Mencius calls Benevolence man’s mind, and Rectitude or Righteousness his path. “How lamentable is it to neglect the path and not pursue it, to lose the mind and not know to seek it again! When men’s fowls and dogs are lost, they know to seek for them again, but they lose their mind and do not know to seek for it. Mencius
Category: Books
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Friendship
If you consider any man a friend whom you do not trust as you trust yourself, you are mightily mistaken and you do not sufficiently understand what true friendship means. Indeed, I would have you discuss everything with a friend; but first of all discuss the man himself. When friendship is settled, you must trust; before friendship is formed, you must pass judgement.
Those persons indeed put last first and confound their duties, who violating the rules of Theophrastus, judge a man after they have made him their friend, instead of making him their friend after they have judged him. Ponder for a long time whether you shall admit a given person to your friendship; but when you have decided to admit him, welcome him with all your heart and soul. Speak as boldly with him as with yourself.
Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic
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Start Saving Now
I do not regard a man as poor, if the little [time] which remains is enough for him. I advise you, however, to keep what is really yours; and you cannot begin too early. For, as our ancestors believed, it is too late to spare when you reach the dregs of the cask. Of that which remains at the bottom, the amount is slight, and the quality is vile.
Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic
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Time Management
The largest portion of our life passes while we are doing ill, a goodly share while we are doing nothing, and the whole while we are doing that which is not to the purpose.
What man can you show me who places any value on his time, who reckons the worth of each day, who understands that he is dying daily? For we are mistaken when we look forward to death; the major portion of death has already passed. Whatever years be behind us are in death’s hands.
Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic
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Grace in Motion
If there is anything to do, there is certainly a best way to do it, and the best way is both the most economical and the most graceful. Grace is the most economical manner of motion. Bushido
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The clear water sparkles like crystal,
you can see through it easily, right to the bottom.
My mind is free from every thought,
nothing in the myriad realms can move it.
Since it cannot be wantonly roused,
forever and forever it will stay unchanged.
When you have learned to know in this way,
you’ll know there is no inside or out.Han Shan, Cold Mountain
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The Simple Way: Laotze (the ‘Old Boy’)
Lao Tzu was born in the early seventh century B.C. Although Taoism began before that, he put his knowledge together in the ‘Chinese Bible’, the Tao Te Ching. Thus began the rise and spread of Taoism.
It should be understood that as a religious text, the message is full of symbolism that can only be grasped with our intuition. The author is describing experiences beyond science and our senses. The common man of this age will laugh at this message – but take heed!
When a superior man hears of the Tao,
he immediately begins to embody it.When an average man hears of the Tao,
he half believes it, half doubts it.When a foolish man hears of the Tao,
he laughs out loud.If he didn’t laugh,
it wouldn’t be the Tao.Out of the many translations of the Tao Te Ching, I prefer this one by Walter Gorn Old. The most essential ingredient to translating ancient texts is to have a degree of understanding of the topic at hand. His comments are apt and thought-provoking.
It is said, a reader can only understand such texts unless he or she has read them seven times. So get to it! Read it slowly, backwards and forwards, then set it aside and ponder it.
