Who is Zhuangzi?
莊子 Zhuangzi ("Master Zhang") is a Chinese philosopher of Taoism in 4th century BC. The main source about him and his students is the book Zhuangzi. His original name is 莊周 Zhuang Zhao, but as traditional for great Chinese thinkers, he was called "Master Zhang". Due to romanization issues, you might see his name written as Chuang Tzu, Chuang-tzu, Chuang Chou, etc. Same as why Mao Zedong is also referred to as "Mao Tse-tung".
Taoism, if talked about at all in Western countries, is usually by quoting something witty from the 道德經 Tao Te Ching, a terse philosophical poem by 老子 Laozi, the legendary founder of Taoism. This is unfortunate, since Zhuangzi, the second classic of Taoism, is far more fun and approachable than Tao Te Ching.
The Book of Zhuangzi is one of the most entertaining as well as one of the profoundest books in the world.
— Arthur Waley, English orientalist and sinologist
Well, not anymore. I'll compile fun stories from Zhuangzi in this post!
Zhuangzi & friends
In the book Zhuangzi, other than the man himself, several recurring characters appear, such as
- Confucius
- and his students like 颜回 Yanhui.
- Zhuangzi's good friend 惠施 Huishi aka 惠子 Huizi, a master from the School of Names.
- Gongsun Long, another master of the School of Names. Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi really doesn't like him.
In general, Zhuangzi argued against Confucianism, School of Names, and other competing philosophies with great humor and wisdom.
The School of Names, basically the Chinese version of the ancient Greek Sophists, is all about logic and rhetoric, dealing with small logical distinctions in language. This annoyed Zhuangzi greatly, because it is SMALL and obsessed with WORDS and their tiny DISTINCTIONS, which Zhuangzi greatly disdains.
What is Taoism?
Taoism is a memeplex of life philosophy, natural philosophy (primitive physics), medicine, and polytheistic religion.
Life philosophy
Taoism started as a school of philosophy run by Laozi and Zhuangzi in around 4th century BC. This philosophy is all about being one with nature, to work with nature, rather than struggle against nature. To let things be done naturally, rather than forcing things happen. This is called, 无为 wuwei, non-action.
Just go with the flow.
Since the Han dynasty (1st century AD), the philosophy of Confucius eventually won out the popularity fight, but Taoism remained a strong second-best since then. Confucianism is in some sense the exact opposite of Taoism. It's all about duties, rituals, social hierarchies, and working to become a good social creature that's away from nature. In Confucian thought, nature is wild and dangerous, in need of human cultivation.
Natural philosophy (primitive physics)
Traditional Chinese natural philosophy is all about the balance of yin and yang, a dualism that runs through all their efforts, including medicine.
Yin is the principle of
- cold,
- dark,
- female,
- moon,
- water,
- ...
Yang is the principle of
- hot,
- light,
- male,
- sun,
- fire,
- ...
The balance of Yin and Yang is the source of all good existence in this universe. An imbalance brings sickness, sorrows, death, and decay.
Taoism took this idea and built on it a whole system of Taoist magic, with which professional Taoists can channel the cosmic yin-yang energies into whatever item they want, to restore (or destroy) its balance.
Medicine
Taoist medicine is concentrated on one thing: prolonging life, with the ultimate goal of immortal health. There are many methods, including the reasonable ones like intermittent fasting, vegetarianism, healthy diet, exercises, to the weird ones like magically directing the flow of yin-yang energies, sexual intercourse without ejaculation (the reasoning is that semen contains the essence of life), to the dangerous practice of alchemy.
This sentence (about where the Taoists think the semen would go if not ejaculated) is too rich to not quote:
the Taoists believed that the jing traveled up into the head and "nourished the brain."
Taoists were very interested in alchemy, but not for getting gold. Rather, they searched for the elixir of life, some magical medicine that can give one immortality. Many of those were very poisonous, containing mercury, lead, arsenic, and other bad stuffs. Several Chinese emperors died from elixir poisoning, including the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang.
Polytheistic religion
Taoism developed a large fictional universe of many supernatural beings. Fans of Journey to the West would have been familiar with the supernatural world of Taoism.
