
“Heaven and earth possess great beauty, yet do not speak.” This is the opening clause of a passage in ‘Knowledge Rambling in the North’, an Outer Chapter of the Zhuangzi. The wording follows the received text; the full stop has been added for this excerpt.
The passage continues with the patterns of the seasons and the principles of things, then describes the sage understanding them through observing heaven and earth. It is not praising people for keeping their mouths shut. Nature's beauty and workings do not depend on explaining themselves into existence.
A present-day reflection might be this: on seeing a patch of tree-shadow, we need not immediately find a sentence to settle its meaning. Explanation can help us look, but need not always precede looking. That is a contemporary extension, not a slogan against knowledge.
https://ctext.org/zhuangzi/knowledge-rambling-in-the-north/zh
https://www.shidianguji.com/mid-page/7473983036955050022
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