Q0289

“Relying on the heavenly pattern, I strike into the large gaps, guide…” — Zhuangzi (Zhuangzi, Yangshengzhu)

Verified English quotation. Primary source: Zhuangzi, Yangshengzhu. Theme: life.

English

Relying on the heavenly pattern, I strike into the large gaps, guide through the large openings, and follow what is inherently so.
Thinker Zhuangzi
School Daoism
Source Zhuangzi, Yangshengzhu
Theme Life
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to Zhuangzi, Yangshengzhu and files it under Daoism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

About Zhuangzi

Zhuangzi (Zhuang Zhou, c. 369–c.

How to read this passage

Life is both a biological fact and a practical project. Philosophers debate flourishing, suffering, mortality, and the standards by which a biography can be judged successful or wasted. This passage enters that discussion through life, nature.

Concepts in this quote

Life
Philosophy quotes about life ask what makes a life good, meaningful, or worth examining—questions that drive ethics, religion, and everyday decision.
Nature
Philosophy quotes about nature ask what the cosmos is, how humans belong in it, and whether “natural” can guide ethics or politics.

How to cite this quotation

APA: Zhuangzi. (n.d.). Relying on the heavenly pattern, I strike into the large gaps, guide through the large openings, and follow what is inherently so. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0289

MLA: Zhuangzi. “Relying on the heavenly pattern, I strike into….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0289.

Chicago: Zhuangzi. “Relying on the heavenly pattern, I strike into….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0289.

Frequently asked questions

What is the source of the quotation “Relying on the heavenly pattern, I strike into…”?

The passage is attributed to Zhuangzi, Zhuangzi, Yangshengzhu. The archive attributes this English wording to Zhuangzi, Yangshengzhu and files it under Daoism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

What does Zhuangzi mean by life?

Life is both a biological fact and a practical project. Philosophers debate flourishing, suffering, mortality, and the standards by which a biography can be judged successful or wasted. This passage enters that discussion through life, nature.

Explore Zhuangzi on life

Same thinker

More from Zhuangzi

  1. Therefore it is said: The consummate person has no self; the spiritual person has no merit; the sage has no name.
  2. My life has a limit, but knowledge has none. To pursue the limitless with the limited is perilous!
  3. When the springs dry up and fish are stranded together on land, they moisten one another with dampness and wet one another with foam — but better to forget one another in the rivers and lakes.
  4. Once Zhuang Zhou dreamed he was a butterfly…He did not know whether Zhou had dreamed he was a butterfly, or a butterfly was dreaming it was Zhou.
  5. Better to forget one another in the rivers and lakes than to moisten one another with foam when stranded.

All quotations by Zhuangzi

Same theme

More on life

  1. The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being.
  2. Pleasure is the beginning and end of the happy life — not the pleasures of profligates, but freedom from pain in the body and from disturbance in the soul.
  3. Leisure without study is death — a tomb for a living man.
  4. A free man thinks of nothing less than of death; and his wisdom is a meditation not on death but on life.
  5. The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.

Browse the life theme