Striking Thoughts by Bruce Lee

Summary

A great book filled with aphorisms by Bruce Lee. A mixture of Eastern spirituality, Western and Stoic philosophy, scientific method, and simply practical thought to answer one question: how to live a good life. I recommend reading 1 page a day.

Key Takeaways

• Drop all of your preconceived fixed ideas and be neutral.
• We all have time to either spend or waste, and it is our decision what to do with it.
• Reality and perception – There is a difference: The world | Our reaction to it
• Every circumstance of every man’s life is the result of a definite cause – mode and control are yours.
• Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.
• Action is a highroad to self-confidence and esteem. Where it is open, all energies flow toward it. It comes readily to most people, and its rewards are tangible.
• The superior man lets himself be guided; he does not go ahead blindly, but learns from the situation what is demanded of him and then follows.
• Thought is the reaction of a mind which is conditioned by experience.
• If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.
• Knowledge will give you power, but character respects.
• To be humble to superiors is duty; to equals is courtesy; to inferiors is nobleness; and to all, safety!
• The subconscious mind favours thoughts inspired by emotional intelligence. It also gives preference to dominating thoughts.
• My will to do springs from the knowledge that I CAN DO.
• What’s amiss I’ll stop to mend, and endure what can’t be mended.
• Let the spiritual grow up through the common – Live content with small means; seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion. Be worthy, not respectable, wealthy, not rich; study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common.
• Absence in love is like water upon fire; a little quickens, but much extinguishes it.
• Learning techniques without inward experiencing can only lead to superficiality.
• A teacher, a good teacher that is, functions as a pointer to truth, but not a giver of truth.
• The ideal teacher – Not “what” to think but “how” to think.
• Tradition is the root of racism.
• The wise man does not pursue wisdom but lives his life, and therein precisely does his wisdom lie.
• It is not what happens in our life that is important, it’s how we react to what happens. Failure is what your mind acknowledges.
• You will never get any more out of life than you expect. Every man today is the result of his thoughts of yesterday.
• I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.
• Thoughts backed by faith will overcome all obstacles.
• Dedication, absolute dedication is what keeps one ahead.
• Conditioning is to limit a person within the framework of a particular system.
• Do not restrict yourself to one approach.
• Research your own experience; absorb what is useful, reject what is useless and add what is essentially your own.
• Each man must seek out realisation himself. No master can give it to him.
• We carry much of the past with us only as far as we have UNFINISHED SITUATIONS.
• Maturing is the transcendence from environmental support to self-support.
• It is not daily increase but daily decrease.
• Truth must be experienced by the individual to be meaningful.

What I got out of it

The length of the above section says it all: this book is great. I read 1 page a day for about half a year along with Tolstoy’s A Calendar Of Wisdom; an excellent way to wake up in the morning and slowly absorb all the wisdom in this book.

It’s a mixture of Eastern spirituality (Taoism, Confucianism, Zen Buddhism), Western and Stoic philosophy, the scientific method, New Age thinking (mainly influenced by Think And Grow Rich)…with beliefs reinforced by his own life experiences.

It’s obvious that Bruce Lee read widely and constantly challenged his own beliefs. He applied the notion of “strong opinions, weakly held” greatly throughout his life.

Most memorable: A teacher, a good teacher that is, functions as a pointer to truth, but not a giver of truth.
And: the ideal teacher – Not “what” to think but “how” to think.

A book to return to every few years.  

Summary Notes

On First Principles

Life

Emptiness the starting point – In order to taste my cup of water you must first empty your cup. My friend, drop all of your preconceived fixed ideas and be neutral. Do you know why this cup is so useful? Because it is empty.

The meaning of life – All in all, the goal of my planning and doing is to find the true meaning of life – peace of mind. In order to achieve this peace of mind, the teaching of detachment of Taoism and Zen proved to be valuable.

The secret of life – The aphorism “as a man thinketh in his heart so is he” contains the secret of life. James Allen further added, “A man is literally what he thinks.”

The pendulum of life must have balance – Only sober moderation lasts, and that persists through all time. Only the midpart of anything is preserved because the pendulum of life must have balance, and the midpart is the balance.

Pliability is life – Be pliable. When a man is living, he is soft and pliable; when he is dead, he becomes rigid. Pliability is life; rigidity is death, whether one speaks of man’s body, his mind, or his spirit.

