Dao Quotes

A moving door hinge never corrodes. Flowing water never grows stagnant. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Let us be sad; it is feeling that makes us human. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

I'm sick to death of lords and kings and emperors. What do they do but play games and let their people pay the price in blood? ~ Julie C. Dao

Why is it so hard to find liberation? Because our own minds are the source of our difficulties. Eliminate desire, accept personal shortcomings, and work toward a patient elimination of the mind's own hunger for outward satisfaction. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

But then again, we all have dreams within reach, Jade thought. We have only to shape them to fit ourselves. ~ Julie C. Dao

Save me, she thought. Save me from this love dark road. ~ Julie C. Dao

When I let go of who I am, I become who I might be. ~ Lao-Tzu

Chinese culture had boys memorize the Dao for centuries. Many cultures commit their sacred, foundational texts to memory.... When you read a hundred words a hundred times they get woven into your soul.... Understanding is not as important. When we struggle with a text, it changes us. Why put things in memory? ... We memorize to contemplate, not to show off. ~ Andrew Kern

The moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences. What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore? The moon is faithful to its nature and its power is never diminished. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

The flowing movements and relaxing music softens the sense and release the soul. This way my students not only enjoy moving their bodies with ease, but they also have the satisfaction of knowing that they can benefit from this Art for as long as they shall live (that I presume will be much longer than the expected if they continue on their routine of practicing my "BalletTao") At my primary school, a colleague was reading a text out loud when he kicked this word: Ballet, which is pronounced with a soundless T. He hesitated and then read: Ballet accentuating the T in the end. It sounded like: Ballet-Chi. Who would guess that one day I would accept this as the correct way to use this word?"
The Dao Workbook Illustrated ~ Ana Claudia Antunes

Who you are is always right. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

You understand, as I do, that wealth and family mean nothing if a person is not willing to prove his full worth. ~ Julie C. Dao

Whether we remain the ash or become the phoenix is up to us. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Build your life brick upon brick,
Live a life of truth,
And you will look back on a life of truth.
Live a life of fantasy,
And you will look back on delusion. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Those truly linked don't need correspondence. When they meet again after many years apart, Their friendship is as true as ever. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

In the world I am
Always a stranger
I do not understand its language
It does not understand my silence ~ Bei Dao

We need faith, not because there are beings who will punish us or reward us, but because gods are a wonderful way of describing things that are happening to us. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Unlocking our potential requires education, experience, and determination. One should never stop learning, never stop exploring, never stop going on adventures. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Only when peace lives within each of us, will it live outside of us. We must be the wombs for a new harmony. When it is small, peace is fragile. Like a baby, it needs nurturing attention. We must protect peace from violence and perversion if it is to grow. We must be strong to do this. But force, even in the name of honor, is always tragic. Instead, we must use the strength of wisdom and conscience. Only that power can nurture peace in this difficult time. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Perhaps the final hour is come I have left no testament Only a pen, for my mother I am no hero in an age without heroes I just want to be a man. ~ Bei Dao

Reject labels. Reject identities. Reject conformity. Reject convention. Reject definitions. Reject names. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Xifeng tilted her face, a pale moon in the evening of the water. She felt like a goddess in the shimmering light. She was a poem come to life, each vein was a lyric. ~ Julie C. Dao

Isn't it better to wake up each day, living for the present rather than waiting for the future? ~ Julie C. Dao

A ruler has little time for kindness. He does not give without expecting something in return. He can't afford to. ~ Julie C. Dao

If you are what you eat, then you are shaped by what you share as you eat. ~ Deng Ming-Dao

Love does not always come with marriage, Your Majesty. Marriage may strengthen a woman, but love weakens her. She has more to lose. ~ Julie C. Dao

The name Bei Dao was actually given to me with the help of friends. When we were publishing our unofficial magazine, Today, we wanted to avoid being harassed by the police so we were trying to think of names that we could use. It was done very casually. ~ Bei Dao

Here are pictures of the sources for Daoist mijue "master to disciple" oral teachings, as shown in the manuals used by Daoist masters themselves. The manuals are insufficient for the casual reader to use, the oral koujue explanations given on a personal one-to-one basis are essential. After seeing how Daoists from Longhu Shan,as well as foreign ("american") Dao for $$$ have falsified their use, I am reluctant to share them in full, until a true Qingwei or Zhengyi Grade five and above master ask to see them. The Qingwei (5 thunder-vajra") Daoist seen performing the purification mudra in image #5 below (a mudra shared by Daoists, Tendai Tantric Buddhists in Japan, and Tibetan masters) said when he had seen the manuals shown in pictures 1-4. "Where is the other half of the Thunder-Vajra manual?" Then I knew that it was OK to give it to him! He gave me his address in Jiangxi province; I intend to bring the mijue manual to him on my next trip to China, as Master Zhuang asked me to do, (before his death in 1976, an order given to his maternal great grandfather by the 61st Longhu Shan master, in 1868)!
[Saso facebook post, May 7 2015] ~ Michael Saso

