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The greatest tragedy that can befall a person is the atrophy of his mind.

Zhuangzi

The enlightened attention rejects nothing nor welcomes anything-like a mirror it responds equally to all.
ZHUANGZI

Attention Enlightenment Equality Mirror Respond Welcome
Cherish that which is in you and shut out that which is without, for much knowledge is a curse.
ZHUANGZI

Cherish Curse Knowledge Yourself
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.
ZHUANGZI

Body Chance Endurance Escape Freedom Joy Possession Sage Transformation World
The perfect man of old looked after himself first before looking to help others.
ZHUANGZI

Help Man Old Perfection
Birth is not a beginning; death is not an end. There is existence without limitation; there is continuity without a starting point.
ZHUANGZI

Beginning Born Death Existence Limitation Philosophy Spiritual Start
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
A frog in a well cannot conceive of the ocean.
ZHUANGZI

Deep Ocean One Liner
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
The sound of water says what I think.
ZHUANGZI

Myself Sound Thinking Water
Study is to study what cannot be studied. Undertaking means undertaking what cannot be undertaken. Philosophizing is to philosophize about what cannot be philosophized about. Knowing that knowing is unknowable is true perfection.
ZHUANGZI

Knowledge Known Perfection Philosophy Religious Spirituality Study True Unknown
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
Breathing control gives man strength, vitality, inspiration, and magic powers.
ZHUANGZI

Breathe Control Inspirational Magic Meditation Power Strength
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
Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly.
ZHUANGZI

Butterfly Dreams Himself Incarnation
Can a man cling to the positive without any negative in contrast to which it is seen to be positive? If he claims to do so he is a rouge or a madman.
ZHUANGZI

Mad Man Negative Positive
All men know the utility of useful things; but they do not know the utility of futility.
ZHUANGZI

Known Men Utility
Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.
ZHUANGZI

Acceptance Flow Mindset Stay Ultimate
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?
ZHUANGZI

Forget Himself Man Word
The one-legged creature is envious of the millipede; the millipede is envious of the snake; the snake is envious of the wind; the wind is envious of the eye; the eye is envious of the heart.
ZHUANGZI

Animal Creature Eyes Heart Jealous Wind
When you are identified with the One, all things will be complete to you.
ZHUANGZI

Complete Identify Spirituality Yourself
Great understanding is broad and unhurried; little understanding is cramped and busy.
ZHUANGZI

Broad Busy Calm Greatness Understand
Life comes from the earth and life returns to the earth.
ZHUANGZI

Earth Life Nature Return
The creature born is the creature dying.
ZHUANGZI

Born Creature Death
When affirmation and negation came into being, Tao faded. After Tao faded, then came one-sided attachments.
ZHUANGZI

Affirmation Attachment Negative Oneself Religious
So if loss of what gives happiness causes you distress when it fades, you can now understand that such happiness is worthless. It is said, those who lose themselves in their desire for things also lose their innate nature by being vulgar.
ZHUANGZI

Desire Fade Happiness Loss Nature Vulgar Worth
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

Beginning Enjoyment Himself Nervous Skill Target
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.
ZHUANGZI

Calm Creation Mindset Mirror Universe Water

The greatest tragedy that can befall a person is the atrophy of his mind.

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The greatest tragedy that can befall a person is the atrophy of his mind.

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