Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was...

When I speak of good hearing, I do not mean listening to others; I mean simply listening to yourself. When I speak of good eyesight, I do not mean looking at others; I mean simply...

You forget your feet when the shoes are comfortable. You forget your waist when the belt is comfortable. Understanding forgets right and wrong when the mind is comfortable. There is no change in what is...

So it is said, for him who understands Heavenly joy, life is the working of Heaven; death is the transformation of things. In stillness, he and the yin share a single Virtue; in motion, he...

The petty thief is imprisoned but the big thief becomes a feudal lord.

We can’t expect a blind man to appreciate beautiful patterns or a deaf man to listen to bells and drums. And blindness and deafness are not confined to the body alone – the understanding has...

The baby looks at things all day without winking; that is because his eyes are not focused on any particular object. He goes without knowing where he is going, and stops without knowing what he...

The 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...

I have heard that he who knows what is enough will not let himself be entangled by thoughts of gain; that he who really understands how to find satisfaction will not be afraid of other...

We are born from a quiet sleep, and we die to a calm awakening

Not 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.

He who steals a belt buckle pays with his life; he who steals a state gets to be a feudal lord.

A man like this will not go where he has no will to go, will not do what he has no mind to do. Though the world might praise him and say he had really...

Rewards and punishments are the lowest form of education.

A path is made by walking on it.

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

You 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...

You can’t discuss the ocean with a well frog – he’s limited by the space he lives in. You can’t discuss ice with a summer insect – he’s bound to a single season.

People who excuse their faults and claim they didn’t deserved to be punished – there are lots of them. But those who don’t excuse their faults and admit they didn’t deserve to be spared –...

When a man does not dwell in self, then things will of themselves reveal their forms to him. His movement is like that of water, his stillness like that of a mirror, his responses like...

Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can have a word with him?

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.

A good completion takes a long time; a bad completion cannot be changed later.

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. Thoroughbreds like Qiji...

Suppose I try saying something. What way do I have of knowing that if I say I know something I don’t really not know it? Or what way do I have of knowing that if...

In the midst of darkness, he alone sees the dawn; in the midst of the soundless, he alone hears harmony.

Life, 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...

When men do not forget what can be forgotten but forget what cannot be forgotten – that may be called true forgetting.

Forget the years, forget distinctions. Leap into the boundless and make it your home!

The 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.

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...

Your 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.

With all the confusion in the world these days, no matter how often I point the way, what good does it do? And if I know it does no good and still make myself do...

Zhuangzi’s wife died. When Huizu went to convey his condolences, he found Zhuangzi sitting with his legs sprawled out, pounding on a tub and singing. “You lived with her, she brought up your children and...

When you’re betting for tiles in an archery contest, you shoot with skill. When you’re betting for fancy belt buckles, you worry about your aim. And when you’re betting for real gold, you’re a nervous...

He 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...

The Perfect Man uses his mind like a mirror – going after nothing, welcoming nothing, responding but not storing.

Everything has its “that,” everything has its “this.” From the point of view of “that” you cannot see it, but through understanding you can know it. So I say, “that” comes out of “this” and...

In the world everyone knows enough to pursue what he does not know, but no one knows enough to pursue what he already knows. Everyone knows enough to condemn what he takes to be no...

If 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...

I’ve heard my teacher say, where there are machines, there are bound to be machine worries; where there are machine worries, there are bound to be machine hearts. With a machine heart in your breast,...

Master Dongguo asked Zhuangzi, “This thing called the Way – where does it exist?”Zhuangzi said, “There’s no place it doesn’t exist.””Come,” said Master Dongguo, “you must be more specific!””It is in the ant.””As low a...

Words 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.

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

But a gentleman may embrace a doctrine without necessarily wearing the garb that goes with it, and he may wear the garb without necessarily comprehending the doctrine.

The True Man of ancient times knew nothing of loving life, knew nothing of hating death. He emerged without delight; he went back in without a fuss. He came briskly, he went briskly, and that...

It comes out from no source, it goes back in through no aperture. It has reality yet no place where it resides; it has duration yet no beginning or end. Something emerges, though through no...

Let 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.

Men all pay homage to what understanding understands, but no one understands enough to rely upon what understanding does not understand and thereby come to understand.

If a man crosses a riverand an empty boat collides with his own skiff,Even though he be bad tempered manHe will not become very angry. But if he sees a man in the boat,He will...