Week 2021-41: Ajahn Chah [Chah Subhaddo] - Collected Quotes

"Anything which is troubling you, anything which is irritating you, that is your teacher" (Ajahn Chah)

"Dharma is in your mind, not in the forest. Don't believe others, just listen to your mind. You don't have to go anywhere else. Wisdom is in yourself, just like a sweet ripe mango is already in a young green one." (Ajahn Chah)

"Do everything with a mind that lets go. Do not expect praise or reward." (Ajahn Chah)

"Do not be in a hurry or try to push your practice. If you become peaceful, then accept it,; if you don’t become peaceful, then accept that also. This is the nature of the mind. We must find our own practice and persevere." (Ajahn Chah)

"Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. What you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing." (Ajahn Chah)

"Don’t be attached to visions or lights in meditation, don’t rise or fall with them. What’s so great about brightness? My flashlight has it. It can’t help us rid ourselves of our suffering." (Ajahn Chah)

"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)

"Happiness and suffering do not depend on being poor or rich, they depend on having the right or wrong understanding in our mind." (Ajahn Chah)

"If you let go a little you will have a little happiness. If you let go a lot you will have a lot of happiness. If you let go completely you will be free." (Ajahn Chah)

"If you see certainty in that which is uncertain, you are bound to suffer." (Ajahn Chah)

"If you want to understand suffering you must look into the situation at hand. The teachings say that wherever a problem arises it must be settled right there. Where suffering lies is right where non-suffering will arise, it ceases at the place where it arises. If suffering arises you must contemplate right there, you don't have to run away. You should settle the issue right there. One who runs away from suffering out of fear is the most foolish person of all. He will simply increases his stupidity endlessly." (Ajahn Chah)

"If your mind is happy then you are happy anywhere you go.
When wisdom awakens within you, you will see Truth wherever you look.
Truth is all there is.
It's like when you learned how to read, you can then read anywhere you go." (Ajahn Chah)

"Just know what is happening in your mind - not happy or sad about it, not attached. If you suffer see it, know it, and be empty. It's like a letter - you have to open it before you can know what's in it." (Ajahn Chah)

"Learn to see that it is not things that bother us, that we go out to bother them. See the world as a mirror. It is all a reflection of the mind. When you know this, you can grow in every moment, and every experience reveals truth and brings understanding." (Ajahn Chah)

"Look at your own mind. The one who carries things thinks he's got things, but the one who looks on sees only the heaviness. Throw away things, lose them, and find lightness." (Ajahn Chah)

"Meditation is like a single log of wood. Insight and investigation are one end of the log; calm and concentration are the other end. If you lift up the whole log, both sides come up at once. Which is concentration and which is insight? Just this mind." (Ajahn Chah)

"Mental activity is like a deadly poisonous cobra. If we don't interfere with a cobra, how poisonous it may be, it simply goes its own away." (Ajahn Chah)

"Of course there are dozens of meditation techniques, but it all comes down to this - just let it all be. Step over here where it is cool, out of the battle. Why not give it a try?" (Ajahn Chah)

"Once you understand non-self, then the burden of life is gone. You'll be at peace with the world. When we see beyond self, we no longer cling to happiness and we can truly be happy. Learn to let go without struggle, simply let go, to be just as you are - no holding on, no attachment, free." (Ajahn Chah)

"One day some people came to the master and asked: How can you be happy in a world of such impermanence, where you cannot protect your loved ones from harm, illness or death? The master held up a glass and said: Someone gave me this glass; It holds my water admirably and it glistens in the sunlight. I touch it and it rings! One day the wind may blow it off the shelf, or my elbow may knock it from the table. I know this glass is already broken, so I enjoy it - incredibly." (Ajahn Chah)

"One man watches a river flow by. If he does not wish it to flow, to change ceaselessly in accord with its nature, he will suffer great pain. Another man understands that nature of the river is to change constantly, regardless of his likes and dislikes, and therefore he does not suffer. To know existence as this flow, empty of lasting pleasure, void of self, is to find that which is stable and free of suffering, to find true peace in the world." (Ajahn Chah)

"Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher. Where you experience suffering, you can also find freedom from suffering. Trying to run away from suffering is actually to run toward it." (Ajahn Chah)

"Proper effort is not the effort to make something particular happen. It is the effort to be aware and awake each moment, the effort to overcome laziness and merit, the effort to make each activity of our day meditation." (Ajahn Chah)

"Read yourself, not books. Truth isn't outside, that's only memory, not wisdom. Memory without wisdom is like an empty thermos bottle - if you don't fill it, it's useless." (Ajahn Chah)

"Regarding this Dhamma, it is not something that we can simply talk about or take another's word for it. We need to develop meditation so that the understanding arises clearly within oneself. It is not the case that merely by listening to another's explanation our defilements will disappear. When we gain some understanding we need to chew on it again so that we see it for ourselves with certainty: paccattam." (Ajahn Chah)

"Remember you don't meditate to get anything, but to get rid of things. We do it, not with desire, but with letting go. If you want anything, you wont find it." (Ajahn Chah)

"The Dhamma has to be found by looking into your own heart and seeing that which is true and that which is not, that which is balanced and that which is not balanced." (Ajahn Chah)

"The Dhamma has to sink deeply into the mind so that whatever we do, the mind has always goodness within it. All the ways of making merit are aiming at this. Goodness lies in the right view that is established in the mind. Then we don't have to celebrate it or let anybody know about it, simply let the mind have firm confidence in the goodness and keep going like this." (Ajahn Chah)

"The Dhamma is revealing itself in every moment, but only when the mind is quiet can we understand what it is saying, for the Dhamma teaches without words." (Ajahn Chah)

"The forest is peaceful, why aren’t you? You hold on to things causing your confusion. Let nature teach you. Hear the bird’s song then let go. If you know nature, you’ll know truth. If you know truth, you’ll know nature." (Ajahn Chah)

"The mind of one who practices doesn't run away anywhere, it stays right there. Good, evil, happiness and unhappiness, right and wrong arise, and he knows them all. The meditator simply knows them, they don't enter his mind. That is, he has no clinging. He is simply the experiencer." (Ajahn Chah)

"The serene and peaceful mind is the true epitome of human achievement." (Ajahn Chah)

"There are people who are born and die and never once are aware of their breath going in and out of their body. That's how far away they live from themselves." (Ajahn Chah)

"There are two kinds of suffering. There is the suffering you run away from, which follows you everywhere. And there is the suffering you face directly, and so become free." (Ajahn Chah)

"These days people don't search for the Truth. People study simply in order to find knowledge necessary to make a living, raise families and look after themselves, that's all. To them, being smart is more important than being wise!" (Ajahn Chah)

"Things are simply the way they are. They don't give us suffering. Like a thorn: Does a sharp thorn give us suffering? No. It's simply a thorn. It doesn't give suffering to anybody. If we step on it, we suffer immediately.
Why do we suffer? Because we stepped on it. So the suffering comes from us." (Ajahn Chah)

"To define Buddhism without a lot of words and phrases, we can simply say, 'Don't cling or hold on to anything. Harmonize with actuality, with things as they are.'" (Ajahn Chah)

"To observe and watch one's own mind is something really interesting. The untrained mind will run and follow its old habit patterns. Because it has not been trained and taught, it will get lost in all kinds of stories and issues. Therefore we have to train our mind. The meditation practice in Buddhism is all about training one's own mind." (Ajahn Chah)

"Try to be mindful, and let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool. All kinds of wonderful, rare animals will come to drink at the pool, and you will clearly see the nature of all things. You will see many strange and wonderful things come and go, but you will be still. This is the happiness of the Buddha." (Ajahn Chah)

"We don't meditate to see heaven, but to end suffering." (Ajahn Chah)

"We have limited time in our life, therefore we should try to teach ourselves, not to teach others. We should conquer ourselves, rather than conquer others. Whether coming or going, standing, sitting or lying down, our mind should be focused in this way. If we practice like this and develop mindfulness continuously, wisdom arises quickly and this is a fast way of practice." (Ajahn Chah)

