我喜欢列子——他是能够完美地表达那不可表达的人之一。真理无法被表达：不可表达就是真理的内在本性。成千上万的人试图表达它——只有极少的人成功地给出一些影射，列子就是那极少数之一，他是稀有的。
在进入他的世界之前，有几件关于他的事......他的方式，我们必须了解。
他的方式是一种艺术的方式：诗人，故事家——他是一个故事大师。每当有人体验过生命，他的体验就会绽放在故事里：这似乎是最简单的方式来暗示那不可言喻的。故事就是工具，一个伟大的工具，它并不只是一个普通的故事。它的目的不是为了给你娱乐，而是为了告诉你某些无法以其它方式来表达的东西。
生命无法被浓缩成一个理论——它是如此辽阔，如此无边无际。
一个理论就其本质而言是封闭的。理论必须如此，如果它是一个理论，那么它无法是开放的，否则它将没有意义。一个寓言故事是开放的：它说了，但还有很多没说，只是暗示。那些不能说出来的可以表现出来，它是一个指向月亮的手指。不要执著于手指——那是不相关的——看月亮。这些故事本身非常美，但那不是它们的目的......它们是超越的，超凡的。如果你解剖它，将不会获得更多的了解。
它就像人身上的肚脐，如果你去找外科医生问他，人身上的肚脐有啥用，去解剖它将会发现那看起来几乎没用。那长肚脐的目的是什么？当小孩在子宫里它是有意义的：它的目的就是使小孩能够与母亲连接，它将小孩与母亲连在一起。但现在小孩已经不在子宫里——母亲可能已经去世了，小孩也已经变老了，那么现在肚脐还有什么意义？它有着超越的意义，那个意义不在于它本身。你必须到处寻找，以发现它的提示——它所指出的是什么。那表示一个人曾经是一个小孩，这个小孩曾经在一个母亲的子宫里，他曾经和一个母亲紧紧相连。这只是那个已消逝的过去留下的印记。
正如肚脐所表现的是某种与过去相关的事，一个故事所表现的是某种与未来相关的事。它显示出成长的可能性，一种与存在连接的可能性。现在它还只是一个可能，还不是事实。如果你只是解剖这个故事，那它就变成一个普通的故事。如果你不去解剖它，只是啜饮它的内涵，它的诗意，它的音乐——忘掉这个故事，只取它精华的部分——很快你就会发现它指向未来，指向某个可以是但还不是的东西，它是超越的。
在西方，除了椰酥的寓言，其它的都不像列子、庄子、佛佗......没有像这样的寓言，只有椰酥。就算是椰酥的寓言看起来也一定是从东方带过去的。他们有伊索寓言，但它也反映了东方最伟大的寓言之书，Panchatantra。寓言是东方的发明，有着无比的重要性。所以，关于列子第一件要被了解的事就是：他不是一个理论家，他不会给你任何理论，他只会给你故事。
一个理论可以被解剖——它的意义就在于它本身，它没有超越性，它的意义在它之内。一个寓言无法被解剖，解剖它，它就会死掉。它的意义超越它本身，不在它里面，而是在别处——它必须如此。你必须活出一个寓言，那么你就找到了它的意义。它必须成为你的心跳，你的呼吸，它必须成为你内在的旋律。于是，这些故事就有无比的艺术性，但它不只是艺术：它包含了伟大的棕教精神。
列子也不是一个神学家，他不谈论关于神。他谈论神，但他不谈论关于神。无论他说什么都来自于源头，但他不谈论关于源头，对此要无比清晰。有两种类型的人：一种是谈论关于神，他是神学家；一种谈论神，他是神秘家。列子是一个神秘家，谈论关于神的人并不知道神。否则他为什么谈论“关于”？那个“关于”显示出他的无知。当一个人谈论神是因为他经验过，那么神就不是一个要被证明是或不是的理论，那么神就是他的生命：被活出的生命。
要理解一个像列子这样的人，你将必须活出真正的生命。只有这样，透过自己的经历，你才能感觉到借由故事他在表达什么。它并非可以学习的理论，然后获取信息，信息没有帮助。除非你知道，否则什么都没有用。所以，如果这些故事在你内在创造出想要知道的饥渴，一个想要知道的伟大愿望，一个想要知道的伟大渴望，如果这些故事带领你开启一趟未知的旅程，开启一场朝圣——只有这样，只有踏上这条路，你才能熟悉这条路。
I rejoice in Lieh Tzu -- he is one of the most perfect expressions for the inexpressible.Truth cannot be expressed: that inexpressibility is intrinsic to truth. Thousands and thousands of people have tried to express it -- very few have succeeded even in giving a reflection of it. Lieh Tzu is one of those very few; he is rare.