Enjoy yourself – Remember my friend to enjoy your planning as well as your accomplishment, for life is too short for negative energy.

Time

On past, present, and future – My friend, do you think of the past in terms of those memories of events and accomplishments which were pleasant, rewarding, and satisfying? The present? Well, think of it in terms of challenges and opportunities, and the rewards available for the application of your talents and energies. As for the future, that is a time and a place where every worthy ambition you possess is within your grasp.

Time spent vs time wasted – To spend time is to pass it in a specified manner. To waste time is to expend it thoughtlessly or carelessly. We all have time to either spend or waste, and it is our decision what to do with it. But once passed, it is gone forever.

The Root

The root of concentration – Concentration is the ROOT of all the higher abilities in man.

If the root is right so will be all its manifestation. If cannot be, when the root is neglected, that what should spring from it will be well-ordered.

The Now

The Now is all-inclusive – NOTHING EXISTS EXCEPT THE HERE AND NOW.

Reality

Nothingness is a form of process – In science we have finally come back to the pre-Socratic philosopher, Heraclitus, who said that everything is flow, flux, process. There are no “things.” NOTHINGNESS in Eastern language is “nothingness.” We in the West think of nothingness as a void, an emptiness, a nonexistence. In Eastern philosophy and modern physical science, nothingness – nothingness – is a form of process, ever moving. “Is” vs “should.” What is and what should be. What IS more important than WHAT SHOULD BE. Too many people are looking at “what is” from a position of thinking “what should be.”

Reality and perception – There is a difference: The world | Our reaction to it

Commonality of all physical objects – All physical objects are the same. Therefore, the knowledge of knowing the existence of a physical object is enough.

Remove the dirt of preconceived opinion – Scratch away all the dirt our being has accumulated and reveal reality in its is-ness, or in its suchness, or in its nakedness, which corresponds to the Buddhist concept of emptiness.

Conditioning obstructs our view of reality – We do not see IT in its suchness because of our indoctrination, crooked and twisted.

The Laws

The law of cause and effect – Every circumstance of every man’s life is the result of a definite cause – mode and control are yours.

The law of harmony – The law of harmony, in which one should be in harmony with, and not in opposition to, the strength and force of the opposition. This means that one should do nothing that is not natural or spontaneous; the important thing is not to strain in any way.

The law of non-interference with nature – The law of non-interference with nature is a basic principle of Taoism [stating] that one should be in harmony with, not rebellion against, the fundamental laws of the universe. Preserve yourself by following the natural bends of things and don’t interfere. Remember never to assert your self against nature; never be in frontal opposition to any problems, but to control it by swinging with it.

On Being Human

The Human Being

Human beings are integrators – We do not analyze. We INTEGRATE.

On developing human potential – To promote the growth process and develop human potential:

• To get through social role-playing
• To fill in the holes in the personality to make [one] whole and complete again.

We are capable of much more – The fact [is] that we live only on such a small percentage of our potential:

• You do not allow yourself to be totally yourself.
• Society does not allow you to be totally yourself.

Action

The necessity for acting on our beliefs – Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

Action is a highroad to self-esteem – Action is a highroad to self-confidence and esteem. Where it is open, all energies flow toward it. It comes readily to most people, and its rewards are tangible.

The end of man is action – The end of man is action, and not thought, though it be of the noblest. In this world there are a lot of people who cannot touch the heart of the matter but talk merely intellectually (not emotionally) about how they would do this or do that; talk about it, but yet nothing is ever actualised or accomplished.

The reward of doing – The doer alone learns.

Wu-wei (natural action)

Wu-wei is natural action – The basic idea of the Tao Te Ching is NATURALISM in the sense of wu-wei (inaction), which really means taking no unnatural action. It means spontaneity; that is, “to support all things in their natural stage” and thus allows them to “transform spontaneously.” In this manner Tao “Undertakes no activity and yet there is nothing left undone.”

“Right” action is neither to oppose nor to give way, but to be pliable, as a reed in the wind.

The superior man lets himself be guided; he does not go ahead blindly, but learns from the situation what is demanded of him and then follows.

On the principle of wu-wei – Wu-wei is spontaneous superiority. Wu-wei is spontaneous action without prearrangement. Wu-wei ensures the spirit of harmony with nature. Wu-wei sees no violence done, with the result of peace and freedom from disturbance. Wu-wei is the nourishment of the spirit, left alone, so it can find stability. Wu-wei is “taking no action;” all effort made with a purpose are sure to fail.

