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It 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 Hoff

Sourness 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 HOFF

Messages Mind Sweet
To Buddha, the second figure in the painting, life on earth was bitter, filled with attachments and desires that led to suffering.
BENJAMIN HOFF

Attachment Desire Suffering
Life itself, when understood and utilized for what it is, is sweet.
BENJAMIN HOFF

Home New Pooh Sweet Tao
Well, it takes all kinds to make a mess.
BENJAMIN HOFF

Kind Order Wells
The wise know their limitations; the foolish do not.
BENJAMIN HOFF

Foolish Pooh Tao Wise
Whether many people realize it yet or not, man, the Inferior Animal, has by now proved himself incapable of keeping his own species – and others – alive for very much longer. So the earth has begun its own plan to set things right.
BENJAMIN HOFF

Animals Men People
If people were superior to animals, they’d take good care of them,” said Pooh.
BENJAMIN HOFF

Animal Nature People
Like 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 HOFF

Loneliness People Spiritual
As any old Taoist walking out of the woods can tell you, simple-minded does not necessarily mean stupid.
BENJAMIN HOFF

Mean Simple Stupid
Treat 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 HOFF

Accepting Gains Loss
In the Age of Perfect Virtue, men lived among the animals and birds as members of one large family. There were no distinctions between superior and inferior to separate one man or species from another. All retained their natural Virtue and lived in a state of pure simplicity.
BENJAMIN HOFF

Animal Men Perfect
While Eeyore frets … … and Piglet hesitates … and Rabbit calculates … and Owl pontificates …Pooh just is.
BENJAMIN HOFF

Owl Piglet Rabbits
Cleverness, 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 HOFF

Clever Looks Pooh
It is very hard to be brave,” said Piglet, sniffing slightly, “when you’re only a Very Small Animal.” Rabbit, who had begun to write very busily, looked up and said: “It is because you are a very small animal that you will be Useful in the adventure before us.
BENJAMIN HOFF

Adventure Animal Writing
A clever mind is not a heart. Knowledge doesn’t really care, wisdom does.
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Clever Heart Mind
The surest way to become Tense, Awkward, and Confused is to develop a mind that tries too hard – one that thinks too much.
BENJAMIN HOFF

Awkward Confused Thinking
You’d be surprised how many people violate this simple principle every day of their lives and try to fit square pegs into round holes, ignoring the clear reality that Things Are As They Are.
BENJAMIN HOFF

Reality Simple Square
There is more to knowing than just being correct
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Correct Just Being Knowing
Wisdom, 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 HOFF

Lines Sight Waiting
We simply need to believe in the power that’s within us, and use it.
BENJAMIN HOFF

Believe Needs Use
No matter how useful we may be, sometimes it takes us a while to recognize our own value.
BENJAMIN HOFF

Limitation Matter May Sometimes
Things 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

Pooh Tao Trying Way
“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 HOFF

Sound Taoism Wisdom Words
Unfortunately complaining is one thing Eeyores are not afraid to do. They grudgingly carry their thimbles to the Fountain of Life, then mumble and grumble that they weren’t given enough.
BENJAMIN HOFF

Complaining Enough Fountain
The Universe knows what it’s doing. So don’t develop a big ego, and don’t be afraid.
BENJAMIN HOFF

Bigs Ego Knows
Through working in harmony with life’s circumstances, Taoist understanding changes what others may percieve as negative into something positive.
BENJAMIN HOFF

Appreciation Perspective Understanding
Under 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 HOFF

Phrases Purpose Steps

It 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.

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It 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.

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Popular Authors

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