Commentary on the Zhuangzi

Introduction

Around 300 Guo Xiang edited the Zhuangzi, reducing a version of 52 chapters to the 33 still read today, divided into “inner”, “outer” and “miscellaneous” chapters, and wrote a commentary on it. Unlike Wang Bi, he denies that non-being can produce anything: each thing is “so of itself” (ziran) and transforms on its own, and contentment lies in fulfilling one’s own nature, whether great or small. This gives his reading a more accommodating, socially conservative tone than the text itself. Early sources accused him of taking over much of an earlier commentary by Xiang Xiu; how much of the work is his own remains disputed.

Connections

Builds on

• Zhuangzic. 290 BCE · Zhuangzi

Criticizes

• Commentary on the Laozic. 245 · Wang Bi