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When an archer shoots for enjoyment, he has all his skill; when he shoots for a brass buckle, he gets nervous; when he shoots for a prize of gold, he begins to see two targets.

Zhuangzi

Listening stops with the ears, the mind stops with recognition, but spirit is empty and waits on all things.
ZHUANGZI

Empty Listening Mindset Recognition Spirit Wait
Fish live in water. Men die in it. Nature is diverse, and not all tastes are the same.
ZHUANGZI

Death Deep Diversity Live Men Nature Taste Water
Let everything be allowed to do what it naturally does, so that its nature will be satisfied.
ZHUANGZI

Allow Natural Satisfaction Yourself
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 little child learns to speak, though it has no learned teachers – because it lives with those who know how to speak.
ZHUANGZI

Children Deep Learning Live Talk Teacher
The sage has the sun and moon by his side and the universe under his arm. He blends everything into a harmonious whole. . . . He blends the disparities of ten thousand years into one complete purity. All things are blended like this and mutually involve each other.
ZHUANGZI

Complete Each Other Harmony Involve Moon Purity Sage Sun Universe
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

Deep Man Mirror Run Water
Either in conflict with others or in harmony with them, we go through life like a runaway horse, unable to stop.
ZHUANGZI

Conflict Harmony Life Stop
Those who follow the Tao are of clear mind. They do not load their mind with anxieties and are flexible in their adjustment to external conditions.
ZHUANGZI

Anxiety Condition Follow Mindset Religious
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.
ZHUANGZI

Affair Attraction Control Drive Forget Freedom Heart Man Philosophy Shoe Spirituality Yourself
Right 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.
ZHUANGZI

Argument Clear Difference Need Right
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
A sage steers by the bright light of confusion and doubt.
ZHUANGZI

Bright Confusion Doubt Light Sage
I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.
ZHUANGZI

Butterfly Dreams Man Myself
The perfect man employs his mind as a mirror.
ZHUANGZI

Employment Himself Man Mindset Mirror Perfection
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

When an archer shoots for enjoyment, he has all his skill; when he shoots for a brass buckle, he gets nervous; when he shoots for a prize of gold, he begins to see two targets.

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When an archer shoots for enjoyment, he has all his skill; when he shoots for a brass buckle, he gets nervous; when he shoots for a prize of gold, he begins to see two targets.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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