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Men do not mirror themselves in running water - they mirror themselves in still water. Only what is still can still the stillness of other things.
Zhuangzi
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Zhuangzi
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Zhuang Zi
Chuang Tzŭ
Chuang Tzu
Chuangtzŭ
Chuangtzu
Zhuang Zhou
Chuang Chou
Mirror
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More quotes by Zhuangzi
Let your mind wander in simplicity, blend your spirit with the vastness, follow along with things the way they are, and make no room for personal views-then the world will be governed.
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One whose inner being is fixed upon such greatness emits a Heavenly glow. Even though he has this Heavenly glow, others will see him as just a man. Someone who has reached this point will begin to be consistent.
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To be constant is to be useful. To be useful is to realize one's true nature. Realization of one's true nature is happiness. When one reaches happiness, one is close to perfection.
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When the shoe fits, the foot is forgotten. When the belt fits, the belly is forgotten. When the heart is right, for and against are forgotten. No drives, no compulsions, no needs, no attractions: Then your affairs are under control. You are a free man.
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Horses have hoofs to carry them over frost and snow hair, to protect them from wind and cold. They eat grass and drink water, and fling up their heels.... Such is the real nature of horses.
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The love of a Sage for his fellows likewise finds expression amongst mankind. Were he not told sop, he would not know that he loved his fellows. But whether he knows it or whether he does not know it, whether he hears it or whether he does not hear it, his love for his is without end, and mankind cease not to repose therein.
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Beneath multiple specific and individual distinctions, beneath innumerable and incessant transformations, at the bottom of the circular evolution without beginning or end, there hides a law, a unique nature participated in by all beings, in which this common participation produces a ground of common harmony.
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Either in conflict with others or in harmony with them, we go through life like a runaway horse, unable to stop.
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The hearing that is only in the ears is one thing. The hearing of the understanding is another. But the hearing of the spirit is not limited to any one faculty to the ear, or to the mind.
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The World is Large - Its beauty indescrible.
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We possess our body by chance and we are already pleased with it. If our physical bodies went through ten thousand transformations without end, how incomparable would this joy be! Therefore the sage roams freely in the realm in which nothing can escape, but all endures.
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If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.
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Rewards and punishments are the lowest form of education.
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We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.
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The sage embraces things. Ordinary men discriminate amongst them and parade their discriminations before others. So I say those who discriminate, fail to see.
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The right way to go easy is to forget the right way.
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All men know the use of the useful, but nobody knows the use of the useless. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so that I can have a word with him?
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Running around accusing others is not as good as laughing. And enjoying a good laugh is not as good as going along with things.
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The perfect man of old looked after himself first before looking to help others.
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Now, when ordinary people attempt to find happiness, I am not sure whether the happiness is really happiness or not. I study what ordinary people do to find happiness, what they struggle for, rushing about apparently unable to stop.
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