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Musings of a Chinese Mystic
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
116 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2007
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August 1, 2021
3.5 ⭐
Musings of a Chinese Mystic is a selection of passages from ‘The Book of Chuang Tzu’ or ‘Zhuangzi’ by Lionel Giles, translated by Herbert Alan Giles. I listened to the free LibriVox recording in the public domain as supplementation to my reading of the Penguin Classics edition of ‘The Book of Chuang Tzu’.
I got exactly what I wanted from this. I used it, predominantly, to reinforce passages that I had read in text. In addition to this, there’s great benefit to be had hearing Lionel Giles’ introduction both before and after reading/listening to Chuang Tzu’s material. He offers some great insight into the inconsistencies of Chuang Tzu’s interpretation of the Tao and interesting observations regarding his use of Confucius, and his fame, as a tool for spreading his own philosophy. It’s read very well.
This may have received a higher rating if I hadn’t mentally labelled it as supplementary to ‘The Book of Chuang Tzu’ before I began. On the other hand, there’s no doubt that ‘Zhuangzi’ is a much fuller experience and I’ve always preferred reading to listening.
Musings of a Chinese Mystic is a selection of passages from ‘The Book of Chuang Tzu’ or ‘Zhuangzi’ by Lionel Giles, translated by Herbert Alan Giles. I listened to the free LibriVox recording in the public domain as supplementation to my reading of the Penguin Classics edition of ‘The Book of Chuang Tzu’.
I got exactly what I wanted from this. I used it, predominantly, to reinforce passages that I had read in text. In addition to this, there’s great benefit to be had hearing Lionel Giles’ introduction both before and after reading/listening to Chuang Tzu’s material. He offers some great insight into the inconsistencies of Chuang Tzu’s interpretation of the Tao and interesting observations regarding his use of Confucius, and his fame, as a tool for spreading his own philosophy. It’s read very well.
This may have received a higher rating if I hadn’t mentally labelled it as supplementary to ‘The Book of Chuang Tzu’ before I began. On the other hand, there’s no doubt that ‘Zhuangzi’ is a much fuller experience and I’ve always preferred reading to listening.
Displaying 1 of 1 review