The Chuang Tzu (Audiobook)

This is my reading of the first seven chapters (the inner chapters) of the Chuang Tzu translated by Burton Watson. Along with the Tao Te Ching, this book is considered a foundational text of Taoism. I recommend this translation because is excels at conveying the sense of humor that I think is both inherent in and essential to the text.
This audiobook, along with all my others, can be downloaded for free on my website - igloocentralst...

[@benjaminhartwell9404]

5:55 “The perfect man has no self, the holy man has no merit, the sage has no fame.” 9:44 Huizi and Zhuangzi, 1st dialogue 13:57 The piping of heaven 18:36 Questioning Distinctions 21:06 This and That 32:32 Wang Ni: “Owls and crows crave mice” 34:53 Reckless words to listen to recklessly 40:20 The Butterfly Dream 41:37 Butcher Ting 46:06 Confucius and Yan Hui, dialogue 55:16 Zigao, Duke of She and Confucius, dialogue 1:03:47 Carpenter Shi and the useless tree 1:09:23 The madman of Chu 1:10:42 Sign of virtue complete 1:18:49 Ai Taituo, The ugly man of Hue 1:23:48 If virtue is preeminent… 1:25:30 Huizi and Zhuangzi, 2nd dialogue 1:27:45 The true man of ancient times 1:33:50 Hiding the world within the world 1:37:00 The woman crookback 1:39:42 “What should I have to resent?” 1:51:56 “I am improving!” 1:53:15 Father? Mother? Heaven? Man? 1:56:35 How to rule the world 1:58:55 The shaman 2:03:58 The Death of Hundun

[@a.e.m.1452]

Thanks for this man 👍

[@flankes3339]

The best comment

[@igloocentralstation]

It’s so hard to pick a favorite! Thank you for this!

[@matejblaha4659]

Thank you!

[@mystickahayag]

Thank you!

[@matejblaha4659]

13:10 Section 2: Discussion on making all things equal 40:57 Section 3: The secret of caring for life 45:57 Section 4: In the world of men 1:10:34 Section 5: The sign of virtue complete 1:26:49 Section 6: The great and venerable teacher 1:54:28 Section 7: Fit for emperors and kings

[@yaboyrlf]

I am beyond humbled to find such a brilliant piece of literature that gives much insight into the soul of man

[@WindsongSoundBath]

One of the most beautiful books ever. Thank you.

[@simigonzalez5704]

This make so much sense, I remember thinking this way when I was 7 or 8 years old, but suppressed it because it was unusual to think and to speak this way. My teachers from school will tell me that it's useless to think to much they wanted me to practice writing instead.

[@VBM1]

Dont think, dont do, simply be.

[@zenlifestyleandmannersshow6892]

@@VBM1 non-action, wu wei

[@julianbaskys8119]

"All men know the use of the useful, but nobody knows the use of the useless!"

[@TYRANIDEATH]

@@julianbaskys8119 thanks

[@bafflezbiz]

"One must first learn to listen before learning to speak. One must first learn to combine letters into words before learning to combine words into phrases. One must first learn to empty the mind before learning to fill it..." -RAB from the Island of Hawaii 🏝

[@Nashandme74]

I too talked to trees but then the hurricane came and tore a lot of them down. I also spoke to the hurricane but it was just small talk.

[@MV-gt1qu]

Hahahah!

[@watchfuleagleson]

Thanks for this more complete version than the cute (but not too helpful) extracted vignettes we usually get. At about 1:01:00 Chuang Tzu gives detailed instructions on how to assertively counter someone who gob-smacks you with toxic shame.

[@mustaqeembooks]

"Virtue is the establishment of perfect harmony. Though virtue takes no from, things cannot break away from it."

[@zeugens]

I was looking for this translation for months. Thank you so much.

[@malusmundus-9605]

Dude for real

[@johninman7545]

A perfect companion to Laotse's classic. What a great comfort in a time like that of The Warring States. Alas throughout our dear Earth

[@fernandooliveiralino]

Thank you so much for this narration.

