坐忘
36 timeless sayings from the Taoism tradition
Sitting in forgetfulness — a Taoist meditation practice of emptying the mind, forgetting the self, and merging with the Tao. Described in the Zhuangzi. Described in the sixth chapter of the Zhuangzi, zuowang means letting go of body, mind, knowledge, and self. It is one of the earliest Taoist meditation forms and influenced Chan/Zen sitting practice.
"Between Useful and Useless"
No position stays safe for long
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"Dao in the Ants"
What is highest is not elsewhere
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"Drumming the Bowl"
Grief and transformation are not enemies
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"Fasting of the Mind"
Emptiness is not absence
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"Fish in the Drying Spring"
Better to forget one another in rivers and lakes
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"Great Speech Is Flavorless"
The truest words do not try to win
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"Letting the World Be"
Governing is not the same as allowing
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"One Peck, One Drink"
The marsh is better than the cage
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"Robber Zhi's Accusation"
Virtue talk can serve appetite and power
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"Shadow and Penumbra"
Even what follows has something it follows
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"Sitting and Forgetting"
The self falls away one layer at a time
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"Speaking Beyond the Schools"
A voice can refuse the frame it surveys
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Bird That Was a Fish"
Scale changes everything
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Blade Without an Edge"
Skill dissolves into something deeper
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Cicada Catcher"
When attention no longer leaks away
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Cicada’s Laughter"
Every world feels complete from the inside
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Emperor Without Holes"
Kindness can kill what it tries to complete
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Extra Finger"
Nature does not count
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Fish Trap"
Words are for crossing, not for keeping
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Genuine Person"
True knowing begins with true being
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Gourd Too Large to Use"
Uselessness is a failure of imagination
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Great Thief"
The better the lock, the more worth stealing
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Joy of Fish"
Knowing is not only possession of proof
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Madman at the Gate"
Some warnings only fools deliver
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Man Who Lost a Foot"
What you see depends on what you look for
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Man Without Feelings"
What Zhuangzi meant was not what Huizi heard
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Mirror Mind"
Reflect everything. Hold nothing.
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Old Fisherman"
Without inward truth, expression goes hollow
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Piping of Heaven"
Who blows through the ten thousand hollows?
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Skull's Refusal"
What if death is release, not theft?
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Swimmer at the Gorge"
What terrifies others can become native ground
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Tamer's Art"
What is called improvement is often damage
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Tree That Was Good for Nothing"
Survival is its own kind of use
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"The Well and the Sea"
Your world is not the world
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"Three in the Morning"
Same acorns, different story
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
"Who Dreams Whom?"
The self is a passing shape
— Zuowang Read on wisdom card →
Explore more about Zuowang → Knowledge Page · What is Zuowang? · How to Practice
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