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The wise man knows that it is better to sit on the banks of a remote mountain stream than to be emperor of the whole world.

Zhuangzi

The torch of doubt and chaos, this is what the sage steers by.
ZHUANGZI

Chaos Doubt Priest
Men honor what lies within the sphere of their knowledge, but do not realize how dependent they are on what lies beyond it.
ZHUANGZI

Beyond Dependent Honor Knowledge Lying Man
Sound intelligence promises victory in every battle.
ZHUANGZI

Battle Intelligence Promise Sound Victory
The creature born is the creature dying.
ZHUANGZI

Born Creature Death
Being is thoughtless-beyond and beneath all categories of thought. Expression is the realization of creative thought. Being is still; expression, moving. But then if I do not strive, who will?
ZHUANGZI

Beyond Creativity Expression Myself Realize Thinking Willing
All existing things are really one. We regard those that are beautiful and rare as valuable, and those that are ugly as foul and rotten. The foul and rotten may come to be transformed into what is rare and valuable, and the rare and valuable into what is foul and rotten.
ZHUANGZI

Beautiful Existence Rare Regard Transformation Ugly Value
Perfect happiness is the absence of striving for happiness.
ZHUANGZI

Absence Happiness Perfection Wisdom
When the heart is right, “for” and “against” are forgotten.
ZHUANGZI

Forget Heart Right
The perfect man employs his mind as a mirror.
ZHUANGZI

Employment Himself Man Mindset Mirror Perfection
Heaven is in everything: follow the light, hide in the cloudiness and begin in what is. Do this and your understanding will be like not understanding and your wisdom will be like not being wise. By not being wise you will become wise later.
ZHUANGZI

Cloud Follow Heaven Light Understand Wisdom Yourself
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.
ZHUANGZI

Argument Energy Exhaust Form Heaven Point Soul Tree
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.
ZHUANGZI

Gradual Opinion Ourselves Perspective Point View
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.
ZHUANGZI

Alone Ancient Essence Fundamental Intelligence Quiet Spiritual Technique
The eye is a menace to clear sight, the ear is a menace to subtle hearing, the mind is a menace to wisdom, every organ of the senses is a menace to its own capacity.
ZHUANGZI

Capacity Clear Eyes Mindset Organ Wisdom
The Tao is in all things, in their divisions and their fullness. What I dislike about divisions is that they multiply, and what i dislike about multiplication is that it makes people want to hold fast to it. So people go out and forget to return, seeing little more than ghosts.
ZHUANGZI

Division Fast Forget Hold People Return See
Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature.
ZHUANGZI

Affect Ceremony Charity Donation Lost Man Mindset Music Nature Original Satisfaction Seek

The wise man knows that it is better to sit on the banks of a remote mountain stream than to be emperor of the whole world.

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The wise man knows that it is better to sit on the banks of a remote mountain stream than to be emperor of the whole world.

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