How their slippery hearts had scorched her throat, how the hot metallic tang of blood had given way to a roar of satisfaction that shook her whole being. ~ Julie C. Dao

Bei Dao became the most well-known name for me because of certain criticism of my work. Bei Dao was the name under which my work was criticized. So I became more well-known under Bei Dao than under the other names. ~ Bei Dao

As a writer, the most important thing for me is to continue to write, no matter where I am. ~ Bei Dao

We may be floating on Tao, but there is nothing wrong with steering. If Tao is like a river, it is certainly good to know where the rocks are. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Bravery isn't just about being strong and handy with a sword. Sometimes it's about resolve...or deciding whether to face a past you'd rather forgot. ~ Julie C. Dao

All the drain leads to the ocean...
So chill out and enjoy the motion! ~ Ana Claudia Antunes

Once we make our decision, all things will come to us. Auspicious signs are not a superstition, but a confirmation. They are a response. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

By living your true purpose with Love & Gratitude, you are abundantly living in oneness with the universe ~ Natasha Dao

She, too, was part of this game in which women could only hope to survive by keeping each other down. ~ Julie C. Dao

Life is a series of decisions. Whether you make the correct decisions or not doesn't matter. The important thing is to keep going forward. Years later, when you look back, perhaps you'll find that the incorrect decisions you made… weren't really incorrect. Similarly, the correct decisions… might not necessarily have been correct. Why struggle with frustration? Why proceed with confusion? In all things… resolution only comes from continuing to move forward. Following this line of reasoning, if there is no such thing as 'incorrect,' then how can the 'correct' exist? Similarly, if there is no 'correct,' then how can the 'incorrect' exist? ~ Er Gen

Rain scatters plum petals; Weeping stains the earth. One can only take shelter And wait for clearing. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

We must not fall into the trap of waiting so long for the big things that we let numerous small chances slip right by us. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Thus wuwei manifests itself in the adaptive integration of the interacting parts of units of a complex system. The tendency of wuwei is to lead a system toward a state of fractal congruence, a close fitting together, a coalescing, of its significant components. The cooperation of those components facilitates the functioning of the system on its new holistic level. At the highest levels of complexity, wuwei integrates human beings into the systems of the world. This process of integration represents a synergistic enhancement of Dao by empathic human participants in cooperation with nature and with the outgrowths of human nature that have emerged from our evolutionary history and constitute culture. Thus, a fractal self is such a human being who is a participant with others, open to various worlds within nature and culture, and this person becomes a potential facilitator of emergence. ~ David Jones

Isn't' it better to give up a fraction of your freedom to gain tenfold in happiness, even for a short time? ~ Julie C. Dao

Once you have seen the face of God, you see the same face on everyone you meet. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

A funeral is for those left behind. Sometimes, one wonders if the weeping is more out of fear for ourselves than it is sympathy for the deceased. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

But in weakness, you find your strength. It takes no small amount of courage to open yourself up," the Empress said gently. "You leave pieces of yourself in the ones you love. Is that not the greatest power, to endure in that way? ~ Julie C. Dao

Love is weakness. You open yourself up to choices you'd never make if you heart were your own. ~ Julie C. Dao

Fear is good. It means you care. And caring is its own kind of magic. One just as powerful as any dao I can weave. ~ Natasha Ngan

The follower of Tao is always flexible and adaptable to circumstance. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

We cannot allow ourselves to be hobbled by the woes and alienation of our race or nation. It is our responsibility to overcome these, even if we can only succeed in our hearts. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

All teachings are mere references. The true experience is living your own life. Then, even the holiest of words are only words. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

It must be like using an apothecary's scale....Knowing when to add more of this or that. Evening out the two sides so they seem equal, though one may hold only dirt and the other gold dust. ~ Julie C. Dao

Those who don't know how to suffer are the worst off. There are times when the only correct thing we can do is to bear out troubles until a better day. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Since the beginning of physics, symmetry considerations have provided us with an extremely powerful and useful tool in our effort to understand nature. Gradually they have become the backbone of our theoretical formulation of physical laws. ~ Tsung-Dao Lee

Give back what you have learned. Share your experience. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Being a poet in the States is quite different from being one in China, because in the States poetry depends on the universities for its support. They finance the poets and help them get published. That isn't so in China. But overall it is the same. You can't change society with poetry. ~ Bei Dao

Worry is an addiction that interferes with compassion. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Death is not an ending. It is a transformation. Death is the threshold of this life. Beyond it is something else, some mystery. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Though Jade had never seen or heard the ocean, she thought Xifeng's voice might sound like the sea - gentle beneath the wind, but hiding wild, untamed depths below the surface. ~ Julie C. Dao

