Thomas Merton: the way of Chuang Tzu

    Just got the book from Amazon dot com. Chuang Tzu is the greatest of the Taoist writers whose historical existence can be verified. This was 550 to 250 B.C. and it could be verified? Wow. Lao Tzu's existence was not sure, it says. Merton did this work in 1965, comparing two English, one French, and one German literature on Chuang Tzu. In Korean, the name of these two figures are pronounced as /No-ja/ and /Jhang-ja/.  Now, I am reading these stuff in English and it makes things fresh.

   p.65

    Man is born in Tao.

       Fishes are born in water
       Man is born in Tao.
       If fishes, born in water,
       Seek the deep shadow
       Of pond and pool,
       All their needs
       are satisfied.
       If man, born in Tao,
       Sinks into the deep shadow
       Of non-action
       To forget aggression and concern,
       He lacks nothing
       His life is secure.

  It's very much in line with the theory of REBT (Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy). It's complicated. Here is a quote from a web page (http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Philosophy/Taichi/chuang.html):

  "A very interesting and new notion which he brought into Chinese philosophy is that of self-transformation as a central precept in the Taoist process (an understanding that has also penetrated to the heart of Tai Chi Chuan). He believed in life as dynamic and ever changing, making him akin to both Heraclitus and Hegel in these regards. In general, our contemporary understanding of Taoist philosophy is deeply predicated on a very thorough intermingling of the ideas of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu."