Author Guide · Taoism & Philosophy
The Zhuangzi by
Chuang Tzu dreamed he was a butterfly, woke up, and could not tell whether he was a man who had dreamed of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming it was a man. That story, from the second chapter of the book that carries his name, is the best-known passage in Taoist literature, and it is typical of the whole: where the Tao Te Ching is terse verse, the Zhuangzi is stories, jokes, arguments and talking trees. Zhuang Zhou was a minor official in the state of Song in the fourth century BCE who, according to the historian Sima Qian, turned down the post of chief minister of Chu because he would rather enjoy himself in a muddy ditch. The book we have, in thirty-three chapters edited by Guo Xiang around 300 CE, is only partly his. This guide sets out eleven key English translations in order, and how to choose.
By Lisanne Swart · 11 key translations · 1889–2020 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
The Zhuangzi exists in English in many forms, from complete translations to free versions. This guide follows 11 key translations, from Herbert Giles (1889) to Brook Ziporyn (2020). Start with Burton Watson’s complete translation, the version most often quoted; read A. C. Graham for the scholarship.
Where to Start with the Zhuangzi
If you want the standard complete translation
→ Watson: Complete Works (1968) or its 2013 reissue.
If you want a short first taste
→ Watson: Basic Writings (1964).
If you want the scholarship on who wrote what
→ Graham (1981).
If you want a lively complete modern version
→ Mair (1994).
If you want a spiritual reading rather than a translation
→ Merton (1965) — alongside a real translation.
11 Key Zhuangzi Translations, in Order
Herbert A. Giles: Chuang Tzŭ: Mystic, Moralist, and Social Reformer
The first major English translation, published by Bernard Quaritch in London in 1889, by the British diplomat and sinologist Herbert Giles, with a revised edition in Shanghai in 1926. Its spelling and English are of their time, but it is where the English story of the book begins.
James Legge: The Texts of Taoism
James Legge’s translation appeared in 1891 in Max Müller’s Sacred Books of the East, in the same volumes as his Tao Te Ching. Scholarly and literal, it is now in the public domain.
Lin Yutang: The Wisdom of Laotse
Not a translation of the whole book: in this Modern Library edition of 1948 Lin Yutang set a passage from Chuang Tzu after each chapter of the Tao Te Ching, along with imaginary conversations between Lao Tzu and Confucius taken from the Zhuangzi. It is a good way to see how the two books speak to each other.
Burton Watson: Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings
Burton Watson’s selection, published by Columbia University Press in 1964 and reissued in 2003 as Zhuangzi: Basic Writings with pinyin spellings. It gives the Inner Chapters and a choice of the rest, and is the easiest short way in.
Thomas Merton: The Way of Chuang Tzu
The Trappist monk Thomas Merton made these versions from existing translations and wrote that, knowing only a few Chinese characters, he was obviously not a translator: he called them readings, “ventures in personal and spiritual interpretation”. Published by New Directions in 1965, it is much loved; read it beside a real translation.
Burton Watson: The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu
All thirty-three chapters, published by Columbia University Press in 1968 and widely treated as the standard English text; it is the translation most often quoted. Columbia reissued it in 2013 as The Complete Works of Zhuangzi.
Gia-fu Feng and Jane English: Chuang Tsu: Inner Chapters
The seven Inner Chapters only, with Gia-fu Feng’s calligraphy of the Chinese text and Jane English’s black-and-white photographs, published by Vintage in 1974 as a companion to their Tao Te Ching. It is reported to be the bestselling English translation of the Zhuangzi.
A. C. Graham: Chuang-tzŭ: The Seven Inner Chapters and Other Writings
A. C. Graham’s translation, published by George Allen & Unwin in 1981, covers about four-fifths of the book and regroups the later chapters by the schools he believed wrote them: Primitivists, Yangists, Syncretists and Chuang Tzu’s own followers. The most scholarly selection, and the one that changed how the book is read.
Victor H. Mair: Wandering on the Way
Victor H. Mair’s complete translation, published by Bantam in 1994 and described by its publisher as vivid and contemporary. It keeps the jokes and the speed of the original better than most.
Martin Palmer: The Book of Chuang Tzu
A translation by Martin Palmer with Elizabeth Breuilly, Chang Wai Ming and Jay Ramsay, first published by Penguin Arkana in London in 1996 and later reissued as a Penguin Classic.
Brook Ziporyn: Zhuangzi: The Complete Writings
Brook Ziporyn’s complete translation, published by Hackett in 2020, expands his abridged Zhuangzi: The Essential Writings of 2009 and adds a glossary of key terms. A reviewer counted ten times as many footnotes as Watson; it is the version for readers who want the philosophy explained.
Why Are There So Many Versions?
The Zhuangzi is long, uneven and only partly by one author, so translators choose what to include as well as how to render it. The key versions fall into a few kinds.
