Zhuangzi · The True Self Becomes a Butterfly

I. The Ego Is Not Me

I possess nothing, and I do not possess myself.

I possess neither the past nor the future, nor do I possess the present.

A person is confined within the currents of history and fate.

Human action: All I need to do is avoid becoming more fixated and attached. Awakening and spiritual practice can reduce suffering and increase happiness.

II. Taking Over

A thought is the loose end of a thread. Following that thread, that clue, reveals the fixation behind it, and the ego behind the fixation. There are often seventy or eighty kinds of fixation, with eight or nine egos behind them. These possessed phantoms, stray thoughts, and confusion take control of the person.

The ego is like a cancerous lesion: it draws things into itself, takes over, and strengthens itself. The true self must sweep things clean and exorcise the demons.

Now I, the true self, will take over. The awakening of the true self. Once the true self takes over, fate will also become “better.”

The true self is not a thought, nor is it an entirely new way of thinking. The true self is beyond the mind’s comprehension.

The true self expresses principles for living, an inner voice telling me not to think this way, not to think.

Once the true self takes over, there will be happiness and an ability to see beauty. Only by becoming still can one be happy and see beauty.

Happiness is the removal of unhappiness: ease, relaxation, safety, peace, like being released from prison after serving one’s sentence, unable to stop smiling.

III. The True Self Is Part of the Universe

The true self has no plans or tasks. The true self has no name.

The true self is simply here in this present moment, calm and tranquil, without any purpose. Moment after moment, joined together, is still one moment—a moment of the universe.

Like electricity, magnetism, light, and heat, like atoms and nebulae, the true self is part of the universe. Heaven and humanity are one; it simply exists in the universe.

The true self is nature, is the Way. It is the nature of the universe. The universe is mysterious, and humanity may be unable to understand it. Humans were created by the universe, yet the ego tries to rise above the universe and control it. The true self is human nature. Those things that appear to be social aspects of human nature are actually inhuman and alienated. Once the inhuman things are removed, what remains is the essence of being human. Just as a chicken is a chicken, rather than two chicken legs and a chicken breast.

IV. Becoming a Butterfly

The ego twists and wriggles like a caterpillar, believing that this is who it is.

Once the true self takes over, it becomes a butterfly, grows wings, and wanders free and easy.

The ego lives in a two-dimensional, blind world where there is more than it can cope with. Once the true self becomes a butterfly, the world gains another dimension: there is a sky. Looking down at the ground from the sky, it sees through fixation and delusion. There is no before or after, only roaming freely.

It turns out that humans are not trapped on the ground, but roam through the universe. It turns out that the butterfly in the sky is a person’s original face.

Zhuang Zhou dreamed of being a butterfly, dreamed that he had no name and no face. Am I Zhuang Zhou or a butterfly?