[@mustaqeembooks]

It's funny how these conversations give me this spiritual gangster vibe.

[@jerrijobarkerlove3613]

17:20 Let it be. Let it be.

[@underfakelights]

Someone I think, is in my tree.. ♥

[@mustaqeembooks]

"All men know of the use of the useful. Nobody knows the use of the useless."

[@bjb0808]

This is such a good recording. Wow. Your voice and reading is excellent. Thank you so much. I wish I could download it but don't know how at over 2 hours.

[@igloocentralstation]

Thanks a lot! I have it on google drive. here’s a link - drive.google.com/file/d/1l6X0vp7dwcPeiUacn0TGtvLquRQEZXCc/view?usp=drivesdk

[@bjb0808]

Thank you so much! I can now download this to my iPod and listen out on my walks. Much obliged!

[@SolveEtCoagula93]

Barbara for the future and just in case you haven't found anything yourself, I use something called, '4k Video Downloader'. It is entirely free, although you can subscribe if you wish. You can download all KZbin videos either as a video file, or, as in this case, an audio file (eg, mp3). You can also choose the quality that you want, within certain limits anyway. I also agree that this file is well worth downloading, and will do so myself. Enjoy its wisdom and beautiful narration. (We have some interesting thumbnail photos.)

[@albertdittel8898]

are you kidding? this over the top american accent is just unbearable. I can't imagine any intonation more unsuitable for reading this kind of content (well, maybe an arrogant-french intonation. wouldn't be much worse though).

[@nondualcafe]

Love your reading of this.. it really does the work justice. For the Tao!

[@dr.gaosclassroom]

If you are interested in Chuang Tz's philosophical thoughts, maybe you can check out my recent video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pIWQn6pjZZqhhbM

[@SnakeAndTurtleQigong]

Sending gratitude from a Daoist monastery near Seattle (US)! 🌲☯️🙏

[@kooshanhatami9327]

A question since i dont know from who else to ask..... Isn't having or attending a monastery against daoism? Tao Te Ching seems to be putting less value on rituals and religions than following Tao itself. "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao." What you teach at monastery cannot be the eternal Tao. Right?

[@SnakeAndTurtleQigong]

@@kooshanhatami9327😂🙏😁

[@VBM1]

"Obviously you have ALOT of underbrush in your head" -the roast master

[@basiacdno8268]

thank you

[@anethumdee2889]

Thanks for taking the time to read this

[@VBM1]

TLDR: You are no better than a tree, grow your tallest, live your longest, and forget you are doing it.

[@grounded.growing.and.glowing]

This is beautiful 😮😊

[@mustaqeembooks]

"Only what is still, can still the stillness of other things."

[@willieluncheonette5843]

"Chuang Tzu is a rare flowering, because to become nobody is the most difficult, almost impossible, most extraordinary thing in the world. Chuang Tzu says: To be ordinary is to be the sage. Nobody recognizes you, nobody feels that you are somebody extraordinary. Chuang Tzu says: You go in the crowd and you mix, but no one knows that a buddha has entered the crowd. No one comes to feel that somebody is different, because if someone feels it then there is bound to be anger and calamity. Whenever someone feels that you are somebody, his own anger, his own ego is hurt. He starts reacting, he starts attacking you. Chuang Tzu says that the real, the divine, the existential, is to be attained by losing yourself completely in it. Even the effort to attain it becomes a barrier - then you cannot lose yourself. Even the effort to lose yourself becomes a barrier. Chuang Tzu says: Even the distance of a hair is enough, and heaven and earth fall apart. Just the distance of a hair - not much at all, almost negligible - but it is enough to separate earth from heaven. When even that much difference is not there, one is enlightened. Chuang Tzu is very rare - in a way the most unique mystic in the whole history of man. His uniqueness is that he talks in absurdities. All his poems and stories are just absurd. And his reason to choose absurdity as his expression is very significant: the mind has to be silenced. With anything rational, it cannot stop; it goes on and on. Anything logical and the mind finds nourishment through it. It is only the absurd that suddenly shocks the mind - it is beyond mind’s grasp. His stories, his poems and his other statements are so absurd that either people simply left him, thinking that he is mad…. Those who were courageous enough to remain with him found that no other meditation is needed. Just listening to his absurd statements, the mind stops functioning. And that is the meaning of meditation. Meditation is not of the mind. Chuang Tzu is one of my love affairs, and when you talk about someone you love you are bound to use extremes, exaggerations, but to me they don’t sound like that. I could give the whole kingdom of the world to Chuang Tzu for any single parable that he wrote - and he wrote hundreds. Each is a SERMON ON THE MOUNTAIN, a SONG OF SOLOMON, a BHAGAVADGITA. Each parable represents so much, and so richly, that it is immeasurable."

