A horse ran past a door that was not tightly closed and had a gap.(白駒過隙)
During the Warring States period in China, there was a famous thinker called Zhuang Zhou. He wrote a story in his book.
One day Confucius and Laozi were talking.
Confucius asked.
May I ask what the (Tao) is?
Laozi replied.
I too am still learning to understand (the Tao). But I can share with you my present understanding.
If you want to know what it is (Tao), you must first give up all your current knowledge and then humbly admit that what you know is limited.
Only then can you know what (Tao) is.
Lao-zi then shared some of his understanding of (Tao) with Confucius.
Lao Zi said to Confucius at the end of the conversation.
Each of us has only a few decades to live, and each of our lives is so short.
I felt like I was hiding in a house, looking out through the narrow crack in the door. At that moment a white horse ran past the door of the house.
I had no time to react and could not see the whole picture and the details of the horse clearly.
So my understanding of (Tao) is also very limited.
Everything in our world is changing all the time.
Every minute someone is born and every minute someone dies. Birth and death are commonplace.
But if you look at the occurrence of birth and death very clearly, this is a truth that most people can understand, so it is not (Tao).
Those who really understand what (Tao) is keep silent, because the real (Tao) cannot be communicated through words. You have to keep silent and think for a long time before you can possibly understand the real (Tao). .
The literal translation of this idiom is that a horse ran past a door that was not tightly closed and had a gap.
This idiom is used to describe how time passes very quickly.
Dear friend, what inspirations or thoughts do you have after listening to this story?
What do you think about birth and death? Do you think that human language can express the wisdom of the universe?
I hope this story can give you some new insights.
白駒過隙(A horse ran past a door that was not
tightly closed and had a gap.)
中國的戰國時代有一個名字叫做(莊周)的著名的思想家，他在他的書中寫過一個故事。
有一天，孔子與老子在對談。
孔子問。
請問什麼是(道)。
老子回答。
我也還在學習理解(道)。但是我可以跟你分享我現在的認知。
如果你想知道是什麼(道)，那麼你要先拋棄你現在的所有知識，接著你要用虛心的態度去承認自己所知道的有限。
只有這樣做，你才可能知道什麼是(道)。
老子接著對孔子說了一些自己對(道)的理解。
老子在對話快結束前跟孔子說。
我們每個人的一生都只有幾十年，我們每個人的人生都是如此的短暫。
我覺得就我好像躲一棟房子裡面並從狹窄的門縫中向外看，這時候有一匹白色的駿馬從這棟房子的大門前面跑過去。
我來不及反應也根本看不清楚這匹馬的全貌與細節。
所以我對(道)的認知也非常有限。
我們這世界上的每件事情，時時刻刻都在變化。
每分鐘都有人出生，每分鐘也有人會死亡。出生與死亡都是很平常的事。
可是對於出生與死亡的發生看得很平淡，這是一般人都可以理解的道理所以這不是(道)。
那些真正理解什麼是(道)的人都是保持沉默的，因為真正的(道)不是透過言語可傳達的，你必須保持長期的沉靜與思考，你才有可能去理解真正的(道)。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是一匹馬從一扇沒有關緊有一個縫隙的門前跑過去。
這句成語被用來形容時間過得非常的快。
親愛的朋友，你聽完這個故事有怎樣的啟發或有怎樣的想法呢。
你如何看待出生與死亡呢?你認為人類的語言可以描繪出宇宙的智慧嗎?
我期待這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為莊子-知北游
https://ctext.org/zhuangzi/knowledge-rambling-in-the-north/zh