In this episode of Elixir, Helen is talking to Vivienne Lo about 2 Daoist poems: Chapter 8 of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching and Zhangzi's (Chuang-Tzu's) Butterfly Dream Parable.
The Tao Te Ching
Laozi (Lao Tzu) riding a water buffalo
Laozi - UnknownThis image was copied from bg.wikipedia. Laozi, Public Domain
Text of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching Chapter 8:
第八章
上善若水。水善利萬物而不爭，處眾人之所感，故几于道。
居善地，心善淵，與善仁，言善信，政善治，事善能，動善時。
天唯不爭，故無尤。
Translation of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching Chapter 8:
The highest good is like water.
Water gives life to the ten thousand things and does not strive.
It flows in places men reject and so is like the Tao.
In dwelling, be close to the land.
In meditation, go deep in the heart.
In dealing with others, be gentle and kind.
In speech, be true.
In ruling, be just.
In business, be competent.
In action, watch the timing.
No fight: No blame.
The Butterfly Dream Parable
Dschuang-Dsi-Schmetterlingstraum-Zhuangzi-Butterfly-Dream
Lu Zhi - Upload of December 2007: http://www.asianart.com/exhibitions/taoism/butterfly.html Upload of April 2012: Not given
Text of The Butterfly Dream Parable:
昔者莊周夢為胡蝶，栩栩然胡蝶也，自喻適志與。
不知周也。
俄然覺，則蘧蘧然周也。不知周之夢為胡蝶與，胡蝶之夢為周與。
周與胡蝶，則必有分矣。
此之謂物化。
Translation of The Butterfly Dream Parable:
Once upon a time, I, Zhuangzi, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Zhuangzi. Soon I awakened, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man. Between a man and a butterfly there is necessarily a distinction. The transition is called the transformation of material things.
https://www.learnreligions.com/butterflies-great-sages-and-valid-cognition-3182587
About the poems:
https://www.learnreligions.com/butterflies-great-sages-and-valid-cognition-3182587
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuangzi_(book)
https://www.wussu.com/laotzu/laotzu08.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao_Te_Ching
About the reader: Vivienne Lo
