Wisdom From Zhuang Zi

There are ups and downs in one’s life. When one’s in a low ebb, one must observe with wisdom and wait quietly for changes to come.

Live every act fully, as if it were your last.

Love in the past is only a memory. Love in the future is a fantasy. Only here and now can we truly love.

Most of the sorrows of the earth humans cause for themselves.

Even loss and betrayal can bring us awakening.

Words have the power to destroy or heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.

Every wakeful step, every mindful act is the direct path to awakening. Whenever you go, there you are.

Our own worst enemy cannot harm us as much as our unwise thoughts. No one can help us as much as our own compassionate thoughts.

In one’s family, respect and listening are the source of harmony.

To give your cow or sheep a large, spacious meadow is the best way to control him.

The heart is like a garden. It can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds will you plant there?

Do not blindly believe what others say. See for yourself what brings contentment, clarity and peace. That is the path for you to follow.

The mind contains all possibilities.

If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you think you will find it?

Life is as fleeting as a rainbow, a flash of lightning, a star at dawn – knowing this, how can you quarrel?

Hatred never ceases by hatred; by love alone is it healed. This is the ancient and eternal law.

We are not independent but interdependent.

The artisan can only teach you the basic rules, not his success secret; the swordsman can only teach you the basic styles, not his skills. The intellectuals always value words printed in books, not knowing what’s laid in between the lines are more valuable. That explains why people who memorise passages are not necessarily good readers.