[@kristinabliss]

May I ask, whom are you quoting?

[@willieluncheonette5843]

@@kristinabliss Osho

[@kristinabliss]

@@willieluncheonette5843 Thanks

[@4fins]

BEAUTIFUL❤

[@owenleal]

Sounds like bro was in a cult.

[@dominicdipasquale3472]

Just want to say thank you for posting this! I've read several different translations of The Chuang Tzu but Burton Watson's is my favorite, and naturally I've listened to your narration many times. Excellent pace, excellent voice, excellent reading all around! Nicely done :D

[@dr.gaosclassroom]

I make videos translating some passages from Chuang Tzu character by character, maybe you would like to check them out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pIWQn6pjZZqhhbM

[@pixelvisions]

You are an awesome narrator! Thank you very very much for recording this! Would it be possible for you to record The Complete Works of Zhuangzi translated by Burton Watson? It has all of the Chuang Tzu. That would be incredible. I would be eternally grateful!

[@blackfeatherstill348]

My favourite translation and reading of this of this text 🙏

[@iggypolo8062]

Very very good recording. Thanks for uploading. And i downloaded it from Drive as well. Cheers.

[@voaf1]

Thank you for your work

[@mechannel7046]

Great recording. Please keep doing it

[@craig528]

Thank you for sharing this wonderful reading! Really well done.

[@MV-gt1qu]

Must be my 15th listen and i get something new every time

[@thequickrundown721]

Amazing recording, thank you!

[@curtiseagleeyemullin]

Thank you for the narration!

[@iamlazzen]

Thank you 🥰❤️

[@weiwujiang6884]

It’s interesting to Chinese people like me to find this recording about 庄子

[@indus7841]

Its interesting to americans like me to find this comment saying its interesting for a chinese person like you to find this recording about the dao

[@weiwujiang6884]

@@indus7841 lol， we both have the pleasure of having been amused, nice ! By the way, which story in this audio book is your favorite one?

[@paint738]

Beautiful

[@indus7841]

37:54 "suppose you and I have an argument-... how can he decide?" 39:50 penumbra said to shadow-

[@zzzzoot]

Great recording, thank you for sharing

[@ovcar0322]

I bought Thomas Merton's version and i don't like it very much. I always drift back to your recording of Chuang Tzu. You really did an amazing job. I really like your style of narration and the book itself is phenomenal. Thank you. As soon as I get some money I'm going to buy this recording because you frickin deserve it.

[@igloocentralstation]

Thank you so much! I’m really glad you appreciate it.

[@ryokan9120]

Thomas Merton didn't even understand Chinese. He merely intuited what he "felt" was the Chuang Tzu. He "Zennified" the book without really understanding it.

[@Selderij]

RIP Hun-tun :(

[@igloocentralstation]

They couldn’t just let him be...

[@thomaswoodham2417]

@@igloocentralstation They wanted him to be hole-y...

[@2622Valerie1]

Thank you!

[@moiralindner7663]

💢For Christ College Students💢 0:05 Free and Easy Wandering 13:06 Discussion on Making all Things Equal 40:59 The secret of caring for life 45:53 in the world of men 1:10:32 The sign of complete virtue 1:26:47 the great and venerable teacher 1:54:26 Fit for Emperors and Kings

[@omarabughazaleh3959]

Thanks!