Before we start entering into his world, a few things have to be understood about him... his approach.
His approach is that of an artist: the poet, the story-teller -- and he is a master story-teller. Whenever somebody has experienced life, his experience has flowered into parables: that seems to be the easiest way to hint at that which cannot be said. A parable is a device, a great device; it is not just an ordinary story. The purpose of it is not to entertain you, the purpose of it is to say something which there is no other way to say.
Life cannot be put into a theory -- it is so vast, it is so infinite.
A theory by its very nature is closed. A theory has to be closed if it is a theory it cannot be open-ended, otherwise it will be meaningless. A parable is open-ended: it says and yet it leaves much to be said, it only hints. And that which cannot be said can be shown. It is a finger pointing to the moon. Don't cling to the finger -- that is irrelevant -- look at the moon. These parables in themselves are beautiful, but that is not their purpose... they go beyond, they are transcendental. If you dissect the parable itself you will not come to much understanding.
It is like the navel in the body of man. If you go to the surgeon and ask him what the purpose of the navel is in the body, and if he dissects the body, he will not find any purpose the navel seems almost useless. What is the purpose of the navel? It was purposeful when the child was in the womb: its purpose was that it related the child to the mother, it connected the child with the mother. But now the child is no longer in the womb -- the mother may have died, the child has become old now what is the purpose of the navel? It has a transcendental purpose; the purpose is not in itself. You will have to look everywhere, all around, to find the indication -- where it indicates. It indicates that the man was once a child, that the child was once in the womb of a mother, that the child was connected with the mother. This is just a mark that the past has left.
As the navel shows something about the past, a parable shows something about the future. It shows that there is a possibility of growing, of being connected with existence. Right now that is only a possibility, it is not actual. If you just dissect the parable it becomes an ordinary story. If you don't dissect it but just drink the meaning of it, the poetry of it, the music of it -- forget the story and just carry the significance of it -- soon you will see that it indicates towards a future, towards something which can be but is not yet. It is transcendental.
In the West, except for Jesus' parables, nothing like Lieh Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Buddha... nothing like these people's parables exist only Jesus. And even Jesus' parables seem to be such that he must have carried them from the East. There are Aesop's parables, but they are also reflections of the greatest book of parables of the East, Panchatantra. The parable is an Eastern invention, and of tremendous import. So the first thing to be understood about Lieh Tzu: he is not a theoretician, he will not give you any theory; he will simply give you parables.
A theory can be dissected -- its meaning is in it, it has no transcendence, the meaning is immanent. A parable cannot be dissected; dissect, and it will die. The meaning is transcendental it is not in it, it is somewhere else -- it has to be. You have to live a parable, then you will come to its meaning. It has to become your heart, your breathing; it has to become your inner rhythm. So these parables are tremendously artistic but not mere art: great religion is contained in them.
Lieh Tzu is not a theologian either; he does not talk about God. He talks God, but he does not talk about God. Whatsoever he says comes from the source, but he does not talk about the source let it be very clear to you. There are two types of people: one who talks about God, he is the theologian; one who talks God, he is the mystic. Lieh Tzu is a mystic. The man who talks about God has not known God, otherwise why should he 'talk about'? The 'about' shows his ignorance. When a man talks God he has experienced. Then God is not a theory to be proved, disproved no; then God is his very life: to be lived.
To understand a man like Lieh Tzu you will have to live an authentic life. Only then, through your own experience, will you be able to feel what he means by his parables. It is not that you can learn the theories and become informed; the information will not help. Unless you know, nothing is going to help. So if these parables create a thirst in you to know, a great desire to know, a great hunger to know; if these parables lead you on an unknown journey, on a pilgrimage -- then only, only by treading the path, will you become acquainted with the path.
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