SOURCE: "Translator's Preface," in Ch'ung-Hu-Ch'en-Ching or The Treatise of the Transcendent Master of the Void, translated by Leon Wieger, Llanerch Publishers, 1992, pp. 7-9.

In the following excerpt, Bryce introduces the Book of Lieh Tzu by briefly recounting what is known of the author's life and teaching. He specifically warns against taking the characters presented in the work as realistic portrayals of historical figures.

Whereas the Tao-te-ching of Lao-tzu, the most famous of the Taoist (or Daoist) writings, is concise to the point of being difficult to understand, the book of Lieh-tzu proceeds at a more leisurely pace with many points explained by means of anecdotes.

Lieh-tzu, Master Lieh, from the name Lieh-yü-k'ou, lived some forty years in obscurity and poverty in the Principality of Cheng. He was driven away by famine in 398 B.C. At that time his disciples could have written down the substance of his...