[@user-nj6gb3kj9y]

Man I wanted to use this but I’m not a Christ college student :(

[@indus7841]

I cant believe christians are allowed to listen to this without fear of eternal damnation. THIS IS IDOLATRY!

[@jayamay]

Thank you for this content! 👌

[@f-ergo9670]

The art of being useless - mod book on zhuangzi

[@a.e.m.1452]

Placeholder 1:27:00

[@Devon_maloy]

1:30:13

[@jd2890]

Although very bland, the translation is accurate.

[@t0xcn253]

True some of the grinning satisfaction of the man is missing here, but what it retains is the mild clarity and effortless flow of a pure stream, unmuddied by the usual attempts to convey what is implicit.

[@justinjozokos1699]

28:05 Holy shit

[@brandonnelson103]

Is this the book with the butterfly dream

[@samkelenibe2018]

yes

[@dexterj5615]

The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao... I must say that after the te ching this book just sounds like a bunch of philosogibberish and anecdotes. I feel like I have to unlearn what I just heard, I have no use in trying to quantify the ineffable.

[@TicklingGoat]

they describe cultivation.

[@indus7841]

not attempting to quantify the dao but merely showing the dao thru stories.

[@sportsfan1255]

Thanks. When will you record the outer chapters and misc chapters?

[@adamkhan1687]

Thank youuuuuuuuuu

[@Gitohandro]

I've listened to this 3 times but still don't understand Jack shit... What's a lee?

[@dr.gaosclassroom]

Lee is the Chinese name for mile. It is about 500 meters.

[@indus7841]

If you dont understand then you've gotten the main point :D

[@Awperan]

Zuowang 1:51:55

[@Awperan]

Conduct 56:36

[@malusmundus-9605]

Aum Shanti: Shanti: Shanti:

[@jall8864]

What does this mean

[@malusmundus-9605]

@@jall8864 Aum peace peace peace

[@adicide9070]

good voice :)

[@hectora2268]

Be toughtless

[@indus7841]

Exactly hectora.

[@Awperan]

Zuowang 52:36

[@black_godfred]

👏🏾

[@Awperan]

1:26:02

[@jonathanmartinez6883]

When does Chapter 14 start?

[@ahsan930]

11:06

[@todorkovacevic]

Timestamps for ME: 8:19

[@lovetwentyfourseven7428]

Hun dun. Undone. Chaos.

[@texassasquatch5734]

This reminds me of Buddhists Koans

[@shawnburnham1]

3:00

[@DarthDickhed]

People doing these videos need to speak very very slowly. These sentences should not be rushed. You shouldn't speak like your running to get to the finish line. Enlightenment is very chill and relaxed. There's no rush. Take it easy. ❤

[@timeslowingdown]

The book is harder to follow for me when it's slower, so I appreciate the speed at which he is speaking personally

[@reinhartfrais2434]

Thank you ……….

[@Daniel-vx3qt]

16:00

[@XD226]

1:00:00

[@letsomethingshine]

@8:38 to 8:45: he put everything… into a bagel. 🥯

[@user-hs6my7mt7b]

