The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) · 54 of 57 · tr. James Legge
Book VII (part 2)
Yang Dze-kü 5 , having an interview with Lao Tan, said to him, 'Here is a man, alert and vigorous p.
262 in responding to all matters 1 , clearsighted and widely intelligent, and an unwearied student of the Tâo;--can he be compared to one of the intelligent kings?' The reply was, 'Such a man is to one of the intelligent kings but as the bustling underling of a court who toils his body and distresses his mind with his various contrivances 2 .
And moreover, it is the beauty of the skins of the tiger and leopard which makes men hunt them; the agility of the monkey, or (the sagacity of) the dog that catches the yak, which make men lead them in strings; but can one similarly endowed be compared to the intelligent kings?' Yang dze-kü looked discomposed and said, 'I venture to ask you what the government of the intelligent kings is.' Lâo Tan replied, 'In the governing of the intelligent kings, their services overspread all under the sky, but they did not seem to consider it as proceeding from themselves; their transforming influence reached to all things, but the people did not refer it to them with hope.
No one could tell the name of their agency, but they made men and things be joyful in themselves.
Where they took their stand could not be fathomed, and they found their enjoyment in (the realm of) nonentity.' 5.
In Käng there was a mysterious wizard 3 called p.
263 Ki-hsien.
He knew all about the deaths and births of men, their preservation and ruin, their misery and happiness, and whether their lives would be long or short, foretelling the year, the month, the decade and the day like a spirit.
When the people of Käng saw him, they all ran out of his way.
Lieh-dze went to see him, and was fascinated 1 by him.
Returning, he told Hû-dze of his interview, and said, 'I considered your doctrine, my master, to be perfect, but I have found another which is superior to it.' Hû-dze 2 replied, 'I have communicated to you but the outward letter of my doctrine, and have not communicated its reality and spirit; and do you think that you are in possession of it?
However many hens there be, if there be not the cock among them, how should they lay (real) eggs 3 ?
When you confront the world with your doctrine, you are sure to show in your countenance (all that is in your mind) 4 , and so enable (this) man to succeed in interpreting your physiognomy.
Try and come to me with him, that I may show myself to him.' On the morrow, accordingly, Lieh-dze came with the man and saw Ha-dze.
When they went out, the p.
264 wizard said, 'Alas!
your master is a dead man.
He will not live;--not for ten days more!
I saw something strange about him;--I saw the ashes (of his life) all slaked with water!' When Lieh-dze reentered, he wept till the front of his jacket was wet with his tears, and told Hû-dze what the man had said.
Hû-dze said, 'I showed myself to him with the forms of (vegetation beneath) the earth.
There were the sprouts indeed, but without (any appearance of) growth or regularity:--he seemed to see me with the springs of my (vital) power closed up.
Try and come to me with him again.' Next day, accordingly, Lieh-dze brought the man again and saw Hû-dze.
§ Ask Guru about this passage →Themes
Inner Silencepraxis
The practice of stilling the mind and speech to open receptivity to divine knowledge or presence.
[auto] Finding enjoyment in pure simplicity and idle indifference describes a state of mental stillness and quietude.
All passages →Kingdom Withinanthropology
The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.
[auto] The passage asserts that governing the world begins with the internal state of one's own mind.
All passages →Mystical Unionsoteriology
The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
[auto] The instruction to blend oneself with the primary ether signifies a merging of self with the divine or cosmic principle.
All passages →Rejection Of Hypocrisyethics
Critique of outward religious observance that lacks inner transformation; form without substance.
[auto] Lao Tan critiques the clever student as merely a bustling underling, contrasting outward activity with true sagehood.
All passages →Return To Sourcesoteriology
The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.
[auto] The text advises blending with the primary ether, implying a return to the fundamental source of existence.
All passages →Unity Of Beingtheology
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
[auto] Allowing all things to take their natural course suggests an underlying non-dual reality where self and world are connected.
All passages →Related passages · 8 parallels
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Shared concept: Mystical Union — The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity. (derived)
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“The Secret Doctrine by H.
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1 [[Vol.
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[[This page continued from previous section ]] § III.
PRIMORDIAL SUBSTANCE AND DIVINE THOUGHT.
"As it would seem irrational…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 3 (part 7)
“Herbert Spencer has of late so far modified his Agnosticism, as to assert that the nature of the "First Cause,"* which the Occultist more logically derives from the "Causeless Cause," the "Eternal," and the "Unknowable," may be essentially…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 489
“Section 11 11. Similarly any one, unable to see himself, but possessed by that God, has but to bring that divine- within before his consciousness and at once he sees an image of himself, himself lifted to a better beauty: now let him ignore…”
Shared concept: Kingdom Within — The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation. (derived)
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 1 (part 6)
“The human selfhood will then follow in its perceptions the Spirit of God, tremblingly and in the joy of humility, and become able to see what is contained in time and in eternity.
Everything is near to a soul in that state, for the soul is…”
Shared concept: Kingdom Within — The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation. (derived)
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 10 (part 9)
“"All sacrificing without faith and divine desire is an p.
219 abomination before God, and does not reach the gate of divine glory; but if man enters therein with the power of faith, he surrenders to it his free will, and desires by that me…”
Shared concept: Rejection Of Hypocrisy — Critique of outward religious observance that lacks inner transformation; form without substance. (derived)
renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori)|First Dialogue-g
“Wherefore not only can we never discourse about things divine, but we cannot even think of them without detracting from, rather than adding to the glory of them; so that the best thing to be done with regard to them is, that man, in the pre…”
Shared concept: Inner Silence — The practice of stilling the mind and speech to open receptivity to divine knowledge or presence. (derived)
hermeticism|Corpus Hermeticum 13: The Discourse of Hermes to Tat|Section 1a
“The Secret Sermon on the Mountain <This dialogue is in many ways the culmination of the whole Corpus, summing up the theory of the Hermetic system at the same time as it provides an intriguing glimpse at the practice.
The focus of the dial…”
Shared concept: Inner Silence — The practice of stilling the mind and speech to open receptivity to divine knowledge or presence. (derived)