Chuang-Tzu for Spiritual Transformation

Professor Robert E. Allinson is a member of the Graduate Faculty and the Department of Philosophy at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is editor of Understanding the Chinese Mind: The Philosophical Roots.

• Preface Introduction 1. On the Chirping of Birds 2. Myths and Monsters: On the Art of Metaphor 3. The Content of the Myth 4. The Monster as Metaphor 5. The Beautiful as Metaphor: The Symbol of Metamorphosis 6. The Butterfly Dream: The Case for Internal Textual Transformation 7. The Butterfly Dream: The Case for External Textual Transformation 8. The Question of Relativism 9. The Origin of the Relativistic Thesis 10. The Paradox of Self-Transformation 11. The Case of Meng-sun 12. The Goose That Cackled Notes Index

"An exceptional achievement. The main thesis is provocative, disconcerting and convincing—that the purpose of the Chuang-Tzu is to produce an altered state of consciousness in the reader, not to persuade him of the validity of a particular philosophical position. At the same time, the difficulties of particular philosophical positions taken by present-day scholars vis-a-vis the Chuang-Tzu are demonstrated with a nice blend of charity and acerbity."—Professor Mark Elvin, The University of Oxford"The book is at once a sober examination of the tight substructure of the inner chapters of the Chang-Tzu and a modern presentation of its profound freedom. Professor Allinson counsels Western philosophers regarding how they can keep their traditional Western style of argumentation and still enter Chuang Tzu's world with sympathy and philosophical sanity."—Kuang-ming Wu