Ancient Wisdom

They who expect to live without enemies, yet have no kindness for others, are like one who should try to hold a heated body without dipping it in water. Men expect by their own darkness to enlighten others. The artisan may give a man compass and square, but he cannot make him skillful in the use of them.

  'Mulla Nasrudin' and his wife were talking about their parents. ‘My mother can cook ever so well,’ said the ' Mulla .' ‘How can you say that?’ shrieked his wife. ‘My mother is a hundred times the better cook!’ Seeing red, ' Nasrudin ' grabbed the woman by the scruff of her neck and threw her out into the garden. ‘What are you doing?’ asked his neighbor. ‘There is little enough room in the house for two,’ explained ' Nasrudin'. ‘Four is just too many.’ ‘Four?’ ‘Yes, first there was just me and her, then my mother crept in and finally her mother also came to stay. The house was so crammed with them and their pots and pans, that my wife fell out of the door.’

  'Zu Chang' asked Confucius: "What must a man do in order to be considered distinguished?" The Master replied: "What do you mean by the term distinguished?" 'Zu Chang' replied: "I mean one whose fame fill both his own private circle and the State at large." The Master said: "That is notoriety, not distinction. The man of true distinction is simple, honest, and lover of justice and duty. He weighs men's words and observes the expression of their faces." [Source: The Wisdom of China]

 'Ssu-Ma Niu ' asked for a definition of the princely man to Confucius.  The Master said: "The princely man is one who knows neither grief nor fear."- Absence of grief and fear! Is it the mark of a princely man? The Master said: "If on a searching his heart he finds no guilt, why should he grieve? of what should he be afraid?"

If you over esteem great men, people become powerless. If you over value possessions, people begin to steal. The Master leads by emptying people's minds and filling their cores, by weakening their ambition and toughening their resolve. He helps people lose everything they know, everything they desire, and creates confusion in those who think that they know. Practice not-doing and everything will fall into place.

  'Yen Yuan' inquired as to the meaning of true goodness. The Master said: " The subdued of self, and reversion to the natural laws governing conduct-this is true goodness. If a man can for the space of one day subdue his selfishness and revert to natural laws, the whole world will call him good. True goodness springs from a man's own heart. How can it depend on other men?" 'Yen Yuan ' said: "Kindly tell me the practical rule to be deduced from this." -The Master replied: "Do not use your eyes, your ears, your power of speech on your faculty of movement without obeying the inner law of self control."-' Yen Yuan ' said: "Though I am not quick in thought or act , I will make it my business to carry out this precept." [Source: The Wisdom Of the Chinese, Brian Brown, New York, Brentano's Publishers.]

 When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad. Being and non-being creates each other. Difficult and easy support each other. Long and short define each other. Before and after follow each other. Therefore the Master acts without doing anything. Things arise and she lets them come; things disappear and she lets them go. She has but doesn't possess, acts but doesn't expect. When her work is done, she forgets it. That is why it lasts forever. [Source: Tao Te Ching, A New English Version, Forward and Notes by Stephen Mitchell, published by Modern Classics, New York.]

  'Chi K'ang Tzu ' questioned Confucius on a point of government, saying: "Ought not I to cut off the lawless in order to establish law and order? What do you think?" Confucius replied:" Sir, what need is there of the death penalty in your system of government? If you showed a sincere desire to be good, your people would likewise be good. The virtue of the prince is like unto wind; that of the people, like unto grass. For it is the nature of grass to bend when the wind blows upon it." [Source: Analects, Confucius 551 B.C, The Wisdom Of the Chinese, p.21]

  He who by Tao purposes to help the ruler of men Will oppose all conquest by force of arm. For such things are wont to be rebound. Where armies are, thorns and brambles grow, The rising of a great host Is followed by a year of dearth. Therefore a good general effects his purpose and stops.     He dares not rely upon the strength of arms; Effects his purpose and does not glory in it; Effects his purpose and does not boast of it; Effects his purpose and does not take pride in it;     Effects his purpose as a regrettable necessity;     Effects his purpose but does not love violence. (For) things age after reaching their prime. That (violence) would be against the Tao. And he who is against the Tao perishes young.

Confucius said, "One who is not a true man cannot long stand poverty, nor can he stand prosperity for long. A true man is happy and natural in living according to the principles of true manhood, but a wise man thinks it is advantageous to do so. "  "Only a true man knows how to love people and how to hate people."

Confucius said, "The superior man is easy to serve, but difficult to please, for he can be pleased by what is right, and he uses men according to their individual abilities. The inferior man is difficult to serve, but easy to please, for you can please him (by catering to his weaknesses) without necessarily being right, and when he comes to using men, he demands perfection."

Prince Ling was fond of seeing his women in 'mannish' garb. Before long all the women in the kingdom had taken to wearing men's clothes. The Prince then issued an ordinance against the fad in the following words: 'Any woman who is found wearing men's clothes shall have her robe torn and her belt ripped." Soon the streets were filled with women with torn robes and broken belts, but the mannish fashion persisted. When 'Yentze' was in audience, the Prince asked, "I have issued an order prohibiting women from wearing men's clothes. All those who offended have had their clothes torn, and yet the fashion persists. How do you account for that?" 'Yentze' answered, "Your Highness has caused your women to wear it within the palace at the same time that you banned it without; it is as if you had hung a cow's head at your door and sold horse meat inside. "Why don't you ask that this habit be ended in your own house? Then ther...

Once There was a man of ' Ch'i ' who desired gold. One morning he rose and dressed and went to market. He went straight to a shop that sold gold, grabbed some of the gold, and ran. The police arrested him and questioned him, saying, "How could you rob somebody else's gold in broad daylight and in front of all these people, too?" The man of ' Ch'i ' answered, "When I reached for the gold I only say gold, I didn't see any people."

