Introduction and Notes for a Complete Translation of the Chuang Tzu

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Victor H. Mair, "Introduction and Notes for a Complete Translation of the Chuang Tor" Sino-Platonic Papers, 48 (September, 1994) types of pseudonyms are also often translated if their meaning is sufficiently transparent, even for historical figures, since they were often chosen by individuals to express an aspect of their personality that they wished to emphasize. A substantial proportion of this work was completed during the year (199 1 - 1992) when I was a fellow at the National Humanities Center. The entire staff of the Center was unfailingly helpful to me in facilitating the research that went into the making of this book. I wish particularly to express my gratitude to Karen Carroll and Linda Morgan for typing the entire manuscript from a messy handwritten first draft. Linda Morgan also went far beyond the call of duty to prepare the final typed version of these notes two years after 1 departed from the National Humanities Center. I am enormously thankful to her for this extra assistance. Leave at the National Humanities Center was supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and by the Mellon Foundation. I am grateful to both of these organizations for their generous assistance. I also wish to express my appreciation to Denis Mair and Jing Wang for reading over the complete translation against the original Chinese text to ensure that nothing was inadvertently omitted. In the complicated process of repeated electronic editing that is now an essential part of American book publishing, it is easy for words, lines, and even whole paragraphs to become deleted or changed in bizarre ways. Thus, while electronic text processing makes publishing easier for typesetters, editors, and even authors (in some ways), it also requires constant checking of entire drafts to prevent things from disappearing or being transformed beyond recognition. I can only hope that such has not been the case with my translation of the Chuang Tm and these notes!
Victor H. Mair, "Introduction and Notes for a Complete Translation of the Chuang Tm" Sino-Platonic Papers, 48 (September, 1994) Introduction The Historical Context The core of the Chmg Tm was probably originally composed in the latter half of the fourth century B.C.E., but the text as a whole was not completed until toward the end of the second century B.C.E. To understand the nature of its compilation, we need to become familiar with the historical background and intellectual currents of the time during which the book came into being. The Chou dynasty (circa 1 1 1 1-255 B.C.E.) was founded on feudalist principles that worked fairly well for a little over four centuries. During the Spring and Autumn period (771-476 B.C.E.), however, the authority of the Chou kings began to be undermined. While the Chou dynasty may not yet have broken up entirely, it was divided into spheres of influence controlled by a dozen or so small feudal duchies. Indeed, some historians maintain that after 771 there was no longer an effective Chou dynasty of which to speak. Late in this period, the shih ("retainer; knight") arose as an important new intellectual force in China. Gradually, they evolved from being a warrior class to an influential group of scholars and political theorists who actively sought to alter the policies of the various dukes. Confucius is a good example of one such knight-scholar. Many of China's most prominent early thinkers came from this class, one of the four main classes of Chinese society during the latter half of the Chou, the other three being farmers, artisans, and merchants. The Spring and Autumn period was followed by the Waning States period, also called the period of the Contending Kingdoms (475-22 1 B.C.E.). The deterioration of the Chou dynasty continued apace with the imperial house being reduced to one of mere symbolic status. Real power was vested in the hands of the kings of the increasingly independent states who vied for hegemony. The number of significant states during this period was reduced to only half a dozen (see map on p. lv of Wandering on the Way). Among themselves, they continually struggled for supremacy. Out of this constant conflict, two of the warring kingdoms, Ch'in in the far northwest and Ch'u in the south, finally emerged as the key powers. In 223 B.C.E., Ch'in defeated Ch'u and captured the heartland of China. A couple of years after that, Ch'in (whence the name China) established the first unified Chinese empire, the basic bureaucratic structure of which lasted until 19 1 1, though undergoing countless rebellions and dynastic changes throughout
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