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Lessons from The Book of Chuang Tzu - Part 5

The wise person does not hold onto life, nor do they fear death. They arrive without expectation and leave without resistance. They came calmly, went calmly, and that was that. They are not interested in what becomes of them.

Their kindness enriches generations yet they have no great love for people.

They do what they want.

They are not judgemental.

Cheerfully smiling, they are content.

When calm, they appear to be one with the world.

Their inner nature seems unknowable.

They get on well with society.

They follow the natural course of events.

Death and birth are fixed. They are beyond the control of humanity. This is just how things are.

People praise and criticise leaders and thinkers but it would be so much better if they just follow the Tao.

To have a human form is a joyful thing but in a universe full of possible forms there are others just as good.

The sage rests contented with all things.

They take pleasure in early death, old age, in the origin and in the end, and sees them all as equally good. They are an example to others.

Ignore worldly matters. Ignore external matters. See your own being as irrelevant. That's the way to true clarity, to the Tao. Then you can ignore past and future.

The universe exists. Absorb through attention to the universe in its infinite numbers of everyday forms. From this you gain awareness and awe at the mystery of the universe. From this you get great enjoyment. Then you can be practically useful in life, in agreement with the flow of the universe. This gives you great clarity, which you can develop with continuous study of life. Then you can speak, teach, and write what you have learned.

I obtained life because the time was right. I will lose my life when the time is right. If you go quietly with the flow of nature you will not be concerned with joy or sorrow. You will have achieved freedom from bondage. Those who cannot achieve this are constrained by many things.

The cosmos gives me form, brings me to birth, guides me to old age and settles me in death. If I think my life good then I must think my death good.

Peacefully we die, calmly we awake.

Ride the clouds, journey the infinite, and forget about existence forever.

Go beyond the human world. Going beyond human and staying within can never meet. They are incompatible. Become one with the force that creates and changes everything, and wander as part of the whole.

They begin and cease without knowing what is beginning or ceasing. They wander beyond the mundane world and stroll in the world of non-action. They have no worries about proper conduct just to please people.

Enjoying the Tao, people do nothing and their lives are fulfilled.

The man alone is only alone when compared to others but he is alognside Heaven.

He is far beyond mundane understanding.

As we are all in a process of change, how can we know what unknowing thing we will be changed into? As what we are changing into has not yet happened, how can we understand what change is?

Don't struggle, go with the flow and you will find yourself at one with the vastness of the void of Heaven.

You are branded with the practice of benevolence and justice, and mutilated with the distinction between right and wrong. So how can I help you meander alone in freedom and aimlessness, enjoying things as they happen through the process of change?

"I'd like to find some small corner for myself." "No, it can't be done."

I am united with the Tao. This is what sitting right down and forgetting is.

When you come down to it, it must be simply Fate.







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