Up in the sky, there is a massive bureaucracy, led by the Jade Emperor, and departments of all kinds, controlling the rain, the snow, the seas, the rivers, etc. Extraordinary humans and animals could join the heavenly ranks (apotheosis). Professional Taoists can ask for favors from the bureaucracy by the correct rituals (equivalent to submitting paperworks for mundane bureaucracies).
Down on earth, there are ghosts, spirits good and evil, local deities of the mountains, rivers, seas, caves, and more. Taoist magic can be used to communicate with the local deities to ask for favors (such as a good harvest), attract good spirits, and fight evil spirits. A sword made from peach wood is the most commonly used weapon for fighting evil spirits. Magic spells can also be drawn to make Taoist talismans (符箓).
Source: Wikipedia
Art of Jiangshi (Chinese zombies) often show them wearing a Taoist talisman, because Taoist talismans are supposed to stop a Jiangshi. Thus, it's actually wrong to show a Jiangshi moving about wearing a Taoist talisman.
By madiblitz
Below earth, there is another massive bureaucracy of the dead, led by the Yanluo Wang, King of the Dead. The evil people would be punished with torture, but most people simply continue their lives in cities that are very much similar to our living cities -- except everything is in a permanent night lit only by lanterns and candles. Taoist rituals could be used to send care packages to the underworld to ensure those you love would have a nice afterlife.
One thing that strongly differentiates Taoist religion from other religions like Christianity and Buddhism is that it is mostly about world-building, without giving you a final goal to aim for. Christians are supposed to aim for heaven. Buddhists are supposed to aim for nirvana (escape from the cycle of rebirth). Taoists... is open-ended. Sure, many Taoists aim for eternal life, or going up to the heavens, or at least a good afterlife, but those are personal choices. Taoism itself does not prescribe a way of life in this vast universe of ghosts, gods, animals, humans, and other creatures.
Some cool stories, mostly about animals
There are many many stories in Zhuangzi, but I'll mostly take those starring animals, because animals are awesome!
Butterfly
Perhaps the most famous of all Zhuangzi stories.
昔者莊周夢為蝴蝶，栩栩然蝴蝶也，自喻適志與，不知周也。俄然覺，則戚戚然周也。不知周之夢為蝴蝶與，蝴蝶之夢為周與？週與蝴蝶則必有分矣。此之謂物化。
One night, Zhuangzi dreamed of being a butterfly — a happy butterfly, showing off and doing things as he pleased, unaware of being Zhuangzi. Suddenly he awoke. Drowsily, he was Zhuangzi again. And he could not tell whether it was Zhuangzi who had dreamt the butterfly or the butterfly dreaming Zhuangzi. But there must be some difference between them! This is called 'the transformation of things'.
Zhuangzi talks a lot about dreams.
Snail
On the silliness of war:
戴晉人曰：「有所謂蝸者，君知之乎？」曰：「然。」「有國於蝸之左角者曰觸氏，有國於蝸之右角者曰蠻氏，時相與爭地而戰，伏尸數萬，逐北旬有五日而後反。」君曰：「噫！其虛言與？」曰：「臣請為君實之。君以意在四方上下有窮乎？」君曰：「無窮。」曰：「知遊心於無窮，而反在通達之國，若存若亡乎？」君曰：「然。」曰：「通達之中有魏，於魏中有梁，於梁中有王。王與蠻氏，有辯乎？」君曰：「無辯。」客出而君惝然若有亡也。
Dai Jin-ren, who said, 'There is the creature called a snail; does your majesty know it?' 'I do.' 'On the left horn of the snail there is a kingdom which is called Provocation, and on the right horn another which is called Stupidity. These two kingdoms are continually striving about their territories and fighting. The corpses that lie on the ground amount to several myriads. The army of one may be defeated and put to flight, but in fifteen days it will return.' The king said, 'Pooh! that is empty talk!' The other rejoined, 'Your servant begs to show your majesty its real significance. When your majesty thinks of space - east, west, north, and south, above and beneath - can you set any limit to it?' 'It is illimitable,' said the king; and his visitor went on, 'Your majesty knows how to let your mind thus travel through the illimitable, and yet (as compared with this) does it not seem insignificant whether the kingdoms that communicate one with another exist or not?' The king replies, 'It does so;' and Dai Jin-ren said, finally, 'Among those kingdoms, stretching one after another, there is this Wei; in Wei there is this (city of) Liang; and in Liang there is your majesty. Can you make any distinction between yourself, and (the king of that kingdom of) Stupidity?' To this the king answered, 'There is no distinction,' and his visitor went out, while the king remained disconcerted and seemed to have lost himself.
