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Words exist because of meaning; once you’ve gotten the meaning, you can forget the words.

Zhuangzi

During our dreams we do not know we are dreaming. We may even dream of interpreting a dream. Only on waking do we know it was a dream. Only after the great awakening will we realize that this is the great dream.
ZHUANGZI

Awakening Dreams Greatness Realize Wake Up
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
Great knowledge sees all in one. Small knowledge breaks down into the many.
ZHUANGZI

Break Greatness Knowledge Oneself Small
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
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
People value that part of knowledge which is known. They do not know how to avail themselves of the Unknown in order to reach knowledge. Is this not misguided?
ZHUANGZI

Guide Knowledge Order People Reach Value
Perfect happiness is the absence of striving for happiness.
ZHUANGZI

Absence Happiness Perfection Wisdom
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.
ZHUANGZI

Different Man Mistake Standard Truth Ultimate Yourself
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
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
Great understanding is broad and unhurried; little understanding is cramped and busy.
ZHUANGZI

Broad Busy Calm Greatness Understand
The ultimate happiness is doing nothing.
ZHUANGZI

Happiness Philosophy Ultimate
A battering ram can knock down a city wall, but it cannot stop a hole. Different things have different uses.
ZHUANGZI

Different Power Stop Wall
The perfect man uses his mind as a mirror. It grasps nothing. It regrets nothing. It receives but does not keep.
ZHUANGZI

Himself Mindset Mirror Perfection Regret
Only the intelligent knows how to identify all things as one. When one is at ease with himself, one is near Tao. This is to let Nature take its own course.
ZHUANGZI

Flow Himself Identify Intelligence Nature Path Religion Whole
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

Words exist because of meaning; once you’ve gotten the meaning, you can forget the words.

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Words exist because of meaning; once you’ve gotten the meaning, you can forget the words.

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