🅼Week 2026- 37: On Meditation

"Don’t use concentration to enter concentration, don’t use meditation to think of meditation, don’t use Buddha to search for Buddhahood." (Pai-chang, "Baizhang Guanglu" ["Baizhang Extensive Record"], cca. 780-814) 

"They sit in meditation in the Ghosts’ Cave at the foot of the Black Mountain idly without preaching and without saying anything. Drawing their eyebrows together and closing their eyes, they say they are in the state of absolute samadhi and in the state of their fathers and mothers not yet born. Further, calling this state silence filled with eternal light, they identify their meditation with Zen." (Ta-hui Tsung-kao [letter to Chosha Jogen (Chang-she Chuang-yuan)] 1134)

"It is most urgent that one rely on the power of meditation [in all activities], whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. If one wants to realize [the power of] meditation, one must carry out the practice of the vinaya [precepts]. Those who carry out zen meditation practice in the absence of the stipulated provisions of the vinaya precepts have no basis for their practice. [...] Therefore, if one wants to realize the method for Zen meditation described here, one will uphold the vinaya purely so that one is free of any blemish." (Myōan Eisai, "Kōzen gokokuron" ["The Promotion of Zen for the Protection of the Country"], cca 12th century)

"The destruction of evil depends on the purification of wisdom. The purification of wisdom depends on the purification of meditation. The purification of meditation depends on the purification of the monastic precepts. The Buddha possesses four kinds of positive methods for winning enlightenment. The first is the monastic precepts. The second is meditation. The third is wisdom. The fourth is a mind free of impurities." (Myōan Eisai, "Kōzen gokokuron" ["The Promotion of Zen for the Protection of the Country"], cca 12th century)

"Bodhisattvas who study prajna-wisdom must first have deep compassion for all beings and a deep longing to save all of them. They must practice samadhi meditation with great care. Refusing to practice zazen only for their own emancipation, they must promise to ferry these sentient beings over to the other shore." (Dogen Zenji, "Zazen gi", cca. 13th century)

"First awaken your compassionate mind with a deep longing to save all sentient beings. You must practice samadhi meditation with great care, and promise to ferry these sentient beings over to the other shore, refusing to practice zazen only for your own emancipation." (Dogen Zenji, "Zazen gi", cca. 13th century)

"Do your job with your mind as taut as an iron bow strung with wire. This is the same as Zen meditation." (Suzuki Shosan, "Roankyō" ["Donkey Saddle Bridge"], 1648)

"In meditation turn over the evil saps of your body to the Perfected One. If you do this, you will surely become a Buddha. [...] The enlightened one follows nature whether in walking orstanding, in sitting or reclining." (Shido Bunan, "Sokushinki" ["On the Mind"], 1670)

"Man builds a house and lives in it, while the Buddha dwells in his body. The householder resides constantly in the house, and the Buddha resides in the heart of man. If through compassion things and deeds become easy, the heart becomes clear, and when the heart is clear thc Buddha appears. If you wish to clarify your heart, sit in meditation and approach to the Perfected One." (Shido Bunan, "Sokushinki" ["On the Mind"], 1670)

"Remember such a stable and firm attitude is itself meditation practice. There is no other method of concentration to seek. Buddhism itself is about applying full attention steadily, without being disturbed by external things. Developing a confident attitude that is never pained or vexed or worried or saddened or altered or frightened is called attaining Buddhahood." (Suzuki Shosan, "Roankyō" ["Donkey Saddle Bridge"], 1648)

"What is this true meditation? It is to make everything: coughing, swallowing, waving the arms, motion, stillness, words, action, the evil and the good, prosperity and shame, gain and loss, right and wrong, into one single koan." (Hakuin Ekaku, "Orategama" [The Embossed Tea Kettle"], 1748)

"The spirit of meditation is the combating of self-willed thinking - it is a combat against the weight of one's feelings." (Hakuin Ekaku, "Itsumadegusa" ["Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin"], 1765-1766)

"The greatest help to spiritual life is meditation. In meditation we divest ourselves of all material condition and feel our divine nature." (Swami Vivekananda, "Hints on Practical Spirituality", [lecture] 1900)

"Zen purposes to discipline the mind itself, to make it its own master, through an insight into its proper nature. This getting into the real nature of one's own mind or soul is the fundamental object of Zen Buddhism. Zen, therefore, is more than meditation and Dhyana in its ordinary sense. The discipline of Zen consists in opening the mental eye in order to look into the very reason of existence." (Daisetsu T Suzuki,"An Introduction to Zen Buddhism", 1934)

"Karate is not a game. It is not a sport. It is not even a system of self-defense. Karate is half physical exercise and half spiritual. The karateka who has given the necessary years of exercise and meditation is a tranquil person. He is unafraid. He can even be calm in a burning building." (Mas Oyama, "What is Karate?" 1958)

"Meditation makes the man Divine and brings the Divine to the world of man." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)

"Meditation is a means to discover all the glories of the ocean of mind." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)

"Meditation is a technique to integrate one's personality, to be able to live and enjoy full life of all glories - worldly and divine." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)

"Meditation is the most effective form of relaxation. It not only relaxes the body and mind but also feeds them with vital energy, peace and happiness." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)

"Meditation is the straight flight of the mind to the Kingdom of Heaven present in the heart of everyone." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)

"In other words, just practice Zen meditation in a certain posture. Do not think about anything. Just remain on your cushion without expecting anything. Then eventually you will resume your own true nature. That is to say, your own true nature resumes itself." (Shunryu Suzuki, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind", 1970)

"The true practice of [meditation] is to sit as if you were drinking water when you are thirsty." (Shunryu Suzuki, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind", [lecture from late 1960] 1970)

"When you are practicing Zen Meditation do not try and stop your thinking. Let it stop by itself. If something comes into your mind, let it come in, and let it go out. It will not stay long. When you try and stop your thinking, it means you are bothered by it. Do not be bothered by anything." (Shunryu Suzuki, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind", 1970)

"As long as you are a beginner certain formalised meditations, or prayers may be good for you. But for a seeker of reality there is only one meditation - the rigorous refusal to harbour thoughts. To be free from thoughts is itself meditation. You begin by letting thoughts flow and watching them. The very observation slows down the mind till it stops altogether. Once the mind is quiet, keep it quiet. Don't get bored with peace, be in it, go deeper into it." (Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, "I Am That", 1973

"The primary purpose of meditation is to become conscious of, and familiar with, our inner life. The ultimate purpose is to reach the source of life and consciousness." (Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, "I Am That", 1973)

"Be mindful 24 hours a day, not just during the one hour you may allot for formal meditation or reading scripture and reciting prayers. Each act must be carried out in mindfulness." (Thich Nhat Hanh, "The Miracle of Mindfulness", 1974)

"Mindfulness meditation should be more than just watching what you are doing. What you really need to watch is your motivation." (Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, 1975)

"Meditation means always keeping one mind, not-moving mind." (Seungsahn Haengwon, "True Meditation", 1976)

"Meditation is not a matter of trying to achieve ecstasy, spiritual bliss, or tranquillity, nor is it attempting to become a better person. It is simply the creation of a space in which we are able to expose and undo our neurotic games, our self-deceptions, our hidden fears and hopes." (Chögyam Trungpa," The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation", 1976)

"It is only through meditation that we can get lasting peace, divine peace. If we meditate soulfully in the morning and receive peace for only one minute, that one minute of peace will permeate our whole day. And when we have a meditation of the highest order, then we really get abiding peace, light and delight. We need meditation because we want to grow in light and fulfill ourselves in light. If this is our aspiration, if this is our thirst, then meditation is the only way." (Sri Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, "Meditation: Man-perfection in God-satisfaction", 1978)

"Religions remain what they are. Zen is meditation. Meditation is the foundation of every religion. People today feel an intense need to go back to the source of religious life, to the pure essence in the depths of themselves which they can discover only through actually experiencing it. They also need to be able to concentrate their minds in order to find the highest wisdom and freedom, which is spiritual in nature, in their efforts to deal with the influences of every description imposed upon them by their environment. Human wisdom alone is not enough, it is not complete. Only universal truth can provide the highest wisdom. Take away the word Zen and put Truth or Order of the Universe in its place." (Taisen Deshimaru, 1981)

"In meditation we research the field without time and space and activity, and yet produce a useful effect while conducting the research." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)

"Meditation is like going to the bottom of the sea, where everything is calm and tranquil. On the surface of the sea there may be a multitude of waves but the sea is not affected below. In its deepest depths, the sea is all silence. When we start meditating, first we try to reach our own inner existence, our true existence- that is to say, the bottom of the sea. Then when the waves come from the outside world, we are not affected. Fear, doubt, worry and all the earthly turmoils just wash away, because inside us is solid peace. Thoughts cannot touch us, because our mind is all peace, all silence, all oneness. Like fish in the sea, they jump and swim but leave no mark. When we are in our highest meditation, we feel that we are the sea, and the animals in the sea cannot affect us. We feel that we are the sky, and all the birds flying past cannot affect us. Our mind is the sky and our heart is the infinite sea. This is meditation." (Sri Chinmoy Kumar Ghose,"Child's Heart and a Child's Dreams", 1986)

"Meditation is making research into yourself, and into the subtler fields of activity. Day after day we culture our minds with the deep silence of our own Being. This is not the silence of a stone, but creative silence. We have to find it for ourselves. We decrease activity until silence becomes creative, and we sit in creative silence and close the gates of perception for insight into the content of life." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)

"The fortunate one uses the instrument of deep meditation and probes deep into his heart. Then the waves of love gain the depth of the ocean, and the ocean of love flows and fills the heart and thrills every particle of being. Every wave of life then flows in the fullness of love, in the fullness of divine glory, in the fullness of grace, in bliss and peace." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)

"Eating mindfully is a most important practice of meditation. We can eat in a way that we restore the cookie of our childhood. The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it." (Thich Nhat Hanh, "Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life" 1991)