"We practice to learn how to let go, not how to increase our holding on to things. Enlightenment appears when you stop wanting anything." (Ajahn Chah)

"When the heart truly understands, it lets go of everything." (Ajahn Chah)

"When we conquer ourselves, then everything will be conquered: oneself, others, and all the sense objects as well, coming in by way of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body - it will all get conquered like this." (Ajahn Chah)

"When we sit in meditation and hear a sound, we think, 'Oh, that sound's bothering me.' If we see it like this, we suffer. But if we investigate a little deeper, we see that the sound is simply sound. If we understand like this, then there's nothing more to it. We leave it be. The sound is just sound, why should you go and grab it? You see that actually it was you who went out and disturbed the sound." (Ajahn Chah)

"When we see beyond self, we no longer cling to happiness. And when we stop clinging, we can begin to be happy." (Ajahn Chah)

"Where does peace arise? Peace arises whenever we let something go." (Ajahn Chah)

"Wisdom is in yourself, just like a sweet ripe mango is already in a young green one." (Ajahn Chah)

"With even a little intuitive wisdom we will be able to see clearly the ways of the world. We will come to understand that everything in the world is our teacher." (Ajahn Chah)

"You are your own teacher. Looking for teachers can’t solve your own doubts. Investigate yourself to find the truth - inside, not outside. Knowing yourself is most important." (Ajahn Chah)

"You say that you are too busy to meditate. Do you have time to breathe? Meditation is your breath. Why do you have time to breathe but not to meditate? Breathing is something vital to peoples lives. If you see that Dhamma practice is vital to your life, then you will feel that breathing and practicing the Dhamma are equally important." (Ajahn Chah)

Week 2021-40: Shido Bunan - Collected Quotes

"If we know how to practice Zazen without actually sitting,
What obstacles should there be,
Blocking the Way to Buddhahood?" (Shido Bunan)

"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)

"It is easy to keep things at a distance; it is hard to be naturally beyond them." (Shido Bunan)

"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)

"People see others in terms of themselves. The vision of fools is dreadful. If there is ambition in oneself, one will see others on the basis of that frame of mind. He who lusts looks with lust. Unless one is a sage, seeing is dangerous. Even though there are people on the great way, people who can see and know are rare. What a waste. A wise man discerns the potential of others, though they may not be equal to him, and makes use of their level of understanding." (Shido Bunan)

"There are no mountains to enter outside of mind, making the unknown your hiding place." (Shido Bunan)

"To acquiesce to the teaching of enlightenment, as it is, directly abandon all things, merge with the body of thusness and experience peerless peace and bliss, is no more than a matter of whether or not you think of the body. Although there are people who think this teaching is true, it's hard to find someone who strives to make it his own." (Shido Bunan)

"While deluded, one is used by this body; when enlightened, one uses this body." (Shido Bunan)

Week 2021-39: Ta-hui Tsung-kao [Dahui Zonggao] - Collected Quotes

"If one achieves a genuine breakthrough, then [one realizes that ] a Confucian is no different from a Buddhist, and a Buddhist is no different from a Confucian; a monk is no different from a layman, and a layman is no different from a monk; an ordinary man is no different from a sage, and a sage is no different from an ordinary man. [In fact] I am you and you are I; Heaven is earth and earth is Heaven; waves are the same as water, and water is no different from waves. Kumis and rich butter are but one taste; bracelets and hairpins are all melted from gold [...] When you reach this state, you are in control of everything." (Ta-hui Tsung-kao)

"In training ourselves to solve koan, we should neither make guesses or comments nor try to understand them. It is unnecessary to know the meanings of the words or justify our attitudes toward the koan presented to us. On the contrary, we should neither be empty and tranquil nor expect to be enlightened. It is still worse to be absent-minded. Whether we walk, dwell, sit, or lie down, we should always be one with the koan and try to keep in touch with them all the time." (Ta-hui Tsung-kao)

"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)

"When you stabilize the activities of the discursive mind and consciousness, when not even one thought stirs, this is the true enlightenment. With this correct state of mind, you can function freely during the twenty-four hours of the day. Smelling flowers, tasting food, sitting still or walking around - whether you are engaged in activity or not, your mind is always bright and undisturbed. You are naturally free from distorted views. Thus your mind is always pure whether you have thought or not. Therefore, when you act, this is the function (yung) of this deep and luminous Mind, and when you rest, this is then the essence (t'i) of the same Mind. Even though there is a difference between essence and function, 'the Mind is still the one and the same." (Ta-hui Tsung-kao)

"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)])

"You should always be one with everything instead of deviating, and must be awakened to your true self in your daily life while walking, standing, sitting, and lying down."  (Ta-hui Tsung-kao)

"You should straightforwardly leap out of the duality of birth and death with one bound." (Ta-hui Tsung-kao)

Week 2021-37: Koun Ejo - Collected Quotes

"Deep practice of the Way requires tireless exertion and confidence in what is true. Unless you join the Lineage of the Buddhas life after life, how can you understand anything that I say at all? Do not move away from it." (Koun Ejo, "Komyozo-Zanmai" ["Samadhi of the Treasury of the Radiant Light", 13th century)

"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)

"Even in the midst of change, the Light is not hindered by it. Forests, flowers, grass, and leaves; human beings or animals, big or small, long or short, square or round: all manifest themselves simultaneously, independent of discriminating thoughts or will." (Koun Ejo, "Komyozo-Zanmai" ["Samadhi of the Treasury of the Radiant Light", 13th century)

"Just sit as if you were the boundless empty sky or a ball of fire. Trust everything to the inhalation and exhalation. Even if eighty-four thousand idle thoughts arise, each and every one may become the Light of prajna (undiscriminating wisdom) if you do not pay them any attention and simply let them go." (Koun Ejo, "Komyozo-Zanmai" ["Samadhi of the Treasury of the Radiant Light", 13th century)

"Not only in sitting, but every step you take is the movement of the Light. Step after step, no discrimination… To inhale or to exhale, to listen or to touch, being without thoughts and discrimination is nothing other than the tranquil illumination of the Light in which body and mind are one. Therefore, when someone calls, you answer. This is the Light in which ordinary people and sages, the deluded and the enlightened, are one." (Koun Ejo, "Komyozo-Zanmai" ["Samadhi of the Treasury of the Radiant Light", 13th century)

"Those who follow conventional views believe that what is illusory is real, what is transient is permanent, and so they are concerned only with gain and loss and coarse profit. Their lives are like candles in the wind and yet they place their trust in what is uncertain even for tomorrow. Breathing out does not mean that you will necessarily breath in again. And so they are filled with glee and despair at momentary changes." (Koun Ejo, "Komyozo-Zanmai" ["Samadhi of the Treasury of the Radiant Light", 13th century)

"You students, are you trying to learn zazen or are you trying to learn sitting Buddhahood? If you are learning zazen, Zen is not sitting and lying down. If you are learning sitting Buddhahood, Buddha is not a fixed form. According to the teaching of non-attachment or non-settling down, you should not adopt this or reject that. You students, if you try to become a sitting Buddha you kill the Buddha, and if you become attached to sitting you will not reach that principle." (Koun Ejo)

"You students! Are you trying to learn zazen or are you trying to become a Buddha? If you are trying to learn zazen, you must not be taken up by the form called 'sitting' because Zen is something beyond sitting and lying down. Again, if you say you are trying to become a Buddha, you cannot become a captive to the one set form called 'sitting' because Buddha is something absolute."  (Koun Ejo)

Resources:
[1] Koun Ejo, "Komyozo-Zanmai" ["Samadhi of the Treasury of the Radiant Light", 13th century [link]

Week 2021-36: Toshitsugu Takamatsu - Collected Quotes

"As the sennin lives on wonderful pictures of Mother Nature and makes the singing of birds and the sight of animals his mental food, so do the ninja." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"Being natural is the ultimate secret of our art." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"Develop a Zen spirit and understand its implications. Become aware of sincerity and faith. Self-reflection and self-realization, then thankfulness and benevolence, are to be pursued." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"Even when you are faced with certain death, die laughing." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"For taijutsu, the flexibility of the legs is the most important factor, not the strength of the legs." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"'How difficult is life when one is not surprised by anything and laughing every day? " (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"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)

