天tiān地dì一yī指zhǐ也yě,，萬wàn物wù一yī馬mǎ也yě

What does 天地一指也，萬物一馬也 (tiān dì yī zhǐ yě, wàn wù yī mǎ yě) mean?

天地一指也，萬物一馬也 (tiān dì yī zhǐ yě, wàn wù yī mǎ yě) is a line of classical verse (shīcí 詩詞). Word for word it reads "Heaven and earth are one finger; the ten thousand things are one horse." In use it means: All distinctions between things are arbitrary and relative. From the perspective of the Dao, the entire universe can be reduced to a single point, and all of creation to a single entity. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Metal note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Goat.

Literally: "Heaven and earth are one finger; the ten thousand things are one horse."

The reading

Zhuangzi chose the most absurd comparisons he could find to shatter the habit of sorting the world into neat categories. A finger pointing at the moon and the cosmos itself share the same fundamental nature. A single horse and the entire catalog of creation are, at their root, undivided. The statement sounds like nonsense, and that is precisely the point. Logic builds fences. The Dao has no use for fences. When you see through the categories to the continuity beneath them, something relaxes at the center of your thinking.

What kind of proverb it is

• Typeshīcí 詩詞
• FocusPresent-minded
• Element金 Metal
• Zodiac tie羊 Year of the Goat

Source Zhuangzi, Qiwulun (Discussion on Making All Things Equal), Warring States period

Sits beside

Keep reading

Return to the Proverb Pond to draw another of the eighty-seven, or hear one read aloud. Read the rest of its chapter in Harmony, Virtue & Balance, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Goat, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.