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
Hence it demands the emptiness of all the faculties. And when the faculties are empty, then the whole being listens. There is then a direct grasp of what is right there before you that can never be heard with the ear or understood with the mind.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of quieting the mind to perceive deeper truths beyond rational thought.
Zhuangzi highlights a state of being where all mental faculties are emptied, allowing for true awareness and understanding to emerge. In this state, one can grasp insights that elude conventional thinking, suggesting that enlightenment comes from transcending ordinary perception and engaging with the essence of existence.
Themes
MindfulnessAwarenessInsightPerceptionEmpty Mind
In practice
Example use cases
Sharing this quote during a meditation retreat to emphasize inner silence.
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
Vanity destroys your work. That's the one thing you have to let go of as an actor. I don't care how sexy or beautiful any woman is. At the end of the day, she has to take her makeup off. At the end of the day, she's more than just pretty.
Viola DavisRead
Let not ambition take possession of you; love the friends of the people, but reserve blind submission for the law and enthusiasm for liberty.
Marquis De LafayetteRead
Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.
SenecaRead
War is primarily not about victory or defeat but about death and the infliction of death. It represents the total failure of the human spirit.
Robert FiskRead
It is day by day that we go forward; today we are as we were yesterday and tomorrow we shall be like ourselves today. So we go on without being aware of it, and this is one of the miracles of Providence that I so love.
Marie De Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise De SevigneRead
And each day brings it's pretty dust, Our soon-choked souls to fll And we forget because we must, And not because we will.
Matthew ArnoldRead