Zhuangzi: Preserve Inner Originality, Follow External Nature
Zhuang Zhou: Preserve one's original intentions internally, and follow nature externally.
The greatest state in life is simplicity and purity.
In this world, when you think you are living for yourself, you are wrong. You are living for your desires and attachments.
As people walk along the road, many do not know their true direction and purpose, while the desires that constantly drive them forward are merely a control, and because of these desires, they only become more tired and slower, even going down more and more wrong paths.
Many have already lost their original intentions, yet they always mistakenly believe they are living clearly.
The end of life is not a specific purpose or direction, but life itself.
The meaning of life lies in how to live a good life with clarity and reason, rather than letting one's whims and emotions drive one to take paths that do not belong to oneself.
Therefore, when your desires take the lead, you lose your nature, and after pursuing excessive and unwarranted fantasies, you will only become more painful and confused.
In the course of human life, one must constantly examine one's inner self, tell oneself what one's original intentions are, and even more importantly, to adapt to the natural order of the external world during one's journey, avoiding being misled by false thoughts, so that one's life becomes meaningless.
'Zhuang Zhou' contains a story:
One day, Tianzi Fang and Wei Wen Hou were chatting, talking about Tianzi Fang's teacher, Dong Guo Shunzi.
Wei Wu Hou asked him, 'Master, why have you never praised your teacher?'
Tianzi Fang said, 'He is pure and genuine, with an appearance like a person forgotten and unwilling to move, and his mouth is like being clamped and unwilling to speak. His inner state is calm and tolerant of all things, and in the world without any principle, he first straightened himself, which allowed others to open their minds and eliminate their evil thoughts. How can I praise him with words?'
After Tianzi Fang left, Wei Wen Hou thought for a while and realized that he didn't speak for a long time, and he summoned his ministers and said, 'A virtuous and accomplished gentleman, I originally thought that the highest things were the sage's words and the gentleman's virtue and righteousness. I heard that Tianzi Fang's teacher, although his appearance was like a forgotten person unwilling to move, and his mouth was like being clamped unwilling to speak, I only learned from a barbarian, Wei is a burden.'
The main theme of this dialogue is to praise the 'real person' state of 'inner purity and outer conformity' – the 'real person' is internally focused on maintaining their original intentions and externally adapts to the natural world.
'Original intentions' refer to the ability to practice life's pure and genuine nature at any time, without being bound or dragged by external desires and distractions.
'Adapt to the external world' refers to being able to align one's thoughts with the appropriate measure in any situation, without letting one's false thoughts violate the natural order.
In life, how many people, after having thoughts in their hearts, blindly pursue lofty goals and violate the rules and bottom line of their own conscience, eventually falling into deep pits.
The reason why people are so confused about life is because they can only see 'the good' in life, but cannot see 'the bad'.
We can always see the benefits 'the good' brings, but we never realize that 'the bad' contains things we cannot perceive.
From a heavenly perspective, all good things in life are not entirely good, and there are always bad aspects, and 'bad' things are not necessarily bad, but can be fortunate. From this, we understand that 'simple and plain' is the real truth.
Therefore, maintaining original intentions internally and adapting to the external natural order is the fundamental wisdom to solve one's own confusion and truly live a purposeful and valuable life.
Always remember one important principle:If your suffering is not caused by natural disasters and human circumstances, it must be because of your own delusions, because of the inner turmoil caused by your inner restlessness and conflict.
Losing original intentions and being unable to adapt to the natural order is no worse than natural disasters and human circumstances; the degree of suffering is the true torture of life.
Authored by: Country Learning Shelves
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