- Complete translations — Watson, Mair, Palmer, Ziporyn Read the entries →
- Selections and the Inner Chapters — Watson’s Basic Writings, Feng and English, Graham Read the entries →
- Readings rather than translations — Merton Read the entries →
- The Victorian translations — Giles, Legge Read the entries →
How to Choose a Zhuangzi Translation
Start with the Inner Chapters, the first seven, which tradition treats as Chuang Tzu’s own and which contain most of the famous stories: the butterfly, the huge bird Peng, Cook Ding carving the ox, the useless tree. Watson’s Basic Writings or Feng and English give you exactly those.
Then read the whole book in Watson, or in Mair if you want something livelier. Graham is the one to read once you want to know who wrote which parts, and Ziporyn once you want the philosophy argued line by line. Merton is a pleasure on its own terms, but it is Merton’s Chuang Tzu.
A reading path
1. Watson, Basic Writings (1964), the Inner Chapters and more
2. Watson, The Complete Works (1968), the whole book
3. Graham (1981), who wrote what
4. Ziporyn (2020), the philosophy in detail
5. Then back to the Tao Te Ching
More Zhuangzi Translations
Beyond the 11 key translations: 3 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Other and recent translations
3
3 books · 2009–2025
- 2009Zhuangzi: The Essential Writings (Ziporyn)his abridged version, with traditional commentaries
- 2022Zhuangzi (Richard John Lynn)a new scholarly translation from Columbia University Press
- 2025Zhuangzi (Chris Fraser)a new translation from Oxford University Press
Quick facts about Chuang Tzu
- Name
- Zhuang Zhou; Zhuangzi in pinyin, Chuang Tzu in the older Wade–Giles spelling
- Dates
- c. 369–286 BCE (traditional; dates uncertain)
- From
- The town of Meng in the state of Song, in the Warring States period
- Work
- A minor official in the “Lacquer Garden” at Meng, according to Sima Qian
- The book
- 33 chapters as edited by Guo Xiang (died 312 CE): Inner Chapters 1–7, Outer 8–22, Miscellaneous 23–33
- Famous passages
- The butterfly dream (ch. 2), Cook Ding (ch. 3), the happy fish (ch. 17), the useless tree (ch. 1)
Who Wrote the Zhuangzi?
Probably not one person. An earlier version of fifty-two chapters is listed in the Book of Han; around 300 CE the scholar Guo Xiang cut it to the thirty-three that survive and treated only the Inner Chapters as coming from Chuang Tzu’s own time. That remains the conventional view, and modern scholars attribute the Outer and Miscellaneous chapters to later writers and editors.
A. C. Graham, building on the Chinese scholar Kuan Feng, went further and sorted those later chapters by school: Chuang Tzu’s own followers, Yangists, Primitivists and Syncretists. Some scholars now question even whether the Inner Chapters are the oldest layer. Graham also argued that the author of the Inner Chapters did not know the Tao Te Ching at all, though Sima Qian presents him as Lao Tzu’s follower.
For a reader this matters less than it sounds. Whatever its authorship, the book is the funniest and most argumentative classic of Chinese philosophy, and it reads best as a collection of stories to come back to.
Frequently asked questions about the Zhuangzi
Which Zhuangzi translation is best?
Burton Watson’s complete translation (1968, reissued in 2013) is the usual standard and the one most often quoted. Brook Ziporyn’s Complete Writings (2020) is the most heavily annotated, and A. C. Graham’s selection (1981) the most scholarly.
Chuang Tzu or Zhuangzi?
The same name, and the same book. Zhuangzi is the pinyin spelling now used by most scholars; Chuang Tzu is the older Wade–Giles spelling.
What is the butterfly dream?
The story that closes chapter 2. Chuang Tzu dreams he is a butterfly, wakes up, and cannot tell whether he is a man who dreamed of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming that it is a man.
Did Chuang Tzu write the whole book?
Almost certainly not. Tradition treats only the seven Inner Chapters as his own, and even that is debated; the rest was added by later writers and editors.
Is Thomas Merton’s The Way of Chuang Tzu a translation?
No. Merton, who knew only a few Chinese characters, said he was not a translator and called his versions readings, personal and spiritual interpretations made from existing translations.
What is the difference between Chuang Tzu and Lao Tzu?
They are the two founding classics of Taoism. The Tao Te Ching is short, terse verse; the Zhuangzi is longer and full of stories and dialogues. Sima Qian says Lao Tzu influenced Chuang Tzu, but A. C. Graham argued the author of the Inner Chapters did not know the Tao Te Ching.
Footnotes
- Zhuangzi — Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Zhuangzi (book) — Wikipedia
- Zhuangzi — Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Merton’s Way of Chuang Tzu — Merton Seasonal (PDF)
- Zhuangzi: The Complete Writings — Hackett Publishing
- Victor Mair on his Chuang Tzu — Sino-Platonic Papers
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the stories are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Once Zhuang Zhou dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself…”
— Chuang Tzu, Zhuangzi: Basic Writings, translated by Burton Watson
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