DECLASSIFIED- crown chakra , this is EVERY hometown... I am just confirming to the Lenape (the Delaware) at least for now, that I am in a pure space, specifically money has no meaning (超越動物), hearts and the gratitude with which we hold and show for the gifts of life do. Everyone is coming from something sincere, not a mindless 'track' I see lights and lifeforms, foxes circling around me, but then they break down to the DNA of all things, simply letters, elements... Sometimes I am left oh so rearing for more, but this time, although feint the mystical love is rooted in her smile of and she says aw, ילמנכי וווםמ מ נםך:)///_+10 למחעכ רדהנ ווואאםאמש קאכטד ____________ אורבני םחיער I see the playgrounds emerging from holy books again! Without knowing religions, just　 Goddess, we are flowers sprouting with henge gardens of sparrow owls and angel garden rockledges. Fiery beings of loving hearts And wise eyes Cannot steal wood But return forests Elongated hair vibrating with zen haikus, as they wait on benches, they can't help but seem slightly middle eastern, in these sanctuaries good breath poured back to old aerith, earth! First touchback with the Planet.. I am relaxing, going back to my haven, and if any of you wish so strongly you may join me, whichever way you go you'll find it because divine letters reflect the need of winged thoughts, whether already written, or yet to be wrote. Each one is a root back to the earth, like chaos stars written by the divine one What I need is coming to me, as if out of a dream, with a bottomless bag, the beloved is everything, and the bad writing is breaking away like grease in foamy surf. The sea is the spirit that can wash away thoughts, all that is wasteful, the clouds above it as the beginning of new clear thoughts. The graffiti is gone when I wake up, like tree bark formed, but the last books are purer. בזכינג ויענ עיאכ רקהפהב המההת דני כרה יםכטטטט לחיה 00ooO____ ז כמטע הכגרדנ. \\\ They are just happy I am not attached to the sicknesses of modern culture, and that those around me are out and pulling out as well. Poetic Ecstasy is wholesome I am untouched, but so many are unable to hold these gifts like this, but the natives, they are used to these books without the overlay of time. Maybe that had a truer co-view Throat Chakra is a female guardian of the letters of ecstasy, this is the better way and the better rhythm. Other poets have cried because they haven't been able to achieve this. You've cried because you have. (名誉)A greatly beautiful ecstatic walks on fertile soil. Their lights are turning down, the sun is there, every letter eats it יהרקםח עדש ה םלימם םם העכדהר יךףזז םם Souls sit here, between rest and rest, only because it is these letters, they say, the good qualities in those bright ones they knew.. not to be reorganized by facism to what is safe for it, to have endless value without a scale to weigh them. So remember their qualities they would say, on big banners in Egypt... You have seen the wonders of my land, my body, you are endless in this way, because you saw the plants and you knew they could live free of those ideas, things have a spirit but the insincere people should not bend that, for this native Americans thanked עדטחחט הצג ינחדטח יעבחצדこれ שששאשחעזנ No matter what shape size or color, you will have fun,you are not the order, you are the nourishing chaos, that lets a goddess breathe! Her face echoes through the world and all it's tastes I remember tasting at once, intermingled with good people, the innocent books of the native American village became opened to us, Chayyos, chaos 神道 Apparently it tastes like akindif grass, a certain kind of grass blazed , Served blazed and frozen, frozenchu or akindif is what it is called. It is growing in the American garden. The Beloved Sun is only looking into the garden and watching the soft dirt eating worms twirl around. That's how calm it's been. 'In case this is specifically your hang up,' wrote Kerouac, 'the world is more Amish than we think, and it is not facist' So anyways they're just saying they see peace they don't see much building. The Aurachayyos, The auruas are with you at the right times! The good karma of the auras family happy holidays cheatcode:'reindeervegan', for the whole family! :) ❤️Mysticearth Beyond animal, they believe this is why desecrations haven't happened, because the people know how to keep clean trails now and how to have right relationships, not just stereotypes but healthy amounts of nutrients, in whatever we they like. The planet is happier and grounding is, the heart has a lot to digest. The world, but look at the Mind of Girls, they are Zen gardens! Lately the beloved is a zen garden, rocks do not remain rocks when there is love , but zens love is a river not a leash, eat what grows, hug what your heart knows, you are loved! And they are just going back saying "this girl is Zen, this woman is talking philosophy, this cannot be a facist kingdom if it is a kingdom at all, it is sustained by innocence and wisdom, yet somehow it is more radiant and vast than all we know, uniting different kinds of people with good hearts, we on our side are Arabs, this is Goddess, as prophecized, so we are willing to show Goddess as well, not stifle her, revolution of the heart!"

[@khaled.alkhawaja]

I don't know how to describe how I feel reading this!

[@indus7841]

@@khaled.alkhawajai know right. A little scared.

[@andreaskallstrom9031]

1:10:29