The Mind

An intelligent mind is constantly learning – An intelligent mind is one which is constantly learning, never concluding – styles and patterns have come to conclusion, therefore they [have] ceased to be intelligent.

The qualities of mind – To be one thing and not to change is the climax of STILLNESS. To have nothing in one that resists is the climax of EMPTINESS. To remain detached from all outside things is the climax of FINENESS. To have in oneself no contraries is the climax of PURITY.

You are the commander of your mind – I’ve always been buffeted by circumstances because I thought of myself as a human being [affected by] outside conditioning. Now I realise that I am the power that commands the feeling of my mind and from which circumstances grow.

All thought is partial – All thought is partial, it can never be total. Thought is the response of memory, and memory is always partial, because memory is the result of experience; so thought is the reaction of a mind which is conditioned by experience.

Thinking

Sincere thought – Sincere thought means thought of concentration (quiet awareness). The thought of a distracted mind cannot be sincere.

Learning is never cumulative – The additive process is merely a cultivation of memory, which becomes mechanical. Learning is never cumulative, it is a movement of knowing which has no beginning and no end.

Imagination – Recognising the need for sound plans and ideas for the attainment of my desires, I will develop my imagination by calling upon it daily for help in the formation of my plans.

Subconscious mind – Recognising the influence of my subconscious mind over my power of will, I shall take care to submit to it a clear and definite picture of my Major Purpose in life and all minor purposes leading to my major purpose, and I shall keep this picture constantly before my subconscious mind by repeating it daily!

Knowledge – The remembering of previously learned material.

Comprehension – The ability to grasp the meaning of material (usage of knowledge) by interpreting material or projecting future trends in the usage of knowledge.

Concepts (Abstracting)

Balance your thoughts with action – If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.

Life is better lived than conceptualised – This writing can be made less demanding should I allow myself to indulge in the usual manipulating game of role creation. Fortunately for me, my self-knowledge has transcended that and I’ve come to understand that life is best to be lived – not to be conceptualised. If you have to think, you still do not understand.

Knowledge

Knowledge vs character – Knowledge will give you power, but character respects.

Ideas

The value of ideas – Ideas are the beginning of all achievement – in every industry, in every profession.

New ideas are always rewarded – It is a fact that labour and thrift produce competence, but fortune, in the sense of wealth, is the reward of the man who can think of something that hasn’t been thought of before.

Three types of ideas – Innate ideas (inborn), adventitious ideas (from outside events), factitious ideas (which one invents).

The four idea principles are:

• Find a human need, an unsolved problem.
• Master all of the essentials of the problem.
• Give a new “twist” to an old principle.
• Believe in your idea and act!

A five-step process to formulating ideas:

• Gather materials.
• Masticate the facts.
• Relax and drop the whole subject.
• Be ready to recognise and welcome the idea when it comes.
• Shape and develop your ideas into usefulness.

On developing the creative attitude – To develop the creative attitude, analyze, focus on the wanted SOLUTION; seek out and fill your mind with the FACTS; write down IDEAS, both sensible and seemingly wild; let the fact and ideas SIMMER in your mind; evaluate, recheck, settle on the CREATIVE IDEAS.

An idea emotionalised becomes physical – Any idea that is constantly held in the mind and emotionalised, begins at once to clothe itself in the most convenient and appropriate physical form that is available.

Perception

Perception is the way of truth – Not conviction, not method, but perception is the way of truth. It is a state of effortless awareness, pliable awareness, choiceless awareness.

The perceiving mind understands truth – There is no condemnation, no demand for a pattern of action in understanding. You are merely observing – just looking at it and watch it. The perceiving mind is living, moving, full of energy, and only such a mind can understand what truth is. To see a thing uncoloured by one’s own personal preferences and desires is to see it in its own pristine Simplicity.

The Ego (Self-Consciousness)

On being talented – Oftentimes people come up to me and ask, “Bruce, are you really that good?” I say, “Well, if I tell you I’m good, probably you will say I’m boasting; but if I tell you I’m no good, you’ll know I’m lying.” I have the absolute confidence not to be number two, but then I have enough sense also to realise that there can be no number one.

The ego and self-suggestion – The ego is fixed entirely by the application of self-suggestion.

On humbleness – To be humble to superiors is duty; to equals is courtesy; to inferiors is nobleness; and to all, safety!

