External Things (13)

1 Before fishing, people spend a lot of time and efforts in preparing the bait. Once they attain fish, the bait is forgotten.

2 Nobody treasures the bait that fish eats up. On the contrary, when fishing they are afraid that fish doesn’t bite it.

3 Snare is used to catch rabbit. After rabbit is caught, nobody cares about the snare.

4 Language is used to express idea. After expressing, people no long remember the plentiful saying.

5 Book is used to transfer thoughts. When people take in the ideas or concepts on it, book itself becomes unimportant.

6 However, in this world many people don’t study hard the true ideas on book, they don’t understand the truly ideas that author wants to transfer. They just hold firmly the book in pretentious cultural style and regard it as sacred thing as if it were famous movie star. As I know, regarding book holding, the men who put the cart before the horse are everywhere.

7 I, Chuang Tzu, have spent so much time and energy in writing this book just to tell all of you the way of practice and the way of walking in this world. However, two thousand and two hundred years have passed (B.C. 275-2005), how many people really know my ideas and practice it earnestly by themselves.

8 Though many people buy and read my book in every age, is it meaningful to me?