"乘物以游心"--zhuang zi

[sinologist]

recently i'm learning on a chinese ancient philosopher"zhuang zi".

my teacher assigned me a homework to translate what does"乘物以游心＂mean.

as i can see,"乘" means to take something's usage, 游 is to be free.

but i'm not sure how to translate this into english, i wish to know there could be better ideas. thank you!

[studentyoung]

recently i'm learning on a chinese ancient philosopher"zhuang zi".

my teacher assigned me a homework to translate what does"乘物以游心＂mean.

as i can see,"乘" means to take something's usage, 游 is to be free.

I don'’t think 乘 here means to take something’s usage, especially it is from Zhuangzi.

I think 乘here means “over”or “beyond”, and 物 means everything outside your body. 乘物 means “beyond the outside world”.

乘物以游心: Keep your consciousness beyond the outside world (don’t be confined by the outside world) to free your mind. (Just for your reference.)

Cheers!

[Sam Addington]

I have not been able to refer to a dictionary of the origin of word meanings, but it would seem to me that the meaning of "ride" as in riding a horse would go back rather far into the past. Would it be possible to go with this meaning? I like it!

In other words, start with a blade of grass, or with an insect, or a stone on the road, or anything and let you mind run wild! Go places with your imagination you have never been.

Basically we are saying the same thing, but perhaps I am taking a simpler, more literal approach?