In conclusion:
夫吹筦也，猶有嗃也；吹劍首者，吷而已矣。
If you blow into a flute, there come out its pleasant notes; if you blow into the hilt of a sword, there is nothing but a wheezing sound.
(If you listen to people who love war, you get nothing but garbage talk)
Sacred turtle bones
莊子釣於濮水，楚王使大夫二人往先焉，曰：「願以境內累矣！」莊子持竿不顧，曰：「吾聞楚有神龜，死已三千歲矣，王巾笥而藏之廟堂之上。此龜者，寧其死為留骨而貴乎，寧其生而曳尾於塗中乎？」二大夫曰：「寧生而曳尾塗中。」莊子曰：「往矣！吾將曳尾於塗中。」
Once when Zhuangzi was fishing in the Pu River, the King of Chu dispatched two officers of state to go to him announcing, “I wish to burden you with the administration of my realm.”
Zhuangzi held on to his pole and without turning his head said, “I have heard that in Chu there is a sacred tortoise, already dead for three thousand years, kept by the king wrapped in cloth and preserved in a bamboo hamper at the ancestral hall. Would this tortoise rather be dead and have its bones left behind to be venerated, or be alive so it could drag its tail in the mud?”
The two officers of state replied, “It would rather be alive so it could drag its tail in the mud.”
“So be gone! I am going to drag my tail in the mud!”
Happiness of fish
庄子与惠子游于濠梁之上，庄子曰：鯈鱼出游从容，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。
Zhuangzi and Huizi were strolling along the bridge over the Hao River. Zhuangzi said, “The minnows swim about so freely, following the openings wherever they take them. Such is the happiness of fish.”
Huizi said, “You are not a fish, so whence do you know the happiness of fish?
Zhuangzi said, “You are not I, so whence do you know I don’t know the happiness of fish?”
Huizi said, “I am not you, to be sure, so I don’t know what it is to be you. But by the same token, since you are certainly not a fish, my point about your inability to know the happiness of fish stands intact.”
Zhuangzi said, “Let’s go back to the starting point. You said, ‘Whence do you know the happiness of fish?’ Since your question was premised on your knowing that I know it, I must have known it from here, up above the Hao River.”
Sad seabird
This story is about how every creature has its own nature. To force one upon the other is unwise.
昔者海鳥止於魯郊，魯侯御而觴之於廟，奏九韶以為樂，具太牢以為善。鳥乃眩視憂悲，不敢食一臠，不敢飲一杯，三日而死。此以己養養鳥也，非以鳥養養鳥也。
夫以鳥養養鳥者，宜栖之深林，遊之壇陸，浮之江湖，食之鰍鰷，隨行列而止，委蛇而處。彼唯人言之惡聞，奚以夫譊譊為乎！咸池、九韶之樂，張之洞庭之野，鳥聞之而飛，獸聞之而走，魚聞之而下入，人卒聞之，相與還而觀之。魚處水而生，人處水而死，故必相與異，其好惡故異也。故先聖不一其能，不同其事。名止於實，義設於適，是之謂條達而福持。
Once, a sea-bird alighted in the suburban country of Lu. The marquis went out to meet it, (brought it) to the ancestral temple, and prepared to banquet it there. The Jiu-shao was performed to afford it music; an ox, a sheep, and a pig were killed to supply the food. The bird, however, looked at everything with dim eyes, and was very sad. It did not venture to eat a single bit of flesh, nor to drink a single cupful; and in three days it died. The marquis was trying to nourish the bird with what he used for himself, and not with the nourishment proper for a bird.