"If an expert in the fighting arts sincerely pursues the essence of ninjutsu, devoid of the influences of the ego’s desires, the student will progressively come to realize the ultimate secret for becoming invincible - the attainment of the ‘mind and eyes of god’." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"Ninja should have the benevolence to protect men of justice since there are lots of good and respectable people in the world." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"Supernatural power is not a skill or trick. It exists in your heart, in your sincerity. Religion is the same, too." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"The heart of taijutsu is important and only through training will one polish that heart (like a gem) and understand true taijutsu." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"The ninja should dedicate themselves to sincerity and justice." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"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 true value of Budo is to train the mind to see clearly and maintain spiritual strength." (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)

"The way to experience ultimate happiness is to let go of all worries and regrets, and to know that being happy is the most satisfying of life's feelings. Reflect back on all the progress in your life and allow the positive, creative and joyous thoughts to outshine and overwhelm any sorrow or grief that may linger in the recesses of your mind. Knowing that disease and disaster are natural parts of life is the key to overcoming adversity with a calm and happy spirit. Happiness is waiting there in front of you. Only you can decide whether or not you choose to experience it. Take this to heart." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"[...] the enemy who stands against the laws of nature has lost his battle before he begins the fight. The first priority to the ninja was to win without fighting." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

"What matters in a text is read between the lines in the spaces between the words." (Toshitsugu Takamatsu)

Week 2021-34: Wisdom is...

"Knowledge is a function of intellect while wisdom is a function of being." (D Trinidad Hunt)

"Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; wisdom is humble that he knows no more." (William Cowper)

"Knowledge is realizing that the street is one-way, wisdom is looking both directions anyway." (Amelia Walker)

"Wisdom is found only in truth." (Johann von Goethe)

"Wisdom is letting go of something every day." (Zen saying)

"Wisdom is learning to let go when you want to hang on. Courage is learning to hang on when you want to let go." (Mark Amend)

"Wisdom is like gold; it is useless if no one will accept it from you." (Geoffrey N Pyke, 1931) 

"Wisdom is knowing I am nothing, love is knowing I am everything, and between the two my life moves." (Nisargadatta Mahraj)

"Wisdom is knowing in depth the great metaphors of meaning." (Carl G Jung)

"Wisdom is knowing what to do next." (David S Jordan)

"Wisdom is knowledge of principles and causes." (Robert Hutchins)

"Wisdom is not a wisdom at all, if it comes too late." (Aristotle)

"Wisdom is nothing more than healed pain." (Robert E Lee)

"Wisdom is nothing more than common sense refined by learning and experience." (Zhuge Liang)

"Wisdom is simply this: to do the next thing that has to be done, to do it with all your heart, and to take delight in doing it." (Meister Eckhardt)

"Wisdom is the right use of knowledge." (Charles H Spurgeon)

"Wisdom is the best guide and faith is the best companion." Dalai Lama

"Wisdom is the lesson learned, applied.”  (Rick Beneteau)

"Wisdom is the most important part of happiness." (Sophocles)

"Wisdom is the power to put our time and our knowledge to the proper use." (Thimas J Watson

"Wisdom is the ability to gather knowledge and adapt it to new situations. In other words, wisdom is knowing when, where and how to apply knowledge. It is knowledge at a deeper level." (David Green)

"True wisdom is less presuming than folly. The wise man doubteth often, and changeth his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubteth not; he knoweth all things but his own ignorance." (Akhenaton)

Week 2021-33: Happiness is...

"Happiness is a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you." (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

"Happiness is a by-product of an effort to make someone else happy." (Gretta B Palmer)

"Happiness is a by-product of helping others." (Denny Miller)

"Happiness is a function of accepting what is." (Werner Erhard)

"Happiness is a habit – cultivate it." (Elbert Hubbard)

"Happiness is a mystery like religion, and it should never be rationalized." (G K Chesterton)

"Happiness is a perfume you can't pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself." (Ralph W Emerson)

"Happiness is a result of the relative strengths of positive and negative feelings, rather than an absolute amount of one or the other." (Norman Bradburn)

"Happiness is a small and unworthy goal for something as big and fancy as a whole lifetime, and should be taken in small doses." (Russell Baker)

"Happiness is a state of mind where pleasure and pain caused by attachment do not exist." (Baba Hari Das)

"Happiness is a sunbeam, which may pass through a thousand bosoms without losing a particle of its original ray; nay, when it strikes on a kindred heart, like the converged light on a mirror; it reflects itself with redoubled brightness. It is not perfected till it is shared." (Jane Porter)

"Happiness is a Swedish sunset; it is there for all, but most of us look the other way and lose it." (Mark Twain)

"Happiness is a way station between too little and too much." (Channing Pollock)

"Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story." (Lev Tolstoy)

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

"Happiness is attained by three things: being patient when tested, being thankful when receiving a blessing, and being repentant upon sinning." (Ibn al-Qayyim)

"Happiness is composed of misfortunes avoided." (Alphonse Karr)

"Happiness is essentially a state of going somewhere, wholeheartedly, one-directionally, without regret or reservation." (William H Sheldon)

"Happiness is experienced when your life gives you what you are willing to accept." (Ken Keyes, Jr.)

"Happiness is good health and a bad memory." (Ingrid Bergman)

"Happiness is having a sense of self, not a feeling of being perfect, but of being good enough and knowing that you are in the process of growth, of being, of achieving levels of joy. It’s a wonderful contentment and acceptance of who and what you are and a knowledge that the world and life are full of wondrous adventures and possibilities." (Leo Buscaglia)

"Happiness is having the freedom to be yourself." (Hilary Swank)

"Happiness is in the taste, and not in the things themselves; we are happy from possessing what we like, not from possessing what others like." (Francois de La Rochefoucauld)

"Happiness is itself a kind of gratitude." (Joseph Wood Krutch)

"Happiness is like a cat. If you try to coax it or call it, it will avoid you. It will never come. But if you pay no attention to it and go about your business, you'll find it rubbing against your legs and jumping into your lap." (William Bennett)

"Happiness is like a kiss. You must share it to enjoy it." (Bernard Meltzer)

"Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it." (Alexandre Dumas)

"Happiness is like time and space - we make and measure it ourselves; it is as fancy, as big, as little, as you please, just a thing of contrasts and comparisons." (George du Marier)

"Happiness is lived in the pursuit of it, not the achievement thereof" (Thomas Jefferson)

"Happiness is mostly a by-product of doing what makes us feel fulfilled." (Dr. Benjamin Spock)

"Happiness is never stopping to think if you are." (Palmer Sondreal)

"Happiness is not a goal, it is a byproduct." (Eleanor Roosevelt)

"Happiness is not a horse, you cannot harness it." (Chinese proverb)

"Happiness is not a matter of events, it depends upon the tides of the mind." (Alice Meynell)

"Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony." (Thomas Merton)

"Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling." (Margaret L Runback)

"Happiness is not being pained in body nor troubled in mind." (Thomas Jefferson)

"Happiness is not being pained in body, or troubled in mind." (Thomas Jefferson)

"Happiness is not in our circumstances, but in ourselves. It is not something we see, like a rainbow, or feel, like the heat of a fire. Happiness is something we are." (John B Sheerin)

"Happiness is not perfected until it is shared." (Jane Porter)

"Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." (Norman MacEwan)

"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions." (Dalai Lama)

"Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present." (Jim Rohn)

"Happiness is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it." (Anon)

"Happiness is not the end of life; character is." (Henry W Beecher)

"Happiness is pleasure without regret" (Lev Tolstoy)

"Happiness is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day." (Benjamin Franklin)

"Happiness is something we reap from the seeds we sow. Plant misery seeds and that us what you reap." Stephen Richards, "Think Your way to Success: Let Your Dreams Run Free")

"Happiness is something you get as a by-product in the process of making something else." (Aldous Huxley)