"If it weren’t for my mind, my meditation would be excellent." (Pema Chödrön, "The Wisdom of No Escape: And the Path of Loving-Kindnes", 1991)

"Meditation is offering your genuine presence to yourself in every moment." (Thich Nhat Hanh, "Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life", 1991)

"While we are sitting in meditation, we are simply exploring humanity and all of creation in the form of ourselves. We can become the world’s greatest experts on anger, jealousy, and self-deprecation, as well as on joyfulness, clarity, and insight. Everything that human beings feel, we feel. We can become extremely wise and sensitive to all of humanity and the whole universe simply by knowing ourselves, just as we are." (Pema Chödrön,"The Wisdom of No Escape: And the Path of Loving-Kindness", 1991)

"The point of Buddhist meditation is not to stop thinking, for [...] cultivation of insight clearly requires intelligent use of thought and discrimination. What needs to be stopped is conceptualisation that is compulsive, mechanical and unintelligent, that is, activity that is always fatiguing, usually pointless, and at times seriously harmful." (B Alan Wallace, Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up: A Practical Approach for Modern Life", 1993)

"Tibetan Buddhism considers sleep to be a form of nourishment, like food, that restores and refreshes the body. Another type of nourishment is samadhi, or meditative concentration. If one becomes advanced enough in the practice of meditative concentration, then this itself sustains or nourishes the body." (Dalai Lama, "Tibetan Dream Yoga: A Complete System for Becoming Conscious in Your Dreams", 1994)

"What acts as a far more effective circumstance for generating compassion and what, in fact, rouses us from our comfortable meditation seat is actually seeing or hearing others - encountering others directly, not just conceptually in our imagination." (Dalai Lama & Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyü Tradition of Mahamudra", 1994)

"Meditation is, first of all, a tool for surveying our territory so we can know what is going on. With the energy of mindfulness, we can calm things down, understand them, and bring harmony back to the conflicting elements inside us." (Thich Nhat Hanh, "Living Buddha, Living Christ" 1995)

"Meditation is silence, energising and fulfilling. Silent is the eloquent expression of the inexpressible." (Sri Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, "The Silent Teaching: A Beginner's Guide to Meditation", 1996)

"It's helpful to remind yourself that meditation is about opening and relaxing with whatever arises, without picking and choosing." (Pema Chödrön, "When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times", 1997)

"Meditation takes us just as we are, with our confusion and our sanity. This complete acceptance of ourselves as we are is a simple, direct relationship with our being. We call this maitri, loving-kindness toward ourselves and others." (Pema Chödrön, "Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion", 2002)

"Meditation is a teaching which offers you the possibility of breaking free from the egoic consciousness and coming into a whole new realisation of who and what you truly are. And all this starts with the willingness to question. To pause for just a moment and realise that maybe you aren't who you imagine yourself to be." (Adyashanti, "True Meditation: Discover the Freedom of Pure Awareness", 2006)

"Meditation is not meant to help us avoid problems or run away from difficulties. It is meant to allow positive healing to take place. To meditate is to learn how to stop - to stop being carried away by our regrets about the past, our anger or despair in the present, or our worries about the future." (Thich Nhat Hanh & Nguyen Anh-Huong,"Walking Meditation: Easy Steps to Mindfulness", 2006)

"True Meditation is the space in which everything gets revealed, everything gets seen, everything gets experienced. And as such, it lets go of itself. We don't even let go. It lets go of itself." (Adyashant, "True Meditation: Discover the Freedom of Pure Awareness", 2006)

"In order to meditate, it is very important to first identify what we are meditating on. If we meditate without identifying that, there is the danger it will become idiot meditation or idiot Dharma. If we do not first fully comprehend through listening and contemplating the meaning of what we are meditating on, how can we practice?" (Gyalwa Karmapa, "A Talk on How We Should Practice given", 2009)

"Live with compassion. Work with compassion. Die with compassion. Meditate with compassion. Enjoy with compassion. When problems come, experience them with compassion." (Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, "How to be Happy", 2009)

"There are many ways to calm a negative energy without suppressing or fighting it. You recognize it, you smile to it, and you invite something nicer to come up and replace it; you read some inspiring words, you listen to a piece of beautiful music, you go somewhere in nature, or you do some walking meditation." (Thich Nhat Hanh, "The Art of Power", 2009)

"The aim of meditation lies in introspection. Meditation without self-examination is useless because distortion of the mind is not corrected. As a result, you may easily succumb to temptation or your mind may not function properly. Your preoccupation with attachment makes you vulnerable to temptation. Consequently, attachment grows even stronger, preventing you from engaging in introspection." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"Where mindfulness is, true life, solidity, freedom, and healing also manifest. We all have the ability to generate this energy of mindfulness. Do walking meditation, breathe mindfully, drink your tea mindfully, and cultivate this energy that dwells in you, that illuminates you, and makes life possible." (Thich Nhat Hanh, "You Are Here: Discovering the Magic of the Present Moment", 2010)

"In Buddhism, we call the notion of a fixed identity 'ego clinging'. It's how we try to put solid ground under our feet in an ever shifting world. Meditation practice starts to erode that fixed identity." (Pema Chödrön, "Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change", 2012)

"The way to develop inner peace through meditation begins with the recognition that the destroyer of inner peace is not some external foe, but is within us. Therefore, the solution is within us too. However, that inner change does not take place immediately in the way that we switch on a light, but takes weeks, months and years." (Dalai Lama, [talk] 2014

🥋Week 2026-36: Kazumi Tabata - Collected Quotes

"Achieving a state devoid of doubt is the essence of martial arts." (Kazumi Tabata, "Secret Tactics: Lessons From the Great Masters of Martial Arts", 2003)

"Train not by thought, but by practice. Learn a wide variety of arts and skills, and do not fix on only one. Know not only your own techniques but also those of many others. Find out rationally what is an advantage and what is a disadvantage. Foster an intuitive ability to judge all things. Feel an essence that you cannot see on the surface. Pay attention to the very smallest of phenomena. (Everything takes its own course, and sometimes we get unexpected results.) Do nothing in vain, for the energy and time we have is limited." (Kazumi Tabata, "Secret Tactics: Lessons From the Great Masters of Martial Arts", 2003)

"When you have had the experience of defeating one or two opponents, you will come to understand what constitutes good and bad in the martial arts. Gradually, with practice and experience in handling opponents [...] you will become able to discern the psychology of your opponents through fighting a variety of different people." (Kazumi Tabata, "Secret Tactics: Lessons From the Great Masters of Martial Arts", 2003)

"A path will be revealed only when you read a sutra with a warm heart and put its teachings into practice. Otherwise, a sutra has no value in life. It is no exaggeration to say that it will take more than a lifetime for a reader to carry out every recommendation in a book." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"Fill yourself with a flow of energy (ki). Set off your waza with momentum and overwhelm the opponent. There is only a single chance to beat him. Any initiative waza should come from you decisively. Use all your energy when you move offensively and defensively. When not moving offensively or defensively, conserve your energy." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"In terms of the martial arts, there are two training methods: one focuses on the rational aspect of training while the other emphasizes the technical aspect. The martial arts owe its origin to people’s attempts to rationally unify the mind, body, and skill. In the martial arts, truth will reveal itself once your mind gains insight into the empty nature of the world and your body masters and perfects physical techniques." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"Mental disease is to stick to a certain idea. Mental disease is to freeze on certain things or victory. The mind can work freely, if one has enough room to be able to hear the sound of wind and water. One can control one’s mind by releasing it. When one removes the source of thoughts, one’s mind starts to be free from all thoughts. Master the road of experts who remove thoughts by gaining other thoughts." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"Mind and technique correspond to each other. When one’s body is active, the mind is at peace. When one’s body is at peace, the mind is active. Keeping physical and spiritual balance is fundamental in a fight." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"Narrow mindedness prevents one from seeing the truth. Your mind must be wide open. Observing reality from one’s standpoint will only reveal half the truth because one’s ego obstructs the view. The self must be discarded to be able to see the true nature of reality. Discarding the self requires skill." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"Nature is dominated by yin and yang. There are positive and negative forces, and good and evil on this planet. Great achievements are always followed by failures of the similar magnitude. Do not let your guard down in times of happiness. Life requires mental strength that enables one to cope calmly with unfortunately events. Always be prepared for something bad to happen." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"One can become a master through experience and by practicing and learning tactics." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"One who is learning should be passionate and serious. One must build upon the skills one has learned in practice. One must acquire continuous courage to master dori (the way of things)." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"People control themselves with virtue. One must practice virtue to alleviate spiritual strains and remember peace of mind to appreciate the generosity of the gods." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"Satori is achieved when one’s mind connects to the mind of the universe. When one’s mind connects to the mind of the universe, one comes to be able to understand reason of nature without being taught. When one’s mind connects to the mind of the universe, one comes to bear supernatural power. Buddha described the supernatural world as ku (knowing the void)." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"The aim of meditation lies in introspection. Meditation without self-examination is useless because distortion of the mind is not corrected. As a result, you may easily succumb to temptation or your mind may not function properly. Your preoccupation with attachment makes you vulnerable to temptation. Consequently, attachment grows even stronger, preventing you from engaging in introspection." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"The martial arts offer a path you can follow to unravel the mysteries of life and the soul. The ultimate goal is to reach a state of ku and mu. The purpose of the martial arts as well as religion is to connect the divine will (God) and the mind (human being)." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"The meaning of tanren (discipline, training) lies in the effort to burn out the energy of one’s mind and body with burning flames. Tanren requires mental integration and concentration that lead to the deep root." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"The most sophisticated defense prevents the opponent’s offense beforehand and doesn’t let him touch you. It is a very positive way of handling the fight. You are always ready to attack back." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"There are essentially two paths to enlightenment. One path is art and the other path is religion. The two paths are closely interrelated." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"There is a close connection between breathing and mind. When breathing is disturbed, one’s mind is disturbed. When mind is disturbed, one’s breathing is disturbed." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"Through training, one reaches the state of mindlessness. Only then, will one be able to discard the thoughts of anxiety, the opponent’s technique and defenses. Being in the state of mindlessness means to entrust one’s mind and body to the universe."Through training, one reaches the state of mindlessness. Only then, will one be able to discard the thoughts of anxiety, the opponent’s technique and defenses. Being in the state of mindlessness means to entrust one’s mind and body to the universe." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"To pursue enlightenment is to search for immeasurable truth, to acquire the ability manipulate life at will, to investigate phenomena that originate in our mind, and to undergo training to recall what our ancestors and predecessors had learned. The aim of the martial arts is not only to unveil the true nature and the laws of the universe through mental and physical exercises, but also to attain eternal tranquility. Enlightenment is achieved when the mind and body are guided to a higher dimension. An enlightened person holds no attachment to his skill or mind, let alone other worldly matters. This means that such a person knows how to practice the middle path." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"When the harmony of the universe and the harmony of the mind connect, one demonstrates superhuman power. When the power and technique are in harmony, they are on the wave of senses." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"Zen Buddhism emphasizes the concept of Mu, which symbolizes enlightenment. Mu is absolute nothingness that transcends the conflict between existence and non-existence. This notion defies comparisons with other concepts. Mu is existence itself. In Zen Buddhism, becoming mu means to grasp the ultimate nature of reality, which allows you to achieve enlightenment. Mu does not signify a blank state of mind; rather, mu represents detachment from the five organs of the body after understanding their functions. The concept of ku, on the other hand, may evoke the image of a void." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