Concentration

Concentration requires awareness – A concentrated mind is not an attentive mind, but a mind that is in the state of awareness can concentrate. Awareness is never exclusive, it includes everything.

Concentration leads to success – One great cause of failure is lack of concentration.

On Reason

The domain of logic – Logic’s central problem is the distinction between correct and incorrect argument.

Posteriori – Posteriori is:

• An argument from effect to cause.
• Knowledge based on experience.

Priori – Priori is:

• Argument from cause to effect.
• Knowledge independent of experience.

Dismantling the Socratic method – The only way to dismantle the so-called “Socratic method” of argument is also a three-step process:

• If the truth of the first is challenged successfully
• And if the remaining premises that are based on the original premise follow logically
• The conclusion is false

Emotion

Conscience is your pilot – Recognising that my emotions often err in their overenthusiasm, and my faculty often is without the warmth of feeling that is necessary to enable me to combine justice with mercy in my judgments, I will encourage my conscience to guide me as to what is right and what is wrong, but I will never set aside the verdicts it renders, no matter what may be the cost of carrying them out.

Motions of behaviour – Emotions: the most important motors of our behaviour.

Emotions and the subconscious – The subconscious mind favours thoughts inspired by emotional intelligence. It also gives preference to dominating thoughts.

Happiness

Happiness is the moral measure of man – The measure of the moral worth of a man is his happiness. The better the man, the more happiness. Happiness is the synonym of well-being.

Happiness requires action – Everybody is capable of obtaining happiness, but the matter of going on, or taking action to obtain it, is in question.

Fear

Understanding fear – To understand your fear is the beginning of really seeing.

The more we value things, the less we value ourselves – We should devote ourselves to being self-sufficient and must not depend upon the external rating by others for our happiness. So it is true that the more we value things, the less we value our self. The more we depend upon others for esteem, the less we are self-sufficient.

Will

The will to do – My will to do springs from the knowledge that I CAN DO. I’m only being natural, for there is no fear or doubt inside my mind.

The will to win – The attitude “That you can win if you want to badly enough” means that the will to win is constant and no amount of punishment, no amount of effort, or no condition is too “tough” to take in order to win. Such an attitude can be developed only if winning is closely tied to the practitioner’s ideals and dreams. Experience shows that an athlete who forces himself to the limit, can keep going as long as necessary. It means that ordinary effort will not tap or release the tremendous store of reserve power latent in the human body. Extraordinary effort, highly emotionalised conditions, or a true determination to win at all costs will release this energy. Therefore an athlete is actually as tired as he feels, and if he is determined to win he can keep on almost indefinitely in order to achieve his objective.

The will is spiritual – The spiritual power of man’s will removes all obstacles.

The aim of the self-willed man is growth – A self-willed man has no other aim than his own growth.

Good Will

To mend and to endure – What’s amiss I’ll stop to mend, and endure what can’t be mended.

Kindness and remembrance – A person cannot forget someone who is good to them.

Spirituality

The vital realisation of the spirit – When man comes to a conscious vital realisation of those great spiritual forces within himself and begins to use those forces in science, in business, and in life, his progress in the future will be unparalleled.

The spirit of the individual is determined by his dominating thought habits.

Let the spiritual grow up through the common – Live content with small means; seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion. Be worthy, not respectable, wealthy, not rich; study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common.

On Matters Of Existence

Health

On diet – Only eat what your body requires, and don’t [become] carried away with food that don’t benefit you.

Love

Love is never lost – Love is never lost. If not reciprocated it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.

Absence in love – Absence in love is like water upon fire; a little quickens, but much extinguishes it.

Young love vs mature love – Young love is a flame: very pretty, often very hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. The love of the older and disciplined heart is as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.

Love is mathematically just – Love, and you shall be loved – all love is mathematically just, as much as the two sides of an algebraic equation.

Marriage

In marriage: 1/2 + 1/2 = 1 – [My wife] and I aren’t one and one. We are two halves that make a whole. You have to apply yourself to be a family – two halves fitted together are more efficient than either half would ever be alone!

On Raising Children

The highest standards of conduct – Through all [my children’s] education will run the Confucianist philosophy that the highest standards of conduct consist of treating others as you wish to be treated, plus loyalty, intelligence, and the fullest development of the individual in the five chief relationships of life: government and those who are governed, father and son, elder and younger brother, husband and wife, friend and friend. Equipped in that way, I don’t think [they] can go far wrong.

