Monday, October 31

Reading:  “Treatise On Making Things Equal”

The second chapter of the Zhuangzi, "The Treatise on Making Things Equal," is often regarded as the core of the text. It is also the single most difficult piece of early Chinese prose to understand and translate. Although Burton Watson's translation of the Zhuangzi is generally excellent and very readable, it is clear that he simply did not understand the second chapter, and so his translation is not usable. An alternative translation appears in online, and constitutes your reading for Monday. The introductory page to that translation will orient you further.