Life Wisdom - By Words of Taoism
Oct 27, 2026 · 21 min · 9 segments
Someone who has learned to enjoy their own company comes to others with less hunger, without needing them to fill every silence, reassure every doubt or entertain every evening. **More resources:**…
Chen LiHost
For his first 15 years on the throne, he delighted in being served by the whole world, and he spent them pleasing his eyes, his ears, and his palate with everything his empire could offer.
At the end of those years, his face had grown sallow and dull, his senses blunted and his feelings in disorder.
He sighed that his fault lay in excess since caring for himself had worn him out as surely as caring for everyone else.
So he left the affairs of state, sent away his attendants, had the bell stands of his musicians removed, and reduced his table to plain food.
There, for three months, he took no part in government and spent his days stilling his heart and looking after his body, as a farmer might rest afield.
One afternoon, dozing in the hut, he dreamed that he had traveled to a distant land that no boat or chariot could reach, a country one could only visit in spirit.
without cravings, without clinging to life or dreading death, without loving themselves too much or holding others at a distance.
They walked on air as easily as on solid ground and slept on emptiness as on a bed, while clouds never blurred their sight and thunder never troubled their ears.
He went back to governing, and the old book says that he reigned for 28 more years, during which his empire became almost as peaceful as the country of his dream.
Its people were free of both the grasping that had worn him out in his first years and the anxious duty that had worn him out in the next.
In three months alone, he had found a third way of living, held neither by pleasure nor by worry.
For his first 15 years on the throne, he delighted in being served by the whole world, and he spent them pleasing his eyes, his ears, and his palate with everything his empire could offer.
At the end of those years, his face had grown sallow and dull, his senses blunted and his feelings in disorder.
He sighed that his fault lay in excess since caring for himself had worn him out as surely as caring for everyone else.
So he left the affairs of state, sent away his attendants, had the bell stands of his musicians removed, and reduced his table to plain food.
There, for three months, he took no part in government and spent his days stilling his heart and looking after his body, as a farmer might rest afield.
One afternoon, dozing in the hut, he dreamed that he had traveled to a distant land that no boat or chariot could reach, a country one could only visit in spirit.
without cravings, without clinging to life or dreading death, without loving themselves too much or holding others at a distance.
They walked on air as easily as on solid ground and slept on emptiness as on a bed, while clouds never blurred their sight and thunder never troubled their ears.
He went back to governing, and the old book says that he reigned for 28 more years, during which his empire became almost as peaceful as the country of his dream.
Its people were free of both the grasping that had worn him out in his first years and the anxious duty that had worn him out in the next.
In three months alone, he had found a third way of living, held neither by pleasure nor by worry.
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