"Happiness is strange; it comes when you are not seeking it. When you are not making an effort to be happy, then unexpectedly, mysteriously, happiness is there, born of purity, of a loveliness of being." (Jiddu Krishnamurti)

"Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values." (Ayn Rand)

"Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness." (Zhuangzi)

"Happiness is the cheapest thing in the world [...] when we buy it for someone else." (Paul Flemming)

"Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence." (Aristotle)

"Happiness is the natural flower of duty." (Phillips Brooks)

"Happiness is the offspring of concentrated action." (Robin S. Sharma)

"Happiness is the only sanction in life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment." (George Santayana)

"Happiness is the overcoming of not Difficulties exist to be surmounted, unknown obstacles toward a known" (Ralph W Emerson)

"Happiness is the overcoming of not unknown obstacles toward a known goal." (L Ron Hubbard)

"Happiness is the space between unhappiness." (Don Marquis)

"Happiness is to be found along the way, not at the end of the road, for then the journey is over and it is too late." (Robert R Updegraff)

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." (Mahatma Gandhi)

"Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside." (Sri Ramana Maharashi)

"Happiness isn’t about what happens to us - it’s about how we perceive what happens to us. It’s the knack of finding a positive for every negative, and viewing a setback as a challenge." (Lynn Peters)

"I know well that happiness is in little things." (John Ruskin)

"If all our happiness is bound up entirely in our personal circumstances, it is difficult not to demand of life more than it has to give." (Bertrand Russell)

"If thou suffer injustice, console thyself; the true unhappiness is in doing it." (Democritus)

"In all climates, under all skies, man's happiness is always somewhere else." (Giacomo Leopardi)

"Life’s greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved." (Victor Hugo)

"Perfect happiness is the absence of striving for happiness." (Chuang-Tse)

"Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit." (Hosea Ballou)

"What we call happiness is what we do not know." (Anatole France)

Week 2021-32: Education's Goals

"The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values." (William R Inge)

"The business of education is not to make the young perfect in any one of the sciences, but so to open their minds as may best make them capable of any, when they shall apply themselves to it." (John Locke)

"The chief object of education is not to learn but to unlearn."  (G K Chesterton)

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education." (Martin L King, Jr.)

"The goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover, to create men who are capable of doing new things." (Jean Piaget)

"The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth." (John F Kennedy)

"The great aim of education is not knowledge but action." (Herbert Spencer)

"The most important outcome of education is to help students to become independent of formal education." (Paul E Gray)

"The object of education is not only to produce a man who knows, but one who does; who makes his mark in the straggle of life and succeeds well in whatever he undertakes: who can solve the problems of nature and of humanity as they arise, and who, when he knows he is right, can boldly convince the world of the fact." (Henry A Rowland)

"The object of education is to give man the unity of truth." (Rabindranath Tagore)

"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives." (Robert M Hutchins)

"The object of education is to teach us to love what is beautiful." (Plato, "The Republic")

"The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done – men who are creative, inventive and discoverers." (Jean Piaget)

"The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows." (Sydney J Harris)

Week 2021-31: Education is...

"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)

"Education is habit-forming rather than information; illumination rather than indoctrination, inspiration rather than compulsion." (Edwin G Conklin, "Science in the World Crisis", 1939)

"Education is a set of analogies to a genuinely human existence, of which the arts are the model." (Northrop Frye, "Notebooks and Lectures on the Bible and Other Religious Texts", 2003)

 "[…] education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being." (Maria Montessori)

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

"An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't." (Anatole France)

"Education is a method by which one acquires a higher grade of prejudices."  (Laurence J Peter)

"Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance." (Will Durant)

"Education is not learning, but the training of the mind that it may learn." (Sir William W Gull)

"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself." (John Dewey)

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lightning of a fire." (William B Yeats)

"Education is not the piling on of learning, information, data, facts, skills, or abilities - that's training or instruction - but is rather making visible what is hidden as a seed." (Thomas W Moore)

"Education is not training but rather the process that equips you to entertain yourself, a friend and an idea." (Wallace Sterling)

"Education is one of the chief obstacles to intelligence and freedom of thought." (Bertrand Russel)

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

"Education is teaching our children to desire the right things." (Plato)

"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence." (Robert Frost)

"Education is the apprenticeship of life." (Robert A Willmott)

"Education is the art of making man ethical." (Georg W F Hegel)

"Education is the best provision for old age." (Aristotle)

"Education is the best way to train ourselves that we will secure our own well-being by concerning ourselves with others." (Dalai Lama)

"Education is the inculcation of the incomprehensible into the indifferent by the incompetent." (John M Keynes)

"Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom." (George W Carver)

"Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man." (Swami Vivekananda)

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." (Nelson Mandela)

"Education is the movement from darkness to light." (Allan Bloom)

"Education is the only quality which remains after we have forgotten all we have learned." (VoItaire)

"Education is the power to think clearly, the power to act well in the world's work, and the power to appreciate life." (Brigham Young)

"Education is the process of casting false pearls before real swine." (Irwin Edman)

"Self-education is a continuing source of pleasure to me, for the more I know, the fuller my life is and the better I appreciate my own existence" (Isaac Asimov)

"Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is. The only function of a school is to make self-education easier; failing that, it does nothing." (Isaac Asimov)

"The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence." (Rabindranath Tagore)

Week 2021-30: On Letting go

"All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on." (Havelock Ellis)

"By letting go it all gets done." (Lao Tzu)

"Hanashi, 'letting go' means that when one strategy does not work you let go of it and try something new." (Frederick J Loveret, "The Way and the Power: Secrets of Japanese Strategy", 1987)

"It is wisdom that enables letting go of a lesser happiness in pursuit of a happiness which is greater." (Dhammapada)

"Knowledge is learning something every day. Wisdom is letting go of something every day." (Zen saying)

"Letting go doesn't mean that you don't care about someone anymore. It's just realizing that the only person you really have control over is yourself." (Deborah Reber)

"Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

"Meditation is a skillful letting go: gently but with resolution." (Ajahn Sumedho)

"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)

"Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go." (Herman Hesse)

"Waking up to who you are requires letting go of who you imagine yourself to be." (Alan Watts)

Week 2021-29: On Mastery

"A man who has attained mastery of an art reveals it in his every action." (samurai maxim)

"A master is one who returns day after day to the basic techniques and fundamentals. Mastery is a matter of daily struggle to perfect the simplest of techniques and ideas." (maxim)

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

"If you seek mastery of the sword, seek first sincerity of the heart, for the former is but a reflection of the latter." (Iwakura Yoshinori)

"Learning to deal with setbacks, and maintaining the persistence and optimism necessary for childhood’s long road to mastery are the real foundations of lasting self-esteem." (Lilian G Katz)

"Mastery of self, or 'self-sufficiency', leads to both happiness and freedom but requires constant practice and training in the face of adversity." (Diogenes of Sinope)

"Softness triumphs over hardness, feebleness over strength. What is more malleable is always superior over that which is immoveable. This is the principle of controlling things by going along with them, of mastery through adaptation." (Lao-Tzu)

"Technical skill is mastery of complexity.  Creativity is mastery of simplicity." (Erik C Zeeman)

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

"The path of the Warrior is lifelong, and mastery is often simply staying on the path." (Richard S Heckler)

"The self is the friend of a man who masters himself through the self, but for a man without self-mastery, the self is like an enemy at war." (Bhagavad Gita)

"Without self-mastery he has no understanding of inner power; without inner power, he has no peace; and without peace, where is joy?" (Bhagavad Gita)

Week 2021- 28: On Meditation

"A strong mind is a mind that does not suffer from boredom, frustration, depression, or unhappiness. It has learned to drop what it doesn't want. Meditation practice has given it the necessary muscles." (Kamal Sarma)

"Eventually, meditation will make our mind calm, clear, and as concentrated as a laser which we can focus at will. This capacity of one-pointed attention is the essence of genius. When we have this mastery over attention in everything we do, we have a genius for life." (Eknath Easwaran)

"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)

"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)

"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 more we meditate the more we become aware of the things going on in mind and can rest in this experience." (Lawrence Ellyard)

"Through meditation we can learn simple exercises to help us understand and control our thinking. We can learn to gain access to powers of spirit that connect us to realms of higher thinking and knowledge. Most importantly, we can learn the balance of mind and spirit that is so necessary to make life enjoyable and fruitful." (Randolph Winters)

"When mind knows, we call it knowledge. When heart knows, we call it love. And when being knows, we call it meditation." (Osho)

"When we let go of wanting something else to happen in this moment, we are taking a profound step toward being able to encounter what is here now. If we hope to go anywhere or develop ourselves in any way, we can only step from where we are standing. If we don't really know where we are standing—a knowing that comes directly from the cultivation of mindfulness—we may only go in circles, for all our efforts and expectations. So, in meditation practice, the best way to get somewhere is to let go of trying to get anywhere at all." (Jon Kabat-Zinn)

"When you have achieved a state of deep meditation, you unlock the door to your subconscious mind. That is where your power to create the life you desire lies." (Adrian Calabrese)

Week 2021-27: Meditation is ...

