Audiobook · read by volunteers
Yang Chu's Garden of Pleasure
Liezi
Read by Chris Masterson · 2 chapters · 1 h 36
About the book
Yang Chu's Garden of Pleasure is a short text from the Chinese Daoist tradition, set in the fourth century BC at the court of Liang, when philosophers were treated as honoured guests by the reigning king. It presents the views attributed to the thinker Yang Chu, who argues that life is short, death comes to everyone alike and the sensible course is to enjoy the present rather than to chase fame or wealth. His words are blunt and provocative, and they make a striking contrast with the more disciplined teachings of other schools of the same age. The text appears in the Liezi, here in the English translation of Anton Forke, with an introduction by Hugh Cranmer-Byng. Two sections, read by one volunteer, last about an hour and a half. It offers an unusual and thought-provoking glimpse of ancient Chinese philosophy.
Introduction
The Liezi is a collection of Daoist writings associated with the thinker Liezi, whose life is wrapped in legend. One chapter of the collection is devoted to Yang Chu, a figure known from other early Chinese texts for his emphasis on personal life and his suspicion of public ambition.
Anton Forke produced this translation, and it was published in 1912 in a series of Eastern wisdom. Hugh Cranmer-Byng, an editor of that series, wrote the introduction included in the recording. The text is brief but striking, and readers have debated for a long time how far it expresses the views of Yang Chu himself and how far it reflects the later compilers.
The LibriVox recording is divided into two sections: the introduction and the text itself. It runs for around an hour and a half and is read by a single volunteer. Listeners curious about Chinese philosophy will find a sharp, sceptical voice here, quite unlike the stereotype of ancient wisdom, and one that raises questions about how to live which are still debated. The text is short, but it raises large questions about pleasure, duty, reputation and death. Some readers see in it a celebration of freedom, while others read it as a deliberately extreme position to be answered by the rest of the tradition. Either way, it is a stimulating piece that sets the listener thinking, and its blunt style makes it surprisingly easy to follow.
Public domain
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text