🅿Week 2026-35: On Perception

“In the same way as regards the soul, when that kind of thing in us which mirrors the images of thought and intellect is undisturbed, we see them and know them in a way parallel to sense-perception, along with the prior knowledge that it is intellect and thought that are active. But when this is broken because the harmony of the body is upset, thought and intellect operate without an image, and then intellectual activity takes place without a mind-picture.” (Plotinus, “Enneads”, cca. 270 AD)

"[...] so external sensation is the image of this perception of the soul, which is in its essence truer and is a contemplation of forms alone without being affected. From these forms, from which the soul alone receives its lordship over the living being, come reasonings, and opinions and noetic acts; and this is precisely where ‘we’ are." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

"Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things act with one movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all things which exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the contexture of the web." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations". cca. 121–180 AD)

"Oh! Son of Sari! Forms of object as perceived by our mind is no different from emptiness, (and) emptiness is no different from form. Forms perceived are virtual. Virtuality is the reality of forms perceived. Such are the processing of the stimulus of perception, the mental image of the object perceived, the mental activities of analysing this object of perception and the forming of mental conception of this object." ("Heart Sutra", cca. 7th c.) [Akishi’s translation]

"What we call the Treasury of Luminosity is the source of all Buddhas, the true nature of all beings, the Total Body of all things, the treasury of the Radiance of subtle perceptions and complete Awakening. The three bodies of the Buddhas, the four wisdoms, and the practice of each particle containing the infinite particles of Totality are all found here." (Koun Ejo, "Kōmyōzō zanmai" ["The Practice of the Treasury of Luminosity"], cca 13th century)

"All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions." (Leonardo da Vinci, [notebooks] 1480-1519)

"To attain the Way of strategy as a warrior you must study fully other martial arts and not deviate even a little from the Way of the warrior. With your spirit settled, accumulate practice day by day, and hour by hour. Polish the twofold spirit heart and mind, and sharpen the twofold gaze perception and sight. When your spirit is not in the least clouded, when the clouds of bewilderment clear away, there is the true void." (Miyamoto Musashi, "Go Rin No Sho" ["The Book of Five Rings"], 1645)

"Once we give serious consideration to the hypothesis of the unconscious, it follows that our view of the world can be but a provisional one; for if we effect so radical an alteration in the subject of perception and cognition as this dual focus implies, the result must be a world view very different from any known before." (Carl G Jung, "The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche", 1960)

"This is the awe-inspiring universe of magic: There are no atoms, only waves and motions all around. Here, you discard all belief in barriers to understanding. You put aside understanding itself. This universe cannot be seen, cannot be heard, cannot be detected in any way by fixed perceptions. It is the ultimate void where no preordained screens occur upon which forms may be projected. You have only one awareness here - the screen of the magi: Imagination! Here, you learn what it is to be human. You are a creator of order, of beautiful shapes and systems, an organizer of chaos." (Frank Herbert, “Heretics of Dune”, 1984)

"The third point of reference is freedom of perception; it is intent; it is spirit; the somersault of thought into the miraculous; the act of reaching beyond our boundaries and touching the inconceivable." (Carlos Castaneda, "Power of Silence", 1987) 

"Any single person's viewpoint will have blind spots caused by their habitual ways of perceiving the world, their perceptual filters [...] How can we shift our perceptions to get outside our own limited world view?" (Joseph O'Connor & John Seymour, "Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People", 1990)

"A problem is a difference between things as desired and things as perceived. […] Seen in this way, the problem could be solved either by changing desires or changing perceptions." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

"To strengthen the connection between your conscious mind and your subconscious mind is to gain access to a map and compass to help you move towards your dream. To gain access to the subconscious mind is to gain the ability to see and create the future, the ability to shift the present, and the ability to alter your own perceptions of the past." (Kevin Michel, "Moving Through Parallel Worlds to Achieve Your Dreams", 2013)

🅿Week 2026-34: On Perception (Unsourced)

"Even if you have not awakened, if you realize that your perceptions and activities are all like dreams and you view them with detachment, not giving rise to grasping and rejecting discrimination, then this is virtually tantamount to awakening from the dream." (Muso Soseki)

"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern." (William Blake)

"If sensation is considered to be perception through one's senses, then intuition can be considered perception through the unconscious." (Ninpö saying)

"In every act of perception we create the world," (Deepak Chopra)

"Let the spirit out - Discard all thoughts of reward, all hopes of praise and fears of blame, all awareness of one's bodily self. And, finally closing the avenues of sense perception, let the spirit out, as it will." (Bruce Lee)

"Looking deeply into the wrong perceptions, ideas, and notions that are at the base of our suffering is the most important practice in Buddhist meditation." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

"Real meditation is spontaneous. It is pure welcoming, because there is no choosing of whatever appears in the field of consciousness. There is no selection. There is only choiceless allowing, be it of external perceptions, feelings, bodily sensations, thoughts, or their absence. Everything is equally allowed to come into existence, not as a practice, but because the mind has understood its own limitations. That is all the truth-seeker needs to do. No further spiritual practice needs to be undertaken." (Francis Lucille)

"The transformation of consciousness undertaken in Taoism and Zen is more like the correction of faulty perception or the curing of a disease. It is not an acquisitive process of learning more and more facts or greater and greater skills, but rather than unlearning of wrong habits and opinions. As Lao-tzu said, ‘The scholar gains every day, but the Taoist loses every day.'" (Alan Watts)

"The nature of the Absolute is neither perceptible nor imperceptible; and with phenomena it is just the same. But to one who has discovered his real nature, how can there be anywhere or anything separate from it? [...] Therefore it is said: 'The perception of a phenomenon IS the perception of the Universal Nature, since phenomena and Mind are one and the same.'" (Huangbo Xiyun)

"To be aware of a single shortcoming within oneself is more useful than to be aware of a thousand in somebody else. Rather than speaking badly about people and in ways that will produce friction and unrest in their lives, we should practice a purer perception of them, and when we speak of others, speak of their good qualities." (Dalai Lama)"

"We can control our lives by controlling our perceptions." (Bruce H. Lipton)

🆂Week 2026-33: On Soul

"Animals share with us the privilege of having a soul." (Pythagoras of Samos, cca. 6th century BC)

"The peace of God is with them whose mind and soul are in harmony, who are free from desire and wrath, who know their own soul." (Bhagavad Gita, cca 5th century BC)

"The soul that moves in the world of senses and yet keeps the senses in harmony ... finds rest in quietness." (Bhagavad Gita, cca 5th century BC)

“In the same way as regards the soul, when that kind of thing in us which mirrors the images of thought and intellect is undisturbed, we see them and know them in a way parallel to sense-perception, along with the prior knowledge that it is intellect and thought that are active. But when this is broken because the harmony of the body is upset, thought and intellect operate without an image, and then intellectual activity takes place without a mind-picture.” (Plotinus, “Enneads”, cca. 270 AD)

"[...] so external sensation is the image of this perception of the soul, which is in its essence truer and is a contemplation of forms alone without being affected. From these forms, from which the soul alone receives its lordship over the living being, come reasonings, and opinions and noetic acts; and this is precisely where ‘we’ are." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

"Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things act with one movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all things which exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the contexture of the web." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations". cca. 121–180 AD)

"When knowledge reaches the specific natures and what is accidental to them, inquiry stops and is not followed by the fleeting knowledge of individuals to which our souls are not at all inclined." (Avicenna Latinus [Ibn Sina], "The Physics of The Healing", cca. 1014)

"Prayer is that which enables the soul to realize its divinity. Through prayer human beings worship absolute truth, and seek an eternal reward. Prayer is the foundation-stone of religion; and religion is the means by which the soul is purified of all that pollutes it. Prayer is the worship of the first cause of all things, the supreme ruler of all the world, the source of all strength. Prayer is the adoration of the one whose being is necessary." (Avicenna Latinus [Ibn Sina], "Kitab al-Najat", cca. 1021–1027)

"All men strive and hope for nothing other than eternal life in their human nature. For this they instituted purgations of souls and sacred rites, in order to be better adapted in their nature to that eternal life." (Nicholas of Cusa [Nicolaus Cusanus], "De Pace Fidei" ["The Peace of Faith"], 1453)

