When we look at things in the light of Tao, nothing is best, nothing is worst. Each thing, seen in its own light stands out in its own way. It can seem to be 'better' than what is compared with it on its own terms. But seen in terms of the whole, no one thing stands out as 'better' ... All creatures have gifts of their own... All things have varying capacities. Consequently he who wants to have right without wrong, order without disorder, does not understand the principles of heaven and earth. He does not know how things hang together. Can a man cling only to heaven and know nothing of earth They are correlative to know one is to know the other. To refuse one is to refuse both.
More Quotes from Chuang Tzu:
Three Friends There were three friends Discussing life. One said 'Can we live together and know nothing of it Work together and produce nothing Can people fly around in space and still forget to exist World without end' The three friends looked at each other and burst out laughing. They had no explanation. Thus they were better friends than before. Then one friend died. Confucius sent a disciple to help the other two Chant the traditional funeral ritual. His disciple found that one of them had composed a song. While the other played the lute, They sang 'Hey, Sung Hu Where'd you go You have gone Where you were before. And we are here Damn it We are here' Then the disciple of Confucius burst in on them and exclaimed 'May I inquire where in the funeral ritual it allows you to sing so irreverently in the presence of the departed' The two friends looked at each other, smiled, and said 'Well trained in liturgy, but the poor fellow doesn't understand life and death'Chuang Tzu
Being is thoughtlessbeyond 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.
Chuang Tzu
The space under the sky is occupied by all things in their unity.
Chuang Tzu
You train your eye and your vision lusts after color. You train your ear, and you long for delightful sound. You delight in doing good, and your natural kindness is blown out of shape. You delight in righteousness, and you become righteous beyond all reason. You overdo liturgy, and you turn into a ham actor. Overdo your love of music, and you play corn. Love of wisdom leads to wise contriving. Love of knowledge leads to faultfinding. If men would stay as they really are, taking or leaving these eight delights would make no difference. But if they will not rest in their right state, the eight delights develop like malignant tumors. The world falls into confusion. Since men honour these delights, and lust after them, the world has gone stone-blind. When the delight is over, they still will not let go of it....
Chuang Tzu
... You never find happiness until you stop looking for it. My greatest happiness consists precisely in doing nothing whatever that is calculated to obtain happiness and this, in the minds of most people, is the worst possible course... If you ask 'what ought to be done' and 'what ought not to be done' on earth in order to produce happiness, I answer that these questions do not have an answer. There is no way of determining such things. Yet at the same time, if I cease striving for happiness, the 'right' and the 'wrong' at once become apparent all by themselves. Contentment and well-being at once become possible the moment you cease to act with them in view, and if you practice non-doing (wu wei), you will have both happiness and well-being.
Chuang Tzu
By ethical argument and moral principle the greatest crimes are eventually shown to have been necessary, and, in fact, a signal benefit to mankind.
Chuang Tzu
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