Liezi

A Daoist classic in eight chapters, named after Lie Yukou, a sage who appears in the Zhuangzi riding on the wind. Most scholars think the received text was compiled around the 3rd or 4th century CE, though it contains older material. Like the Zhuangzi, it teaches mostly through stories. They question the line between dreaming and waking, mock the fear of death and the chase after fame, and show skilled craftsmen and sages acting without forcing. Well-known stories include the man of Qi who feared the sky would fall, the Yellow Emperor's dream of an ideal land, the Foolish Old Man who sets out to move a mountain, and the craftsman Yan Shi's lifelike automaton. One chapter weighs human effort against destiny. The seventh chapter, 'Yang Zhu', stands apart from the rest: it argues that life is short and uncertain, and that we should enjoy it rather than sacrifice ourselves for reputation or the state.

It is the most entertaining of the Daoist classics, and its stories about dreams, fate and death raise questions about how to live that are easy to begin thinking about and hard to finish.