The hearing that is only in the ears is one thing. The hearing of the understanding is another. But the hearing of the spirit is not limited to any one faculty to the ear, or to the mind.
ZhuangziRead
We possess our body by chance and we are already pleased with it. If our physical bodies went through ten thousand transformations without end, how incomparable would this joy be! Therefore the sage roams freely in the realm in which nothing can escape, but all endures.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our bodies are temporary and constantly changing, yet we find joy in our existence and freedom in understanding life’s transient nature.
This quote from Zhuangzi reflects on the impermanence of our physical bodies and the joy that can be found in accepting this transience. It suggests that true wisdom lies in recognizing the fleeting nature of existence and embracing it rather than clinging to the physical form, allowing the sage to navigate life with freedom and acceptance in a realm where all things endure through transformation.
Themes
TransienceJoyWisdomFreedomTransformationAcceptance
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about embracing change and finding joy in life’s transitions.
More from Zhuangzi
All quotes →Either in conflict with others or in harmony with them, we go through life like a runaway horse, unable to stop.
ZhuangziRead
When people do not ignore what they should ignore, but ignore what they should not ignore, this is known as ignorance.
ZhuangziRead
The true man of the past waited upon Heaven when dealing with people and did not wait upon people when dealing with Heaven.
ZhuangziRead
The mind remains undetermined in the great Void. Here the highest knowledge is unbounded. That which gives things their thusness cannot be delimited by things. So when we speak of 'limits', we remain confined to limited things. The limit of the unlimited is called 'fullness.' The limitlessness of the limited is called 'emptiness.' Tao is the source of both. But it is itself neither fullness nor emptiness
ZhuangziRead
All the fish needs is to get lost in the water. All man needs is to get lost in Tao.
ZhuangziRead
Similar quotes
But to ask pity of our body is like discoursing in front of an octopus, for which our words can have no more meaning than the sound of the tides, and with which we should be appalled to find ourselves condemned to live.
Marcel ProustRead
Every man's path is for himself; let him accomplish his own desires that he may thus be able to rise above them to the eternal goal.
Hazrat Inayat KhanRead
Things are never as bad or as good as they seem.
Tony HsiehRead
A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears: see how yond justice rails upon yon simple thief. Hark, in thine ear: change places; and, handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief?
William ShakespeareRead
No journey is too great,_x000D_ when one finds what one seeks.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
Old beliefs die hard even when demonstrably false.
E. O. WilsonRead