Education

The value of self-education – Self-education makes great men.

Education: to discover but not merely to imitate. Learning techniques without inward experiencing can only lead to superficiality.

Absorption vs. accumulation in education – It is not how much you have learned, but how much you have absorbed in what you have learned – the best techniques are the simple ones executed right.

Teaching

Teaching requires a sensitive mind with great flexibility – Above all, a teacher does not depend on a method and drill systematic routines; instead, he studies each individual student and awakens him to explore himself, both internally and externally, and ultimately integrate himself with his being. Such teaching, which is really no teaching, requires a sensitive mind with great flexibility and is difficult to come by nowadays.

A teacher, a good teacher that is, functions as a pointer to truth, but not a giver of truth.

The ideal teacher – Not “what” to think but “how” to think. [Education] after all, it is merely the root to function from. Look for ways to raise the pupil’s mind above duality, to the absolute awareness which transcends it.

The six principle steps of teaching.

• Motivation of the trainee
• Maintaining their complete attention
• Promoting mental activity (thinking) – discussion, question, lecture
• Creating a clear picture of material to be learned; outlining the material
• Developing comprehension of the significance, the implications, and the practical application of the material being presented (clear goals)
• Repetition of the five preceding steps until learning has taken place

Give recognition where it is due. Compliments definitely stimulate more effort and desire to improve. Be generous with honest praising.

Ethics

The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination. The good life constitutes a direction selected by the total organism, when there is psychological freedom to move in ANY direction.

There will never be means to ends, only means. And I am means. I am what I started with, and when it is all over I will be all that is left of me. All goals, apart from the means are therefore an illusion, and becoming is a denial of being.

Happiness is the appropriate moral behaviour for the appropriate situation – Being able to find the correct conduct for a special situation is happiness – not a strict standard for every situation.

The two primary moral questions:

• Where does good or bad action derive from?
• What makes an action good or bad?

Humility leads to honour – Humility forms the basis of honour, just as the low ground forms the foundation of a high elevation.

The four ethical theories:

• Objective Theory of Ethics – that goodness is objective (Plato’s theory) and cannot be further deduced.
• Consequential Theory of Ethics – that what makes an action good is its outcome (utilitarianism for instance); the most pleasure for the most people (more believable than objectivism as mentioned).
• Motivational Theory of Ethics – that moral character of an action springs from a motive of the actor – it is not a bad action so long as a person has good intentions (Emmanuel Kant is one of the motivational theorists; he said “do not perform any action that you cannot rationalise for people to act all the time.”)
• Approbative Theory of Ethics – to say that an action is good or bad depends on the approval of others.

Racism

Tradition is the root of racism – The simple truth is that these opinions on such things as racism are traditions, which are nothing more than a “formula” laid down by these elder people’s experience. As we progress and time changes, it is necessary to reform this formula.

Adversity

Adversity is beneficial to us – Prosperity is apt to prevent us from examining our conduct; but adversity leads us to think properly of our state, and so is beneficial to us.

The value of foolish questions – A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.

The forms of stupidity – Stupidity assumes two forms, it speaks or is silent. Mute stupidity is bearable.

Adversity is like a rainfall – Adversity is like the period of the former and of the latter rain: cold, comfortless, unfriendly to man and to animal; yet from that season have their birth the flower and the fruit, the date, the rose, and the pomegranate.

Defeat is education – What is defeat? Nothing but education; nothing but the first step to something better.

The value of frustration – Without frustration you will not discover that you might be able to do something on your own. We grow through conflict.

Confrontation

On people who “challenge” – These people must have something wrong in their hearts. For if their heart was right, they would not challenge other people to fight. Moreover, most of these people challenge because they feel insecure and want to use a fight as a means to achieve some unknown aim.

You control the confrontation – No one can hurt you unless you allow him to.

Adaptability

The Parable of the Butcher – There was a fine butcher who used the same knife year after year, yet it never lost its delicate, precise edge. After a lifetime of service, it was still as useful and effective as when it was new. When asked how he had preserved his knife’s fine edge, he said, “I follow the line of the hard bone. I do not attempt to cut it, nor to smash it, nor to contend with it in any way. That would only destroy my knife.” In daily living, one must follow the course of the barrier. 