"Within itself the soul sees all things more truly than as they exist in different things outside itself. And the more it goes out unto other things in order to know them, the more it enters into itself in order to know itself." (Nicholas of Cusa [Nicolaus Cusanus], "On Equality", 1459)

"Education is the leading human souls to what is best, and making what is best out of them [...]" (John Ruskin, "The Stones of Venice", 1853)

"The soul does not give itself up to despair until it has exhausted all illusions." (Victor Hugo, "Les Misérables", 1862)

"The strangest of the soul's experiences is this, that it finds, when it ceases to care for the image and threat of troubles, then the troubles themselves are nowhere to be found in one's neighbourhood. It is then that we hear from behind those unreal clouds God laughing at us." (Sri Aurobindo, "Thoughts and Aphorisms", 1913)

"Zen purposes to discipline the mind itself, to make it its own master, through an insight into its proper nature. This getting into the real nature of one's own mind or soul is the fundamental object of Zen Buddhism. Zen, therefore, is more than meditation and Dhyana in its ordinary sense. The discipline of Zen consists in opening the mental eye in order to look into the very reason of existence." (Daisetsu T Suzuki,". An Introduction to Zen Buddhism.", 1934)

"Transform effort into an easy and sovereign overflowing of the soul-strength; let all thyself be conscious force. This is thy goal." (Sri Aurobindo, "Thoughts and Glimpses", 1916-17)

"The weakness of a soul is proportionate to the number of truths that must be kept from it." (Eric Hoffer, "The Passionate State of Mind", 1955)

"Language, in its origin and essence, is simply a system of signs or symbols that denote real occurrences or their echo in the human soul." (Carl G Jung, "The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche", 1960)

"You'll be able to gain insight and reach a conclusion only by applying the powers of mind, intellect, soul, heart, spirit, and imagination. This is what 'looking at something spiritually' really means." (Rudolf Steiner, "Bees", 1982)

"Nothing from outside can stop a man from enjoying lasting peace and permanent joy in life, for it is the essential nature of his own soul." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)

"Everything on earth is being continuously transformed, because the earth is alive. and it has a soul. We are part of that soul, so we rarely recognize that it is working for us." (Paulo Coelho, "The Alchemist", 1988)

"So trust the process of your life unfolding, and know with certainty, through the peaks and valleys of your journey, that your soul rests safe and secure in the arms of God." (Dan Millman, "The Laws of Spirit: Simple, Powerful Truths for Making Life Work", 1995)

"Excessive caution destroys the soul and the heart, because living is an act of courage, and an act of courage is always an act of love." (Paulo Coelho, "Manuscript Found in Accra", 2012)

🅿Week 2026-32: On Projection

"When you think of God, your God is the projection of your own thought, the result of social influences. You can think only of the known; you cannot think of the unknown, you cannot concentrate on truth." (Jiddu Krishnamurti, "First Talk in Rajahmundry" 1949)

"By means of microscopic observation and astronomical projection the lotus flower can become the foundation for an entire theory of the universe and an agent whereby we may perceive the Truth." (Yukio Mishima, "The Priest of Shiga Temple and His Love" in Death in Midsummer, and Other Stories", 1966)

"All the manifested world of things and beings are projected by imagination upon the substratum which is the Eternal All-pervading Vishnu, whose nature is Existence-Intelligence; just as the different ornaments are all made out of the same gold." (Adi Shankara, "Atma Bodha", 1987)

"Everything is a projection of our mind! We can decide how we want to be. It is all in the mind. With the help of our mind, we have stopped the flow of bliss from within. That is the truth." (Nithyananda) 

"The world is a projection of your mind. Good mind, good world. Bad mind, bad world. No mind, no world." (Swami Parthasarathy)

"There are two aspects of mind; the appearances and its essence. Most people are lost in the appearances and projections without ever knowing the true nature of their experiences. Meditation is recognizing and bringing the mind home to its essence of clarity and peace." (Sogyal Rinpoche)

"What is called mind is a wondrous power existing in Self. It projects all thoughts. If we set aside all thoughts and see, there will be no such thing as mind remaining separate; therefore, thought itself is the form of the mind. Other than thoughts, there is no such thing as the mind." (Ramana Maharshi, "Nan Yar = Who am I?") 

🆂Week 2026-31: On Soul (unsourced)

"All real education is the architecture of the soul." (William Bennett)

"Art calls for complete mastery of techniques, developed by reflection within the soul." (Bruce Lee)

"Aspirations must be pure and free of selfishness. Arising from the depths of the soul, aspirations are spiritual demands penetrating all of a human life and making it possible for a person to die for their sake. A person without aspirations is like a ship without a rudder or a horse without a bridle. Aspirations give consistent order to life." (Mas Oyama)

"Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy - by one, or more, or all of these - and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details." (Swami Vivekananda)

"Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another." (Gilbert K Chesterton)

"Equipped with qualities, a doer of works and creator of their consequences, he reaps the result of his actions; he is the ruler of the life and he moves in his journey according to his own acts: he has idea and ego and is to be known by the qualities of his intelligence and his quality of self. Smaller than the hundredth part of the tip of a hair, the soul of the living being is capable of infinity. Male is he not nor female nor neuter, but is joined to whatever body he takes as his own." (Swetaswatara Upanishad)

"Happiness is an expression of the soul in considered actions." (Aristotle)

"Into a soul absolutely free from thoughts and emotion, even the tiger finds no room to insert its fierce claws." (Bruce Lee)

"It is only through meditation that we can get lasting peace, divine peace. If we meditate soulfully in the morning and receive peace for only one minute, that one minute of peace will permeate our whole day. And when we have a meditation of the highest order, then we really get abiding peace, light and delight. We need meditation because we want to grow in light and fulfill ourselves in light. If this is our aspiration, if this is our thirst, then meditation is the only way." (Sri Chinmoy Kumar Ghose)

"It is necessary for us to withdraw at regular intervals and enable our souls to attain that quietude and inward composure which are essential if we would hear the voice of God." (Ole Hallesby)

"Judo is the way to the most effective use of both physical and spiritual strength. By training you in attacks and defenses it refines your body and your soul and helps you make the spiritual essence of Judo a part of your very being. In this way you are able to perfect yourself and contribute something of value to the world. This is the final goal of Judo discipline." (Jigoro Kano)

"Just as the human soul takes leave of the body... one can truly see in the flying swarm an image of the departing human soul." (Rudolf Steiner)

"Mind is action of its own nature. Mind-activity means creation. The thought is followed by the word, and the word by the form. All of this creating will have to stop, both mental and physical, before the mind can reflect the soul." (Swami Vivekananda)

"Next to spiritual comes intellectual help; the gift of knowledge is a far higher gift... because the real life of man consists of knowledge; ignorance is death, knowledge is life." (Swami Vivekananda)

"No knowledge comes from outside; it is all inside. What we say a we "know," should-in strict psychological language-be what we "discover" or "unveil." What we "learn" is really what we "discover" by taking the cover off our own soul, which is the mirror of infinite knowledge." (Swami Vivekananda)

"Reality is a rich tapestry of interwoven levels, reaching from matter to body to mind to soul to spirit." (Ken Wilber)

"So the unwanting soul sees what's hidden, and the ever-wanting soul sees only what it wants." (Lao Tzu)

"The hours when we are absorbed by beauty are the only hours when we really live [...] .These are the only hours that absorb the soul and fill it with beauty. This is real life, and all else is illusion, or mere endurance." (Richard Jefferies)

"The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone." (Goethe)

"To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness." (Confucius)

🅸Week 2026-30: On Intellect

“In the same way as regards the soul, when that kind of thing in us which mirrors the images of thought and intellect is undisturbed, we see them and know them in a way parallel to sense-perception, along with the prior knowledge that it is intellect and thought that are active. But when this is broken because the harmony of the body is upset, thought and intellect operate without an image, and then intellectual activity takes place without a mind-picture.” (Plotinus, “Enneads”, cca. 270 AD)

"Do not be pulled around by states of mind or objects. Do not rely on intellectual knowledge. Don't show in your hands what you receive on your seat in the Monks' Hall. Just throw body and mind into the Great Treasury of Luminosity and don't look back." (Koun Ejo, "Komyozo-Zanmai" ["Samadhi of the Treasury of the Radiant Light", 13th century)

"Although our intellect always longs for clarity and certainty, our nature often finds uncertainty fascinating." (Carl von Clausewitz, "On War", 1832)

"It should be noted that the seeds of wisdom that are to bear fruit in the intellect are sown less by critical studies and learned monographs than by insights, broad impressions, and flashes of intuition." (Carl von Clausewitz, "On War", 1832)

"The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves. " (Carl G Jung, "Psychological types: or, The psychology of individuation", 1926)

"The more a man thinks the better adapted he becomes to thinking, and education is nothing if it is not the methodical creation of the habit of thinking. Precisely. Theoretically, education is a mental training aiming at greater intellectual elasticity, but the question is whether education does not often strain, instead of train, a mind." (Ernest Dimnet, "The Art of Thinking", 1928)

"The fundamental idea of Buddhism is to pass beyond the world of opposites, a world built up by intellectual distinctions and emotional defilements, and to realize the spiritual world of non-distinction, which involves achieving an absolute point of view."(Daisetzu T Suzuki, "The Essence of Buddhism", 1947)

"You'll be able to gain insight and reach a conclusion only by applying the powers of mind, intellect, soul, heart, spirit, and imagination. This is what 'looking at something spiritually' really means." (Rudolf Steiner, "Bees", 1982)

"The three most difficult things for a human being are not physical feats or intellectual achievements. They are, first, returning love for hate; second, including the excluded; third, admitting that you are wrong." (Anthony de Mello, "Awareness: Conversations with the Masters", 1990)

🅸Week 2026-29: On Intellect

"Anything that makes weak - physically, intellectually and spiritually, reject it as poison." (Swami Vivekananda)

"Do not hold to the intellectual understanding of others; turn the light of awareness back to the root, and it is not there at all." (Pao-chih)

