You have seen the blossoms among the leaves;
tell me, how long will they stay?
Today they tremble before the hand that picks them;
tomorrow they wait someone's garden broom.

Wonderful is the bright heart of youth,
but with the years it grows old.
Is the world not like these flowers?
Ruddy faces, how can they last?

- Han-shan

I like this.

I'll try to see if I can save it without buddies finding it and making fun of me.

An important lesson and reminder, like it.

Look at people who keep tigers as pets. Even while they’re laughing and playing with them, in the back of their minds they’re afraid their pet will suddenly turn on them. They never forget how dangerous tigers are.

But what about people who lust after possessions, indulging themselves with one acquisition after another. They remain completely unaware of any danger.

Yet, the tiger can eat only a man’s flesh. Greed can devour his soul. Han Shan

my favorite quote by the master..good to see you again harlan..

^gassho^

That was great, wolfscalissi!

Interesting thing is that Mike Tyson had everything AND kept a tiger as a pet. Look what happened to him. It wasn't the tiger which destroyed him.

The Way is one and only one. On the celestial level it is called destiny; on the human level it is called essential nature. On the phenomenal level it is called principle.

This principle circulates throughout the world, appearing in daily activities. Every event and every thing has a natural principle, which cannot be dispensed with. Thus there is a principle whereby things are as they are; it cannot be altered, only followed.

Superior people observe things in terms of principle- right or wrong, good or bad, they deal with them accordingly. This is called selflessness. Selflessness results in objectivity; objectivity results in clarity. Clarity results in dealing with events accurately and comprehending the nature of things.

- "Taoist Meditation - Methods for Cultivating a Healthy Mind and Body" Trans by Thomas Cleary

Exellent Harlan, very helpful

We should really put any really good quotes we can find into a sticky, only with your permission though

Yes...our 'Kin-fu' at FA.com is stroooong.

Google and copy
control V and paste
armchair know-it-all!

control v? Whats that shortcut for?

(DM..keyboard shortcuts: Control + C = copy, Control + V = paste, etc.)

I.

The Great Way isn't difficult
for those who are unattached to their preferences.
Let go of longing and aversion,
and everything will be perfectly clear.
When you cling to a hairbreadth of distinction,
heaven and earth are set apart.

-Seng-Ts'an

Ill have to thnk on this one, sounds good though.

II.

If you want to realize the truth,
don't be for or against.
The struggle between good and evil
is the primal disease of the mind.
Not grasping the deeper meaning,
you just trouble your mind's serenity.

III.

As vast as infinite space,
it is perfect and lacks nothing.
But because you select and reject,
you can't perceive its true nature.
Don't get entangled in the world;
don't lose yourself in emptiness.
Be at peace in the oneness of things,
and all errors will disappear by themselves.

I would think these were written by a buddhist but they seem to have a chinese aura about them (or maybe its just the name), so please harlan, was the wiseman who wrote these a buddhist or otherwise.

'The Mind of Absolute Trust' by Seng-Ts'an (see stanza I. above ).

So the guys just a philoserpher then? (Im probably being dim witted).

So sorry

IV.

If you don't live the Tao,
you fall into assertion or denial.
Asserting that the world is real,
you are blind to its deeper reality;
denying that the world is real,
you are blind to the selflessness of all things.
The more you think about these matters,
the farther you are from the truth.

"A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both."

--Francoise Rene Auguste Chateaubriand

"All the various types of teachings and spiritual paths are related to the different capacities of understanding that different individuals have. There does not exist, from an absolute point of view, any teaching that is more perfect or effective than another. A teachings value lies solely in the inner awakening which an individual can arrive at through it. If a person benefits from a given teaching, for that person that teaching is the supreme path, because it is suited to his or her nature and capacities. There is no sense in trying to judge it as more or less elevated in relation to other paths to realization."

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

S'eng Tsan, the author of those writings was both Chinese, and Buddhist. In fact, he was the third patriarch of Zen Buddhism. Maybe the "aura" you're speaking of is a flavor of Taoism, or an image of the Tao Te Ching that those verses evoke.

The Koan

Joshu once asked Nansen, "What is the Way?" Nansen answered, "Ordinary mind is the Way." "Then should we direct ourselves toward it or not?" asked Joshu. "If you direct yourself toward it, you go away from it," answered Nansen. Joshu continued, "If we do not try, how can we know that it is the Way?" Nansen replied, "The Way does not belong to knowing or not-knowing. Knowing is illusion; not-knowing is blankness. If you really attain to the Way of no-doubt, it is like the great void, so vast and boundless. How, then, can there be right and wrong in the Tao?" At these words, Joshu was suddenly enlightened.

"What we call the beginning is often the end, And
to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is
where we start from...

And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive
where we started, and know the place for the first
time. ”

~ T.S. Elliot

"By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by
reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation,
which is easiest; and third by experience, which is
the bitterest.”

~ Confucius

Here the heart
May give a useful lesson to the head,
And learning wiser grow without his books...or google.

William Cowper (modified )

In my middle years I became fond of the Way
And made my home in the foothills of South Mountain.
When the spirit moves me I go off by myself
To see things that I alone must see.
I follow the stream to the source,
And sitting there, watch for the moment
When clouds rise up. Or I may meet a woodsman;
We talk and laugh and forget about going home.

WANG WEI

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have
done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities
no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can.
Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely
and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with
your old nonsense.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

whenever I read a quote, I do so once with my inner voice...and once with the inner voice of a Loony Toons character.

"Ralph Waldo Emerson" usually goes well with Daffy Duck.

while "WANG WEI" is more of an Elmer Fudd.