"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)

"In fact, the view is to look at one's own mind. Meditation is not to stray from that. Action is not to be separated from that. The fruit is to actualize that. When looking there is nothing to be looked at appearances are mind itself. When meditating there is nothing to meditate on-awareness is self-luminous. When acting there is nothing to act out-action is spontaneous. There is no fruit to accomplish - one's own mind is the buddha." (Rangjung Dorje)

"It's helpful to remind yourself that meditation is about opening and relaxing with whatever arises, without picking and choosing." (Pema Chodron)

"Meditation does not imply only the development of single-pointed concentration, sitting in some corner doing nothing. Meditation is an alert state of mind, the opposite of sluggishness; meditation is wisdom. You should remain aware every moment of your daily life, fully conscious of what you are doing and how you are doing it." (Lama Yeshe)

"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 N Hanh)

"Meditation is not the pursuit of pleasure and the search for happiness. Meditation, on the contrary, is a state of mind in which there is no concept or formula, and therefore total freedom. It is only to such a mind that this bliss comes unsought and uninvited. Once it is there, though you may live in the world with all its noise, pleasure and brutality, they will not touch that mind." (Jiddu Krishnamurti)

"Meditation is not to escape from society, but to come back to ourselves and see what is going on. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. With mindfulness, we know what to do and what not to do to help." (Thich Nhat Hahn)

"Meditation is nothing but an effort to look at reality without the thinking mind - because that is the only way to see reality. If thinking is there it distorts, it corrupts. Drop the thinking mind and see reality - direct, immediate, face to face. And then there is no problem." (Osho)

"Meditation is not about finding the self - quite the contrary: it is about finding one's way beyond the self. Meditation is also not about 'expanding the mind'. It is instead about clearing away clutter created by the mind." (David M White)

"Meditation is not to escape from society, but to come back to ourselves and see what is going on. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. With mindfulness, we know what to do and what not to do to help." (Thich N Hahn)

"Meditation is simply getting to know your mind." (Dzogchen Ponlop)

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

"Meditation is the way we realize the nature of the mind." (Lama Yeshe)

"The art of meditation is neither mindless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive." (Alan Watts)

"The spirit world is able to get through to you easily when your mind is still and clear. Meditation is often referred to as 'sitting in the silence.' Whenever you want to reach Spirit from this side of life, start by sitting in the silence." (James Van Praagh)

"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)

"Thinking is the natural activity of the mind. Meditation is not about stopping your thoughts. Meditation is simply a process of resting the mind in its natural state, which is open to and naturally aware of thoughts, emotions, and sensations as they occur." (Yongey Rinpoche Mingyur & Eric Swanson)

"When the mind, clear and ungraspable like the sky, does not fall into partiality-this is the view. When the mind, self-aware and self-luminous like a mirror, is free from bright and dim - this is meditation. When the mind, uncontrived and natural like a child, is without negation or assertion-this is action." (Dagpo Rinpoche)

Week 2021-26: On Mindfulness

"Mindfulness is Buddha's word for meditation. By mindfulness he means: you should always remain alert, watchful. You should always remain present. Not a single thing should be done in a sort of sleepy state of mind. You should not move like a somnambulist, you should move with a sharp consciousness." (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, "The Discipline of Transcendence: Discourses on the Forty-two Sutras of Buddha", 1978)

"Concentration is a cornerstone of mindfulness practice. Your mindfulness will only be as robust as the capacity of your mind to be calm and stable. Without calmness, the mirror of mindfulness will have an agitated and choppy surface and will not be able to reflect things with any accuracy." (Jon Kabat-Zinn, "Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness meditation for everyday life", 1994)

"Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally." (Jon Kabat-Zinn, "Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness meditation for everyday life", 1994)

"The best way to capture moments is to pay attention. This is how we cultivate mindfulness. Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing." (Jon Kabat-Zinn, "Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness meditation for everyday life", 1994)

"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)

"Mindfulness was experienced as not holding onto the past, the future, or 'nowness:' but relaxing into the immediacy of whatever was happening." (B Alan Wallace, "Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism, and Christianity", 2009)

"As long as we have practiced neither concentration nor mindfulness, the ego takes itself for granted and remains its usual normal size, as big as the people around one will allow." (Ayya Khema)

"Concentration, and mindfulness are the internal ways in which the mind restores itself from being out of balance and lost in confusion to a condition of ease, clarity, and wisdom." (Sylvia Boorstein)

"Do not regard thoughts as something to be abandoned and do not deliberately create nonconceptuality. Place the watcher of mindfulness and you will arrive at the practice of calm abiding." (Gyalwa Yangonpa)

"Fundamentally mindfulness is a simple concept. Its power lies in its practice and its applications. Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally. This kind of attention nurtures greater awareness, clarity, and acceptance of present-moment reality. It wakes us up to the fact that our lives unfold only in moments. If we are not fully present for many of those moments, we may not only miss what is most valuable in our lives but also fail to realize the richness and the depth of our possibilities for growth, and transformation." (Jon Kabat-Zinn)

"In the practice of Dhamma all we need is mindfulness. Everything in the world will then become clear." (Ajahn Bua Siripuñño)

"If you know how to practice mindfulness you can generate peace and joy right here, right now. And you'll appreciate that and it will change you. In the beginning, you believe that if you cannot become number one, you cannot be happy, but if you practice mindfulness you will readily release that kind of idea. We need not fear that mindfulness might become only a means and not an end because in mindfulness the means and the end are the same thing. There is no way to happiness; happiness is the way." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

"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) 

"Meditation is not to escape from society, but to come back to ourselves and see what is going on. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. With mindfulness, we know what to do and what not to do to help." (Thich Nhat Hahn)

"Mindfulness and compassion actually develop at the same pace. The more mindful you become, the easier you’ll find it to be compassionate. And the more you open your heart to others, the more mindful you become in all your activities." (Mingyur Rinpoche)

"Mindfulness can be cultivated by paying attention in a specific way, that is, in the present moment, and as non-reactively, nonjudgmentally and openheartedly as possible." (Jon Kabat-Zinn)

"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)

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

"Now what, monks, is the Noble Eightfold Path? [It is] as follows: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration." (Magga-vibhanga Sutta)

"The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

"True mindfulness is the awareness that everything you encounter is a vigorous expression of the same living universe as you." (Brad Warner)

"We are all connected. When you touch one thing, you are touching everything. Whatever we do has an effect on others. Therefore, we must learn to live mindfully to touch the peace inside each of us. Peace in the world starts with peace in oneself. If everyone lives mindfully, everyone will be more healthy, feel more fulfilled in their daily lives and there will be more peace. This collective mindfulness can bring positive change to our families, organizations, communities, nations and future generations." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

"When mental involvement in purity and impurity is ended, the mind does not dwell in bondage or liberation; it has no mindfulness of striving or nonstriving, or of bondage or liberation." (Pai-chang)

