Liezi, surnamed Lie and named Yu Kou, was born in Putian (now Zhengzhou City, Henan Province) of Zheng State. He also wrote Liekou, Liekou or Ziliezi in ancient books. He was born in the period of King Wei Lie of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, at the same time as Zheng Mugong. Philosophers, thinkers, writers and representatives of Taoism in the Warring States period. He devoted himself to moral learning all his life, and studied under Guan Yinzi, Huqiuzi, Lao Shang and Zhibo Gaozi. He lived in seclusion in Zheng for forty years, seeking no fame and wealth, and quietly practicing Buddhism. Liezi had a great influence on China people's thoughts. Liezi is talented and easy-going, and his music is high and lonely, and he is as vast as Feng Xu's wind, but he doesn't know what to stop; Floating like a world of independence, feathering and becoming immortal. Among the pre-Qin philosophers, Liezi was the most philosophical and open-minded one. Advocating accountability and responsibility, doing nothing. Liezi's activity period should be about the early and middle period of the Warring States Period, at the same time as Zheng Yigong, later than Confucius and earlier than Zhuangzi. Liezi gathered disciples to give lectures, and his disciples were numerous. Once, when Liezi went to visit the South Guozi, he chose "forty disciples to go with him", which shows that Liezi learned a lot later. From Zhuangzi, we can see that Liezi School had a great influence in the middle and late Warring States Period.
Taoism in the pre-Qin period was founded in Laozi, developed in Liezi, and became a great success in Zhuangzi. Liezi has written 2 books with more than 1, words. Both Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals and Dead Bodies contain "Liezi values emptiness", but according to Tianrui, Liezi believes that "emptiness is not valuable". Completely empty, there must be no (empty) all forgotten, melting all the differences, so there is no concept of importance and so on. Liezi, a book circulating now, was studied in the pre-Qin dynasty. After the Qin disaster, only eight articles survived when Liu Xiang sorted Liezi, which was still popular in the Western Han Dynasty. The Western Jin Dynasty was plagued by Yongjia Rebellion and was incomplete after crossing the river. Later, it was collected and sorted out by Zhan Zhang to complete it. Today, there are eight articles, such as Tianrui, Zhong Ni, Tang Wen, Yang Zhu, Shuofu, Huangdi, Zhou Muwang and Liming Life, which have become Liezi, and the rest chapters have been lost. Among them, there are more than 1 fables, such as The Yellow Emperor's Wandering, Yu Gong Yi Shan, Kuafu's Chasing the Sun, and Worrying about the Worries, all of which are selected from this book. They are interesting to read, meaningful and thought-provoking. Later, it was revered by Taoism as "a real person who rushed to the void." He is an important inheritor of Taoist school between Laozi and Zhuangzi.
Liezi profoundly reflects all aspects of social and cultural life in the late summer and early Zhou dynasties and the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Liezi can be said to be a magnificent epic, in which the philosophy, mythology, music, military affairs, culture, the world, people's feelings, folk customs, etc. at that time were vividly expressed, and Liezi preserved many precious pre-Qin historical materials such as myths and legends, music history and acrobatics history. It is one of the representative works of pre-Qin prose.
Zhuangzi once said in "A Happy Journey" that "Fu Liezi walked against the wind, and Ling Ran was kind, and he turned back for five days after ten days. He who is blessed is not counted. Although this is not necessary, there is still something to be done. " Liezi can "walk against the wind, and Ling Ran is good", and it seems that he has developed a remarkable flying skill. Because Zhuangzi's books often make up some imaginary characters, such as "unknown people" and "heavenly roots", some people suspect that Liezi is also a "dummy". However, Liezi is also mentioned in many documents, such as Warring States Policy, Corpse, Lu Chunqiu and so on, so Liezi should be a real person.
Liezi's disciples are Bo Fengzi, Bai Feng and Shi Ji.