DPS56A - The Way of Zhuangzi (3 Units)
Prerequisites
Textbook: Chuang Tzu - The Inner Chapters translated by David Hinton
9 week course
“Chuang Tzu is not concerned with words and formulas about reality, but with the direct existential grasp of reality in itself. Such a grasp is necessarily obscure and does not lend itself to abstract analysis. It can be presented in a parable, a fable, or a funny story about a conversation between two philosophers. … In any event, the “way” of Chuang Tzu is mysterious because it is so simple that it can get along without being a way at all.” - Thomas Merton, The Way of Chuang Tzu
Get into the Daoist flavor of Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi). It was the seed of Buddhism from India planted in Taoist soil in China that grew into the garden of Zen. Not only does Chuang Tzu set an expanded, humorous tone for personal existential realization, but often his anecdotal, rascal-sage approach can return us to the Dao more quickly and effortlessly than some of the other Daoist texts such as the Yijing (I Ching), Daodejing (Tao Te Ching) or The Secret of the Golden Flower. But--can we ever really depart from the Dao? Let's ask Chuang Tzu and see what he tells us.