Quote by Liezi: “The perfect man employs his mind as a mirror; it grasps nothing, it refuses nothing.”

True clarity of mind means not clinging to what you like or pushing away what you dislike — simply perceiving what is actually there. A mirror doesn't judge what it reflects. The Taoist ideal is a mind so open and still that it sees reality without distortion from desire or fear.

The Liezi was composed during the Warring States period, one of the most violent and philosophically rich eras in Chinese history. Taoist thinkers in this period wrote partly in opposition to the obsessive goal-orientation of Confucian moralists and Legalist strategists, proposing stillness and naturalness as an alternative form of mastery.

Taoist philosopher traditionally said to have lived around 400 BCE in the state of Zheng during the Warring States period in China. The text attributed to him, the Liezi, is one of the three foundational texts of philosophical Taoism alongside the Tao Te Ching and the Zhuangzi. Scholars debate whether he was a historical figure or a literary construct.