(Huainanzi)
Grandson of the Han Dynasty founding emperor and known as both an enlightened immortal and by his detractors as a rebel, Liu An sponsored “The Eight Immortals of Huainan” who together with him wrote the Huainanzi, a famous text that along with the works of Laozi and Zhuangzi is considered a cornerstone of Daoist philosophy. It describes how to perfect the best socio-political order and is still used as a handbook on how to train enlightened leaders. Also known as a great poet, Liu An’s fame includes being the first to record the famous Taoist Farmer Story, the first to experiment with hot air balloons as well as inventing tofu and soy milk.
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Poets Politicians Taoist
“In a degenerate society, those who possess the wealth of the land and are in positions of authority over others exhaust the energy of the common people to serve their own sensual desires.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
53. Shameless Thieves
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“Balance is the beginning of the Way. Emptiness is the heart of the way.”
Chapters:
2. The Wordless Teachings
4. The Father of All Things
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“If you seek what you don’t have, what you do have will be lost. If you cultivate what you already have, then what you want comes about.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
75. Greed
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“In all the vicissitudes of their lives, sages are of one will, never forgetting to benefit people.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
67. Three Treasures
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“In ancient times, when sage kings ruled, their government and education were egalitarian, and their charity extended to all. Those above and those below were of like mind.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
68. Joining Heaven & Earth
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“Place a monkey in a cage, and it is the same as a pig, not beause it isn’t clever and quick, but because it has no place to freely exercise its capabilities.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
72. Helpful Fear
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“Real people are those united with the Tao. Wandering in the vastness beyond mundane clutter, they work freely without making an issue of it, know without learning, see without looking, achieve without striving and understand without trying.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
51. Mysterious Goodness
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“Rich are the rewards of the generous; profound are the calamities of the resentful… So, by looking into the source of people’s actions, sages can tell their consequences.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
77. Stringing a Bow
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“Right and wrong are situational. In the appropriate situation, nothing is wrong. Without the appropriate situation, nothing is right.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
64. Ordinary Mind
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“Rulership was set up because the strong oppressed the weak, the many did violence to the few, the cunning fooled the simple, the bold attacked the timid, people kept knowledge to themselves and did not teach, people accumulated wealth and did not share it. So the institution of rulership was set up to equalize and unify them.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
78. Water
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“sages alone do not leave their sacred ground… They do not plan ahead yet do not abandon opportunity… They do not seek to gain yet do not reject misfortune.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
44. Fame and Fortune
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“Sages are not controlled by names, not governed by plans, not burdened by affairs, and not ruled by intellect. They are concealed in formlessness; their acts are traceless, and their roamings are trackless.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
27. No Trace
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“Sages do good as if they fear there is not enough of it and prepare against calamity as if they fear they cannot avoid it.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
49. No Set Mind
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“Sages do not let their desires disturb harmony… when they are happy, they do not rejoice too much, and when they are sad, they do not grieve too much.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
77. Stringing a Bow
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“Sages do not need authority to be noble, do not need wealth to be rich, and do not need power to be strong. Peaceful and empty, they are not subject to outside influences; they fly freely with evolution.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
81. Journey Without Goal
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“Sages wear what no one looks at, do what no one watches, and say what no one disputes… they are different but appear ordinary.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
66. Go Low
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“The beginnings of fortune and calamity are subtle, so people are heedless of them. Only sages see the beginning and know the end.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
52. Cultivating the Changeless
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“The wise leave the road and find the Way; fools cling to the Way and lose the road.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
38. Fruit Over Flowers
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“There are 3 dangers in the world: To have many privileges but few virtues… To be high in rank but low on ability… To receive a large salary without personally accomplishing much… So ‘people may gain by loss and may lose by gain.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
46. Enough
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“They are free and do nothing, yet there is nothing they do not do… All thing have their outcomes, but only sages know how to keep to the root… they respond like echoes without wearing out.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
6. The Source
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“those who are capable of leading the world are those who have no ambition to use the world; those who are capable of sustaining fame are those who do nothing excessive to seek it.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
67. Three Treasures
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“Those who are wise cultivate the inner root and do not make a display of the outer twigs.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
48. Unlearning
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“To survive peril and quell disorder cannot be done without wisdom. Were it a matter of following precedents, even fools have more than enough. Therefore, enlightened leaders do not enforce useless laws or listen to ineffectual words.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
38. Fruit Over Flowers
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“When rites and duties become decorations they breed artificial and hypocritical people.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
19. All Methods Become Obstacles
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“When the directives of the leadership are ignored because of factionalism, laws are broken out of treachery, intellectuals busy themselves fabricating clever deceits, mettlesome men occupy themselves fighting, administrators monopolize authority, petty bureaucrats hold power, and cliques curry favor to manipulate the leadership. Then, even though the nation may seem to exist, the ancients would say it has perished.”
from Huainanzi
Chapters:
18. The Sick Society
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“Good luck changes into bad and bad luck changes into good. The workings of events are beyond comprehension.”
from Huainanzi
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“Too many deals impoverish the merchant, too much artistry exhausts the craftsman. When the span of a tree is great, its height is compromised. When the flow of a river is wide, its depth is compromised. If you have knowledge but not skillful means, you will never accomplish anything.”
from Huainanzi
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“The Way of Rulership is not the means by which one acts; it is the means by which one does not act.”
from Huainanzi
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“Those who trust themselves cannot be swayed by slander or flattery. Those whose knowledge is sufficient cannot be enticed by power or profit.”
from Huainanzi
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“Grandson of the first Han emperor, [Huainanzi] was a devoted Daoist. Although his search for the elixir of immortality was prematurely interrupted when he was accused of plotting to seize the throne and was forced to commit suicide.”
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