1. Zhuang Zhou’s Dream of a Butterfly
One day, Zhuang Zhou dreamed that he had turned into a butterfly, flying freely among the flowers, feeling so happy and comfortable that he had completely forgotten that he was Zhuang Zhou.
However, after Zhuang Zhou woke up suddenly, he realized that the butterfly had turned into himself in a panic.
Did Zhuang Zhou turn into a butterfly in his dream, or did the butterfly dream that he became Zhuang Zhou?
Li Yu once wrote a poem: I don’t know that I am a guest in my dream, and I am greedy for joy all day long.
Between life and death, is it just a big dream? Zhuangzi blurred the boundary between reality and fantasy by borrowing the dream butterfly. Was it real in the dream, or is it real now?
If we are living in a dream, then the moment we wake up from the dream is the moment when we return to reality.
2. Know the joy of fish
Zhuangzi and Huizi were playing on the bridge. Zhuangzi said: “The minnow swims freely, this is the joy of fish.”
Huizi said, “You are not a fish, how do you know the happiness of a fish?”
Zhuangzi said: “You are not me, how do you know that I don’t know the happiness of fish?”
Huizi said: “I’m not you, so I don’t know you are happy. And you are not a fish, so you definitely don’t know the happiness of fish.”
Zhuangzi said: “Start from the original topic. You said ‘where do you know the happiness of fish’, since you know that I know the happiness of fish, you still ask me?”
This story became the later “Zifeiyu, An Zhiyu’s joy”.
The difference between people’s hearts is far more than the difference between mermaids. People’s hearts have seven orifices, mixed with life’s ups and downs, joys, sorrows and joys.
Different trajectories bring different brands and habits to different people.
The human heart is a mirror, reflecting the people and things around us, but some of them have been polished into distorting mirrors by the years, and some have been polished into magnifying glasses. Different mirrors see different worlds, and there are incomprehensible gaps between them.
“A child is not a fish, know the joy of a fish”, people should not easily judge anyone or anything, because people have different hearts, it is not easy to know how to respect differences and walk your own path.
3. Freedom Turtle
One day, Zhuangzi was fishing in the whirlpool.
Two officials appointed by the king of Chu came to hire him and said: “My king has heard of Mr.’s virtuous name for a long time, and he wants to be troubled by state affairs. Mr. Shenwang came out of the mountain happily, thinking that the king will relieve the worries, and below that he will benefit the people.”
Zhuangzi ignored the pole and said calmly:
“I heard that there was a tortoise in Chu State, which was three thousand years old when it was killed. The king of Chu treasured it in a bamboo box, covered it with brocade, and enshrined it in the temple.
I would like to ask the second doctor, would this tortoise prefer to keep the bones after death, or prefer to sneak and drag its tail in the muddy water when it was alive? ”
The second doctor said: “Of course I would like to wag my tail in the muddy water alive.”
Zhuangzi said: “Both gentlemen, please go back! I would also like to drag my tail in the muddy water.”
There is also a story by Zhuangzi called “Buying a box and returning the pearl”. A man bought a beautifully packaged luminous pearl, but he left the beautiful outer box and returned the pearl inside to the seller.
The outer box is the name, and the beads inside are the real. It is a name for the bones of the turtle to be treasured and enshrined after death, but it is a fact that it sneaks and drags its tail in the water.
Buying pearls seems stupid and ridiculous, but how many things happen in life because of the name?
Abandoning health and reunion with parents for the sake of fame and fortune, isn’t this kind of life “buy the box for the pearl”?
4. Treat the rich and powerful like rotten rats
Huishi became the prime minister of Liang, and Zhuangzi wanted to meet his good friend.
Someone hastily reported to Huizi, saying: “Zhuangzi came to Liang Guo with malicious intentions, and wanted to take your place.”
Huizi panicked and wanted to stop Zhuangzi, so he sent people to search the capital for three days and three nights.
Unexpectedly, Zhuangzi came to visit him calmly and said:
“There is a bird in the south. Its name is the chick. Have you heard of it? The chick spreads its wings. It flies from the South Sea to the North Sea. It does not live in anything but a phoenix tree, it does not eat unless it is practiced fruit, it does not drink unless it is a sweet spring.
At this time, an owl was eating a rotting mouse with relish, when a chick flew overhead.