They should let them perch in the deep forests, or roam over sandy plains; float on the rivers and lakes; feed on the eels and small fish; wing their flight in regular order and then stop; and be free and at ease in their resting-places. It was a distress to that bird to hear men speak; what did it care for all the noise and hubbub made about it? If the music of the Jiu-shao or the Xian-chi were performed in the wild of the Dong-ting lake, birds would fly away, and beasts would run off when they heard it, and fishes would dive down to the bottom of the water; while men, when they hear it, would come all round together, and look on. Fishes live and men die in the water. They are different in constitution, and therefore differ in their likes and dislikes. Hence it was that the ancient sages did not require (from all) the same ability, nor demand the same performances. They gave names according to the reality of what was done, and gave their approbation where it was specially suitable. This was what was called the method of universal adaptation and of sure success.
Once, my parents took me out to a travel to South Korea. Staying in the hotel, I felt extremely sad, because all I wanted was to hide in my bedroom and surf the Internet. I opened this passage and showed my mother, about how this expensive travel was not what I wanted, even if it might be more "enriching" than surfing the Internet.
Crooked tree
惠子謂莊子曰：「吾有大樹，人謂之樗。其大本擁腫而不中繩墨，其小枝卷曲而不中規矩，立之塗，匠者不顧。今子之言，大而無用，眾所同去也。」莊子曰：「子獨不見狸狌乎？卑身而伏，以候敖者；東西跳梁，不避高下；中於機辟，死於罔罟。今夫斄牛，其大若垂天之雲。此能為大矣，而不能執鼠。今子有大樹，患其無用，何不樹之於無何有之鄉，廣莫之野，彷徨乎無為其側，逍遙乎寢臥其下？不夭斤斧，物無害者，無所可用，安所困苦哉！」
Huizi said to Zhuangzi, 'I know a large tree called Ailantus. Its trunk swells out to a large size, but is not fit for a carpenter to apply his line to it [because it's not straight]; its smaller branches are knotted and crooked, so that the disk and square [two instruments for carpentry, for drawing circles and squares] cannot be used on them. Though planted on the wayside, a builder would not turn his head to look at it. Your words are fascinating, great and all [reaching up to the heavens and down to the microscopic], but useless. People will abandon them.'
Zhuangzi replied, 'Have you never seen a wildcat or a weasel? There it lies, crouching and low, till the wanderer approaches; east and west it leaps about, avoiding neither what is high nor what is low, till it is caught in a trap, or dies in a net. Compare this to a yak giant, so large that it is like a cloud hanging in the sky. It is large indeed, but it cannot catch mice.
You, Sir, have a large tree and are troubled because it is of no use - why do you not plant it in a tract where there is nothing else, or in a wide and barren wild? There you might saunter idly by its side, or sleep easy under it. It would not be killed by an axe; there would be nothing to injure it. What is there in its uselessness to cause you distress?'
Phoenix, owl, and rat
This story is apocryphal probably, since Huizi and Zhuangzi were such great friends.
惠子相梁，莊子往見之。或謂惠子曰：「莊子來，欲代子相。」於是惠子恐，搜於國中三日三夜。莊子往見之，曰：「南方有鳥，其名為鵷鶵，子知之乎？夫鵷鶵發於南海而飛於北海，非梧桐不止，非練實不食，非醴泉不飲。於是鴟得腐鼠，鵷鶵過之，仰而視之曰：『嚇！』今子欲以子之梁國而嚇我邪？」
When Huizi was prime minister of Liang, Zhuangzi went to see him. Someone said a rumor to Master Hui, “Master Zhuang is coming because he wants to replace you as prime minister.
At this, Master Hui was so afraid that he had the capital searched for him three days and nights.
Zhuangzi went to see him anyway and said, “In the south there is a phoenix. Do you know it? When the phoenix flies out from the Southern Sea all the way up to the Northern Sea, it perches on nothing but the paulownia tree, eats nothing but bamboo seed, and drinks nothing but sweet spring water. But then there was an owl that had just got a rotten rat, and as the phoenix happen to fly overhead, it raised its head and, seeing it, cried out ‘screech!’ Now do you want to screech me away?”
