Men do not mirror themselves in running water - they mirror themselves in still water. Only what is still can still the stillness of other things.
Chuang Tzu
Only What Is Still
Topic: Global Peace & Development
“Men do not mirror themselves in running water – they mirror themselves in still water. Only what is still can still the stillness of other things.”
Chuang Tzu
TaoismChuang Tzu (Zhuang Zhou or Zhuangzi) lived and taught around 350 BC. He was a Taoist philosopher. A collection of his sayings have been passed down over the centuries and is one of the fundamental sources for Zen Buddhism.
Wilson, Andrew, editor. World Scripture II. Universal Peace Federation, 2011, p. 1077 [Chuang Tzu 5].
Chuang Tzu
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Chuang Tzu 5: Only a person at peace with himself can calm others.
Additional Chuang Tzu Quotes
“They Did Not Know
In the age when life on earth was full, no one paid any
special attention to worthy people,
nor did they single out the person of ability.
Rulers were simply the highest branches on the tree,
and the people were like deer in the woods.
They were honest and righteous without realizing that they were “doing their duty.”
They loved each other and did not know that this was “love of neighbor.”
They deceived no one yet they did not know that they were “people to be trusted.”
They were reliable and did not know that this was “good faith.”
They lived freely together giving and taking,
and did not know that they were generous.
For this reason their deeds have not been narrated.
They made no history.”
–Thomas Merton [The Way of Chuang Tzu (Preface by His Holiness The Dalai Lama)]