Liezi
Chinese Taoist text attributed to the legendary philosopher Lie Yukou (or Liezi), a figure about whom almost nothing is known with certainty and who is mentioned in passing in the Zhuangzi as a sage capable of 'riding the wind' and moving about without needing to walk; in its present form, the work was probably compiled around the fourth century CE by unknown hands, much later than the date attributed to it by tradition and than the era of its supposed original author, incorporating material from various sources and periods, including even Buddhist paraphrases and motifs that clearly betray its late composition and composite nature. Structured in eight thematic chapters, the Liezi shares with the Tao Te Ching and the Zhuangzi —the other two great foundational classics of philosophical Taoism— an interest in naturalness, spontaneity (ziran) and scepticism toward rigid social conventions and merely rational or utilitarian knowledge, but is distinguished by a more narrative, plain and anecdotal style, rich in parables, popular fables and fantastic tales that often have a more accessible and less speculatively dense tone than the Zhuangzi, though no less profound in their philosophical implications. Among its most famous passages are the myth of Yu the Great and the land of the immortals, the well-known parable of the foolish old man who wanted to move a mountain with the help of his descendants —an enduring symbol of tenacious perseverance against all apparent logic and all mockery from neighbours— and extensive reflections on dreams, illusion and the radical relativity of human perception that anticipate, in a more playful and narrative tone, many of the best-known epistemological paradoxes of the Zhuangzi, including questions about the distinction between waking and dreaming. Although often considered a lesser text compared to the other two classics for philological and dating reasons, the Liezi has for centuries been an important source of folk tales, literary motifs and reworked narrative material in Chinese culture.