Words of Wisdom from The Force....................

[(FORCE)]

 Hello again F|A Community Brothers & Sisters !!!!!!!!!!!!  *Mad-Force* here again to share with all of you some words of wisdom.  One of my great passions is studying the martial arts and eastern philosophy, which go hand & hand.  I am currently reading three books from a series (One World of Wisdom) - The Wisdom of the Tao, The Wisdom of Zen, and The Wisdom of the Confucians.  I would like to share with you all some quotes of wisdom that caught my eye (My third eye - My mind's eye).  I hope these quotes help bring to all of you inspiration and enlightenment.  

 

 

 

 

 

Tao - The Way....  A Chinese philosophy or religion which emphasizes effortless action, simplicity, and freedom from desire. 

 

"Highest Goodness is like water.....The goodness of water is to benefit all beings without competing.....It sinks down to places which everyone dislikes.....Therefore it is close to the Tao.       Daodejing 8

 

 

Cultivate the Tao in your own person. - Your power will be authentic.

Cultivate the Tao in your family. - It's power will be plentiful.

Cultivate the Tao in your community. - It's power will last.

Cultivate the Tao in the country. - It's power will be abundant.

Cultivate the Tao in the world. - It's power will be pervasive.

Daodejing 54

 

 

 

If human efforts go against inborn nature. the true Way is being lost; if the heavenly and the human are in hamony, the Way prevails and good things happen; the world is at peace.  Yet the 'facts of life' are that humans interfere too much with what is from heaven, and thus spoil the state of things; this is chaos.  The Wisdom of the Tao 53

 

Life and Death are fated - constant as the succession of dark and dawn, a matter of Heaven.  There are some things which man can do nothing about - all are a matter of the nature of [things].  Zhuangzi 6

 

Dying is going to rest.  Life passes through four stages, similar to the years four seasons:  infancy, youth, old age, death.  The Wisdom of the Tao 74

 

Enlightenment means seeing through to your own essential nature, and at the same time seeing through to the essential nature of the cosmos and of all things.  For seeing through to the essential nature is the wisdom of enlightenment.  The Wisdom of Zen 53

 

One may call essential nature truth if one wants to.  In Buddhism, from ancient times it has been called suchness or the one Mind. In Zen, it has been called nothingness, or one's original face.  The designations may be different but the content is completely the same.  The Wisdom of Zen 53

 

So in meditation, when we let the ripples of our thoughts and the waves of our emotions settle, it's as if we've cleared the lake so the moon can appear.  The Wisdom of Zen 75

 

The Five Constant Virtues:  humanity, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, faithfulness.  The Wisdom of the Confucians 18

 

As the natural world is formed by continuous interactions between the Five Phase: wood, metal, fire, water, earth - so the Five Constant Virtues were viewed as the basis of a well-functioning and ordered society.  The Wisdom of the Confucians 18

 

A man can be made to do evil, but evil is not of his nature, it is the result of external influence.  Mencius 6A:2

 

By nature men are alike. By practice, men become far apart.  Analects 17:2

 

Confucius said:  'Hold it fast, and you preserve it. Let it go, and you lose it.'  Confucius was talking about the human mind/heart.  Mencius 6A:8

 

Confucius taught:  'There are only two ways for us, that of humanity or that of inhumanity.'  Mencius 4A:2

 

Humanity is the heart of man.  Justice is the path for man.  Alas for the man who has lost his path and can no longer trace it, and who has lost his heart and has no means to recover it.  Mencius 6A:11

 

Therefore, to rectify one's heart was considered by Mencius to be most essential in one's self-cultivation.  The Wisdom of the Confucians 104

 

In nourishing one's mind, there is no better way than to cut down the number of desires.  When a man has fewer desires, his mind is less likely to be affected by many things.  When a man has many desires, his mind is more likely to be affected by a few things. *freedom from desire*  Mencius7B:35