philosophy and ignorance, all consort together in symbiotic bliss. His words are obviously inspired, yet they engage the reader as no aphorisms of irresponsible genius do. Chuang Tzu does not merely entertain; he haunts and provokes an intimate profundity of everyday living.

Unfortunately, as often is with inspired thought, Chuang Tzu usually enthrals and baffles. The imperfect infancy and simple slumber are lauded as the zenith of enlightenment. The criminal is the saint, and Confucius, the crippler of...