Zhuangzi glossary

 

Liezi

列子 Lièzǐ, "Master Lie," or 列御寇  Liè Yùkòu is not represented in the literature prior to Zhuangzi, so he could be part of an oral tradition or a creation. He appears several times in Zhuangzi. At his first appearance in 1:03, he is portrayed as something like a magician, or at least interested in magic but with distinct limitations, "having left something unplanted." At 7:05, he has an epiphany. At 17:01, he is presented as a sage, or at least an authority, sleeping on a skull like Zhuangzi does in 9:14. This tempts one to try to construct a story arc, identifying which anecdotes come before he learned his lesson, which after, and by extension what the lesson is, but I have not succeeded in doing so to my satisfaction.