Chuang Tzu lived roughly one thousand years before Bodhidarma. China at the time of Bodhidarma's immigration from India was infused with Taoist thought and only needed the catalytic doctrine of Satori to produce the brilliant gem that is Zen.
The writings of Chuang Tzu shine as an operators manual for the human vehicle. His understanding of the pitfalls and stumbling blocks inherent by nature in a creature of human birth is flawlessly lucid. His suggestions as to how one should comport ones self in accord with the vagaries of circumstance are succinct and universal. And his use of Confucius as a foil to explore the limitations of intellect and rectitued are nothing short of genius. Chuang Tzu contrasts The Way of Heaven and The Way of Man, and finds that they can mingle and marry (or not). What we do not find in the writings of Chuang Tzu is a method where by one might discover within one's self and by one's own efforts The Way of Heaven.
This is what Zen is all about.
