And yet, there must be some difference between Chuang Tzu and the butterfly! That is what we call the transformation of things.

The Butterfly Dream was written in the 4th century BC by the Chinese ascetic and philosopher Chuang Tzu, founder of Taoism along with his predecessor Lao Tzu. This short text, playful and literary, spontaneous and characteristically sarcastic, captures the complete relativity in Chuang Tzu’s philosophy: is it he who dreams of the butterfly, or is it the butterfly dreaming of him? It ultimately seems to matter little, because for Chuang Tzu the Tao is everywhere, defined only by its own nature, and life is simply the constant transformation of things themselves; therefore true understanding cannot be the product of any explanation — a view that later profoundly influenced both Chinese Buddhism and the Zen school.

Chuang Tzu (or Zhuangzi, meaning “Master Chuang,” 369–286 BC) lived in a time of great flourishing in Chinese philosophy and stood out by expanding and developing the principles of Taoism laid down by his mythical predecessor, Lao Tzu. What we know about him comes mainly from his eponymous work, the famous Chuangzi, a collection of parables, anecdotes, and allegories consisting of 33 chapters (today it is estimated that only the seven “Inner Chapters” were written by him) and teaching the Way (that is, the Tao) in harmony with nature and the flow of things, far from the barrenness of logical schemes, conventional learning, and “civilization.”