Taoism

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Yang Chu's Garden of Pleasure

[The Yang Chu chapter of the Lieh Tzu (book 7)]

translated by Anton Forke

[London, 1912]

{Reduced to HTML by Christopher M. Weimer, Sept. 2003}

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Yang Chu was a philosopher of the classic age of Chinese thought who probably lived in the 300's B.C.E. He has been associated with the Taoists since the rise of official Confucianism and the consolidation of what we now call 'Taoism', although this term is problematic, as thinkers like Yang Chu, Chuang Tzu, and Lao Tzu are quite different and were not considered to be members of a single school in ancient times. In addition, the text that we still have which is attributed to Yang Chu is from a somewhat later period, preserved in the Lieh Tzu (other extracts of which are also available at in the book Taoist Teachings), which did not reach its final form until perhaps 400 C.E. or so. In this text, Yang Chu is far from being a mystic, and is concerned mainly with enjoying life to its fullest, allowing a person's individual character the fullest expression possible and not interfering with natural processes.

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Title Page
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I THE VANITY OF FAME
CHAPTER II REAL AND FALSE GREATNESS
CHAPTER III THE BREVITY OF CONSCIOUS LIFE
CHAPTER IV DEATH THE EQUALISER
CHAPTER V FALSE VIRTUES
CHAPTER VI THE IDEAL LIFE
CHAPTER VII DUTY TO THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
CHAPTER VIII THE ART OF LIFE
CHAPTER IX THE HAPPY VOLUPTUARIES
CHAPTER X THE JOYOUS LIFE OF TUAN-MU-SHU
CHAPTER XI THE FOLLY OF DESIRE FOR LONG LIFE
CHAPTER XII SELF-SACRIFICE AND SELF-AGGRANDISEMENT
CHAPTER XIII THE VANITY OF REPUTATION
CHAPTER XIV DIFFICULTY AND EASE OF GOVERNMENT
CHAPTER XV ALL THINGS PASS
CHAPTER XVI THE NATURE OF MAN
CHAPTER XVII THE FOUR CHIMERAS
CHAPTER XVIII ALL PLEASURES ARE RELATIVE
CHAPTER XIX THE WISDOM OF CONTENTMENT