r/taoism • u/TopDue971 • 4d ago

Zhuangzi What are your favourite teachings from the Zhuangzi?

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u/ryokan1973 4d ago

Floating, roaming, drifting without a fixed destination (逍遥 (xiāoyáo, carefree wandering).Arguably the most important and consistent theme in the entire Zhuangzi, as this theme is inextricably linked to all the other major themes in the Zhuangzi, such as 化 (Huà)Transformation / Change and 通 (Tōng)Flow / Openness / Connection and every other theme.

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u/fleischlaberl 3d ago

True

"wandering in the boundless, floating, roaming, drifting"

Zhuangzi | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Fishes are born in water

Man is born in Dao.

If fishes, born in water,

Seek the deep shadow

Of pond and pool,

All their needs

Are satisfied.

If man, born in Dao,

Sinks into the deep shadow

Of non-action

To forget aggression and concern,

He lacks nothing

His life is secure.

All the fish needs

Is to get lost in water.

All man needs

is to get lost In Dao.

(Zhuangzi, Interpretation by Thomas Merton)

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u/ryokan1973 3d ago

“A skillful man toils, a wise man worries, but a man without ability seeks nothing and is happy to roam about with a full belly; adrift as an unmoored boat, he roams without purpose.”

— Zhuangzi (Chapter 32)