"Next to spiritual comes intellectual help; the gift of knowledge is a far higher gift... because the real life of man consists of knowledge; ignorance is death, knowledge is life." (Swami Vivekananda)

"Just detach from all sound and form, but do not dwell in detachment, and do not dwell in intellectual interpretation - this is practice." (Pai-chang)

"Knowledge is real knowledge only when it is acquired by the efforts of your intellect, not by memory." (Henry David Thoreau)

"The highest purpose of intellectual cultivation is, to give a man a perfect knowledge and mastery of his own inner self." (Novalis)

"The intellect is always fooled by the heart." (Francóis de La Róchefoucald)

"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing - to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." (John Keats)

"The tissue of the world is built from necessities and randomness; the intellect of men places itself between both and can control them; it considers the necessity and the reason of its existence; it knows how randomness can be managed, controlled, and used." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

"The void is no mere emptiness, but is real, free and existing. It is the source from which all things arise and return. It cannot be seen, touched or known, yet it exists and is freely used. It has no shape, size, colour or form, and yet all that we see, hear, feel and touch is "it". It is beyond intellectual knowing and cannot be grasped by the ordinary mind. When we suddenly awake to the realization that there is no barrier, and has never been seen, one realizes that one is all things, mountains, rivers, grasses, trees, sun, moon, stars, universe are all oneself. There is no longer a division or barrier between myself and others, no longer any feeling of alienation or fear. Realizing this, results in true compassion. Other people and things are not seen as apart from oneself, on the contrary, as one's own body." (Bruce Lee)

"To realize one's limitations marks the awakening of intellectual integrity, without which imagination, integrity and assiduity are barren." (Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin)

"To wisdom belongs the intellectual apprehension of eternal things; to knowledge, the rational knowledge of temporal things." (Saint Augustine)

"We do not arbitrarily give laws to the intellect or to other things, but as faithful scribes we receive and copy them from the revealed voice of Nature." (Sir Francis Bacon)

"What is now wanted is a combination of the greatest heart with the highest intellectuality, of infinite love with infinite knowledge." (Swami Vivekananda)

"Who is hearing? Your physical being doesn't hear, nor does the void.
Then what does?
Strive to find out.
Put aside your rational intellect - give up all techniques.
Just get rid of the notion of self." (Bassui Tokusho)

🆄Week 2026-28: On Unconscious

"Our systems, perhaps, are nothing more than an unconscious apology for our faults, a gigantic scaffolding whose object is to hide from us our favorite sin." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1896)

"Once we give serious consideration to the hypothesis of the unconscious, it follows that our view of the world can be but a provisional one; for if we effect so radical an alteration in the subject of perception and cognition as this dual focus implies, the result must be a world view very different from any known before." (Carl G Jung, "The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche", 1960)

"The mind can go either direction under stress - toward positive or toward negative: on or off. Think of it as a spectrum whose extremes are unconsciousness at the negative end and hyperconsciousness at the positive end. The way the mind will lean under stress is strongly influenced by training." (Frank Herbert, "Dune", 1965)

"At work, at rest, never stop trying to realize who it is that hears.
Even though your questioning becomes almost unconscious,
you won't find the one who hears, and all your efforts will come to naught.
Yet sounds can be heard, so question yourself to an even profounder level.
At last every vestige of self-awareness will disappear and
you will feel like a cloudless sky.
Within yourself you will find no 'I', nor will you discover anyone who hears.
This Mind is like the void, yet it hasn't a single spot that can be called empty.
This state is often mistaken for Self-realization.
But continue to ask yourself even more intensely, 'Now who is it that hears?' (Bassui Tokusho)

"Every addiction arises from an unconscious refusal to face and move through your own pain. Every addiction starts with pain and ends with pain. Whatever the substance you are addicted to – alcohol, food, legal or illegal drugs, or a person – you are using something or somebody to cover up your pain." (Eckhart Tolle)

"If one mistakes spiritual enlightenment for self-satisfaction, one unconsciously starts adhering to one's desires, playing by turns the parts of a beast and human being in life." (Matsumi Masaaki)

"If sensation is considered to be perception through one's senses, then intuition can be considered perception through the unconscious." (Ninpö saying)

"Intuition is perception via the unconscious that brings forth ideas, images, new possibilities and ways out of blocked situations." (Carl G Jung)

"mushin, which literally means 'no-mind.' According to the Zen masters, mushin is operating when the actor is separate from the act and no thoughts interfere with action because the unconscious act is the most free and uninhibited. When mushin functions, the mind moves from one activity to another, flowing like a stream of water and filling every space." (Bruce Lee)

"No-mind does not mean the unconsciousness of wood or tile. It means that when you come into contact with external objects, your mind is immovable and does not get attached to anything. There is total freedom and non-obstruction. You are not defiled by anything. On the other hand, you should not abide in non-defilement either. While you view the body and the mind as a dream and an illusion, you nevertheless do not abide in the emptiness of dreams and illusions. When you reach this state, you have then really achieved no-mind." (Ta-hui Tsung-kao)

"Technical knowledge is not enough. One must transcend techniques so that the art becomes an artless art, growing out of the unconscious." (Daisetzu T Suzuki)

"The squaring of the circle is a stage on the way to the unconscious, a point of transition leading to a goal lying as yet unformulated beyond it. It is one of those paths to the centre." (Carl G Jung)

"When the swordsman stands against his opponent, he is not to think of the opponent, nor of himself, nor of his enemy's sword movements. He just stands there with his sword which, forgetful of all technique, is ready only to follow the dictates of the unconscious. The man has effaced himself as the wielder of the sword. When he strikes, it is not the man but the sword in the hand of the unconscious that strikes." (Takuan)

🅰Week 2026-27: On Awareness

"To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are." (Eric Hoffer, "The Passionate State of Mind, and Other Aphorisms", 1955)

"One has to reach to the absolute state of awareness: that is Zen. You cannot do it every morning for a few minutes or for half an hour and then forget all about it. It has to become like your heartbeat. You have to sit in it, you have to walk in it. Yes, you have even to sleep in it." (Osho [Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh], "Walking in Zen, Sitting in Zen", 1982)

"This is the awe-inspiring universe of magic: There are no atoms, only waves and motions all around. Here, you discard all belief in barriers to understanding. You put aside understanding itself. This universe cannot be seen, cannot be heard, cannot be detected in any way by fixed perceptions. It is the ultimate void where no preordained screens occur upon which forms may be projected. You have only one awareness here - the screen of the magi: Imagination! Here, you learn what it is to be human. You are a creator of order, of beautiful shapes and systems, an organizer of chaos." (Frank Herbert, “Heretics of Dune”, 1984)

"Wisdom tends to grow in proportion to one's awareness of one's ignorance." (Anthony de Mello, "One Minute Wisdom", 1988)

"Understand the obstructions you are putting in the way of love, freedom, and happiness and they will drop. Turn on the light of awareness and the darkness will disappear. Happiness is not something you acquire; love is not something you produce; love is not something you have; love is something that has you." (Anthony de Mello, "Awareness: Conversations with the Masters", 1990

"Every positive change - every jump to a higher level of energy and awareness - involves a rite of passage. Each time to ascend to a higher rung on the ladder of personal evolution, we must go through a period of discomfort, of initiation. I have never found an exception." (Dan Millman, "No Ordinary Moments: A Peaceful Warrior's Guide to Daily Life", 1992)

"There are many good forms of meditation practice. A good meditation practice is any one that develops awareness or mindfulness of our body and our sense, of our mind and heart." (Jack Kornfield, "Meditation for Beginners", 1998)

"Any method can settle the mind in the present moment, but with Silent Illumination you can be relieved of even the present moment. Just take this attitude: don’t worry about the past or the future, and let go of the present too. Just stay in awareness. Chan is called the 'gateless gate' because it has no door to enlightenment." (Sheng Yen, "The Method of No-Method: The Chan Practice of Silent Illumination", 2008)

"One method for calming the mind is to contemplate the transient nature of our thoughts. When you are aware that your thoughts arise and perish of their own accord, there will be no need to be ruled or conditioned by them. Your mind will settle into observing them with detached awareness and your emotions will become even. If you can do this, you will soon be able to pacify your mind." (Sheng Yen, "The Method of No-Method: The Chan Practice of Silent Illumination", 2008)

"Our consciousness and awareness, which includes our choices as to where we place our focus, alters the paths of our lives, and creates a split in reality, leading to the creation of two or more worlds at any moment in time." (Kevin Michel, "Moving Through Parallel Worlds to Achieve Your Dreams", 2013)

🅰Week 2026-26: On Awareness (unsourced)

"All the verbal teachings point to the inherent nature of the immediate mirroring awareness. As long as this is not affected by anything, existent or otherwise, it is your guide. It can shine through all realms, whether they exist or not." (Pai-chang)

"An enlightened awareness is within each one of us, right at this moment.
This enlightened awareness is truly unborn and marvellously illuminating; and everything is perfectly managed by it.
Conclusively realise that what is unborn and illuminating is truly awakened and without effort,
rest naturally as the Unborn Mind.
Resting in this way, you are a living Buddha." (Bankei Yōtaku)

"As soon as you honor the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve, and life begins to flow with joy and ease. When you act out the present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love – even the most simple action." (Eckhart Tolle)

"Do not hold to the intellectual understanding of others; turn the light of awareness back to the root, and it is not there at all." (Pao-chih)

"Do you think that you can clear your mind by sitting constantly in silent meditation? This makes your mind narrow, not clear. Integral awareness is fluid and adaptable, present in all places and at all times. That is true meditation... . 