Frog
子獨不聞夫埳井之鼃乎？謂東海之鱉曰：『吾樂與！出跳梁乎井幹之上，入休乎缺甃之崖，赴水則接腋持頤，蹶泥則沒足滅跗，還虷蟹與科斗，莫吾能若也。且夫擅一壑之水，而跨跱埳井之樂，此亦至矣，夫子奚不時來入觀乎？』
東海之鱉左足未入，而右膝已縶矣。於是逡巡而卻，告之海曰：『夫千里之遠，不足以舉其大；千仞之高，不足以極其深。禹之時，十年九潦，而水弗為加益；湯之時，八年七旱，而崖不為加損。夫不為頃久推移，不以多少進退者，此亦東海之大樂也。』於是埳井之鼃聞之，適適然驚，規規然自失也。
Have you not heard of the frog of the old well, and how it said to the turtle of the Eastern Sea, "How I enjoy myself! I leap upon the edge of this well. I enter, and play around, I draw my legs together, keep my chin up. When I have got to the mud, I dive till my feet are lost in it. Then turning round, I see that of the shrimps, crabs, and tadpoles, none compares with me. The greatest pleasure in the world is surely having the entire command of all the water in the gully, and being in control in this old well - why do not you, Master, often come and enter, and see it for yourself?"
The turtle of the Eastern Sea then went forward, but before he had put in his left foot, he found his right knee caught and held fast. On this he hesitated, drew back, and told the frog all about the sea, saying, "A distance of a thousand li is not sufficient to express its extent, nor would a rope of eight thousand cubits be enough to sound its depth. In the time of Yu, for nine years out of ten the flooded land all drained into it, and its water was not sensibly increased; and in the time of Tang for seven years out of eight there was a drought, but the rocks on the shore saw no diminution of the water because of it. Thus it is that no change is produced in its waters by any cause operating for a short time or a long, and that they do not advance nor recede for any addition or subtraction, whether great or small; and this is the great pleasure afforded by the Eastern Sea." When the frog heard this, he was amazed and terror-struck, and lost himself in surprise.
This was actually from a philosophical diss track. It was told by a student of Zhuangzi to Gongsun Long. Gongsun was the little frog happy to master tiny things (like the rhetorical arts), and Zhuangzi was the magnificent turtle who has seen truly big things.
Later in Zhuangzi, this story was used again, to approve of someone:
A frog in a well cannot discuss the ocean, because he is limited by the size of his well. A summer insect cannot discuss ice, because it knows only its own season. A narrow-minded scholar cannot discuss the Tao, because he is constrained by his teachings. Now you have come out of your banks and seen the Great Ocean. You now know your own inferiority, so it is now possible to discuss great principles with you.
Death is okay
Perhaps death is actually nice, and our love of life is only a delusion.
惡乎知說生之非惑邪！予惡乎知惡死之非弱喪而不知歸者邪！麗之姬，艾封人之子也。晉國之始得之也，涕泣沾襟；及其至於王所，與王同筐床，食芻豢，而後悔其泣也。予惡乎知夫死者不悔其始之蘄生乎！夢飲酒者，旦而哭泣；夢哭泣者，旦而田獵。方其夢也，不知其夢也。夢之中又占其夢焉，覺而後知其夢也。且有大覺而後知此其大夢也，而愚者自以為覺，竊竊然知之。君乎，牧乎，固哉！丘也，與女皆夢也；予謂女夢，亦夢也。
How do I know that enjoying life is not a delusion? How do I know that in hating death we are not like people who got lost in early childhood and do not know the way home? Lady Li was the child of a border guard in Ai. When first captured by the state of Jin, she wept so much her clothes were soaked. But after she entered the palace, shared the king's bed, and dined on the finest meats, she regretted her tears. How do I know that the dead do not regret their previous longing for life? One who dreams of drinking wine may in the morning weep; one who dreams weeping may in the morning go out to hunt. During our dreams we do not know we are dreaming. We may even dream of interpreting a dream. Only on waking do we know it was a dream. Only after the great awakening will we realize that this is the great dream. And yet fools think they are awake, presuming to know that they are rulers or herdsmen. How dense! You and Confucius are both dreaming, and I who say you are a dream am also a dream.
Besides, death is as natural as being not-born. Once we see this, we will not weep.
庄子妻死，惠子吊之，庄子则方箕踞鼓盆而歌。
惠子曰：“与人居，长子老身，死不哭亦足矣，又鼓盆而歌，不亦甚乎！”
庄子曰：“不然。是其始死也，我独何能无概然！察其始而本无生，非徒无生也而本无形，非徒无形而本无气。杂乎芒芴之间，变而有气，气变而有形，形变而有生，今又变而之死，是相春秋冬夏四时行也。人且偃然寝于巨市，而我嗷嗷随而哭之，自以为不通乎命，故止也。”
When Chuang Tzu’s wife died, his friend Hui Tzu came to offer his condolences and found Chuang Tzu hunkered down, drumming on a potter pan and singing.
