Echoes

A man ought to handle his body like the sail of a ship, and neither lower and reduce it much when no cloud is in sight, nor be slack and careless in managing it when he comes to suspect something is wrong, but he should rather ease the body off and lighten its load, and not wait for indigestions and diarrhoeas, nor heightened temperatures nor fits of drowsiness.

With your spirit settled, accumulate practice day by day, and hour by hour. Polish the twofold spirit heart and mind, and sharpen the twofold gaze perception and sight. When your spirit is not in the least clouded, when the clouds of bewilderment clear away, there is the true void.

The mind must be given relaxation — it will rise improved and sharper after a good rest. Just as we must not force fertile farmland, for uninterrupted productivity will soon exhaust it, so constant effort will sap our mental vigor.

If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.

In this mortal frame of mine, which is made of a hundred bones and nine orifices, there is something, and this something is called a wind-swept spirit, for lack of a better name.

To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.

Resolve your mental energy into abstraction, your physical energy into inaction. Allow yourself to fall in with the natural order of phenomena, without admitting the element of self,—and the empire will be governed.

The best fighter is never angry.

When breath is unsteady, the mind is unsteady. When breath is steady, the mind is steady. The yogi should therefore restrain the breath.

Abstinence is the nurse of the soul.

Fixity of attention depends on slow breathing; quick or uneven breaths are an inevitable accompaniment of harmful emotional states — fear, lust, anger.

Mind is the king of the senses; breath is the king of the mind.

In silence and in stillness a devout soul maketh progress, and learneth the mysteries of Holy Scripture.

Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.

Those who are slaves to their appetites cannot preserve their reason, their memory, or their senses in their full vigour; for a full belly does not produce a fine mind.

One should not eat unless one is hungry, nor drink unless one is thirsty.

The body is a sacred garment. It is what you enter life in and what you depart life with, and it should be treated with honour, and with joy and with fear as well.

The stomach is not to be loaded, for there is nothing so hostile to thought as a full belly.

Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts. Whenever your mind becomes scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again.

A person should not eat until his stomach is full. Rather, he should eat until he has consumed approximately three quarters of his fill.

The primary indication, to my thinking, of a well-ordered mind is a man's ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company.

There are two sentences inscribed upon the Delphic oracle, hugely accommodated to the usages of man's life: "Know thyself," and "Nothing too much;" and upon these all other precepts depend.

If the body be feeble, the mind will not be strong. The sovereign invigorator of the body is exercise, and of all the exercises walking is best. A horse gives but a kind of half exercise, and a carriage is no better than a cradle.

Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?

The love of Heaven and Earth is impartial, and they demand nothing from the myriad things. The love of the sages is impartial, and they demand nothing from the people. The cooperation between Heaven and Earth is much like how a bellows works! Within the emptiness there is limitless potential; in moving, it keeps producing without end. Complaining too much only leads to misfortune. It is better to stay in the center of serenity.