The Tao is clear and simple, and it doesn't avoid the world." (Lao Tzu)

"Don't think that only sitting with the eyes closed is practice. If you do think this way, then quickly change your thinking. Steady practice is keeping mindful in every posture, whether sitting, walking, standing or lying down. When coming out of sitting, don't think that you're coming out of meditation, but that you are only changing postures. If you reflect in this way, you will have peace. Wherever you are, you will have this attitude of practice with you constantly. You will have a steady awareness within yourself." (Ajahn Chah)

"Efficiency in sparring and fighting is not a matter of correct classical, traditional form. Efficiency is anything that scores. Creating fancy forms and classical sets to replace sparring is like trying to wrap and tie a pound of water into a manageable shape of paper sack. For something that is static, fixed, dead, there can be a way or a definite path; but not for anything that is moving and living. In sparring there's no exact path or method, but instead a perceptive, pliable, choice-less awareness. It lives from moment to moment." (Bruce Lee)

"Integral wisdom involves a direct participation in every moment: the observer and the observed are dissolved in the light of pure awareness, and no mental concepts or attitudes are present to dim that light." (Lao Tzu) 

"Let the spirit out - Discard all thoughts of reward, all hopes of praise and fears of blame, all awareness of one's bodily self. And, finally closing the avenues of sense perception, let the spirit out, as it will." (Bruce Lee)

"Meditation is not passive sitting in silence. It is sitting in awareness, free from distraction, and realizing the clear understanding that arises from concentration." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

"Meditation is the awareness that I am not the mind." (Osho)

"Meditation means to be constantly extricating yourself from the clinging of mind. By letting go of even the thought ‘I,’ and 'me' what is left? There is nowhere to stand and no one to stand there. No separation anywhere. Pure awareness. Neither this, nor that. Just clarity and being." (Ram Dass)

"Mindfulness means moment-to-moment, non-judgmental awareness. It is cultivated by refining our capacity to pay attention, intentionally, in the present moment, and then sustaining that attention over time as best we can. In the process, we become more in touch with our life as it is unfolding." (Jon Kabat-Zinn, "Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting", 1997)

"Mindfulness practice means that we commit fully in each moment to be present; inviting ourselves to interface with this moment in full awareness, with the intention to embody as best we can an orientation of calmness, mindfulness, and equanimity right here and right now." (Jon Kabat-Zinn)

"Quietly go to work on your own self-awareness.
If you want to awaken all of humanity,
then awaken all of yourself.
If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world,
then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself.
Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation." (Lao Tzu)

"Settling your mind in its natural state entails releasing all grasping, grasping onto the future, and the past, grasping onto cogitations about the present. Letting your awareness rest in its own place, naturally luminous and still." (B Alan Wallace)

"The body moves naturally, automatically, without any personal intervention or awareness. If we think too much, our actions become slow and hesitant." (Taisen Deshimaru)

🅰Week 2026-25: On Awakening

"What we call the Treasury of Luminosity is the source of all Buddhas, the true nature of all beings, the Total Body of all things, the treasury of the Radiance of subtle perceptions and complete Awakening. The three bodies of the Buddhas, the four wisdoms, and the practice of each particle containing the infinite particles of Totality are all found here." (Koun Ejo, "Kōmyōzō zanmai" ["The Practice of the Treasury of Luminosity"], cca 13th century)

"Truth travels down from the heights of philosophy to the humblest walks of life, and up from the simplest perceptions of an awakened intellect to the discoveries which almost change the face of the world. At every stage of its progress it is genial, luminous, creative." (Edward Everett, [address] 1835)

"Thought once awakened does not again slumber; unfolds itself into a System of Thought; grows, in man after man, generation after generation, - till its full stature is reached, and such System of Thought can grow no farther, and must give place to another." (Thomas Carlyle, “The Hero As Divinity”, [lecture, in "On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History: Six Lectures", 1857) 1840)

"All existing things upon this earth, which have knowledge of their own existence, possess, some in one degree and some in another, the power of thought, accompanied by perception, which is the awakening of thought by the effects of external objects upon the senses." (Augustus De Morgan, "Formal Logic: Or, The Calculus of Inference, Necessary and Probable", 1847)

"Fortunately, some are born with spiritual immune systems that sooner or later give rejection to the illusory worldview grafted upon then from birth through social conditioning. They begin sensing that something is amiss, and start looking for answers. Inner knowledge and anomalous outer experiences show them a side of reality others are oblivious to, and so begins the journey of awakening. Each step of the journey is made by following the heart instead of the crowd, and by choosing knowledge over veils of ignorance." (Henri Bergson, "On Intuition vs. Intellect", 1907)

"The path of awakening begins with a step the Buddha called right understanding." (Jack Kornfield & Joseph Goldstein, "Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation", 1987)

"Only in the reality of the present can we love, can we awaken, can we find peace and understanding and connection with ourselves and the world." (Jack Kornfield, "A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life", 1993)

"We are awakened to the profound realization that the true path to liberation is to let go of everything." (Jack Kornfield, "A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life", 1993)

"To meditate is to discover new possibilities, to awaken the capacities of us has to live more wisely, more lovingly, more compassionately, and more fully." (Jack Kornfield, "Meditation for Beginners", 1998)

🅰Week 2026-24: On Awakening (unsourced)

"At the bottom of great doubt lies great awakening. If you doubt fully, you will awaken fully." (Hakuin Ekaku

"Delusion and the awakening - both can come and go slowly or suddenly." (Heze Shenhui)

"Even if you have not awakened, if you realize that your perceptions and activities are all like dreams and you view them with detachment, not giving rise to grasping and rejecting discrimination, then this is virtually tantamount to awakening from the dream." (Muso Soseki)

"Our original nature is [...] void, omnipresent, silent, pure; it is glorious and mysterious peaceful joy - and that is all. Enter deeply into it by awakening yourself." (Huangbo Xiyun) (Huangbo Xiyun)

"Spiritual Awakening is awakening from the dream of thought." (Eckhart Tolle)

"The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not 'the thinker'. The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated. You then begin to realize that there is a vast realm of intelligence beyond thought, that thought is only a tiny aspect of that intelligence. You also realize that all the things that truly matter - beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace – arise from beyond the mind. You begin to awaken." (Eckhart Tolle)

"The moment of awakening may be marked by an outbursts of laughter, but this is not the laughter of someone who has won the lottery or some kind of victory. It is the laughter of one who, after searching for something for a long time, suddenly finds it in the pocket of their coat." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

"To realize one's limitations marks the awakening of intellectual integrity, without which imagination, integrity and assiduity are barren." (Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin)

"We're here to awaken from the illusion of separateness." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

🆂Week 2026-23: On Surrender

"Enlightenment is always through surrender, but surrender is achieved through intelligence. Only idiots cannot surrender. To surrender you need great intelligence. To see the point of surrender is the climax of insight; to see the point that you are not separate from existence is the highest that intelligence can give to you." (Osho [Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh], "From I to Q", 1984)

"Love transforms, Love heals. But sometimes it lays deadly traps and ends up destroying the person who decided to surrender himself completely." (Paulo Coelho, "Manuscript Found in Accra", 2012)

"A humble and contrite heart knows that it can merit nothing before God, and that all that is necessary is to be reconciled to one's helplessness and let our holy and almighty God care for us, just as an infant surrenders himself to his mother's care." (Ole Hallesby)

"Always say 'yes' to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to what already is? what could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. Say 'yes' to life - and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you." (Eckhart Tolle)

“He who every morning plans the transaction of the day and follows out that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through the maze of the most busy life. But where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incidence, chaos will soon reign." (Victor Hugo)

"If failure has the strength to turn your life into bitterness itself, then patience has the strength to turn your life into the sweetest joy. Do not surrender to fate after a single failure. Failure, at most, precedes success." (Sri Chinmoy Kumar Ghose)

"It is important to expect nothing, to take every experience, including the negative ones, as merely steps on the path, and to proceed. The heart surrenders everything to the moment. The mind judges and holds back." (Ram Dass)

"Meditation is very simple. It means to surrender the mind, the body, and the world, from moment to moment, to the silent presence in which they appear. That's all." (Francis Lucille)

"Of course, when there is total surrender, complete relinquishment of all concern with one's past, present and future, with one's physical and spiritual security and standing, a new life dawns, full of love and beauty; then the Master is not important, for the disciple has broken the shell of self-defense. Complete self-surrender by itself is liberation." (Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

"To a mind that is still the whole universe surrenders." (Lao Tzu)

🅼Week 2026-22: On Matial Artist (unsourced)

 "A good martial artist puts his mind on one thing at a time. He takes each thing as it comes, finishes with it, and passes on to the next." (Bruce Lee)

"A good martial artist does not become tend but ready, not thinking but jet not dreaming. Ready for whatever may come." (Bruce lee)

"A good martial artist puts his mind on one thing at a time. He takes each thing as it comes, finishes with it, and passes on to the next. Like a Zen master, he is not concerned with the past or the future, only with what he is doing at that moment. Because his mind is tight, he is calm and able to maintain strength in reserve. And then there will be room for only one thought, which will fill his entire being as water fills a pitcher. You wasted an enormous amount of energy because you did not localize and focus your mind. Always remember: in life as well as on the mat an unfocused or 'loose' mind wastes energy." (Bruce Lee)

"A martial artist who drills exclusively to a set pattern of combat is losing his freedom. He is actually becoming a slave to a choice pattern and feels that the pattern is the real thing. It leads to stagnation because the way of combat is never based on personal choice and fancies, but constantly changes from moment to moment, and the disappointed combatant will soon find out that his 'choice routine' lacks pliability. There must be a 'being' instead of a 'doing' in training. One must be free. Instead of complexity of form, there should be simplicity of expression." (Bruce Lee)

"Each one of us starts Karate with some particular reason: to be a good fighter, to keep in good shape, to protect oneself. I wanted to become very strong myself when I first began. But Karate training soon teaches that real strength is facing oneself strictly, with severe eyes. This is the first condition of martial arts training. Therefore, all karateka must be strong inwardly, but quite gentle to others. As we train together, each contributing to a good atmosphere, let's try to bring out that serious strong mentality from deep inside." (Tsutomu Ohshima)

