A fish's last notes
Sometimes I feel like a small fish in a large pond. I hate the crowd. I can either kill more fishes or jump out of the pond.
- Excerpt from a fish's diary
- Excerpt from a fish's diary
3 Comments:
there is always a zen story appropiate for any day.
Knowing Fish
One day Chuang Tzu and a friend were walking by a river.
"Look at the fish swimming about," said Chuang Tzu, "They are really enjoying themselves."
"You are not a fish," replied the friend, "So you can't truly know that they are enjoying themselves."
"You are not me," said Chuang Tzu. "So how do you know that I do not know that the fish are enjoying themselves?"
Yes. In fact I read a Zen story in one of the fish's diaries too.
Knowing Zen
One day Fish Tzu and a friend were swimming in a river.
"Look at the humans talking zen," said Fish Tzu, "They really think they are philosophical."
"You are not a human," replied the friend, "So you can't truly know that they do not know zen."
"You are not me," said Fish Tzu. "So how do you know that I don't truly know that they do not know zen?"
Oooh Chinese philosophy. Full text:
庄子与惠子游于濠梁之上。庄子曰：“儵鱼出游从容，是鱼之乐也？”惠子曰：“子非鱼，安知鱼之乐？”庄子曰：“子非我，安知我不知鱼之乐？”惠子曰：“我非子，固不知子矣；子固非鱼也，子之不知鱼之乐，全矣。”庄子曰：“请循其本。子曰‘汝安知鱼乐’云者，既已知吾知之而问我。我知之濠上也。”
*
(Continued from Zhan's version...)
Hui-Tzu (i.e., the friend's name, translated by yours truly, following Ang Moh's tradition of translating ‘子’as 'Tzu') replied, "I am not you, and thus I cannot claim to know you; but you are not a fish either, and therefore you cannot know if these fishes are enjoying themselves - this much is true."
Chuang-Tzu said, "Please let's go right back to what we were saying in the beginning. When you asked me how I could possibly know that the fishes are happy, you already knew that I knew that the fishes are happy. I know that the fishes are happy, because, standing on this bridge that stretches over this river, I can already know that they are happy."
*
(Extending SirWhale's version...)
Fish Fillet Tzu said, "I am not you, and therefore I cannot claim to know if you know that they do not know Zen; similarly, you are not them, and therefore you cannot know if they know Zen or not - this much is true."
Fish Tzu retorted, "Please let's go back to what we were saying in the beginning. When you asked me how could I possibly know that humans do not know Zen, you already knew that I knew that humans do not know Zen. I know that the humans do not know Zen, because, swimming happily in this river and eavesdropping on their conversations, I already know that they do not know Zen. This is what makes the difference between a fish and a fish fillet."
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