By being receptive, we can avail ourselves of the spiritual wealth available to us. By being open, we can receive things beyond what we ourselves might imagine. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

She would wrap her coils around him in tender confinement and be not his captive, but his captor. ~ Julie C. Dao

Grappling with fate is like meeting an expert wrestler: to escape, you have to accept the fall when you are thrown. The only thing that counts is whether you get back up. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

It is too facile to say that the way to follow Tao is to simply go along with the flow of life. Sometimes, like the carp, we must know when to go it alone. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

A tree uses what comes its way to nurture itself. By sinking its roots deeply into the earth, by accepting the rain that flows towards it, by reaching out to the sun, the tree perfects its character and becomes great. ... Absorb, absorb, absorb. That is the secret of the tree. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

We learn about ourselves when we learn about others," Jade said. "We respect different ways of life as food, traditions, and storytelling are shared across borders. ~ Julie C. Dao

They crossed the Mondego and Dao rivers to Viseu and headed south to Coimbra and Leiria. ~ Robert Wilson

I tell you a throne is a greater imposition than it is a gift. ~ Julie C. Dao

Metaphorically, Daoism anticipates something like the butterfly effect.

Way-making (dao) gives rise to continuity,
Continuity gives rise to difference,
Difference to plurality,
And plurality gives rise to the manifold of everything that is happening (wanwu)

In Chinese thought, this transformation is called Dahua, the great transformation, a principle that seems to express glimpses of universal evolution. ~ David Jones

Do you want to know how spirituality works? Breathe. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Freedom is nothing but the distance
between the hunter and the hunted ~ Bei Dao

Only through lighting a living fire within ourselves can we dance quickly and spontaneously enough to meet the rhythm of life. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

The enemy must fight his battles far from home for a long time...We must weaken him by drawing him into protracted campaigns. Once his initial dash is broken, it will be easier to destroy him...When the enemy is away from home for a long time and produces no victories and families learn of their dead, then the enemy population at home becomes dissatisfied and considers it a Mandate from Heaven that the armies be recalled. Time is always in our favor. Our climate, mountains, and jungles discourage the enemy; but for us they offer sanctuary and a place from which to attack. ~ Tran Hung Dao

Trees in winter lose their leaves. Some trees may even fall during storms, but most stand patiently and bear their fortune. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

On the one hand poetry is useless. It can't change the world materially. On the other hand it is a basic part of human existence. It came into the world when humans did. It's what makes human beings human. ~ Bei Dao

the bouquet

Between me and the world
you are a bay, a sail
the faithful ends of a rope
you are a fountain, a wind,
a shrill childhood cry.

Between me and the world
you are a picture frame, a window
a field covered in wildflowers
you are a breath, a bed,
a night that keeps the stars company.

Between me and the world,
you are a calendar, a compass
a ray of light that slips through the gloom
you are a biographical sketch, a book mark
a preface that comes at the end.

between me and the world
you are a gauze curtain, a mist
a lamp shining in my dreams
you are a bamboo flute, a song without words
a closed eyelid carved in stone.

Between me and the world
you are a chasm, a pool
an abyss plunging down
you are a balustrade, a wall
a shield's eternal pattern. ~ Bei Dao

Beauty is all very well. But it is merely the gleam of the sword, the chief eunuch said. It is the mind that provides the sharp blade, and without that, well. We have a pretty piece of metal and not a weapon at all. ~ Julie C. Dao

It is said that if one chooses to pray to a rock with enough devotion, even that rock will come alive. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Women are complicated creatures. ~ Julie C. Dao

Draw energy from the earth
Admit power from the heavens
Fertilize the seed within
Let it sprout into a flower of pure light ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Muddy water will become clear if allowed to stand undisturbed, and so too will the mind become clear if it is allowed to be still. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Did you measure to attain your height? Did you use geometry to radiate your limb? Did you lament storm-torn branches? Did you inventory your leaves for the sun? You did none of these things, yet man in his cleverness Cannot match your perfection. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Expression is never helped by suppression. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Every ordinary moment, every little detail should be a celebration of your personal understanding. Your smallest act should be permeated with reverence. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Use a mirror in difficult times. You will see both cause and resolution. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

Know the world from end to end is a mirror;
in each atom a hundred suns are concealed.
If you pierce the heart of a single drop of water,
from it will flow a hundred clear oceans;
if you look intently at each speck of dust,
in it you will see a thousand beings.
A gnat in its limbs is like an elephant;
in name a drop of water resembles the Nile.
In the heart of a barleycorn is stored a hundred harvests.
Within a millet-seed a world exists.
In an insects wing is an ocean of life.
A heaven is concealed in the pupil of an eye.
The core at the center of the heart is small,
yet the Lord of both worlds will enter there. ~ Mahmud Shabistari