World Philosophical Heritage

Wisdom and teachings of
Daoism

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R ight is not right; so is not so. If right were really right, it would differ so clearly from not right that there would be no need for argument. If so were really so, it would differ so clearly from not so that there would be no need for argument.

quote 7329 | Tchuang Tzu

N ot to understand is profound; to understand is shallow. Not to understand is to be on the inside; to understand is to be on the outside.

quote 7328 | Tchuang Tzu

T he little child learns to speak, though it has no learned teachers - because it lives with those who know how to speak.

quote 7327 | Tchuang Tzu

L ife, death, preservation, loss, failure, success, poverty, riches, worthiness, unworthiness, slander, fame, hunger, thirst, cold, heat - these are the alternations of the world, the workings of fate. Day and night they change place before us, and wisdom cannot spy out their source. Therefore, they should not be enough to destroy your harmony; they should not be allowed to enter the storehouse of the spirit. If you can harmonize and delight in them, master them and never be at a loss for joy… - this is what I call being whole in power.

quote 7326 | Tchuang Tzu

N ow do you say, that you are going to make Right your master and do away with Wrong, or make Order your master and do away with Disorder? If you do, then you have not understood the principle of heaven and earth or the nature of the ten thousand things. This is like saying that you are going to make Heaven your master and do away with Earth, or make Yin your master and do away with Yang. Obviously it is impossible.

quote 7325 | Tchuang Tzu

T he horned owl catches fleas at night and can spot the tip of a hair, but when daylight comes, no matter how wide it opens its eyes, it cannot see a mound or a hill - this refers to a difference in nature.

quote 7324 | Tchuang Tzu

T horoughbred horses could gallop a thousand Li in one day, but when it came to catching rats they were no match for the wildcat or the weasel - this refers to a difference in skill.

quote 7323 | Tchuang Tzu

A beam or pillar can be used to batter down a city wall, but it is no good for stopping up a little hole - this refers to a difference in function.

quote 7322 | Tchuang Tzu

Y our life has a limit, but knowledge has none. If you use what is limited to pursue what has no limit, you will be in danger.

quote 7321 | Tchuang Tzu

T he Perfect Man uses his mind like a mirror - going after nothing, welcoming nothing, responding but not storing.

quote 7320 | Tchuang Tzu

L et 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.

quote 7319 | Tchuang Tzu

W hen I say a dream, I am also dreaming. This very saying is a deception. If after ten thousand years we could once meet a truly great sage, one who understands, it would seem as if it had only been a morning.

quote 7318 | Tchuang Tzu

E ventually there comes the day of reckoning and awakening, and then we shall know that it was all a great dream. Only fools think that they are now awake and that they really know what is going on, playing the prince and then playing the servant. What fools!

quote 7317 | Tchuang Tzu

T o forget the whole world is easy; to make the whole world forget you is hard.

quote 7316 | Tchuang Tzu

W ords have value; what is of value in words is meaning. Meaning has something it is pursuing, but the thing that it is pursuing cannot be put into words and handed down.

quote 7315 | Tchuang Tzu

T he sage is still not because he takes stillness to be good and therefore is still. The ten thousand things are insufficient to distract his mind - that is the reason he is still.

quote 7314 | Tchuang Tzu

W here a model exists, copies will be made of it; where success has been gained, boasting follows; where debate exists, there will be outbreaks of hostility.

quote 7313 | Tchuang Tzu

A ll attempts to create something admirable are the weapons of evil. You may think you are practicing benevolence and righteousness, but in effect you will be creating a kind of artificiality.

quote 7312 | Tchuang Tzu

T he True Man of ancient times knew nothing of loving life, knew nothing of hating death. He emerged without delight; went back in without a fuss. He came briskly, he went briskly, and that was all. He didn’t forget where he began; he didn’t try to find out where he would end.

quote 7311 | Tchuang Tzu

I f you’d called me an ox, I’d have said I was an ox; if you’d called me a horse, I’d have said I was a horse. If the reality is there and you refuse to accept the name men give it, you’ll only lay yourself open to double harassment.

quote 7310 | Tchuang Tzu

A ll men know the use of the useful, but nobody knows the use of the useless!

quote 7309 | Tchuang Tzu

I t (Tao) can be passed on, but not received. It can be obtained, but not seen.

quote 7308 | Tchuang Tzu

H e who knows he is a fool is not the biggest fool; he who knows he is confused is not in the worst confusion. The man in the worst confusion will end his life without ever getting straightened out; the biggest fool will end his life without ever seeing the light.

quote 7307 | Tchuang Tzu

Y ou have only to rest in inaction and things will transform themselves. Smash your form and body, spit out hearing and eyesight, forget you are a thing among other things, and you may join in great unity with the deep and boundless (Tao).

quote 7306 | Tchuang Tzu

T he time of the autumn floods came and the hundred streams poured into the Yellow River. … Then the Lord of the River was beside himself with Joy, believing that all the beauty in the world belonged to him alone.

quote 7305 | Tchuang Tzu

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Wisdom and teachings ofDaoism

Wisdom and teachings of
Daoism