He has outwinged distances of the mysterious Bird of Time.
Suddenly he has become the blue ether of the luminous Self,
Suddenly he has become the expanse of a superconscient glow,
Suddenly he has become one with the infinity of the All-Alone.
There is no bamboo-tube telescope, no awl of imagination,
There are no river-beds, no estuaries, no lakes, no swans,
The landscape has vanished, and there are no wheels of revolution.
He is what Yin and Yang gave him, he is simply the son of Tao;
Chuang Tse is drowned in the Autumn flood of a hundred streams.
The waterfall has become quiet—yet the Unknown is beyond.
Will Chuang Tse then climb up the mountain to be the mountain?

Chuang Tse was a famous Taoist philosopher in ancient China who lived around the 4th century BC during the Warring States Period. Using parable and anecdote, allegory and paradox, he set forth the early ideas of what was to become the Taoist school. Central in these ideas is the belief that only by understanding Tao (the Way of Nature) and dwelling in unity can man achieve true happiness and be truly free in both life and death. Witty and imaginative, enriched by brilliant imagery, making sportive use of both mythological and historical personages such as Confucius, the book which bears Chuang Tzu's name has been savoured by Chinese readers for centuries.

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