"When we let go of wanting something else to happen in this moment, we are taking a profound step toward being able to encounter what is here now. If we hope to go anywhere or develop ourselves in any way, we can only step from where we are standing. If we don't really know where we are standing - a knowing that comes directly from the cultivation of mindfulness - we may only go in circles, for all our efforts and expectations. So, in meditation practice, the best way to get somewhere is to let go of trying to get anywhere at all." (Jon Kabat-Zinn)

Week 2021-25: On Mind (The Spiritual Mind)

"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)

"Most mistakes in philosophy and logic occur because the human mind is apt to take the symbol for the reality." (Albert Einstein, "Cosmic Religion: With Other Opinions and Aphorisms" , 1931) 

"Peace of mind is that mental condition in which you have accepted the worst." (Lin Yutang, "The Importance of Living", 1937)

"The limits of thought are not so much set from outside, by the fullness or poverty of experiences that meet the mind, as from within, by the power of conception, the wealth of formulative notions with which the mind meets experiences." (Susanne Langer, "Philosophy in a New Key: A Study in the Symbolism of Reason, Rite, and Art", 1942) 

"A single word from you will show the mind inside; a single word and your whole being is exposed. Not even a word is needed; just a gesture and your chattering mind will be there. Even if you are silent, your silence will not reveal anything other than the chattering monkey within." (Osho, "Hsin Hsin Ming: The Book of Nothing", [talks] 1974)

"The mind cannot be healthy because it can never be whole. Mind is always divided; division is its base." (Osho, "Hsin Hsin Ming: The Book of Nothing", [talks] 1974)

"The untrapped mind is open enough to see many possibilities, humble enough to learn from anyone and anything, forbearing enough to forgive all, perceptive enough to see things as they really are, and reasonable enough to judge their true value." (Matsushita Konosuke, "Nurturing Dreams: My Path in Life", 1989)

"The mind has power over the body and speech, and therefore any training of body and speech must begin with the mind." (Dalai Lama, "Stages Of Meditation", 2002)

"The mind is something that happens within you. Thinking is something that happens within what you are. Thinking does not define what you are. Thinking doesn't define anything." (Adyashanti, "The Basic Teachings - Part 1: Principles of the Teaching", 2009)

"A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it." (Rabindranath Tagore)

"All outer and inner phenomena are designations of the mind. Except in the mind, they exist nowhere else." (Sambuti)

"All phenomena are mind itself, because appearances are reflections." (Mahasiddha Birwapa)

"An educated mind is useless without a focused will, and dangerous without a loving heart." (Winfried Deijmann)

"Be quiet in your mind, quiet in your senses, and also quiet in your body. Then, when all these are quiet, don't do anything. In that state truth will reveal itself to you." (Kabir)

"Flow with whatever is happening and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate." (Chuang-Tzu)

"Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances." (Benjamin Franklin)

"If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place." (Lao Tzu)

"In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few." (Shunryu Suzuki)

"In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn, than to contemplate." (Rene Descartes)

"Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"Keep constantly in mind in how many things you yourself have witnessed changes already. The universe is change, life is understanding." (Marcus Aurelius)

"Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"Maturity of mind is the capacity to endure uncertainty." (John Finley)

"Mind alone is the seed of everything." (Saraha)

"More important than learning how to recall things is finding ways to forget things that are cluttering the mind." (Eric Butterworth)

"Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in mind." (David G. Allen)

"The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds." (John M Keynes)

"The helps offered to improve the mind consist in certain ways of thinking which facilitate thinking." (Gottfried W Leibniz)

"The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms." (Thich N Hanh)

"The two most powerful agencies in man's nature are reason and mind." (Plutarch)

"The universality of change, when completely understood, is the seeing into the heart of all things, and the mind that thus understands is the mind that truly seeks the way." (Nagarjuna)

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

"Things are not difficult to make; what is difficult is putting ourselves in the state of mind to make them." (Constantin Brâncuși)

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

"To be satisfied with a little, is the greatest wisdom; and he that increaseth his riches, increaseth his cares; but a contented mind is a hidden treasure, and trouble findeth it not." (Akhenaton)

"When mind is still, then truth gets her chance to be heard in the purity of the silence." (Sri Aurobindo)

"When the heart is full, tongue is silent; when the mind is still, intuition functions; when the passions are quelled, devotion dawns; when the senses are controlled, soul force is obtained; when the intellect is silent God speaks; when the 'I' dies, 'He' shines as Radiant Reality" (Swami Sivananda) 

Week 2021-24: On Mind (Warrior's Mind)

"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 stance and posture reflect a proper state of mind." (Morihei Ueshiba)

"Any technique, however worthy and desirable, becomes a disease when the mind is obsessed with it." (Bruce Lee)

"Defeat is a state of mind. No one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as reality." (Bruce Lee)

"Do not place hope in finding a secret technique. Polish the mind through ceaseless training; that is the key to effective techniques." (Kyuzo Mifune)

"In extreme situations, the entire universe becomes our foe; at such critical times, unity of mind and technique is essential - do not let your heart waver!" (Morihei Ueshiba, "The Art of Peace", 1991)

"It is because a mirror has no commitment to any image that it can clearly and accurately reflect any image before it.  The mind of a warrior is like a mirror in that it has no commitment to any outcome and is free to let form and purpose result on the spot, according to the situation." (Yagyu Munenori)

"See first with your mind, then with your eyes, and finally with your body." (Yagyū Munenori)

"The mind must always be in the state of 'flowing,' for when it stops anywhere that means the flow is interrupted and it is this interruption that is injurious to the well-being of the mind. In the case of the swordsman, it means death." (Takuan)

"The possession of anything begins in the mind." (Bruce Lee)

"The secret of kime (tightening the mind) is to exclude all extraneous thoughts, thoughts that are not concerned with achieving your immediate goal." (Bruce Lee)

"There are no contests in the Art of Peace. A true warrior is invincible because he or she contests with nothing. Defeat means to defeat the mind of contention that we harbor within." (Morihei Ueshiba)

"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)

"Whatever state of mind you are in, ignore it. Think only of cutting." (Miyamoto Musashi)

"When you practice archery, if your mind is occupied with shooting the arrow, the shot will be disturbed, and will not be settled (smooth). If you are wielding the long sword, and your mind is fixed on wielding the sword, the sword will not move smoothly." (Yagyu Munenori)

Week 2021-23: The Way of the Warrior

"It is said the warrior's is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways. Even if a man has no natural ability he can be a warrior by sticking assiduously to both divisions of the Way. Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death." (Miyamoto Musashi, "Go Rin No Sho", 1645)

"The Way of the warrior does not include other ways, such as Confucianism, Buddhism, certain traditions, artistic accomplishments, and dancing. But even though these are not part of the Way, if you know the Way broadly, you will see it in everything." (Miyamoto Musashi, "Go Rin No Sho", 1645)

"The way of warrior skill is the way of nature. When you are in line with the power of nature, knowing the rhythm of all situations, you will be able to cut and strike the enemy naturally." (Miyamoto Musashi, "Go Rin No Sho", 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", 1645)

"You must contemplate the Way of the warrior's skill so you will be able to beat a man in combat by the use of your eye. With diligent training, you will be able to beat ten men in combat by using your spirit." (Miyamoto Musashi, "Go Rin No Sho", 1645)

"The most effective way to live is as a warrior. A warrior may worry and think before making any decision, but once he makes it, he goes his way, free from worries or thoughts; there will be a million other decisions still awaiting him. That's the warrior's way." (Carlos Castañeda, "A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan", 1971)

"The real Art of Peace is not to sacrifice a single one of your warriors to defeat an enemy. Vanquish your foes by always keeping yourself in a safe and unassailable position; then no one will suffer any losses. The Way of a Warrior, the Art of Politics, is to stop trouble before it starts. It consists in defeating your adversaries spiritually by making them realize the folly of their actions. The Way of a Warrior is to establish harmony." (Morihei Ueshiba, "The Art of Peace", 1992)

"You haven't yet opened your heart fully, to life, to each moment. The peaceful warrior's way is not about invulnerability, but absolute vulnerability—to the world, to life, and to the Presence you felt. All along I've shown you by example that a warrior's life is not about imagined perfection or victory; it is about love. Love is a warrior's sword; wherever it cuts, it gives life, not death." (Dan Millman, "Wisdom of the Peaceful Warrior: A Companion to the Book that Changes Lives", 2007)

"The path of the Warrior is lifelong, and mastery is often simply staying on the path." (Richard S Heckler)

"The Way of a Warrior cannot be encompassed by words or in letters: grasp the essence and move on toward realization!" (Morihei Ueshiba)

"The Way of a Warrior is based on humanity, love, and sincerity; the heart of martial valor is true bravery, wisdom, love, and friendship. Emphasis on the physical aspects of warriorship is futile, for the power of the body is always limited." (Morihei Ueshiba)

"The way of a warrior is not to kill and destroy but to foster life, to continually create." (Morihei Ueshiba)

Week 2021-22: On Masters

"Failure is an opportunity.

