Chuang Tsu, a contemporary of Plato and
               Aristotle, was a fourth century Taoist
               philosopher.

               Chuang Tsu's teachings had a wider
               perspective than that of Lao Tsu, although
               the main gist of his teachings were drawn
               from the sayings and teachings of that first
               patriarch.  Chuang Tsu helped to shape the 
               foundation of Zen Buddhism.

               Chuang Tsu's personal name was Chou and
               throughout his life, he was in a condition of
               heightened fatalism. He was of the opinion
               that all life is subject to the never-ending
               and always present transformations of the
               Tao, the embodiment of pure equanimity. And
               in this light, Chuang Tsu lived his life and
               taught about his vantage point upon it. 

               The Tao or "the Way" that he taught was a "way"
               of unity in which there was no good or good,
               life or death, all is one constantly
               transforming Tao. Chuang Tsu, then, was a
               philosophy of relativism which stresses the
               unity of all things; and this view is best
               captured in the butterfly passage in the
               "Chuang Tsu."

                    "Once I, Chuang Chou, dreamed that
                    I was a butterfly and was happy as
                    a butterfly. I was conscious that I
                    was quite pleased with myself, but
                    I did not know that I was Chou.
                    Suddenly I awoke, and there
                    I was, visibly Chou. 

                    I do not know whether it was Chou
                    dreaming that he was a butterfly or
                    the butterfly dreaming that it was
                    Chou. Between Chou and and the
                    butterfly, there must be some
                    distinction. This is called the
                    transformation of things".