The owl hastily protected the rotten mouse, looked up and said, “Scare! ‘Now you also want to use your Liang Guo to scare me? ”
Fame and fortune in this world are not the only indicators, and life does not necessarily have to complete this indicator.
What you are looking for may be a dead mouse that others hate.
In this world, you cannot be coerced by others. To live for the sake of the public, you have to live your own way and live according to your own wishes. This kind of life is not in vain.
5. useless use
Zhuangzi and his disciples walked to the foot of a mountain, and saw a big tree with luxuriant branches and leaves, standing beside a big stream.
Zhuangzi asked the logger why no one fell down such a tall tree.
The logger seemed to dismiss the tree, saying:
“What’s so surprising about this? This tree is a kind of useless wood. If it is used as a boat, it will sink in the water; if it is used as a coffin, it will rot quickly; if it is used as a utensil, it will be easily destroyed; If it is used as a door and window, the fat will not dry; if it is used as a pillar, it will be easily eroded by insects. This is a wood that does not grow. A wood that is not good has nothing to do with it, so it can have such a long life.”
After hearing this, Zhuangzi said: “If a tree does not become useful, it can avoid disaster; if a person does not become talented, he can also protect himself. Everyone knows the usefulness of the useful, but they don’t know the usefulness of the useless.” The disciple suddenly realized and nodded.
Life is alive, each has its own way of living, and under different standards, it has different values.
Sometimes it seems useless.
People can’t always use “interest” as the only criterion for judging. All things are born in different ways, and they don’t exist just to please people.
A tree is bent, although it cannot be used, but it cannot hinder its free growth, which is far more useful than being a pillar.
Just like educating a child, although a child cannot become a pillar of society, it does not prevent him from developing his own interests, and his growth itself is valuable.
6. Carpenter Stone Yunjin
Zhuangzi passed by Huizi’s cemetery when he was going to be buried. He turned around and said to his followers:
“There was a man in Ying who had the tip of his nose smeared with chalk mud, which was as big as a mosquito’s wing, and asked Carpenter Shi to chop off this small white spot with an axe.
Carpenter Shi swung his ax whirring, chopping off the white spots carelessly, completely removing the white mud on the tip of the nose but the nose was not injured at all, and the people in Ying stood there as if nothing had happened and remained normal. ”
When Song Yuanjun found out about this, he summoned Jiang Shi and said, “You can do the same for me.”
Carpenter Shi said: “I was indeed able to cut off the little white spot on the tip of my nose. Even so, my partner has been dead for a long time.” Since Keiko passed away, I have no rivals! I have no one to argue with! ”
In life, after going through ups and downs, everyone will cultivate into a lock, which is full of strange things and shapes. My own heart is locked in the lock, day after day, loneliness is difficult to solve.
Everyone will be lonely, and everyone who is lonely is looking for their own key. Whether it is an opponent in chess or a mountain and flowing water, as long as there is one, there will be an antidote to loneliness.
7. King Lu Raises Birds
One day, a seabird flew over from the outskirts of the country of Lu.
Whenever King Lu saw this kind of bird, he thought it was a divine bird, so he sent someone to catch him, greet him personally and put him in the temple.
In order to show his love and respect for the seabirds, King Lu immediately ordered to play the most beautiful music of the palace to the birds, and entertain the birds with the most sumptuous feast.
But the bird, it didn’t appreciate the king’s hospitality, it was so frightened that it became fascinated and behaved abnormally, it didn’t even dare to taste a piece of meat, and didn’t dare to touch a drop of water, so it only lived for three days before being starved to death .
King Lu is raising birds with his own way of life, not the way he raises birds.
People are always wishful thinking, thinking that what they like must also be liked by others, they don’t know how to listen to other people’s ideas, and they don’t know how to empathize with others.
People are full of knots, and people are different in thousands of ways. In communication, you must not impose your will on others. Respect for others is the best choice.
8. Drum and sing
Chuang Tzu’s wife fell ill and died. A good friend Huizi came to express his condolences, and saw Zhuangzi sitting cross-legged on the ground, singing with drums on drums.
Huizi asked scoldingly, “He was married to you to give birth to children, provide for you, and take care of your family. Now that you’re dead, it’s enough for you not to cry. Isn’t it too unreasonable and unreasonable for you to drum and sing?”