If you blame someone else,

there is no end to the blame.

Therefore the Master

fulfills her own obligations

and corrects her own mistakes.

She does what she needs to do

and demands nothing of others." (Lao Tzu, "Tao Te Ching", cca 400 BC)

"Therefore the Master takes action
by letting things take their course.
He remains as calm at the end 
as at the beginning.
He has nothing,
thus has nothing to lose.
What he desires is non-desire;
what he learns is to unlearn.
He simply reminds people
of who they have always been.
He cares about nothing but the Tao.
Thus he can care for all things." (Lao Tzu, "Tao Te Ching", cca 400 BC)

"When the Master governs, the people
are hardly aware that he exists.
Next best is a leader who is loved.
Next, one who is feared.
The worst is one who is despised.

If you don't trust people,
you make them untrustworthy.

The Master doesn't talk, he acts.
When his work is done,
the people say, "Amazing:
we did it, all by ourselves!" (Lao Tzu, "Tao Te Ching", cca 400 BC)

"You have to consider things yourselves. This is the way things are passed down from the masters: they can teach theory only. You are the ones who have to get the truth from it. [….] You must educate yourself. Teaching is just pointing out what you cannot see without help. You are not ‘given’ anything by the teacher." (Issai Chozan, "The Mysterious Skills of the Old Cat" ["Neko No Myoujutsu"], 1727)

"In NLP terms, then, a master is not someone who already knows the answers and has the solutions but someone who is able to ask worthwhile questions and direct the process of learning, problem solving and creativity to form new maps of the world that lead to useful new answers and possibilities." (Robert B Dilts, "Modeling with NLP", 1998)

"Masters of one art have mastered all because they have mastered themselves. With dominion over both mind and muscle, they demonstrate power, serenity, and spirit. They not only have talent for their sport, they have an expanded capacity for life. The experts shine in the competitive arena; the masters shine everywhere." (Dan Millman, "Body Mind Mastery: Training for Sport and Life", 1999)

"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)

"Any person capable of angering you becomes your master." (Epictetus)

"Believe me, you will find more lessons in the woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you what you cannot learn from masters." (Bernard of Clairvaux, Epistola CVI)

"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)

"Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"The master dwells in the substantial and not in the superficial. Rests in the fruit and not in the flower." (Lao Tzu)

"The master leads
by emptying people's minds
and filling their cores,
by weakening their ambition
and toughening their resolve." (Lao Tzu)

"The master observes the world but trusts his inner vision.
He allows things to come and go.
He prefers what is within to what is without." (Lao Tzu)

Bodhidharma - Collected Quotes

"A Buddha is someone who finds freedom in good fortune and bad." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"All know the way; few actually walk it."(Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"All phenomena are empty." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"All the suffering and joy we experience depend on conditions." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"An Awakened person is someone who finds freedom in good fortune and bad."(Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"But deluded people don't realize that their own mind is the Buddha. They keep searching outside." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"Detach yourself from various things in the external world and inwardly your mind will not be agitated. By using your mind like a wall you should gain entrance into the Way." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"If you use your mind to look for a Buddha, you won't see the Buddha." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"If you use your mind to study reality, you won't understand either your mind or reality. If you study reality without using your mind, you'll understand both." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

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

"Not engaging in ignorance is wisdom." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen."(Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"Our nature is the mind. And the mind is our nature." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"Outwardly, the activities of all the senses are brought into repose, and inwardly, your mind is not agitated. Using your mind like a sheer wall, you should enter the Way." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"People who don't see their nature and imagine they can practice thoughtlessness all the time are lairs and fools." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"The Dharma is the truth that all natures are pure." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"The ignorant mind, with its infinite afflictions, passions, and evils, is rooted in the three poisons. Greed, anger, and delusion." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"The mind is the root from which all things grow if you can understand the mind, everything else is included." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

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

"Throw away your various ties to the external world of dualities and pacify all things, then your mind and body will be one, and there will be no gap between movement and stillness." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"To enter by reason means to realize the essence through instruction and to believe that all living things share the same true nature, which isn't apparent because it's shrouded by sensation and delusion." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"To find a Buddha all you have to do is see your nature." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"To see nothing is to perceive the Way, and to understand nothing is to know the Dharma, because seeing is neither seeing nor not seeing and because understanding is neither understanding nor not understanding." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"Whoever realizes that the six senses aren't real, that the five aggregates are fictions, that no such things can be located anywhere in the body, understands the language of Buddhas." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

Week 2021-18: Masanobu Fukuoka - Collected Quotes

"But intending to understand ten things, you actually do not understand even one. If you know a hundred flowers you do not 'know' a single one." (Masanobu Fukuoka, "The One-Straw Revolution", 1975)

"Extravagance of desire is the fundamental cause which has led the world into its present predicament. Fast rather than slow, more rather than less - this flashy "development" is linked directly to society's impending collapse." (Masanobu Fukuoka, "The One-Straw Revolution", 1975)

"Food and medicine are not two different things: they are the front and back of one body." (Masanobu Fukuoka, "The One-Straw Revolution", 1975)

"Humanity knows nothing at all. There is no intrinsic value in anything, and every action is a futile, meaningless effort." (Masanobu Fukuoka, "The One-Straw Revolution", 1975)

"I wonder how it is that people's philosophies have come to spin faster than the changing seasons." (Masanobu Fukuoka, "The One-Straw Revolution", 1975)

"Nature is everywhere in perpetual motion; conditions are never exactly the same in any two years." (Masanobu Fukuoka, "The One-Straw Revolution", 1975)

"People do sometimes sense the sacredness of nature, such as when they look closely at a flower, climb high peaks, or journey deep into the mountain. Such aesthetic sense, love, receptivity, and understanding are people's most basic instincts - their true nature. These days, however, human are flying in a completely different direction to some unknown destination, and they seem to be doing it as rapidly as possible." (Masanobu Fukuoka, "The One-Straw Revolution", 1975)

"People think they understand things because they become familiar with them. This is only superficial knowledge." (Masanobu Fukuoka, "The One-Straw Revolution", 1975)

"We can never know the answers to great spiritual questions, but it's all right not to understand. We have been born and are living on the earth to face directly the reality of living." (Masanobu Fukuoka, "The One-Straw Revolution", 1975)

"When a decision is made to cope with the symptoms of a problem, it is generally assumed that the corrective measures will solve the problem itself. They seldom do." (Masanobu Fukuoka, "The One-Straw Revolution", 1975)

"When it is understood that one loses joy and happiness in the attempt to possess them, the essence of natural farming will be realized. The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings." (Masanobu Fukuoka, "The One-Straw Revolution", 1975)

Week 2021-17: Murasaki Shikibu - Collected Quotes

"Even those people who have no sorrow of their own often feel melancholy from the circumstances in which they are placed."

