Lie Yukou
Encyclopedia
Lie Yukou is considered the author of the Daoist book Liezi
, which uses his honorific name Liezi (列子; Lièzĭ; Lieh-tzu; "Master Lie"). The second Chinese character
in Yukou is written kou 寇 "bandit; enemy"; the first is written yu 圄 "imprison", yu 禦 "resist; ward off", or occasionally yu 御 "drive (carriage); ride (horse); control" (the Zhuangzi claims Liezi could yufeng 御風 "ride the wind"). Lie Yukou was born in Zheng, today's Zhengzhou
city, Henan
province.
There is little historical evidence of Lie Yukou as a Hundred Schools of Thought
philosopher during the Warring States Period
. This could be due to the burning of books and burying of scholars
which occurred during the reign of Qin Shi Huang
. However, some scholars believe that the Zhuangzi invented him as a Daoist exemplar. Frederic H. Balfour
, who translated several Daoist texts, called Liezi "a philosopher who never lived" (1887:?) Lionel Giles
expresses doubt in his Introduction:
It may also be interesting to note that in the above quote Mr. Lionel Giles may have been refuting his father Herbert Allen Giles, who wrote of Lie Yukou or Lieh-Tzu in his translation of Chuang Tzu. Here is his quote which runs as follows:
Liezi
The Liezi is a Daoist text attributed to Lie Yukou, a circa 5th century BCE Hundred Schools of Thought philosopher, but Chinese and Western scholars believe it was compiled around the 4th century CE.-Textual history:...
, which uses his honorific name Liezi (列子; Lièzĭ; Lieh-tzu; "Master Lie"). The second Chinese character
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
in Yukou is written kou 寇 "bandit; enemy"; the first is written yu 圄 "imprison", yu 禦 "resist; ward off", or occasionally yu 御 "drive (carriage); ride (horse); control" (the Zhuangzi claims Liezi could yufeng 御風 "ride the wind"). Lie Yukou was born in Zheng, today's Zhengzhou
Zhengzhou
Zhengzhou , is the capital and largest city of Henan province in north-central China. A prefecture-level city, it also serves as the political, economic, technological, and educational centre of the province, as well as a major transportation hub for Central China...
city, Henan
Henan
Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...
province.
There is little historical evidence of Lie Yukou as a Hundred Schools of Thought
Hundred Schools of Thought
The Hundred Schools of Thought were philosophers and schools that flourished from 770 to 221 BC during the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period , an era of great cultural and intellectual expansion in China...
philosopher during the Warring States Period
Warring States Period
The Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, or the Warring Kingdoms period, covers the Iron Age period from about 475 BC to the reunification of China under the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC...
. This could be due to the burning of books and burying of scholars
Burning of books and burying of scholars
Burning of the books and burying of the scholars is a phrase that refers to a policy and a sequence of events in the Qin Dynasty of Ancient China, between the period of 213 and 206 BC. During these events, the Hundred Schools of Thought were pruned; legalism survived...
which occurred during the reign of Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang , personal name Ying Zheng , was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 246 BC to 221 BC during the Warring States Period. He became the first emperor of a unified China in 221 BC...
. However, some scholars believe that the Zhuangzi invented him as a Daoist exemplar. Frederic H. Balfour
Frederic H. Balfour
Frederic Henry Balfour was a British expatriate editor, essayist, author, and sinologist, living in Shanghai during the Victorian era. He is most notable for his translation of the writings known today as the Tao Te Ching...
, who translated several Daoist texts, called Liezi "a philosopher who never lived" (1887:?) Lionel Giles
Lionel Giles
Lionel Giles was a Victorian scholar, translator and the son of British diplomat and sinologist, Herbert Giles. Lionel Giles served as assistant curator at the British Museum and Keeper of the Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books...
expresses doubt in his Introduction:
Very little is known of our author beyond what he tells us himself. His full name was Lieh Yü-k'ou, and it appears that he was living in the Chêng StateZheng (state)Zheng （) was a vassal state in China during the Zhou Dynasty located in the centre of ancient China in modern day Henan Province on the North China Plain about east of the royal capital at Luoyang. It was the most powerful of the vassal states at the beginning of the Eastern Zhou...
not long before the year 398 B.C.398 BCYear 398 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Tribunate of Potitus, Medullinus, Lactucinus, Fidenas, Camillus and Cornutus...
, when the Prime Minister Tzu Yang was killed in a revolution. He figures prominently in the pages of Chuang TzuZhuangziZhuangzi was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States Period, a period corresponding to the philosophical summit of Chinese thought — the Hundred Schools of Thought, and is credited with writing—in part or in whole—a work known by his name,...
, from whom we learn that he could 'ride upon the wind'. On the insufficient ground that he is not mentioned by the historian Ssu-ma Ch'ienSima QianSima Qian was a Prefect of the Grand Scribes of the Han Dynasty. He is regarded as the father of Chinese historiography for his highly praised work, Records of the Grand Historian , a "Jizhuanti"-style general history of China, covering more than two thousand years from the Yellow Emperor to...
, a certain critic of the Sung dynastySong DynastyThe Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
was led to declare that Lieh Tzu was only a fictitious personage invented by Chuang Tzu, and that the treatise which passes under his name was a forgery of later times. This theory is rejected by the compilers of the great CatalogueSiku QuanshuThe Siku Quanshu, variously translated as the Imperial Collection of Four, Emperor's Four Treasuries, Complete Library in Four Branches of Literature, or Complete Library of the Four Treasuries, is the largest collection of books in Chinese history and probably the most ambitious editorial...
of Ch'ien LungQianlong EmperorThe Qianlong Emperor was the sixth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. The fourth son of the Yongzheng Emperor, he reigned officially from 11 October 1735 to 8 February 1796...
's Library, who represent the cream of Chinese scholarship in the eighteenth century.
It may also be interesting to note that in the above quote Mr. Lionel Giles may have been refuting his father Herbert Allen Giles, who wrote of Lie Yukou or Lieh-Tzu in his translation of Chuang Tzu. Here is his quote which runs as follows:
The extent of the actual mischief done by this " Burning of the Books " has been greatly exaggerated. Still, the mere attempt at such a holocaust gave a fine chance to the scholars of the later Han dynastyHan DynastyThe Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
(A.D. 25-221), who seem to have enjoyed nothing so much as forging, if not the whole, at any rate portions, of the works of ancient authors. Some one even produced a treatise under the name of Lieh Tzu, a philosopher mentioned by Chuang Tzu, not seeing that the individual in question was a creation of Chuang Tzu's brain!
External links
- Lieh-tzu: A Biographical Note, Taoism Initiation Page
- Taoist Teachings Translated from the 'Book of Lieh-Tzu', Giles' translation, Internet Sacred Text Archive