{"author":"Liezi","author_id":"Liezi","total_quotes":21,"quotes":[{"text":"Complete people gaze into the blue sky above, plunge into the center of the earth below, and run freely in the eight directions without even a change of mood.","author":"Liezi","tags":["blue-sky","complete","earth","mood"],"id":12265,"author_id":"Liezi"},{"text":"When two things occur successively we call them cause and effect if we believe one event made the other one happen. If we think one event is the response to the other, we call it a reaction. If we feel that the two incidents are not related, we call it a mere coincidence. If we think someone deserved what happened, we call it retribution or reward, depending on whether the event was negative or positive for the recipient. If we cannot find a reason for the two events' occurring simultaneously or in close proximity, we call it an accident. Therefore, how we explain coincidences depends on how we see the world. Is everything connected, so that events create resonances like ripples across a net? Or do things merely co-occur and we give meaning to these co-occurrences based on our belief system? Lieh-tzu's answer: It's all in how you think.","author":"Liezi","tags":["beliefs","cause-and-effect","coincidence","interpretation","perspectivism","projection","reality","relativity","subjectivity","taoism","truth","view"],"id":48974,"author_id":"Liezi"},{"text":"The contented person finds rest in death, and for the greedy person, death puts an end to his long list of desires.","author":"Liezi","tags":["death","desire","greed","life-and-death","peace","rest"],"id":55589,"author_id":"Liezi"},{"text":"In infancy, our blood is strong and our energy is plentiful. Mind and body, thought and action are one. Everything we do is in harmony with the natural order. The infant is not affected by things that happen around him. Virtue and ethics cannot restrain his will. Naked and free of social conventions, he follows the natural path of the heart.","author":"Liezi","tags":["babies","baby","children","infancy","innocence","oceanic-experience"],"id":70259,"author_id":"Liezi"},{"text":"Travel is such a wonderful experience! Especially when you forget you are traveling. Then you will enjoy whatever you see and do. Those who look into themselves when they travel will not think about what they see. In fact, there is no distinction between the viewer and the seen. You experience everything with the totality of yourself, so that every blade of grass, every mountain, every lake is alive and is a part of you. When there is no division between you and what is other, this is the ultimate experience of traveling.","author":"Liezi","tags":["journey","nonduality","taoism","travel","traveling","trip","zen"],"id":186061,"author_id":"Liezi"},{"text":"In youth, our blood rises and becomes volatile. Desire, worry, and anxiety increase. External circumstances now direct the rise and fall of emotions. Will and intention become constrained by social conventions. Competition, conflict, and scheming are the norm in interactions with people. The approval and disapproval of others become important, and the honest and sincere expression of thoughts and feelings is lost.","author":"Liezi","tags":["adolescence","loss-of-innocence","taoism","teenagers","youth"],"id":191356,"author_id":"Liezi"},{"text":"If you can dispense with reputation, then you are free from care. Reputation is only a visitor, but reality is here to stay.","author":"Liezi","tags":["fame","prestige","reality","renown","reputation","status","taoism"],"id":194835,"author_id":"Liezi"},{"text":"Chuang-tzu once told a story about two persons who both lost a sheep. One person got very depressed and lost himself in drinking, sex, and gambling to try to forget this misfortune. The other person decided that this would be an excellent chance for him to study the classics and quietly observe the subtleties of nature. Both men experience the same misfortune, but one man lost himself because he was too attached to the experience of loss, while the other found himself because he was able to let go of gain and loss.","author":"Liezi","tags":["acceptance","experience","letting-go","loss","misfortune","nature","taoism"],"id":243065,"author_id":"Liezi"},{"text":"Some people think they can find satisfaction in good food, fine clothes, lively music, and sexual pleasure. However, when they have all these things, they are not satisfied. They realize happiness is not simply having their material needs met. Thus, society has set up a system of rewards that go beyond material goods. These include titles, social recognition, status, and political power, all wrapped up in a package called self-fulfillment. Attracted by these prizes and goaded on by social pressure, people spend their short lives tiring body and mind to chase after these goals. Perhaps this gives them the feeling that they have achieved something in their lives, but in reality they have sacrificed a lot in life. They can no longer see, hear, act, feel, or think from their hearts. Everything they do is dictated by whether it can get them social gains. In the end, they've spent their lives following other people's demands and never lived a life of their own. How different is this from the life of a slave or a prisoner?","author":"Liezi","tags":["artificiality","authentic","be-yourself","community","dishonesty","emptiness","genuine","happiness","honesty","phony","prestige","sacrifice","self","slavery","social-pressure","social-role","status","taoism"],"id":274982,"author_id":"Liezi"},{"text":"There was a man whose only son died of a sudden illness. He did not mourn for his son, nor was he sad about it. His friends were curious about his behavior, so they asked him, 'Your only son is dead. You should be heartbroken. Why do you act as if nothing had happened?'The man replied, 'Before my son came, I had no son. I was certainly not heartbroken back then. Now I have no son. Why should I be heartbroken now?","author":"Liezi","tags":["death","loss","pain","taoism"],"id":288404,"author_id":"Liezi"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":21,"pages":3,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}