SuaveG – The Gentle Path

Chinese mythology, folktales, and literature

hui shi

  • Han Feizi – Chapter 32.2

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    This Legalist excerpt from Han Feizi ‑ Chapter32.2 urges rulers to adopt practical utility as their judging standard. It condemns empty sophistry and hollow doctrines, stressing real results over mere verbal victories.

  • The Man of Ying Moves the Axe

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    This commentary on Zhuangzi ‑ Xu Wugui retells Carpenter Shi’s axe feat story. Zhuangzi mourns deceased Huizi, his worthy debating counterpart, showing great skill and profound dialogue both need a trusting equal partner.

  • 运斤成风 (Yùn jīn chéng fēng)

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    This page explains the Chinese idiom Yùn jīn chéng fēng from Zhuangzi ‑ Xu Wugui. Telling Carpenter‑Shi’s axe‑feat, it stresses supreme skill needs a trusting counterpart, also evoking grief over losing one’s worthy confidant.

  • The Owl and the Phoenix

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    This interprets the owl and phoenix parable from Zhuangzi ‑ Autumn Floods. Huizi, fearing Zhuangzi will seize his ministerial post, is compared to an owl guarding a rotten rat, blind to the noble bird’s disdain for worldly power.

  • How the Whole Way Shattered into a Hundred Schools

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    This commentary on Zhuangzi ‑ Tian Xia, an early pre‑Qin philosophical survey, assesses major schools including Mohism, Lao‑Dan’s Daoism and Hui Shi’s sophism. It laments how the complete ancient Way fragmented into partial one‑sided doctrines.

  • Snail‑Horn Wars and the Limits of Human Judgement

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    This commentary on Zhuangzi ‑ Ze Yang unpacks fables like the snail‑horn‑war parable. It stresses authentic inner virtue over scheming, noting human judgements are relative and worldly conflicts look trivial from a cosmic Dao perspective.

  • Chapter 33. The World (Tian Xia)

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    This page covers The World, Zhuangzi’s final chapter, an early survey of pre‑Qin thought. It laments the fragmentation of the unified ancient Way, reviews major schools, and assesses thinkers including Mozi, Laozi, Zhuangzi himself and the logician Hui Shi.

  • Chapter 5. The Signs of Virtue Fulfilled (Dechongfu)

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    This Zhuangzi ‑ Dechongfu excerpt presents fables of deformed figures. It prioritizes inner complete virtue over physical form or social status, and ends with Zhuangzi’s debate with Huizi over “having no human emotions”.

  • Han Feizi – Chapter 30.9

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    This excerpt comes from Explanation One in Han Feizi · Inner Congeries of Sayings I. It states rulers must never rely on a single information source. Multi‑party cross‑checks should break ministers’ information monopoly. Otherwise, the ruler will be deceived by confidants and reduced to a manipulated puppet.