SOURCE: Allinson, Robert E. “Early Literary Forms of Self-Transformation in the Chuang-Tzu.” Tamkang Review 17, no. 2 (winter 1986): 97-108.

In the following essay, Allinson argues that the Chuang Tzu uses literary methods rather than discursive or argumentative ones in preparing the reader for its philosophical message of self-transformation.

Already in chapter one of the Chuang-tzu we can discover literary devices which illustrate that the theme of the Chuang-tzu as a whole will be that of self-transformation. All too often, such literary devices are brushed aside in efforts to get at the “philosophical meat” of the text. As a result, the messages contained in the myths and literary vignettes are ignored. I would like to focus on a selection of literary forms taken from chapter one of the Chuang-tzu for the purpose of showing how the theme of self-transformation is present from the very beginning of the work.

I would like...