Quotation From Zhuangzi

Singapore time 8.56 am 31st March 2008

Chapter 21
"What is there to prevent you from finding out?" replied Confucius. "There is no sorrow to be compared with the death of the mind. The death of the body is of but secondary importance. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. There is no place which he does not illuminate; and those who have eyes and feet depend upon him to use them with success. When he comes forth, that is existence; when he disappears, that is non-existence. And every human being has that upon which he depends for death or for life. But if I, receiving this mind-informed body, pass without due modification to the end, day and night subject to ceaseless wear and tear like a mere thing, unknowing what the end will be, and in spite of this mind-informed body conscious only that fate cannot save me from the inevitable grave-yard,--then I am consuming life until at death it is as though you and I had but once linked arms to be finally parted for ever! Is not that indeed a cause for sorrow?

"Now you fix your attention upon something in me which, while you look has already passed away. Yet you seek for it as though it must be still there-- like one who seeks for a horse in a market place. What I admire in you is transitory. Nevertheless, why should you grieve? Although my old self is constantly passing away, there remains that which does not pass away."

"My mind is trammeled," replied Lao Tzu, "and I cannot know. My mouth is closed and I cannot speak. But I will try to tell you what is probably the truth. The perfect Negative principle is majestically passive. The perfect Positive principle is powerfully active. Passivity emanates from heaven above; activity proceeds from earth beneath. The interaction of the two results in that harmony by which all things are produced. There may be a First Cause, but we never see his form. His report fills space. There is darkness and light. Days come and months go. Work is being constantly performed, yet we never witness the performance. Life must bring us from somewhere, and death must carry us back. Beginning and end follow ceaselessly one upon the other, and we cannot say when the series will be exhausted. If this is not the work of a First Cause, what is it?"

"Animals," said Lao Tzu, "that eat grass do not mind a change of pasture. Creatures that live in water do not mind a change of pond. A slight change may be effected so long as the essential is untouched. Joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, find no place in that man's breast; for to him all creation is ONE. And all things being thus united in ONE, his body and limbs are but dust of the earth, and life and death, beginning and end, are but as night and day, and cannot destroy his peace. How much less such trifles as gain or loss, misfortune or good fortune?

"He rejects rank as so much mud. For he knows that if a man is of honorable rank, the honor is in himself, and cannot be lost by change of condition, nor exhausted by countless modifications of existence. Who then can grieve his heart? Those who practice Tao understand the secret of this."

"Master," said Confucius, "your virtue equals that of Heaven and Earth; yet you still employ perfect precepts in the cultivation of your heart. Who among the sages of old could have uttered such words?"

Chapter 22
"Of those 2,"replied the Yellow Emperor, "Do-nothing Say-nothing is genuinely right, and All-in-extremes is near. You and I are wholly wrong. Those who understand it do not speak about it, those who speak about it do not understand it. Therefore the Sage teaches a doctrine which does not find expression in words. Tao cannot be made to come. Virtue cannot be reached. Charity can be evoked. Duty to one's neighbor can be wrongly directed. Ceremonies are mere shams. Therefore it has been said, 'If Tao perishes, then 'Te' will perish. If 'Te' perishes, then charity will perish. If charity perishes, then duty to one's neighbor will perish. If duty to one's neighbor perishes, then ceremonies will perish. Ceremonies are but a showy ornament of Tao, while oft-times the source of trouble.' [No word religion is meditation.]

"Therefore it has been said, 'Those who practice Tao suffer daily loss. If that loss proceeds until inaction ensues, then by that very inaction there is nothing which cannot be done.' Now, we are already beings. And if we desire to revert to our original condition, how difficult that is! 'T is a change to which only the greatest among us are equal. Life follows upon death. Death is the beginning of life. Who knows when the end is reached? The life of a man results from convergence of the vital fluid. Its convergence is life; its dispersion, death. If then life and death are but consecutive states, what need have I to complain?

"Therefore all things are ONE. What we love is animation. What we hate is corruption. But corruption in its turn becomes animation, and animation once more becomes corruption. Therefore it has been said, 'The world is permeated by a single vital fluid, and Sages accordingly venerate ONE'". [venerate the Mystic Portal]

The Yin and the Yang, and the 4 seasons, keep to their proper order. Apparently destroyed, yet really existing; the material gone, the immaterial left;- such is the law of creation, which passes all understanding. This is called the root, whence a glimpse may be obtained of God. [Should be gazing at the sky, tien]

Yeh Ch'ueh enquired of P'i I about Tao. The latter said, "Keep your body under proper control, your gaze concentrated upon ONE - and the peace of God will descend upon you. Keep back your knowledge, and concentrate your thoughts upon ONE, - and the holy spirit shall abide within you. Virtue shall beautify you, Tao shall establish you, aimless as a new-born calf which reckons not how it came into the world." (meditation instruction; the One is the mark on our forehead or Mystic Portal in Taoism, see Taoist Yoga chapter 1.)

"It is the delegated image of God," replied Ch'eng. "Your life is not your own. It is the delegated harmony of God. Your individuality is not your own. It is the delegated adaptability of God. Your posterity is not your own. It is the delegated exuberant of God. You move, but know not how. You are at rest, but know not why. You taste, but know not the cause. These are the operation of God's laws. How then should you get Tao so as to have it for your own?"

"Purge your heart by fasting and discipline," answered Lao Tzu. "Wash your soul as white as snow. Discard your knowledge. Tao is abstruse and difficult of discussion. I will try, however, to speak to you of its outline. Light is born of darkness. Classification is born of formlessness. The soul is born of Tao. The body is born of the vital essence.
[Our Spiritual Soul is born of Tao. It is the same as God blowing His Spirit into the depth of our nose in Bible. Praying (gazing) to Our Spiritual Soul or God's Spirit is the same as praying to Tao or God. Jesus said that know the Son before you can know the Father. The Son is our own Spirit or God's Spirit.]

"Try to reach with me the palace of Nowhere, and there, amidst the identity of all things, carry your discussions into the infinite. Try to practice with me inaction, wherein you may rest motionless, without care, and be happy. For thus my mind becomes an abstraction. It wanders not, and yet is not conscious of being at rest. It goes and comes and is not conscious of stoppages. Backwards and forwards without being conscious of any goal. Up and down the realms of Infinity, wherein even the greatest intellect would fail to find an end.