Chuang-Tzu was not a Zen practitioner. He lived about 750 years before Bodhidharma and was the second greatest philosopher of the Tao (after Lao-Tzu).He was playful in his approach to the Tao, and it’s that playfulness that mixed with the seriousness of Buddhist metaphysics to create the Zen phenomenon.Chuang-Tzu was one of the greatest proponents of the Chinese concept of wu-wei: non-doing, non-action. His was a wu-wei born of a profound humility that seeks nothing for oneself, not even self-improvement.Chuang-Tzu’s profound humility emanates from his perception of the Tao, which is a mysterious “force” that surpasses all understanding . . . especially the “understanding” born of discursive reasoning, categories, and rules.Chuang-Tzu rejected all such things because they exist outside oneself. The problem with things outside oneself is, because they exist outside, a person needs to strive to attain them, but the mere act of striving, Chuang-Tzu taught, is defeat.It’s important to emphasize that even striving for goodness or virtue is defeat. The mere act of striving, no matter for what, is defeat because it’s steeped in self-aggrandizement. The person who seeks to improve himself is discontented with himself, which necessarily means he thinks he should be more than he really is.  It is, in other words, pride.It runs counter to the deep humility Chuang-Tzu was trying to explain. Man, he taught, out to be content with his natural state: simplicity, obscurity, unimportance, littleness.Chuang-Tzu’s teaching provides a response to the paradox that has dogged Christian spirituality for 2,000 years: the mere desire to be selfless is selfish. Chuang-Tzu said don’t be selfish; practice profound humility; accept yourself as you are in your simplicity, obscurity, unimportance, and littleness.