Chuang

Chuang was a character in a story that the Jedi Master Yoda once heard from his own Master. According to the tale, he was the strongest and wisest Jedi Master of his time, which earned him the nickname the "Great Jedi." The story went that, at one point, Chuang's apprentice died. However, instead of mourning his departed pupil, Chuang decided to spend time with his friends, playing music, singing, and joking. A later came to him, bringing the condolences of Master K'ungfu, and he found the Great Jedi laughing while the body of his apprentice was still lying there. Noting the messenger's outrage, Chuang told him that death was not something one could avoid forever, and it only meant becoming a different part of the Force. Therefore, Chuang felt that it was better to sing and laugh over the dead than cry. The messenger then reported the words of the Great Jedi to Master K'ungfu, who accepted his colleague's teaching with a smile.

Long after hearing the tale from his mentor, Yoda passed it on to the aspiring Jedi Luke Skywalker while training him in the swamps of Dagobah. He could not, however, tell whether Chuang, K'ungfu and the other characters of the story were historical or fictional figures.

Master Chuang was first mentioned in the 2015 young-readers novel The Empire Strikes Back: So You Want to Be a Jedi?—a retelling of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back—written by Adam Gidwitz. He was partly inspired by Chuang-tzu, also spelled Zhuangzi based on the original Chinese name 莊子, which is a founding Taoist text written by the author of the same name during the Warring States period, in the late 4th century BCE.