Lie Zi (列子) or Lieh Tzu is a famous legendary Taoist sage mentioned several times in the Zhuang Zi. It is not certain that he ever existed. For other uses of the words tao and dao, see Dao (disambiguation). ... // The Person Zhuāng Zǐ (pinyin), Chuang Tzu (W-G), or Chuang Tse (Chinese 莊子, literally meaning Master Zhuang) was a famous philosopher in ancient China who lived around the 4th century BC during the Warring States Period, corresponding to the Hundred Schools of Thought philosophical summit of Chinese thought. ...

The Taoist compilation text known as the Lie Zi is attributed to this name and was inscribed in the imperial library's catalogue as Treatise of the perfect emptiness.

A passage usually attributed to Lie Zi

Although Lie Zi has not been extensively published in the West, some fragments seem to be well-known especially to some scholars and other people who are interested in Chinese culture. The following excerpt is an example:

Lie Zi was practicing archery. He was looking for advice from some master. He found Kuan Yin, who asked:

"Do you know why you hit the target ?"

"No", replied Lie Zi.

Lie Zi went away in order to practice. After three years he came back to Kuan Yin.

"Do you know why you hit the target ?"

"Now I know."

"Then you really hit it. Grab this awareness and never lose it !"

This applies not only to mastering archery, but mastering onself. Thus, the sage carefully examines -- not the fact of life and death, but its reasons.

Bibliography

• The Book of Lieh-tzǔ: A Classic of Tao translated by A.C. Graham, Columbia University Press, New York, 1990, ISBN 0231072376
• Traité du vide parfait, Liè Zi, translated from Chinese to French by J-J Lafitte, Albin Michel, Paris, 1997, ISBN 2226094261