The artisan Chui made things round (and square) more exactly than if he had used the circle and square. The operation of his fingers on (the forms of) things was like the transformations of them (in nature), and required no application of his mind; and so his Intelligence was entire and encountered no resistance….
The officer of Prayer in his dark and square-cut robes goes to the pig-pen, and thus counsels the pigs, ‘Why should you shrink from dying? I will for three months feed you on grain. Then for ten days I will fast, and keep vigil for three days, after which I will put down the…
‘Take the case of a drunken man falling from his carriage; – though he may suffer injury, he will not die. His bones and joints are the same as those of other men, but the injury which he receives is different: his spirit is entire. He knew nothing about his getting into the carriage,…
When Zhuangzi went to Ku, he saw an empty skull, bleached indeed, but still retaining its shape. Tapping it with his horse-switch, he asked it, saying, ‘Did you, Sir, in your greed of life, fail in the lessons of reason, and come to this? Or did you do so, in the service of a…
Master Zhuangzi and Master Hui were walking on the dam over the Hâo, when the former said, ‘These thryssas come out and play about at their ease; – that is the enjoyment of fishes.’ The other said, ‘You are not a fish; how do you know what constitutes the enjoyment of fishes?’ Master Zhuangzi…
The earl of the Ho said, ‘Very well. But what am I to do? and what am I not to do? How am I to be guided after all in regard to what I accept or reject, and what I pursue or put away from me?’ Zo of the Northern Sea replied, ‘From the…
‘A frog in a well cannot be talked with about the sea; – he is confined to the limits of his hole. An insect of the summer cannot be talked with about ice; – it knows nothing beyond its own season. A scholar of limited views cannot be talked with about…
Myth, a fabulous story of a single individual of destiny, that inscrutable intersection of circumstance has placed on the pivot point of choice! Is it to be “life”, or will it be “death”, capitulation to maintain things as they are, to remain asleep? What will you do with your life? The great wager, a…
Children of Darkness By Robert Graves “In their generation wiser than the children of Light.” We spurred our parents to the kiss, Though doubtfully they shrank from this— Day had no courage to review What lusty dark alone might do— Then were we joined from their caress In heat of midnight, one from two….
A group of us attempted to better understand what is meant by culture. Isn’t culture tacitly agreed upon habits of behavior, norms of a common life, a form-of-life shared? Expectations are built up gradually by observation and practice. So much becomes “as if” instinct, imprinted habit. I simply know how to act, and how…