Once upon a time, in the ancient land of Yang, two brothers—Yang Chu and Yang Pu—lived side by side. Their lives were intertwined, yet their perspectives diverged like the branches of a gnarled tree. One fateful day, Yang Pu stepped out into the world, clad in a light-coloured coat. The sun smiled upon him, and all seemed well. But as fate would have it, the heavens opened, and raindrops danced upon his shoulders. Yang Pu, practical and adaptable, shed his light coat and donned a dark one—a seamless transition from sun to storm. Returning home, he expected a warm welcome from his loyal companion—the family dog. But to his surprise, the dog met him with fierce barks, eyes filled with suspicion. Yang Pu’s anger flared. How could his faithful friend turn on him? Enter Yang Chu, the elder brother, wise and observant. He stepped in, calming the chaos. “Hold your hand,” he said to Yang Pu. “Would you strike this loyal creature?” Yang Pu hesitated, his anger waning. “But why?” he asked. Yang ...

For speech is not mere blowing of breath. It is intended to say something, only what it is intended to say cannot yet be determined. Is there speech indeed, or is there not? Can we, or can we not, distinguish it from the chirping of young birds?... Neverthless, life arises from death, and vice versa. Possibility arises from impossibility, and vice versa. Affirmation is based upon denial, and vice versa. Which being the case, the true Sage rejects all distinctions and takes his refuge in Heaven (Nature). For one may base it on this, yet this is also that and that is also this. This also has its 'right' and 'wrong', and that also has its 'right' and 'wrong.' Does then the distinction between this and that really exist or not? When this (subjective) and that (objective) are both without their correlates, that is the very 'Axis of Tao.' And when that Axis passes through the centre at which all infinites converge, affirmations and denials alike blend ...

 ' Tsech'  of ' Nankuo' sat leaning on a low table. Gazing up to heaven, he sighed and looked as though he had lost his mind. ' Yench'eng Tseyu ', who was standing by him exclaimed, "What are you thinking about that your mind should become like dead wood, your mind like burnt-out cinders? Surely the man now leaning on the table is not he who was here just now." "My friend," replied Tsech , "your question is opposite. Today I have lost my Self... Do you understand? ... Perhaps you only know the music of man, and not that of Earth. Or even if you have heard the music of Earth, perhaps you have not heard the music of Heaven." "Pray explain," said Tseyu . "The breath of the universe," continued Tsech's , "is called wind. At times, it is inactive. But when active, all crevices resound to its blast. Have you never listened to its deafening roar? Have you never witnessed how the trees and objects shake an...

 ' Hueitse ' said to ' Chuangtse , "I have a large tree, called the ailanthus. Its trunk is so irregular and knotty that it cannot be measured out for planks; while its branches are so twisted that they cannot be cut out into discs or squares. It stands by the roadside, but no carpenter will look at it. Your words are like that tree-big and useless, of no concern to the world." "Have you never seen a wild cat," rejoined Chuangtse , "crouching down in wait for its prey? Right and left and high and low, it springs about, until it gets caught in a trap or dies in a snare. On the other hand, there is the yak with its great huge body. It is big enough in all conscience, but it cannot catch mice. Now if you have a big tree and are at a loss what to do with it, why not plant it in the Village of Nowhere, in the great wilds, where you might loiter idly by its side, and lie down in blissful repose beneath its shade? There it would be safe from the axe and fr...

  ' Hueitse ' said to ' Chuangtse ', "The prince of 'Wei' gave me a seed of a large-sized kind of gourd. I planted it, and it bore a fruit as big as a five-bushel measure. Now had I used this for holding liquids, it would have been too heavy to lift; and had I cut it in half for ladles, the ladles would have been too flat for such purpose. Certainly it was a huge thing, but I had not use for it and so broke it up." "It was rather you did not know how to use large things," replied Chuangtse . "There was a man of ' Sung ' who had a recipe for salve for chapped hands, his family having been silk-washers for generations. A stranger who had heart of it came and offered him a hundred ounces of silver for this recipe; whereupon he called together his clansmen and said, "We have never made much money by silk-washing. Now, we can sell the recipe for a hundred ounces in a single day. Let he stranger have it." "The stranger g...

Chien Wu said to ' Lien Shu , "I heard ' Chieh Yu ' talk on high and fine subjects endlessly. I was greatly startled at what he said, for his words seemed interminable as the 'Milky Way', but they are quite detached from out common human experience." 'What was it?" asked ' Lien Shu.' 'He declared," replied ' Chien Wu , "that on the 'Mia-ku-yi' mountain there lives a divine one, whose skin is white like ice or snow, whose grace and elegance are like those of a virgin, who eats no grain, but lives on air and dew, and who, riding on clouds with flying dragons for his team, roads beyond the limits of the mortal regions. When his spirit gravitates, he can ward off corruption from all things, and bring good crops. That is why I call it nonsense, and do not believe it." "Well," answered ' Lien Shu , "you don't ask a blind man's opinion of beautiful designs, nor do you invite a deaf man to...

  (Let there be) a small country with a small population, Where the supply of goods are tenfold or hundredfold, more than they can use, Let the people value their lives and not migrate far.     Though there be boats and carriages,          None be there to ride them.      Though there be armour and weapons,          No occasion to display them. Let the people again tie ropes for reckoning,          Let them enjoy their food,          Beautify their clothing,          Be satisfied with their homes,          Delight in their customs, The neighbouring settlement overlook one another So that they can hear the barking of dogs and crowing of cocks of their neighbours, And the people till the end of their days shall never have been outside their country. -A Book Of Tao by Lao Tzu