Tao Te Ching

The Power of Goodness, the Wisdom Beyond Words
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Lie Yukou 列圄寇/列禦寇/列子

(Liè Yǔkòu, Liezi)

4th C. BCE

Known for “riding the wind,” Lie Yukou was a Taoist sage who wrote the Liezi which is considered to make up a trilogy with the Tao Te Ching on the poetic side, Zhuangzi as the philosophical and the Liezi as the most practical. Often quoted by Zhuangzi, he had a large number of disciples and wandered widely advising kings and rulers. He emphasized using the pattern and rhythm of nature as a guide for human conduct, going beyond philosophical boundaries, and - as a precursor to Epictetus - a deep acceptance of perception and circumstance.

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Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

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Quotes by Lie Yukou (23 quotes)

“The path of perennial victory is weakness. The path of perennial defeat is strength. These two are easy to recognize, but people remain oblivious to them.”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

Chapters: 76. The Soft and Flexible

Themes: Victory

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“Those who govern others with worthiness never win them over. Those who serve others with worthiness never fail to gain their support.”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

Chapters: 68. Joining Heaven & Earth

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“When the approval and disapproval of others become important, the honest and sincere expression of thoughts and feelings is lost.”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

Chapters: 20. Unconventional Mind

Themes: Integrity

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“Society has set up a system of rewards - fame, fortune, pleasure, and power - and when people chase after these, they spend their lives following other people's demands never living a life of their own, like a slave or a prisoner.”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

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“If a branch is too rigid, it will break… know how to yield, and you will survive.”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

Themes: Humility

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“Let your eyes see what they see, not what others want you to see.”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

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“Reputation is only a visitor, but reality is here to stay.”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

Themes: Reality Fame

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“To solve a problem, you need to remove the cause, not the symptom.”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

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“When there is no division between you and what is other, this is the ultimate experience of traveling.”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

Themes: Travel

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“The contented person finds rest in death, and for the greedy person, death puts an end to his long list of desires… Death, then, for everyone is a kind of homecoming.”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

Themes: Death and Dying

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“Lose your stillness and you will fail in everything you do.”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

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“Drifting here and there, I did not know whether I rode on the wind or the wind rode on me.”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

Themes: Wu Wei

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“The perfect man ignores self; the divine man ignores action; the true Sage ignores reputation.”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

Themes: Egolessness

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“A dream is the meeting of minds, of mind with mind and of substance with substance.”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

Themes: Dream

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“Life is such a short journey, why get imprisoned by social convention, peer approval, and useless worries?”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

Themes: True Self

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“Why place so much importance on love and loss of love when we know one day we must leave everyone?”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

Themes: Love Marriage

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“Since nothing is permanent, why become so attached to success and failure?”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

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“Is our ‘reality’ not as permanent as we think but just a fleeting thought, a dream?”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

Themes: Reality Dream

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“Who is more fortunate, the man who loses his memory and forgets all his worries or the one who doesn’t forget and suffers his worries all the time?”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

Themes: Memory Forget

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“The world is what we make it and all happiness and suffering is self-created. Why continuously make more and more unnecessary problems?”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

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“Sleep is a time of rest. Why spend this time worrying? When there is no self, there will be no dreams.”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

Themes: Peace

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“A friend after one's own heart is hard to find. If you have such a friend, what more can be lacking?”

Themes: Friendship

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“Traditions and customs are set by people. Therefore what people regard as 'truth' tends to be a subjective matter.”

from Liezi "True Classic of Simplicity and Perfect Emptiness”

Themes: Culture Truth

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Quotes about Lie Yukou (2 quotes)

“Without the burdens and problems associated with fame and fortune, Lieh-tzu could live leisurely and be free to do what he liked and go where he wanted… being an unknown citizen was better than being a person of power and responsibility… it was better to remain silent and be truthful to oneself.”

Eva Wong 1
Champion of Qigong, Fengshui, and a Taoist approach to health and healing

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“scholars of the later Han dynasty seem to have enjoyed nothing so much as forging, if not the whole, at any rate portions, of the works of ancient authors. Someone even produced a treatise under the name of Lieh Tzu, a philosopher mentioned by Chuang Tzu, not seeing that the individual in question was a creation of Chuang Tzu's brain!”

Lionel Giles 1875 – 1958 CE
Victorian "Taoist at heart"

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