Autumn Water (秋水, Qiu Shui , Guqin, 古琴) is also known as  Shenhua Yin 《神化引》 (“Becoming an Immortal” or “Metamorphosis”).  The melody is based on Zhuang Zi’s story of dreaming he was a butterfly and questioning whether he was dreaming of the butterfly, or was the butterfly dreaming of him. This piece has a feeling of emptiness and transcendance of emotion. It is what is called ‘dan’ or tasteless, plain, pure, without embelishment and captures the moment when one becomes a celestial being, removed from worldly pleasures and desires.
古琴曲《秋水》, 取《庄子》篇名，又叫《神化引》，借庄周迷梦蝴蝶的典故，表现道家天人合一的哲学思想。飘逸虚渺的音韵，给人以洒脱尘滓之感。

Length: 8’09”

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Autumn Water (秋水, Qiu Shui, Guqin, 古琴) MP3 download link (right click, save link as)：Autumn Water (秋水, Qiu Shui, Guqin, 古琴) MP3

《庄子.秋水》 秋水时至，百川灌河；泾流之大，两涘渚崖之间不辩牛马。于是焉河伯欣然自喜，以天下之美为尽在己。顺流而东行，至于北海，东面而视，不见水端。于是焉河伯始旋其面目，望洋向若而叹曰：“野语有之曰，‘闻道百，以为莫己若’者，我之谓也。且夫我尝闻少仲尼之闻而轻伯夷之义者，始吾弗信；今我睹子之难穷也，吾非至于子之门则殆矣，吾长见笑于大方之家。”　　北海若曰：“井鼃不可以语于海者，拘于虚也；夏虫不可以语于冰者，笃于时也；曲士不可以语于道者，束于教也。今尔出于崖涘，观于大海，乃知尔丑，尔将可与语大理矣。天下之水，莫大于海，万川归之，不知何时止而不盈；尾闾泄之，不知何时已而不虚；春秋不变，水旱不知。此其过江河之流，不可为量数。而吾未尝以此自多者，自以比形于天地而受气于阴阳，吾在于天地之间，犹小石小木之在大山也。方存乎见少，又奚以自多！计四海之在天地之间也，不似礨空之在大泽乎？计中国之在海内，不似稊米之在大仓乎？号物之数谓之万，人处一焉；人卒九州，谷食之所生，舟车之所通，人处一焉；此其比万物也，不似豪末之在于马体乎？五帝之所连，三王之所争，仁人之所忧，任士之所劳，尽此矣！伯夷辞之以为名，仲尼语之以为博，此其自多也；不似尔向之自多于水乎？”

 

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