"I hope martial artists are more interested in the root of martial arts and not the different decorative branches, flowers or leaves." (Bruce Lee)

"Knowledge in martial arts actually means self-knowledge. A martial artist has to take responsibility for himself and accept the consequences of his own doing. The understanding of JKD is through personal feeling from movement to movement in the mirror of the relationship and not through a process of isolation. To be is to be related. To isolate is death. To me, ultimately, martial arts means honestly expressing yourself. Now, it is very difficult to do. It has always been very easy for me to put on a show and be cocky, and be flooded with a cocky feeling and feel pretty cool and all that. I can make all kinds of phoney things. Blinded by it. Or I can show some really fancy movement. But to experience oneself honestly, not lying to oneself, and to express myself honestly, now that, my friend, is very hard to do." (Bruce Lee)

"Some people think a martial artist has to be tough against everybody - that's not true at all. A martial artist has to be strong against bad people. But we must also be able to know and understand the feelings, moods and mentalities of good and bad individuals before we can comprehend when to be strong and when to be gentle." (Tsutomu Ohshima)

"The skills of self-protection, which should provide a feeling of inner peace and security for the martial artist, so often develop without a balance in the personality and lead the lesser martial artist into warped realms of unceasing conflict and competition which eventually consume him." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"The way of the martial artist is the way of enduring, surviving and prevailing over all that would destroy him. More than delivering strikes and slashes, and deeper in significance than the simple outwitting of an enemy, Ninpô is the way of attaining that which we need while making the world a better place. The skill of the Ninja is the art of winning." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

🅼Week 2026-21: On Matial Arts (unsourced)

 "A kata is not fixed or immoveable. Like water, it's ever changing and fits itself to the shape of the vessel containing it. However, kata are not some kind of beautiful competitive dance, but a grand martial art of self-defense - which determines life and death." (Kenwa Mabuni)

"A teacher must never impose this student to fit his favourite pattern; a good teacher functions as a pointer, exposing his student's vulnerability (and) causing him to explore both internally and finally integrating himself with his being. Martial art should not be passed out indiscriminately." (Bruce Lee)

"I believe that the only way to teach anyone proper self-defence is to approach each individual personally. Each one of us is different and each one of us should be taught the correct form. By correct form I mean the most useful techniques the person is inclined toward. Find his ability and then develop these techniques. I don't think it is important whether a side kick is performed with the heel higher than the toes, as long as the fundamental principle is not violated. Most classical martial arts training is a mere imitative repetition - a product - and individuality is lost." (Bruce Lee)

"I hope martial artists are more interested in the root of martial arts and not the different decorative branches, flowers or leaves." (Bruce Lee)

"I'm not telling you to defeat the enemy, but be a man who can live. Never be enslaved by martial arts take pleasure in them." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"Karate is the most Zen-like of all the Martial Arts.  It has abandoned the sword.  This means that it transcends the idea of winning and losing to become a way of thinking and living for the sake of other people in accordance with the way of Heaven.  Its meanings, therefore, reach the profoundest levels of human thought." (Mas Oyama)

"Knowledge in martial arts actually means self-knowledge. A martial artist has to take responsibility for himself and accept the consequences of his own doing. The understanding of JKD is through personal feeling from movement to movement in the mirror of the relationship and not through a process of isolation. To be is to be related. To isolate is death. To me, ultimately, martial arts means honestly expressing yourself. Now, it is very difficult to do. It has always been very easy for me to put on a show and be cocky, and be flooded with a cocky feeling and feel pretty cool and all that. I can make all kinds of phoney things. Blinded by it. Or I can show some really fancy movement. But to experience oneself honestly, not lying to oneself, and to express myself honestly, now that, my friend, is very hard to do." (Bruce Lee)

"Originally this was the most important thing about martial arts - to reach a higher level, to become a strong human being. Strong doesn't mean big arms. It means who can be a more strict human being with himself. That is the ideal of martial arts." (Tsutomu Ohshima)

"One should not have a glance or attitude that lets others know that one is practicing martial arts." (Toda sensei)

"Studying the martial Way is like climbing a cliff: keep going forward without rest. Resting is not permissible because it causes recessions to old adages of achievement. Persevering day in, day out improves techniques, but resting one day causes lapses. This must be prevented." (Mas Oyama)

"The path of Martial Arts begins and ends with courtesy. So be genuinely polite on every occasion." (Mas Oyama)

"The strongest men and the greatest martial arts masters are born that way, so no effort can attain that; but when it comes to exerting our whole heart and disregarding our lives, to whom should we be inferior? No one should think he’ll lose, even to the greatest warriors. Why is that? Because if you back off such a person, who will back off you?" (Suzuki Shosan)

"To me, the extraordinary aspect of martial arts lies in its simplicity. The easy way is also the right way, and martial arts is nothing at all special; the closer to the true way of martial arts, the less wastage of expression there is." (Bruce Lee)

"To practice Zen or the Martial Arts, you must live intensely, wholeheartedly, without reserve - as if you might die in the next instant." (Taisen Deshimaru)

"Train the body and develop stamina and endurance. But the spirit of competition and power that presides over them is not good, it reflects a distorted vision of life. The root of the martial arts is not there." (Taisen Deshimaru)

"Training with the right attitude of mind is the key to transforming what we do from a sport to a martial art" (Shifu Yan Lei)

"Understand that the essence of martial arts is not the art itself, but what's hidden deep within yourself." (Gogen Yamaguchi)

🅼Week 2026-20: On Matial Arts

"Other schools become theatrical, dressing up and showing off to make a living, commercializing martial arts. […] Do you think you have realized how to attain victory just by learning to wield a long sword and training your body and your hands? This is not a certain way in any case. […]" (Miyamoto Musashi, "Go Rin No Sho" ["The Book of Five Rings"], 1645)

"The field of martial arts is particularly rife with flamboyant showmanship, with commercial popularization and profiteering on the part of both those who teach the science and those who study it. The result of this must be, as someone said, that "amateuristic martial arts are a source of serious wounds". (Miyamoto Musashi, "Go Rin No Sho" ["The Book of Five Rings"], 1645)

"The master carpenter, knowing the measurements and designs of all sorts of structures, employs people to build houses. In this respect, the master carpenter is the same as the master warrior. . . . As the master carpenter directs the journeymen, he knows their various levels of skill and gives them appropriate tasks. . . . Efficiency and smooth progress, prudence in all matters, recognizing true courage, recognizing different levels of morale, instilling confidence, and realizing what can and cannot be reasonably expected-such are the matters on the mind of the master carpenter. The principle of martial arts is like this [...]" (Miyamoto Musashi, "Go Rin No Sho" ["The Book of Five Rings"], 1645)

"To attain the Way of strategy as a warrior you must study fully other martial arts and not deviate even a little from the Way of the warrior. With your spirit settled, accumulate practice day by day, and hour by hour. Polish the twofold spirit heart and mind, and sharpen the twofold gaze perception and sight. When your spirit is not in the least clouded, when the clouds of bewilderment clear away, there is the true void." (Miyamoto Musashi, "Go Rin No Sho" ["The Book of Five Rings"], 1645)

"The purpose of martial arts is to stop injustice, thus you must never have the intention to take up arms. A peaceful spirit is of utmost importance in order to have the proper mindset to learn fencing. To be a swordsman is to be a lethal weapon; the most fortunate scenario would be to never have to use your martial skills in your lifetime. It is permissible to use your martial skills with justifiable reason, but you must not speak ill of other schools of fencing and you must not boast of your own sword-fighting skills to people who do not know the art." (Saito Yakuro, cca 19th century)

"The objective of martial arts has always been to defend oneself and not to attack others [...]" (Gichin Funakoshi, "Karate-do Kyohan: The Master Text", 1935)

"The secret principle of martial arts is not vanquishing the attacker but resolving to avoid an encounter before its occurrence. To become the object of an attack is an indication that there was an opening in one's guard, and the important thing is to be on guard at all times." (Gichin Funakoshi, "Karate-do Kyohan: The Master Text", 1935)

"To stand still is to regress; those who think that they have learned everything and become conceited braggarts proclaiming their own merits after learning the movements of some kata and acquiring dexterity in their physical movements are not fit to be considered as serious trainees in the martial arts." (Gichin Funakoshi, "Karate-do Kyohan: The Master Text", 1935)

"Since karate is a martial art, you must practice with the utmost seriousness from the very beginning." (Gichin Funakoshi, "Karate-dō Nyūmon: The Master Introductory Text", 1943)

"Aikido, though praised as a healthful system of self-defense techniques, would be nothing apart from the laws of the great universe. The martial way begins and ends with courtesy, itself an attitude of thankfulness to and reverence for nature. To be mistaken on this basic point is to make of the martial arts no more than weapons of injury and death." (Koichi Tohei, "Book of Ki: Co-ordinating Mind and Body in Daily Life", 1976)

"You must learn to allow patience and stillness to take over from anxiety and frantic activity for the sake of doing something, Between martial artists of the first rank, there is room for only one mistake. Before an exchange of blows, several minutes may be spent in controlled patience and planning while each man respectfully observes his opponent, studying his position or stance, watching, getting ideas, and charging his energy. When one man thinks he is going to attack, his opponent may quickly change his stance. If he has overreacted, his opponent makes a note of it. This is a weakness which he will later attempt to use to his advantage." (Jim Lau)  [in Joe Hyams's, "Zen in the Martial Arts", 1979]

"The burning desire of the Founder in establishing aikido was to keep the most valuable legacy of budo alive in the modern world. In order to accomplish his goal he went beyond differences in outward form to grasp the essence of each martial art and to bring it to life in a new form. The motivating force was his intense spiritual quest to discover a life-giving and life-affirming philosophy in budo. The result was the transformation of the heart of budo into the heart of aikido, the way of harmony and love." (Kisshomaru Ueshiba, "The Spirit of Aikido", 1981)

