Best 26 quotes in «eastern philosophy quotes» category

The energy body acts as a bridge connecting our physical and spiritual bodies. In order for us to influence transformation of the body and mind, we must first learn to transform the energy flow.

The Formless Way We look at it, and do not see it; it is invisible. We listen to it, and do not hear it; it is inaudible. We touch it, and do not feel it; it is intangible. These three elude our inquiries, and hence merge into one. Not by its rising, is it bright, nor by its sinking, is it dark. Infinite and eternal, it cannot be defined. It returns to nothingness. This is the form of the formless, being in non-being. It is nebulous and elusive. Meet it, and you do not see its beginning. Follow it, and you do not see its end. Stay with the ancient Way in order to master what is present. Knowing the primeval beginning is the essence of the Way.

The man who wishes to know the "that" which is "thou" may set to work in any one of three ways. He may begin by looking inwards into his own particular thou and, by a process of "dying to self" --- self in reasoning, self in willing, self in feeling --- come at last to knowledge of the self, the kingdom of the self, the kingdom of God that is within. Or else he may begin with the thous existing outside himself, and may try to realize their essential unity with God and, through God, with one another and with his own being. Or, finally (and this is doubtless the best way), he may seek to approach the ultimate That both from within and from without, so that he comes to realize God experimentally as at once the principle of his own thou and of all other thous, animate and inanimate.

There are people dying from famine on the roads, and you do not issue the stores of your granaries for them. When people die, you say, 'it is not owing to me, it is owing to the year.' In what does this differ from stabbing a man and killing him, and then saying, 'it was not I, it was the weapon?

Timur membutuhkan semangat dan dinamisme Barat. Barat membutuhkan ketenangan dan kedamaian Timur. Melaju dengan kecepatan tinggi tanpa rem, kecelakaan menunggu Barat. Berdiri malas di tempat tanpa semangat, Timur akan mati konyol. Pertemuan antara Barat dan Timur bermanfaat bagi keduanya.

To Taoism that which is absolutely still or absolutely perfect is absolutely dead, for without the possibility of growth and change there can be no Tao. In reality there is nothing in the universe which is completely perfect or completely still; it is only in the minds of men that such concepts exist.

(When asked what he thought of Western civilization): 'I think it would be a good idea.

when somebody plays music, you listen. you just follow those sounds, and eventually you understand the music. the point can't be explained in words because music is not words, but after listening for a while, you understand the point of it, and that point is the music itself. in exactly the same way, you can listen to all experiences.

When you're in the clutches of a drinking problem you don't really sit around thinking, I should really knock this shit off and go get my Eastern philosophy on. On your to-do list, pursuing a higher state of consciousness doesn't really rank. It's more like, put on Led Zeppelin 4 and hand me some of that Root Beer Schnapps.

Western philosophy must be discussed; eastern philosophy must be experienced.

What I’ve learned through my meditation is a sense of equanimity, a sense of all things being equal.

An educated man believing in a this-that vile sky-god rewarding him-her, but punishing your enemies with hell and fire, is uneducated.

As soon as we notice that certain types of event "like" to cluster together at certain times, we begin to understand the attitude of the Chinese, whose theories of medicine, philosophy, and even building are based on a "science" of meaningful coincidences. The classical Chinese texts did not ask what causes what, but rather what "likes" to occur with what.

How much does he lack himself who must have many things?

Do you have the patience to wait Till your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving Till the right action arises by itself?

As the sun, revealer of all objects to the seer, is not harmed by the sinful eye, nor by the impurities of the objects it gazes on, so the one Self, dwelling in all, is not touched by the evils of the world. (The Upanishads: Breath of the Eternal, pg. 35)

Compassion is not complete if it does not include oneself.

Does a man who is acting on the stage in a female part forget that he is a man? Similarly, we too must play our parts on the stage of life, but we must not identify ourselves with those parts.

I believe in not trying to control things that are out of my control or none of my business.

I believe I will not not die a minute too early or a minute too late, but exactly when I am supposed to.

I believe there are only three businesses: my business, other people's business, and God's business.

I am The Dragon And I have come!

If you feel anxiety or depression, you are not in the present. You are either anxiously projecting the future or depressed and stuck in the past. The only thing you have any control over is the present moment; simple breathing exercises can make us calm and present instantly.

It was all part of the Eastern system of control and appropriation, Frankie reflected philosophically. The old controlled the young, the educated the uneducated, and as for the rich, well the rich had no doubt at all that they actually owned the poor.

Once we got closer to the origins of these Eastern practices, we found that the monks and swamis were just as dogmatic and paternalistic, just as literal and conservative in their approach to spirituality as the Christian priests and ministers we were trying to get away from.

Look at this leaf. When you’re standing close to it you can see every single detail of the leaf. You may think that it’s important to see things, like this leaf, up close but that is an incorrect notion because it is also important to view things from afar. That’s why it is necessary to look at all perspectives of an issue or of an object. --The Unnamed Samurai (Chapter 5)