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In an archery contest, when the stakes are earthenware tiles a contestant shoots with skill. When the stakes are belt buckles he becomes hesitant, and if the stakes are pure gold he becomes nervous and confused. There is no difference as to his skil.

Zhuangzi

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Zhuangzi
Philosopher
Poet
Writer
Peking
Zhuang Zi
Chuang Tzŭ
Chuang Tzu
Chuangtzŭ
Chuangtzu
Zhuang Zhou
Chuang Chou
Confused
Hesitant
Nervous
Shoots
Skills
Belt
Gold
Contest
Contestant
Difference
Belts
Buckles
Pure
Contests
Contestants
Becomes
Stakes
Tiles
Differences
Skill
Archery

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My description of wisdom has nothing to do with benevolence and righteousness, it is to do with being wise in one's own virtue, nothing more. My description of being has nothing to do with benevolence and righteousness, it is that one should be led by one's innate nature, nothing more.
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Standards are different for all things, so the standard set by man is by no means the only 'certain' standard. If you mistake what is relative for something certain, you have strayed far from the ultimate truth.
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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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Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.
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Listening stops with the ears, the mind stops with recognition, but spirit is empty and waits on all things.
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If there is existence, there must be non-existence. And if there was a time when nothing existed, there must have been a time before that - when even nothing did not exist. Suddenly, when nothing came into existence, could one really say whether it belonged to the category of existence or non-existence?
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Big? Sure. But, he can't catch mice! So for your big tree. No use? Then plant it in the wasteland - in emptiness. Walk idly around it and rest under it's shadow. No axe or saw prepares its end. No one will ever cut it down. Useless? You should worry!.
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Make your will one! Don't listen with your ears, listen with your mind. No, don't listen with your mind, but listen with your spirit. Listening stops with the ears, the mind stops with recognition, but spirit is empty- and waits on all things. The Way gathers in emptiness alone. Emptiness is the fasting of the mind.
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There may be difficulty at the moment, but I will not lose the Virtue that I possess. It is when the ice and snow are on them that we see the strength of the cypress and the pine. I am grateful for this trouble around me, because it gives me an opportunity to realize how fortunate I am.
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To regard the fundamental as the essence, to regard things as coarse, to regard accumulation as deficiency, and to dwell quietly alone with the spiritual and the intelligent - herein lie the techniques of Tao of the ancients.
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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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Men of this world all rejoice in others being like themselves, and object to others not being like themselves.
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But you now, you wear your soul on your sleeve, exhausting your energy, propping yourself up on a tree, mumbling, or bent over your desk, asleep. Heaven gives you a form and you wear it out by pointless argument.
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He who does his work like a machine grows a heart like a machine and he who carries the heart of a machine in his breast loses his simplicity. He who has lost his simplicity becomes unsure in the strivings of his soul.
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Life is finite, While knowledge is infinite.
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The birth of a man is the birth of his sorrow. The longer he lives, the more stupid he becomes, because his anxiety to avoid unavoidable death becomes more and more acute. What bitterness! He lives for what is always out of reach! His thirst for survival in the future makes him incapable of living in the present.
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Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free.
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When affirmation and negation came into being, Tao faded. After Tao faded, then came one-sided attachments.
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