Bi, the Spoon, is eating; eating is form.
Guanyinzi said: People of the world distinguish self from others because my thoughts differ from theirs and their thoughts differ from mine. They do not know that people in dreams also have my thoughts differing from theirs and their thoughts differing from mine; then which is the self and which the others? People of the world distinguish self from others because my pain differs from theirs and their pain differs from mine. They do not know that people in dreams also have my pain differing from theirs and their pain differing from mine; then which is the self and which the others? Nails and hair feel no pain, hands and feet do not think, yet they too are me; how can thought and pain be used to divide them? People of the world take what is seen by one person alone as a dream and what is seen by all together as waking. They do not know that where essence congeals, one person alone may also see something by day, and where spirits unite, two people may also share the same dream at night. Both are my essence and spirit; which is the dream and which the waking? People of the world take what is seen briefly as a dream and what is seen for a long time as waking. They do not know that what is seen briefly is the qi of yin and yang, and what is seen for a long time is also the qi of yin and yang. Both are my yin and yang; which is the dream and which the waking?
He said: Those who love benevolence often dream of pines and cypresses, peaches and plums. Those who love righteousness often dream of weapons and blades, metal and iron. Those who love ritual often dream of the fu, gui, bian, and dou sacrificial vessels. Those who love wisdom often dream of rivers and lakes, streams and marshes. Those who love good faith often dream of mountains and peaks, plains and fields. Among those driven by the Five Phases, none is otherwise. Yet if in a dream one hears of some matter or thinks of some matter, the dream changes accordingly, and the Five Phases cannot bind it. The sage governs things with the mind and governs the mind with his nature; then his mind is one with creation, and the Five Phases cannot bind him either.
He said: If you see beings with snakes' heads and human bodies, with oxen's arms and fish scales, with ghostly shapes and birds' wings, do not marvel at them. These marvels are not as marvelous as dreams, and the marvels of dreams are not as marvelous as waking: to have ears and eyes, hands and arms—that is the greatest marvel of all. The greatest words cannot be spoken; the greatest wisdom cannot be thought.
He said: Someone asked me: “What is your clan? Your family? Your name? Your courtesy name? What do you eat? What do you wear? Who are your friends? Your servants? What is your zither? Your books? What of the ancient? What of the present?” At the time I kept silent and did not answer a word. When the man kept pressing me, I had no choice but to answer: “I do not even see a self; what then could be mine?”
He said: Form can be divided and can be joined, can be prolonged and can be hidden. One husband and one wife can produce two children: form can be divided. One husband and one wife, two people, make one child: form can be joined. Eat black sesame and you live long: form can be prolonged. At night with no moon or fire, people cannot see me: form can be hidden. With one qi producing the myriad things, as shed hair can be replaced—this is how form is divided. With one qi joining the myriad things, as a split lip can be mended—this is how form is joined. Preserving qi with spirit and preserving form with qi—this is how form is prolonged. Merging form into spirit and spirit into nothingness—this is how form is hidden. Do you wish to know it? Do you wish to do it?
He said: There is not a thing that cannot be seen, so there is not a thing that is not my seeing. There is not a thing that cannot be heard, so there is not a thing that is not my hearing. The five kinds of things can nourish the form, so there is not a thing that is not my form. The five flavors can nourish qi, so there is not a thing that is not my qi. Therefore my form and qi are heaven, earth, and the myriad things.
He said: The plowman who lives with oxen becomes rough; the hunter who lives with tigers becomes brave; the fisherman who lives with water becomes a diver; the soldier who lives with horses becomes sturdy. The myriad things can become me. In my one body, pinworms and roundworms breed within and lice and fleas swarm without; lumps in the belly become tortoises and fish, and [a word is missing in the text] become rats and ants. I can become the myriad things.
He said: My being myself is like gold in ashes, not like gold in ore or sand. Break the ore and you get gold; pan the sand and you get gold; but winnow ashes all your life and you will never get gold.
He said: A bee is the tiniest of things, yet it can roam and look out over heaven and earth; a shrimp is the tiniest of things, yet it can move freely in the great sea.
He said: When clay figures are made, some are noble and some lowly, some are gentlemen and some are ladies. Their substance is clay, and when they break they are clay—and so are people!
He said: The eye looking at itself sees no color; the ear listening to itself hears no sound; the tongue tasting itself finds no flavor; the mind gauging itself finds no thing. The multitude chase after what is outside, the worthy cling to what is inside, and the sage regards both as false.
He said: My body is the qi of the Five Phases, and the qi of the Five Phases is one thing in nature. It is like a single place where one can draw water, draw fire, grow wood, condense metal, and change earth. Its nature contains and embraces all, and originally there is no difference. So when feathered creatures flourish, furred creatures do not breed; when furred creatures flourish, scaled creatures do not breed. One who knows that the Five Phases work through one another can forget the self.
He said: The dried tortoise shell has no self, yet it can show great knowledge; the lodestone has no self, yet it can show great strength; bells and drums have no self, yet they can show great sound; boats and carts have no self, yet they can show far travel. So in my one body, though there is wisdom and strength, movement and sound, there has never been a self.
He said: The yu, a water creature, can kill me by shooting at my shadow. Knowing that what has no knowing is also me, under the whole expanse of heaven there is nowhere that I am not.
He said: One whose mind is absorbed in remembering forgets hunger; one whose mind is absorbed in anger forgets cold; one whose mind is absorbed in nurturing forgets illness; one whose mind is stirred up forgets pain. If one inhales qi to nourish one's harmony, who can make one hungry? If one preserves the spirit to increase one's warmth, who can make one cold? If one nourishes the five viscera with the Five Phases, there is no harm; who can make one ill? If one returns the five viscera to the Five Phases, there is no knowing; who can make one feel pain?
He said: Do not take no-knowing and non-action as being without self. Even with knowing and action, one may still be without self. It is like fire: restless and never still, yet it has never had a self.