Zhuangzi
c. 369 BCE–c. 286 BCE · Philosopher · Meng, State of Song (near modern Shangqiu, Henan)
Zhuangzi (Master Zhuang, personal name Zhuang Zhou) was a Chinese philosopher of the Warring States period, active more than a century after Confucius. He is a central figure of Daoism, a tradition emphasizing spontaneity and accord with the Dao (the "Way," the natural course of things). According to the Han historian Sima Qian, he was born at Meng in the state of Song and served briefly as a minor official at the lacquer garden (Qiyuan). He is credited with the work bearing his name, celebrated for parables, paradox, and humor, including the "butterfly dream" questioning the boundary between waking and dreaming. Scholars generally regard only the "Inner Chapters" as his own composition.
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Meng, State of Song (near modern Shangqiu, Henan)
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Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Zhuangzi’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
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Rulers world
- Chandragupta Maurya· –297 BCE
- Lysimachus· 360 BCE–281 BCE
- Seleucus I Nicator· 358 BCE–281 BCE
- Alexander the Great· 356 BCE–323 BCE
- Antigonus I Monophthalmus· 382 BCE–301 BCE
- Demetrius I Poliorcetes· 337 BCE–283 BCE
- Bindusara· –273 BCE
- Philip II of Macedon· 382 BCE–336 BCE
- Pyrrhus of Epirus· 319 BCE–272 BCE
- Ashoka the Great· 304 BCE–232 BCE
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