Chuang Tzu Quotes on Work & Career (2 Quotes)

Prince Wen Hui's cook was cutting up an ox.... The ox fell apart with a whisper. The bright cleaver murmured like a gentle wind. Rhythm Timing Like a sacred dance.... Prince Wen Hui Good work Your method is faultless The cook Method What I follow is Tao beyond all methods When I first began to cut up oxen I would see before me the whole ox all in one mass. After three years I no longer saw this mass. I saw the distinctions. But now I see nothing with the eye. My whole being apprehends. My senses are idle. The spirit free to work without plan follows its own instinct guided by natural line, by the secret opening, the hidden space, my cleaver finds its own way... Then I withdraw the blade, I stand still and let the joy of the work sink in. I clean the blade and put it away. Prince Wan Hui This is it My cook has shown me how I ought to live my own life.

Tzu Li went to see Tzu Lai who was dying. Leaning against the door, he said, Great is the Creator What will he make of you now Will he make you into a rat's liver Will he make you into an insect's leg Tzu-Lai replied, The universe gave me my body so I may be carried, my life so I may work, my old age so I may repose, and my death so I may rest. To regard life as good is the way to regard death as good.... If I regard the universe as a great furnace and creation as a master foundryman, why should anywhere I go not be all right.