Do what can’t be done by doing things,
Let action be effortless.
Make what can’t be made by making things,
Savor the tasteless.
Treat the small as large,
The few as many.
Repay wrongs with the Power of Goodness.
Work on problems before they become big,
Study the complicated while it’s still obvious.
The biggest challenge starts out easy,
The most renowned projects
Begin small and uncomplicated.
Since taking things too lightly creates big problems
And thinking things too easy makes them difficult,
The wise don’t make much ado about anything,
Don’t take to heart what they can throw over their shoulders,
Don’t believe or like lightly.
By never attempting great ventures,
They accomplish great goals.
“Do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you.”
Comments: Click to comment
“How prone to doubt, how cautious are the wise!”
Comments: Click to comment
“If you consider something easy, it is bound to become hard. If you consider something hard, it is bound to become easy.”
Comments: Click to comment
“The Sage never has to grapple with big things yet he alone is capable of achieving them!”
Comments: Click to comment
“Don’t treat others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.”
Comments: Click to comment
“Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”
Comments: Click to comment
“Do not do to others what you don’t want done to yourself.”
Comments: Click to comment
“If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?”
Comments: Click to comment
“Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make angry.”
Comments: Click to comment
“On Golden Rule:
Repay wrongs with the Power of Goodness;
Love your brother and sister as your soul;
protect them as you do the pupils of your eyes.”
Comments: Click to comment
“What is hateful to you, don’t do to your fellowmen. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.”
Comments: Click to comment
“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”
Comments: Click to comment
“If the problem has a solution, worrying is pointless, in the end the problem will be solved. If the problem has no solution, there is no reason to worry, because it can't be solved.”
Comments: Click to comment
“A mere glimpse… of pure light form destroys mental fiction like an elephant berserk.”
Comments: Click to comment
“If rulers disdain something as easy, misfortune and trouble are sure to arise from it. If they do not pay attention to small matters, eventually they will overwhelm even the greatest virtue.”
Comments: Click to comment
“If we repay wrongs with kindness, we put an end to revenge. If we repay wrongs with wrongs, revenge never ends.”
Comments: Click to comment
“Don't bring things to a painful point.”
Comments: Click to comment
“At first it was very hard. But once I learned how to use my mind, it became very easy. What the world considers hard, the sage considers easy. What the world considers easy, the sage considers hard.”
Comments: Click to comment
“Do not make much ado about nothing… Troublesome things should not be taken too seriously… It is preposterous to take to heart what should be thrown over your shoulders.”
Comments: Click to comment
“Who is wise? He that learns from everyone. Who is powerful? He that governs his passions. Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.”
Comments: Click to comment
“Teachings... are given only for the purpose of realizing the nature of mind. Beyond this, the victorious ones don't teach anything.”
Comments: Click to comment
“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”
Comments: Click to comment
“Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness.”
Comments: Click to comment
“Who shall be fairest? - who shall be rarest? Who shall be first in the songs that we sing? She who is kindest when fortune is blindest, Bearing through winter the blooms of the spring.”
Comments: Click to comment
“An arrow may fly through the air and leave no trace; but an ill thought leaves a trail like a serpent.”
Comments: Click to comment
“Lay not on any soul a load that you would not wish to be laid upon you.”
Comments: Click to comment
“Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”
Comments: Click to comment
“But the worst enemy you can meet will always be yourself.”
Comments: Click to comment
“Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.”
Comments: Click to comment
“It's all very well to tell us to forgive our enemies; our enemies can never hurt us very much. But oh, what about forgiving our friends?”
Comments: Click to comment
“The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.”
Comments: Click to comment
“If one does not take the verses of the New Testament as being commandments, but as expressions of an extraordinary awareness of the secrets of our soul, then the wisest word ever spoken is: 'Love thy neighbor as thyself.’”
Comments: Click to comment
“Learn what is to be taken seriously and laugh at the rest.”
Comments: Click to comment
“And yet the most valuable things are attained with the least effort. But one does not realize their importance. One would rather have something which is attained with a great effort.”
Comments: Click to comment
“There is not anything one should not be ready to tolerate,and there is nobody whom one should not forgive.”
Comments: Click to comment
“It’s dark because you are trying too hard… Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them… throw away your baggage and go forward. There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet, trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair. That’s why you must walk so lightly.”
Comments: Click to comment
“And the little prince broke into a lovely peal of laughter, which irritated me very much. I like my misfortunes to be taken seriously.”
Comments: Click to comment
“In those days, I didn't understand anything. I should have judged her according to her actions, not her words. She perfumed my planet and lit up my life. I should never have run away! … But I was too young to know how to love her.”
Comments: Click to comment
“For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. If you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of each of your arms.”
Comments: Click to comment
“I defeat my enemies when I make them my friends.”
Comments: Click to comment
“Maybe the most important teaching is to lighten up and relax. It’s such a huge help in working with our crazy mixed-up minds to remember that what we’re doing is unlocking a softness that is in us and letting it spread. We’re letting it blur the sharp corners of self-criticism and complaint.”
Comments: Click to comment
“That big-deal quality of our perception is known as a veil that prevents us from relating with reality properly… it makes us more numb.”
Comments: Click to comment
“How can I go forward when I don't know which way I'm facing?”
Comments: Click to comment
“Commenting on Chuang Tzu’s story about the Marquis of Lu trying to help a seabird, Stephen Mitchell writes, 'The marquis…by acting out the Golden Rule, became the golden fool… Love your neighbor as yourself: leave him alone.'”
Comments: Click to comment
“Worrying about the world is a dead end. When nuclear proliferation is solved, global warming pops up. When global warming is solved, overpopulation starts looming. then there’s always the burning out of the sun and the infinite expansion or contraction of the universe…”
Comments: Click to comment
Comments (1)
-
Shan Dao
7 years ago
“Requite injuries with good deeds” is Arthur Waley’s translation, Le Guin’s is “Meet injury with the power of goodness.” We used a version of both here. Waley’s gets closest to the more common versions of “The Golden Rule.” “Don’t take to heart” came from Balthasar Gracian.
Log in to comment.