The Way of Chuang Tzu

by Thomas Merton

Perfect joy is to be without joy …

the way of conscious striving, even though it may claim to be a way of virtue, is fundamentally a way of self-aggrandizement,

highest virtue is non-virtuous and “therefore it has virtue.” But “low virtue never frees itself from virtuousness,

therefore it has no virtue.”

“if you persist in trying to attain what is never attained … in reasoning about what cannot be understood, you will be destroyed.”

he can only “know when to stop,” be content to wait, listen, and give up his own useless strivings, “this melts the ice.”

Then he will begin to grow without watchin...

The “man of Tao” will prefer obscurity and

solitude.

All deliberate, systematic, and reflexive “self-cultivation,” whether active or contemplative, personalistic

or politically committed, cuts one off from the mysterious but indispensible contact with Tao,

Ying ning, tranquillity in the action of non-action,

abandoning the “need to

win”

“cosmic” humility

who fully realizes his own nothingness and becomes totally forgetful of himself,

the effect of life in society is to complicate and confuse our existence,

making us forget who we really are by causing us to become obsessed with what we are not.

Fung Yu Lan sums it up in his Spirit of Chinese Philosophy

tolerant impartiality which avoids preaching and

recognizes the uselessness of dogmatizing about obscure ideas

When a limited and

conditioned view of “good” is erected to the level of an absolute, it immediately becomes an evil, because it excludes certain complementary elements which are required if it is to be fully good.

To cling to one partial view, one limited and conditioned opinion, and to treat this as the ultimate answer to all questi...

happiness, when pushed to an extreme, becomes calamity.

beauty, when overdone, becomes ugliness.

Clouds become rain and vapor ascends again to...

To insist that the cloud should never turn to rain is to resist ...

“when the shoe fits, the foot is forgotten.”

It is when we insist most firmly on everyone else being “reasonable” that we become, ourselves, unreasonable.

Great knowledge sees all in one. Small knowledge breaks down into the many.

on both sides of every argument there is both right and wrong.

fasting of the heart.”

“The goal of fasting is inner unity. This means hearing, but not with the ear; hearing, but not with the understanding; hearing with the spirit, with your whole being.

it demands the emptiness of all the faculties.

when the faculties are empty, then the whole being listens.

There is then a direct grasp of what is right ...

“What was standing in my way was my own self-awareness. If I can begin this fasting of the heart, self-awareness will vanish. Then I will be free from limitation and preoccupation.

“It is easy to stand still and leave no trace, but it is hard to walk without touching the ground.

You are familiar with the wisdom of

those who know, but you have not yet learned the wisdom of those who know not.

“Look at this window: it is nothing but a hole in the wall, but because of it the who...

when the faculties are empty, the heart is...

He who awaits his time, who submits When his work is done, In his life there is no room For sorrow or for rejoicing.

The true men of old Slept without dreams, Woke without worries.

The true men of old Knew no lust for life, No dread of death.

“Who knows how To have the Void for his head To have Life as his backbone And Death for his tail?

“All the fish needs Is to get lost in water. All man needs is to get lost In Tao.”

a strong thief

goes on his way with only one fear: That ropes, locks, and bolts may give way.