Zhuangzi said:
“No, when she just died, how could I be sad? However, Qi changed again to form, form changed to life, and now it changes to death.
The change of life and death of the old man is like the alternation of spring, summer, autumn and winter.
Although she is dead, she is still sleeping peacefully in the great room of heaven and earth, but I am still weeping sadly, thinking that I have not understood the arrangement of fate, so I stopped mourning and sang. ”
In Zhuangzi’s view, birth, old age, sickness and death are just like the alternation of the four seasons. They are just natural phenomena. People don’t need to worry or suffer.
Man comes from nature and returns to nature. In the final analysis, it is just a normal cycle of life and death. He is still between heaven and earth. As long as he has such thoughts, what is the pain in man?
9. Overwhelmed
Autumn is here, the rain makes the river all swell, and the water of many big rivers and streams flows into the Yellow River. The water is so turbulent and wide that even cattle and horses can’t be distinguished between the banks and the sandbars in the river.
So the god of the river was complacent, thinking that he was the biggest in the world. He went eastward along the current until he came to the North Sea.
Looking east, but can’t see the edge of the water.
So the God of the River changed his complacent expression, looked at the vast ocean and sighed to the God of the North Sea:
“It turned out that I was conceited and thought that no one was as good as myself. Today I saw that you are so broad and boundless. If I hadn’t come to your door in person, I would never have understood my ignorance.”
The God of the North Sea said modestly:
“Actually, I exist between heaven and earth, just like a small stone on a mountain. And the sky and the earth cannot be said to be the largest domain, nor can it be said to be the smallest limit. The transformation of time and space is not endless at all. And What do you and I have to boast about?”
There are people beyond people, and mountains beyond mountains. You never know how strong others are. People can have arrogance, but not arrogance.
Most of the failures in life come from two words, one is lazy and the other is arrogance. Proud people have a narrow vision and don’t know the heights of the sky and the earth.
It looks like it has teeth and claws, but it is actually just a paper tiger. The sea is inclusive of all rivers and becomes vast. The mountain gathers earth and rocks to make it majestic. It never hurts to be humble.
10. Die Coke
Zhuangzi rode a skinny horse and walked slowly on the ancient road leading to the state of Chu.
The bitter west wind beat against Zhuangzi’s thin face and lifted his bleak temple hair.
Zhuangzi looked around, only to see mourners and skeletons everywhere, a tragic scene after war and chaos.
The sun is setting, and the fields are in harmony.
Zhuangzi walked under an old tree entwined with dead vines, and startled a few crows on the tree to circle around and make a lot of noise.
After Zhuangzi tied up the horse, he wanted to find a rock to sit down and rest, when he suddenly saw a skeleton protruding from the grass under the tree.
Zhuangzi approached, tapped with the whip, and asked it:
“Did you come to this point because you were greedy for life and sick? Or did you come to this point because your country was ruined and your family was destroyed?
Did the husband commit suicide because of his bad deeds and shame towards his parents and wife? Or did it come to this point because of the cold and starvation? Or is it caused by the end of life?”
After finishing speaking, he took a skeleton and lay down on his pillow. After a while, he fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, the skeleton appeared in Zhuangzi’s dream and said:
“Sir, what you just asked sounds like a debater’s tone. The situations you talked about are all the troubles of life, and there is no such trouble after death. Would you like to hear about the joy of death?”
Zhuangzi replied, “Of course.”
The skeleton said: “Death, there is no king above, no minister below, and no four seasons. Travel leisurely, take heaven and earth as spring and autumn. Even the joy of being king in the south is incomparable.”
Zhuangzi didn’t believe it, so he asked, “If Lord Yama could bring you back to life, give back your flesh and blood, and give back your parents, wife, fellow countrymen, and friends, would you be willing?”
The skeleton showed a distressed look, and said: “Wu An can abandon Wang Le in the south and return to the labor of the world!”
Zhuangzi once said, “The big block bears my shape, labors me to live, loses me to old age, and slows me to death. Therefore, the one who is good at my life is also good at my death.”
In the Taoist view, living is like labor, and death is like rest.
Taoism has always been very open about life and death. They believe that life has tasted both ups and downs. At the last moment of life, all right and wrong troubles are turned into mud together, and there is nothing wrong with it returning to the heaven and earth with a fire. source: sohu.
