“The Perfect Man uses his mind like a mirror: going after nothing, welcoming nothing, responding but not storing.”Zhuangzi · Zhuangzi · -300 · capitolul 7
A mature mind is a mirror: it responds to what comes and keeps nothing that has passed.
A mirror does not choose what to show and keeps nothing once the image has passed. Zhuangzi proposes the same relation to the world: we perceive what comes, respond to what is needed, then let everything go. Suffering is born from attachment — we cling to compliments, worries, plans. Someone who ruminates all night over a remark made today is not responding to reality, but to their own stored images.
Why it matters It is a mental-health technique two thousand years old: live the moment, respond, then release it.