"The subtle working of ki is the maternal source that affects changes in breath. It is also the source of martial art as love. When one unifies mind and body by virtue of ki and manifests ai-ki (harmony of ki), delicate changes in breath-power occur spontaneously and 'waza' (proper technique) flows freely." (Kisshomaru Ueshiba, "The Spirit of Aikido", 1981)

"When you have had the experience of defeating one or two opponents, you will come to understand what constitutes good and bad in the martial arts. Gradually, with practice and experience in handling opponents [...] you will become able to discern the psychology of your opponents through fighting a variety of different people." (Kazumi Tabata, "Secret Tactics: Lessons From the Great Masters of Martial Arts", 2003)

🅿Week 2026-19: On Paths (unsourced)

 "Defeat is a state of mind. No one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality. To me, defeat in anything is merely temporary, and its punishment is but an urge for me to greater effort to achieve my goal. Defeat simply tells me that something is wrong in my doing; it is a path leading to success and truth." (Bruce Lee)

"Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity." (Lao Tzu)

"Efficiency in sparring and fighting is not a matter of correct classical, traditional form. Efficiency is anything that scores. Creating fancy forms and classical sets to replace sparring is like trying to wrap and tie a pound of water into a manageable shape of paper sack. For something that is static, fixed, dead, there can be a way or a definite path; but not for anything that is moving and living. In sparring there's no exact path or method, but instead a perceptive, pliable, choice-less awareness. It lives from moment to moment." (Bruce Lee)

"Every path, every street in the world is your walking meditation path." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

"Every step is on the path." (Lao Tzu)

"I realized that perseverance and step-by-step progress are the only ways to reach a goal along a chosen path." (Mas Oyama)

"If I had just a little bit of wisdom
I should walk the great path and fear only straying from it." (Lao Tzu)

"In a day, when you don't come across any problems - you can be sure that you are travelling in a wrong path." (Swami Vivekananda)

"It is important to expect nothing, to take every experience, including the negative ones, as merely steps on the path, and to proceed. The heart surrenders everything to the moment. The mind judges and holds back." (Ram Dass)

"Long and narrow is the ancient Path, - I have touched it, I have found it, the Path by which the wise, blowers of the Eternal, attaining to salvation, depart hence to the high world of Paradise." (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad)

"Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain, but at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon." (Ikkyu Sojun)

"O mighty one, The Four Recollections

Having been shown to be unmistakably the sole Path traversed by the Buddhas,

Do thou maintain zealous watchfulness over them at all times;

Through carelessness herein, all spiritual efforts become fruitless." (Nagarjuna)

"Philosophy's work is finding the shortest path between two points." (Kahlil Gibran)

"The path of Martial Arts begins and ends with courtesy. So be genuinely polite on every occasion." (Mas Oyama)

"To follow the path look to the master follow the master walk with the master see through the master become the master." (Jianzhi Sengcan)

"True budo is to discipline the self and to lose the will to fight  [...] It is to lose all enemies, and is an absolute path for self-completion. The martial techniques provide discipline for the journey of uniting the spirit and the body through channeling the laws of heaven. Techniques provide the medium for ‘Way’." (Morihei Ueshiba)

"Truth has no path. Truth is living and, therefore, changing. Awareness is without choice, without demand, without anxiety; in that state of mind, there is perception. To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person. Awareness has no frontier; it is giving of your whole being, without exclusion." (Bruce Lee)

"Whither will my path yet lead me? This path is stupid, it goes in spirals, perhaps in circles, but whichever way it goes, I will follow it." (Hermann Hesse)

🅿Week 2026-18: On Paths

"Many roads lead to the path, but basically there are only two: reason and practice." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"Those who remain unmoved by the wind of joy silently follow the Path." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"There are two modes of acquiring knowledge, namely, by reasoning and experience. Reasoning draws a conclusion and makes us grant the conclusion, but does not make the conclusion certain, nor does it remove doubt so that the mind may rest on the intuition of truth unless the mind discovers it by the path of experience." (Roger Bacon, "Opus Majus", 1267)

"There can be no self in practising the path of the unfabricated, the Treasury of Luminosity, or views of self at all. Self and views are different names for the same thing, the face of a ghost or the face of a spirit. There is just this luminosity. It is not a matter of establishing any opinions about anything at all, from the views of self and what belongs to self or to ideas about the Buddha and the Dharma." (Koun Ejo, "Kōmyōzō zanmai" ["The Practice of the Treasury of Luminosity"], cca 13th century)

"Samurai should always wish to keep to the righteous path and try not to fall into the way of depravity, no matter what happens. Those samurai who keep on with the right path will achieve high honours with the aid of Buddha and the gods, while those who have fallen into a corrupt way will naturally meet with misfortune and be laughed at by the people of the world." (Musha Monogatari, 1654)

"Genuine insight into one's True Nature only emerges in the midst of Great Doubt and Great Faith; it is not the result of accumulated learning and discrimination. When the time is ripe, it appears of itself. Following this ripening process step by step is the purpose of this book. It is relatively easy to accomplish the important matter of insight into one's True Nature, but uncommonly difficult to function freely and clearly (according to this understanding), in motion and in rest, in good and in adverse circumstances. Please make strenuous and vigorous efforts towards this end, otherwise all the teachings of Buddha and patriarchs become mere empty words, rather than the living Dharma. Tread the path of sincere practice with uninterrupted concentration, and once things have become clear, then it is the time to take up and penetrate the sayings (of the Sutras and Masters)." (Torei Enji, "The Inexhaustible Lamp", cca. 1800)

"The insights gained and garnered by the mind in its wanderings among basic concepts are benefits that theory can provide. Theory cannot equip the mind with formulas for solving problems, nor can it mark the narrow path on which the sole solution is supposed to lie by planting a hedge of principles on either side. But it can give the mind insight into the great mass of phenomena and of their relationships, then leave it free to rise into the higher realms of action." (Carl von Clausewitz, "On War", 1832)

"Simply stated, aikido is a budo open to all people who aspire to unify the ki of the universe with the ki of oneself. For all members of the human race, it is the path to attaining harmony with all beings. The gates of aikido are open to people of all ages, classes, sexes, nationalities and races. Non-discrimination and non-exclusiveness are basic characteristics of aikido." (Kisshomaru Ueshiba, "The Spirit of Aikido", 1981)

"Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question... Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use." (Carlos Castaneda, "The Teachings of Don Juan", 1968)

"Only as a warrior can one withstand the path of knowledge. A warrior cannot complain or regret anything. His life is an endless challenge, and challenges cannot possibly be good or bad. Challenges are simply challenges." (Carlos Castaneda, "The Teachings of Don Juan", 1968)

"The path of awakening begins with a step the Buddha called right understanding." (Jack Kornfield & Joseph Goldstein, "Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation", 1987)

"We are awakened to the profound realization that the true path to liberation is to let go of everything." (Jack Kornfield, "A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life", 1993)

"Acknowledging that sometimes, often at very crucial times, you really have no idea where you are going or even where the path lies. At the same time, you can very well know something about where you are now (even if it is knowing that you are lost, confused, enraged or without hope)." (Jon Kabat-Zinn, "Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness meditation for everyday life", 1994) 

"Meditation is simply about being yourself and knowing something about who that is. It is about coming to realize that you are on a path whether you like it or not, namely, the path that is your life. Meditation may help us see that this path we call our life has direction; that it is always unfolding, moment by moment; and that what happens now, in this moment, influences what happens next." (Jon Kabat-Zinn, "Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness meditation for everyday life", 1994)

"The spiritual path can only be traveled through the daily experience of love." (Paulo Coelho, "By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept", 1994)

"Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore, a warrior must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if he feels that he should not follow it, he must not stay with it under any conditions. His decision to keep on that path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition. He must look at every path closely and deliberately. There is a question that a warrior has to ask, mandatorily: 'Does this path have a heart?'" (Carlos Castaneda, "The Wheel of Time: The Shamans of Mexico Their Thoughts About Life", 1998)

"A prerequisite to progress on the path is to realize that you are ignorant." (Sheng Yen, "Song of Mind: Wisdom from the Zen Classic Xin Ming", 2004)

"What is truly a part of our spiritual path is that which brings us alive. If gardening brings us alive, that is part of our path, if it is music, if it is conversation [...] we must follow what brings us alive." (Jack Kornfield, "The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology", 2008)

"A path will be revealed only when you read a sutra with a warm heart and put its teachings into practice. Otherwise, a sutra has no value in life. It is no exaggeration to say that it will take more than a lifetime for a reader to carry out every recommendation in a book." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"There are essentially two paths to enlightenment. One path is art and the other path is religion. The two paths are closely interrelated." (Kazumi Tabata, "Mind Power: Secret Strategies for the Martial Arts", 2010)

"Every conscious thought you have, every moment you spend on an idea, is a commitment to be stuck with that idea and with aspects of that level of thinking, for the rest of your life. Spending just 10 seconds focusing on a topic that does not serve your interests is to invest your energy along a path that will continue to draw from you and define you." (Kevin Michel, "Moving Through Parallel Worlds to Achieve Your Dreams", 2013)

"Every conscious thought you have, every moment you spend on an idea, is a commitment to be stuck with that idea and with aspects of that level of thinking, for the rest of your life. Spending just 10 seconds focusing on a topic that does not serve your interests is to invest your energy along a path that will continue to draw from you and define you." (Kevin Michel, "Moving Through Parallel Worlds to Achieve Your Dreams", 2013)

"Our consciousness and awareness, which includes our choices as to where we place our focus, alters the paths of our lives, and creates a split in reality, leading to the creation of two or more worlds at any moment in time." (Kevin Michel, "Moving Through Parallel Worlds to Achieve Your Dreams", 2013)

"The subconscious mind is shielding or showing numerous potential paths, based on what it determines would represent a consistent reality for you." (Kevin Michel, "Moving Through Parallel Worlds to Achieve Your Dreams", 2013))