Seal the openings, shut the doors, dull the sharpness, untie the knots, dim the light, become one with the dust. This is called the profound union.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of simplicity and unity with the natural world.
Laozi's quote advocates for the practice of embracing simplicity and surrendering to the natural flow of life. By suggesting actions like dulling sharpness and becoming one with the dust, it highlights the value of peaceful acceptance and fusion with the universe, encouraging individuals to let go of their desires and attachments in order to achieve a profound sense of unity and understanding.
In practice
During a discussion on mindfulness, this quote can be used to illustrate the benefits of letting go of distractions.
If you understand others you are smart._x000D_ If you understand yourself you are illuminated._x000D_ If you overcome others you are powerful._x000D_ If you overcome yourself you have strength._x000D_ If you know how to be satisfied you are rich._x000D_ If you can act with vigor, you have a will._x000D_ If you don't lose your objectives you can be long-lasting._x000D_ If you die without loss, you are eternal.
When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.
A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.
In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it.
Rule your mind with serenity rather than with force and manipulation.
One has to have a complicated kind of optimism. You can't refuse to look at how horrible things are.
Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back.
The human race in the course of time has taken the liberty of softening and softening Christianity until at last we have contrived to make it exactly the opposite of what it is in the New Testament.
You knew how humiliating that is as an experience for celebrities to be less of a celebrity. There's no class to adjust to being less famous, and you don't think you have to worry about it. But you do.
When law and duty are one, united by religion, you never become fully conscious, fully aware of yourself. You are always a little less than an individual.
I think the attempt to defend belief can unsettle it, in fact, because there is always an inadequacy in argument about ultimate things.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.