"No art or learning is to be pursued halfheartedly [...] and any art worth learning will certainly reward more or less generously the effort made to study it." (Murasaki Shikibu, "The Tale of Genji", cca. 11th century)

"No penance can your hard heart find save such as you long since have taught me to endure [...]" (Murasaki Shikibu, "The Tale of Genji", cca. 11th century)

"Nothing can be well learned that is not agreeable to one’s natural taste." (Murasaki Shikibu, "The Tale of Genji", cca. 11th century)

"Life is full of uncertainties, perhaps one day some unforeseen circumstance would bring her into his life once more." (Murasaki Shikibu, "The Tale of Genji", cca. 11th century)

"It is so rare to find someone of true understanding; for the most part they judge purely by their own standards and ignore everyone else." (Murasaki Shikibu, "The Diary of Lady Murasaki", cca. 11th century)

"Beauty without colour seems somehow to belong to another world." (Murasaki Shikibu)

"It is very easy to criticize others but far more difficult to put one’s own principles into practice, and it is when one forgets this truth, lauds oneself to the skies, treats everyone else as worthless, and generally despises others, that one’s own character is clearly revealed." (Murasaki Shikibu)

Week 2021-16: On Swordsmanship

"A stroke of the sword that does not hit its target is the sword stroke of death; you reach over it to strike the winning blow. Your adversary's initiative having missed its mark, you turn the tables around and get the jump on your adversary." (Yagyū Munenori, "A Hereditary Book on the Art of War", 1632)

"Conquering evil, not the opponent, is the essence of swordsmanship." (Yagyū Munenori, "A Hereditary Book on the Art of War", 1632)

"There may be a hundred stances and sword positions, but you win with just one." (Yagyū Munenori, "A Hereditary Book on the Art of War", 1632)

"[FIRST TECHNIQUE] […] your sword now having bounced upward, leave it as it is until the opponent strikes again, whereupon you strike the opponent's hands from below. […]" (Miyamoto Musashi, "Go Rin No Sho" ["The Book of Five Rings"], 1645)

"[SECOND TECHNIQUE] […] If your sword misses the opponent, leave it there for the moment, until the opponent strikes again, whereupon you strike from below, sweeping upwards.[…]" (Miyamoto Musashi, "Go Rin No Sho" ["The Book of Five Rings"], 1645)

"[THIRD TECHNIQUE] [...] as the opponent strikes, you strike at his hands from below. [...] as he tries to knock your sword down, bring it up in rhythm, then chop off his arms sideways. The point is to strike an opponent down all at once from the lower position just as he strikes. [...]" (Miyamoto Musashi, "Go Rin No Sho" ["The Book of Five Rings"], 1645)

"Having a position without a position, or a guard without a guard, means that the long sword is not supposed to be kept in a fixed position. [...] Where you hold your sword depends on your relationship to the opponent, depends on the place, and must conform to the situation; wherever you hold it, the idea is to hold it so that it will be easy to kill the opponent. [...] Even though you may catch, hit, or block an opponent's slashing sword, or tie it up or obstruct it, all of these moves are opportunities for cutting the opponent down. This must be understood. [...]" (Miyamoto Musashi, "Go Rin No Sho" ["The Book of Five Rings"], 1645)

"In my individual school, one can win with the long sword, and one can win with the short sword as well. For this reason, the precise size of the sword is not fixed. The way of my school is the spirit of gaining victory by any means. […]" (Miyamoto Musashi, "Go Rin No Sho" ["The Book of Five Rings"], 1645)

"It is said the warrior's is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways. Even if a man has no natural ability he can be a warrior by sticking assiduously to both divisions of the Way. Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death." (Miyamoto Musashi, "Go Rin No Sho" ["The Book of Five Rings"], 1645)

"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 power of knowledge of the art of the sword. This is something that requires thorough examination, with a thousand days of practice for training and ten thousand days of practice for refinement. […]" (Miyamoto Musashi, "Go Rin No Sho" ["The Book of Five Rings"], 1645)

"Swordsman-ship is not something you persevere in just to achieve victory over others. It is also an art through which you can face troubles and clarify issues of life and death. This is an attitude that samurai must always strive to maintain, and so you should master this art." (Issai Chozan, "The Mysterious Skills of the Old Cat" ["Neko No Myoujutsu"], 1727)

"The hands manipulate the sword, the mind manipulates the hands. Cultivate the mind and do not be deceived by tricks, feints, and schemes. They are the properties of the magician, not the samurai." (Saito Yakuro, cca 19th century)

"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)

"An over sharpened sword cannot last long." (Lao Tzu)

"If you seek mastery of the sword, seek first sincerity of the heart, for the former is but a reflection of the latter." (Iwakura Yoshinori)

"One can win with the long sword, and one can win with the short sword as well. For this reason, the precise size of the sword is not fixed. The way of my school is the spirit of gaining victory by any means […]" (Miyamoto Musashi)

"The archer should forget about shooting the arrow, and shoot as he would doing nothing special. Then the shot will be smooth. When wielding the long sword, or riding a horse, do it as though you would not wield a sword or ride a horse [...] Stop doing everything, have an empty, everyday's mind, even when you have lots of things to do, do it easily, smoothly. The man who has nothing on his heart is the man of the Way." (Yagyu Munenori)

"The art of the sword consists of never being concerned with victory or defeat, with strength or weakness, of not moving one step forward, nor one step backward, or the enemy not seeing me and my not seeing the enemy. Penetrating to that which is fundamental before the separation of heaven and earth where even yin and yang cannot reach, one instantly attains proficiency in the art." (Takuan)

"Throwing down your own sword is also an art of war. If you have attained mastery of swordlessness, you will never lack for a sword. The opponent's sword is your sword. This is acting at the vanguard of the moment." (Yagyū Munenori)

"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)

"When you practice archery, if your mind is occupied with shooting the arrow, the shot will be disturbed, and will not be settled (smooth). If you are wielding the long sword, and your mind is fixed on wielding the sword, the sword will not move smoothly." (Yagyu Munenori)

Week 2021-15: Jigoro Kano - Collected Quotes

"Before and after practicing Judo or engaging in a match, opponents bow to each other. Bowing is an expression of gratitude and respect. In effect, you are thanking your opponent for giving you the opportunity to improve your technique." (Jigoro Kano)

"Carefully observe oneself and one's situation, carefully observe others, and carefully observe one's environment. Consider fully, act decisively." (Jigoro Kano)

"Face your fear, empty yourself, trust your own voice, let go of control, have faith in outcomes, connect with a larger purpose, derive meaning from the struggle." (Jigoro Kano)

"If there is effort, there is always accomplishment." (Jigoro Kano)

"It is not important to be better than someone else, but to be better than yesterday." (Jigoro Kano)

"Judo helps us to understand that worry is a waste of energy." (Jigoro Kano)

"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)

"Judo should be free as art and science from any external influences, political, national, racial, and financial or any other organized interest. And all things connected with it should be directed to its ultimate object, the benefit of Humanity." (Jigoro Kano)

"Judo teaches us to look for the best possible course of action, whatever the individual circumstances." (Jigoro Kano)

"Nothing under the sun is greater than education. By educating one person and sending him into the society of his generation, we make a contribution extending a hundred generations to come." (Jigoro Kano)

"Paradoxically, the man who has failed and one who is at the peak of success are in exactly the same position. Each must decide what he will do next, choose the course that will lead him to the future." (Jigoro Kano)

"The pine fought the storm and broke. The willow yielded to the wind and snow and did not break. Practice Jiu-Jitsu in just this way." (Jigoro Kano)

"The purpose of the study of judo is to perfect yourself and to contribute to society." (Jigoro Kano)

"The teaching of one virtuous person can influence many; that which has been learned well by one generation can be passed on to a hundred." (Jigoro Kano)

Week 14: Tsutomu Ohshima - Collected Quotes

"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)

"Eliminating one weakness is better than adding one strength." (Tsutomu Ohshima)

"In order to achieve victory you must place yourself in your opponent's skin. If you don't understand yourself, you will lose one hundred percent of the time. If you understand yourself, you will win fifty percent of the time. If you understand yourself and your opponent, you will win one hundred percent of the time." (Tsutomu Ohshima)

"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)

"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)

"We must look at ourselves with the strictest eyes." (Tsutomu Ohshima)