Zhuangzi Mirrors Quotations

If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.

The perfect man uses his mind as a mirror. It grasps nothing. It regrets nothing. It receives but does not keep.

The enlightened attention rejects nothing nor welcomes anything-like a mirror it responds equally to all.

The perfect man employs his mind as a mirror.

As regards the quietude of the sage, he is not quiet because quietness is said to be good. He is quiet because the multitude of things cannot disturb his quietude. When water is still, one's beard and eyelashes are reflected in it. A skilled carpenter uses it in a level to obtain a measurement. If still water is so clear, how much more are the mental faculties! The mind of the sage is the mirror of heaven and earth in which all things are reflected.

Water becomes clear and transparent when in a quiescent stage. How much the more wonderful will be the mind of a sage when poised in quiescence! It is the mirror of heaven and earth, reflecting the ten thousand things.

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.