Death and Life, One Going and One Returning

answered by Liezi, Tianrui

기원전 4세기경(전승)

🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

The Big Blue (1988)

dir. Luc Besson · France

A person entranced by the deep sea is drawn again and again below, where the line between life and death blurs, more than by earthly bonds and love on land. It asks whether that pull is a dangerous impulse toward annihilation, or an ancient longing to return to the source they came from.

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

A heart drawn toward where the line between life and death blurs — is it toward annihilation, or a return to the source?

THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER · ORIGINAL

死之與生，一往一反

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

Death and life are but one going forth and one returning.

💡 TL;DR

Liezi said death and life are one going forth and one returning.

📝The Classic Answers

Liezi said death and life are one going forth and one returning. In this I see the nature of a heart drawn to the boundary. One who moves toward where life and death blur, like the deep sea, may not be chasing death but drawn by an ancient longing to return to the source they came from. If going and coming are not two but one rhythm, then returning is not vanishing but yielding the body again to the great cycle. Yet rather than throwing myself wholly into that call, I choose not to forget the balance of keeping a foot planted in this life on this shore.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

When you feel the urge to vanish somewhere, do not read it as a wish for annihilation alone — reframe it as the deeper question: 'what do I long to return to?'

📖 Classic Source: Liezi, Tianrui. Ancient text in the public domain; rendered and interpreted independently by ONGO.
The film is honored as an equal questioner; its plot is rendered only as a universal dilemma. The classic source is an ancient text (Public Domain), and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.