Chuang Tzu 6.14

Yen Hui said, "I am making progress." 

Kung-nì replied, "What do you mean?" 

"I have ceased to think of benevolence and righteousness," was the reply. 

"Very well; but that is not enough." 

Another day, Hui again saw Kung-nì, and said, "I am making progress." 

"What do you mean?" 

"I have lost all thought of ceremonies and music." 

"Very well, but that is not enough." 

A third day, Hui again saw the Master, and said, "I am making progress." 

"What do you mean?" 

"I sit and forget everything." 

Kung-nì changed countenance, and said, "What do you mean by saying that you sit and forget everything?" 

Yen Hui replied, "My connection with the body and its parts is dissolved; my perceptive organs are discarded. Thus leaving my material form, and bidding farewell to my knowledge, I am become one with the Great Pervader. This I call sitting and forgetting all things." 

Kung-nì said, "One with that Pervader, you are free from all likings; so transformed, you are become impermanent. You have, indeed, become superior to me! I must ask leave to follow in your steps." 

IMAGE: Georges Seurat, Peasant Boy Sitting in a Meadow (1883)