When you know and respect your Inner Nature, you know where you belong. You also know where you don’t belong.
BENJAMIN HOFFWhen you know and respect your Inner Nature, you know where you belong. You also know where you don’t belong.
BENJAMIN HOFFLike silence after noise, or cool, clear water on a hot, stuffy day, Emptiness cleans out the messy mind and charges up the batteries of spiritual energy. Many people are afraid of Emptiness, however, because it reminds them of Loneliness.
BENJAMIN HOFFTreat gain and loss the same.’ Don’t be Intimidated. Don’t make a Big Deal of anything – just accept things as they come to you.
BENJAMIN HOFFThe Universe knows what it’s doing. So don’t develop a big ego, and don’t be afraid.
BENJAMIN HOFFNo matter how useful we may be, sometimes it takes us a while to recognize our own value.
BENJAMIN HOFFAs any old Taoist walking out of the woods can tell you, simple-minded does not necessarily mean stupid.
BENJAMIN HOFFSourness and bitterness come from the interfering and unappreciative mind. Life itself, when understood and utilized for what it is, is sweet. That is the message of The Vinegar Tasters.
BENJAMIN HOFFThrough working in harmony with life’s circumstances, Taoist understanding changes what others may percieve as negative into something positive.
BENJAMIN HOFFIt means that Tao doesn’t force or interfere with things, but lets them work in their own way, to produce results naturally. Then whatever needs to be done is done.
BENJAMIN HOFFUnder Confucianism, the use of precisely measured court music, prescribed steps, actions, and phrases all added up to an extremely complex system of rituals, each used for a particular purpose at a particular time.
BENJAMIN HOFFPhonographic. It goes around and around. Sometimes it gets stuck. That’s why I remember things so well.
BENJAMIN HOFFWisdom, Happiness, and Courage are not waiting somewhere out beyond sight at the end of a straight line; they’re part of a continuous cycle that begins right here. They’re not only the ending, but the beginning as well.
BENJAMIN HOFFCleverness, after all, has its limitations. Its mechanical judgments and clever remarks tend to prove inaccurate with passing time, because it doesn’t look very deeply into things to begin with.
BENJAMIN HOFFThings just happen in the right way, at the right time. At least when you let them, when you work with circumstances instead of saying, ‘This isn’t supposed to be happening this way,’ and trying harder to make it happen some other way.
BENJAMIN HOFF“What’s that?” the Unbeliever asked. “Wisdom from the Western Taoist,” I said. “It sounds like something from Winnie-the-Pooh,” he said. “It is,” I said. “That’s not about Taoism,” he said. “Oh, yes it is,” I said.
BENJAMIN HOFFWhen we give up our images of self-importance and our ideas of what should be, we can help things become what they need to be.
BENJAMIN HOFF