(Tao: Sacred Symbols)



You must concentrate upon and consecrate yourself wholly to each day, as though a fire were raging in your hair.

(Zen mondo)



Have a heart that never hardens,
and a temper that never tries,
and a touch that never hurts.

(Charles Dickens)



Befriend the man who is brutally honest, for honesty is the highest form of respect.

(Daniel Saint)



It is no measure of health
to be well adjusted
to a profoundly sick society.

(Krishnamurti)



Don’t be too severe
in criticising people’s faults;
consider how much they can bear.

(Huanchu Daoren)



His ability to take adequate care of himself.
Not a hypochondriac or obsessed with his appearance, but not ignoring things either.
With the result that he hardly ever needed medical attention,
or drugs or any sort of salve or ointment.

(Marcus Aurelius)



When asked how he overcame his opponents, Hadrat Ali explained,
"I never met any man who did not help me against himself."

(Hadrat Ali)



There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.

(Leonardo da Vinci)



And so he sets off on a path to mysterious destinations. He does so in spite of observations by others that such a way is naïve, outmoded or idealistic. He goes because he knows others have gone before, because the unchanging direction of the Way attracts and calls to him.

He goes because he is compelled. He sets out on a journey of a lifetime because he senses that this way is the one to lead him to a place very much worth the going.

(Dave Lowry)



If the body is clumsy, then in advancing or retreating it cannot be free;
therefore, it must be agile.
Once you raise your arm, you cannot appear clumsy.

(Li I-Yu)



The highest level of tai chi practice is high stance and small circle. In high stance and small circle you can conserve your energy to a maximum level. This is very crucial in battle. Endurance has always been the crucial key to survival in a long battle. Moreover, due to high stance and smaller shape you can reach to the deepest relaxed stage, the mind is highly concentrated, and the sensitivity and alertness can be extremely sharp.

(Yang Jwing-Ming)



It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.

(Charles Darwin)



One is taught in accordance to one’s fitness to learn.

(The Silent Flute)



This is how we comprehend the abstract.
Without knots or barriers in mind we see Tao easily,
reaping good harvest from our practice.

(Loy Ching Yuen)



Confronted by limitations of effectiveness, the martial arts of the West responded with a continuous crafting of superior equipment. Confronted with similar limitations, the Asian warrior responded by fashioning a better self. The warrior turned not to technology in making his sword a better tool for fighting. Influenced by contemplative aspects of Taoism and Buddhism and by the self-discipline of Confucianism, he turned inward. He fine-tuned his body and mind in order to better manipulate his sword.

(Dave Lowry)



A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.

(Bertrand Russell)



Once upon a time there was a Chinese farmer who lost a horse; it ran away.
 All his neighbours came around that evening and said, "That's too bad."
 And he said, "Maybe."
 The next day the horse came back and brought seven wild horses with it,
 and all the neighbours came around and said, "Isn't that great?"
 And he replied, "Maybe."
 The next day his son was attempting to tame one of the horses and was thrown from it and broke his leg, and all the neighbours came around and said, "Well, that's just too bad isn't it?"
 And the farmer said, "Maybe."
 The next day the conscription officers came around looking for people for the army,
 and they rejected his son because he had a broken leg.
 All the neighbours came around in the evening and said, "Isn't that wonderful?"
 And he said, "Maybe."
 
 (Alan Watts)



In motion the whole body should be light and agile,
with all parts of the body linked as if threaded together.

(Chang San-feng)



If the opponent's movement is quick, then quickly respond; if his movement is slow, then follow slowly.

(Wang Tsung-yueh)



Most students ask too many questions too soon. An inquisitive mind is not wrong, but too much questioning often signifies that the student failed to practice enough or didn't take time to analyse and investigate the problem on his own.

(Adam Hsu)



Walk like a cat.

(Wu Yu-hsiang)



We take refuge in pride because we are afraid to tell the truth to ourselves.

(Kakuzo Okakura) 



Why is the Tao so valuable?
Because it is everywhere,
and everyone can use it.

This is why those who seek
will find,
And those who reform
will be forgiven;
Why the good
will be rewarded,
And the thief who is cunning
will escape.

(Lao Tzu)



To bear that which you think you cannot bear is really to bear.

 (Nitobe)



Many people learn tai chi just so they can show off to somebody else.
They learn certain movements from the outside,
but they the miss the inside, the essence.
And some tai chi teachers also have made this mistake.

(Chungliang Al Huang)



Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

(Leonardo Da Vinci)



When attacked you should always 'slip' the attack.
Never meet force with force,
or your opponent will be able to borrow your strength .

(Lau Kim Hong)



Cord: Who are you?

Blind shepherd: Whoever you think I am or want me to be, I am.

(The Silent Flute)



Taoism furnished the basis for aesthetic ideals, Zen made them practical.

(Kakuzo Okakura)



All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity.
But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.

(T. E. Lawrence)



Simplicity before understanding is simplistic; simplicity after understanding is simple.

(Edward De Bono)



When torrential water tosses boulders,
it is because of its momentum;
when the strike of a hawk breaks the body of its prey;
it is because of timing.

(Sun Tzu)



The art of teaching is clarity and the art of learning is to listen.
 
 (Vanda Scaravelli) 



In all the martial arts
the critical foundation that must be cultivated by the student
 is mindfulness.

(Ron Sieh)



Olives taste bitter at first,
sweet later.
So the matter of practice:
Hard work discovering the true way.

(Loy Ching Yuen)



Too early in the morning? Get up and train. Cold and wet outside? Go train. Weary of the whole journey and longing for a moment to stop and rest? Train.
Continue on in the spirit of perseverance.

(Dave Lowry)



There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.

(The Matrix)



We demand to be coaxed and comforted, to be encouraged and gratified, so we choose a teacher who will give us what we crave for. We do not search out reality, but go after gratification and sensation.

(Krishnamurti)



The wise speak when they have something to say, fools speak when they have to say something.

(Confucius)



May your wishes be granted.

(Chinese curse) 



I like reality. It tastes of bread.

(Jean Aouilh)



Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.

(Buddha)



Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through.

Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it.
This is a kind of death.

(Anais Nin)



When you come to the dojo, it is a recognition the teacher there has something you want. He will give it to you in his own way. You must accept that.
If you do not, you are free to leave.

The dojo, however, is never run by consensus.

(Dave Lowry)



If all you learn is a lot of forms, you just become a good dancer.

 (James Wing Woo) 



Have you noticed, in newspapers and magazines, the amount of space given to politics, to the sayings of politicians and their activities? Of course, other news is given, but political news predominates; the economic and political life has become all-important. It is so much easier to throw oneself into social and political activity than to understand life as a whole; to be associated with any organized thought, with political or religious activity, offers a respectable escape from the pettiness and drudgery of everyday life.

With a small heart you can talk of big things and of the popular leaders; you can hide your shallowness with the easy phrases of world affairs; your restless mind can happily and with popular encouragement settle down to propagate the ideology of a new or of an old religion.

(Krishnamurti)

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