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Catch the fish, forget the trap. Get the meaning, forget the words.

Zhuangzi, Zhuangzi 26 (What Comes from Without)

The source

"Catch the fish, forget the trap. Get the meaning, forget the words." Zhuangzi said it in Zhuangzi 26 (What Comes from Without). Translated from the original Chinese by Spartan Surfers.

"荃者所以在魚,得魚而忘荃。 ... 言者所以在意,得意而忘言。"

Original Chinese, Zhuangzi 26 (What Comes from Without). Chinese: Zhuangzi text via zh.wikisource; chapter title after Legge 1891.

Who said it

Zhuangzi (c. 369–286 BC). Taoist storyteller of the butterfly dream, the useless tree and the cook who never dulled his knife.

Questions

Who said "Catch the fish, forget the trap. Get the meaning, forget the words."?
Zhuangzi (c. 369–286 BC). Source: Zhuangzi 26 (What Comes from Without).
What is the original Chinese?
荃者所以在魚,得魚而忘荃。 ... 言者所以在意,得意而忘言。. Translated from the original Chinese by Spartan Surfers.

Filed under Calm.

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