Hui Tzu said, “You lived with her, raised children with her, and grew old together. Even weeping is not enough, but now you are drumming and singing. Is it a bit too much?”
Chuang Tzu said, “That is not how it is. When she just died, how could I not feel grief? But I looked deeply into it and saw that she was lifeless before she was born. She was also formless and there was not any energy. Somewhere in the vast imperceptible universe there was a change, an infusion of energy, and then she was born into form, and into life. Now the form has changed again, and she is dead. Such death and life are like the natural cycle of the four seasons. My dead wife is now resting between heaven and earth. If I wail at the top of my voice to express my grief, it would certainly show a failure to understand what is fated. Therefore I stopped.
The first story about death can be read together with Life and Death: A Hindu Legend by Henry Sienkiewicz, wherein it stated that there are two lands: land of the living and land of the dead. The land of the dead is truly beautiful, but the crossing into it is guarded by two terrible creatures, Fear and Pain. In this way, the gods prevent people from vacating the painful land of the living.
Some quotes I like
荃者所以在魚，得魚而忘荃；蹄者所以在兔，得兔而忘蹄；言者所以在意，得意而忘言。吾安得忘言之人而與之言哉！
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words. Where can I find someone who's forgotten words so I can have a word with him?
吾生也有涯，而知也无涯。以有涯隨无涯，殆已；已而為知者，殆而已矣。
There is a limit to our life, but to knowledge there is no limit. It's perilous to pursue the unlimited with the limited; and when, knowing this, we still seek the increase of our knowledge, the peril cannot be averted.
知止乎其所不能知，至矣。若有不即是者，天鈞敗之。
To let understanding stop at what cannot be understood is a high attainment. Those who cannot do it will be destroyed on the lathe of heaven.
Bonus: Zeno's Paradox, but in China
Huishi, as I mentioned, is a master of the School of Names, the Chinese Sophists who played with words. Amazingly, they managed to construct some of the same paradoxes of Sophists, such as the Zeno paradoxes about infinity and time. I quote, with the best paradoxes in bold:
惠施以此為大觀於天下而曉辯者，天下之辯者相與樂之。卵有毛，雞三足，郢有天下，犬可以為羊，馬有卵，丁子有尾，火不熱，山出口，輪不蹍地，目不見，指不至，至不絕，龜長於蛇，矩不方，規不可以為圓，鑿不圍枘，飛鳥之景未嘗動也，鏃矢之疾而有不行不止之時，狗非犬，黃馬、驪牛三，白狗黑，孤駒未嘗有母，一尺之捶，日取其半，萬世不竭。辯者以此與惠施相應，終身無窮。
Hui Shi by such sayings as these made himself very conspicuous throughout the kingdom, and was considered an able debater. All other debaters vied with one another and delighted in similar exhibitions. (They would say),
- 'An egg has feathers.'
- 'A fowl has three feet.'
- 'The kingdom belongs to Ying.'
- 'A dog might have been (called) a sheep.'
- 'A horse lays eggs.'
- 'A tadpole has a tail.'
- 'Fire is not hot.'
- 'A mountain gives forth a voice.'
- 'A wheel does not touch the ground.'
- 'The eye can't see.'
- 'The finger cannot reach.'
- 'The reach cannot be completed.'
- 'The tortoise is longer than the snake.'
- 'The carpenter's square is not square.'
- 'A compass cannot draw a circle.'
- 'A chisel does not surround its handle.'
- 'The shadow of a flying bird does not (itself) move.'
- 'Swift as the arrowhead is, there is a time when it is neither flying nor at rest.'
- 'A dog is not a hound.'
- 'A bay horse plus a black ox equals three.'
- 'A white dog is black.'
- 'A motherless colt never had a mother.'
- 'If from a stick a foot long you every day take the half of it, in a myriad ages it will not be exhausted.'
Thus we see the dichotomy paradox, the arrow paradox, as well as the start of ideas on infinity.
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