351 Quotes About Taoism

Rule a kingdom as if cooking a small fish,” he once told me. “If you interfere with it too much while cooking, it will fall apart and be inedible.

In the evening he would sit with me and help to calm my mind and train my breathing. We would sit for hours, exploring deeply the wonders of the inner world of Tao. He became my confidant, my teacher, my counsellor and the best friend I ever had.

Who can be still while the muddy water settles? Who can remain still until the time comes for action?

It is actually in not doing that we have achieved this wondrous thing, Sire. All we did was create the space for the painting to happen and let it paint itself.

This world has no need for weapons,Which soon turn on themselves.Where armies camp, nettles grow;After each war, years of famine.The most fruitful outcomeDoes not depend on force,But succeeds without arroganceWithout hostilityWithout prideWithout resistanceWithout violence.

A man who knows how little he knows is well, a man who knows how much he knows is sick. If, when you see the symptoms, you can tell, Your cure is quick.A sound man knows that sickness makes him sick and before he catches it his cure is quick.

Don’t be confined by the self you have experienced, the self you know. Going beyond what you know and what you have experienced, challenge your brain with new questions and give it new tasks—then it will begin to manifest infinite creativity.

Knowing that you have a soul bright and clear like the sun, perceiving and feeling that soul, you will realize that it is very precious and beautiful. Whenyou consider yourself important and precious, you will begin to feel the same way toward other forms of life and toward the world.

The enlightened worry more about the problems of the world than about their own problems, and their longing for the well-being of all life grows deeper,making the suffering of all people, all creatures, and all things their own. This is a gift brought by enlightenment, which, at the same time, brings deep anguish.