Adapt like water – Be like water; water has form and yet it has no form. It is the softest element on earth, yet it penetrates the hardest rock. It has no shape of its own, yet it can take any shape in which it is placed. In a cup, it becomes the shape of the cup. In a vase, it takes the shape of the vase and curls about the stems of flowers. Put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Please observe the adaptability of water.

Philosophy

Study philosophy – Read all kinds of the books of man – the central themes, the styles, the advantages, the disadvantages.

The importance of reading – Reading, specialised reading, is the mental food.

Philosophy has no interest in “how,” rather it is concerned with “what” and “why.”

The disease of philosophy – Philosophy is itself the disease for which it pretends to be the cure: the wise man does not pursue wisdom but lives his life, and therein precisely does his wisdom lie.

On Achievement

Work

The practical nature of the world – This world is very practical. You do more work, you get rewarded more; you do less work, you lose your rewards.

More work equals more rewards – It’s the law of averages: put in more, come out with more.

The reward is to be found in the work – The important thing is that I am personally satisfied with my work. If it is a piece of junk, I will only regret it.

Attaining happiness in work – In order that people may be happy in their work these three things are needed:

• They must be for it.
• They must not do too much of it.
• They must have a sense of success in it.

Quality

A sincere desire to do it right – I couldn’t go wrong because what I always like about myself is this stickability toward quality and the sincere desire to do it right.

Do more than your duty – If you want to do your duty properly, you should do just a little more than that.

Quality is the highest value – What I honestly value more than anything else is quality: doing one’s best in the manner of the responsibility and craftsmanship of a Number One.

Motivation

Your mind determines the effect – Everyone – no matter who he is or where – must know from childhood that whatever occurs, does not happen if the occurrence isn’t allowed to come into the mind. It is not what happens in our life that is important, it’s how we react to what happens. Failure is what your mind acknowledges.

Defeat is a state of mind – Defeat is a state of mind; no one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality.

To be discouraged is to be defeated – It is not what happens that is success or failure, but what it does to the heart of man. No man is defeated unless he is discouraged.

Become what you think – What you HABITUALLY THINK largely determines what you will ultimately become.

Choose the positive – You have your choice – you are master of your attitude – choose the POSITIVE, the CONSTRUCTIVE. Optimism is a faith that leads to success.

Goals

Goals give life substance – To strive actively to achieve some goal gives your life meaning and substance.

A goal is not always meant to be reached – A goal is not always meant to be reached. It often serves simply as something to aim at.

The first rule of achieving your goal – Know what you want. I know my idea is right, and, therefore, the results would be satisfactory. I don’t really worry about the reward, but to set in motion the machinery to achieve it. My contribution will be the measure of my reward and success. When you drop a pebble into a pool of water, the pebble starts a series of ripples that expand until they encompass the whole pool. This is exactly what will happen when I give my ideas a definite plan of action.

Mixing thought with definiteness of purpose – I being to appreciate now the old saying “he can because he thinks he can.” I believe that anybody can think himself into his goal if he mixes thought with definiteness of purpose, persistence; and a burning desire for its translation into reality.

Daily progress – Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal.

Attitude determines altitude – You will never get any more out of life than you expect. Every man today is the result of his thoughts of yesterday.

Faith

Faith vs doubt – I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.

The power of faith – Thoughts backed by faith will overcome all obstacles.

It is a well-known fact that one comes, finally, to believe whatever one repeats to one’s self, whether the statement be true or false. If a man repeats a lie over and over, he will eventually accept the lie as trust. Moreover, he’ll believe it to be the truth. Every man is what he is because of the dominating thoughts which he permits to occupy his mind.

Success

The price of success – He who wants to succeed should learn how to fight, to strive, and to suffer. You can acquire a lot in life, if you are prepared to give up a lot to get it.

The eternal condition of success – A purpose is the eternal condition of success.

The three keys to success – Persistence, persistence, persistence. The Power can be created and maintained through daily practice: continuous effort.

Money

Money is an indirect matter – My policy is that money is an indirect matter. The direct matter is your ability or what you are going to do that counts. If that comes, the indirect things will follow.

On Art And Artists

Art

Art requires soulful commitment – There are simply not enough soulful characters who are committed, dedicated, and at the same time professional.

The true artists has no public – The true artist has no public; he works for the sheer joy of it, with an element of playfulness, of casualness. Art reaches its greatest peak when devoid of self-consciousness. Freedom discovers man the moment he loses concern over what impression he is making or about to make.

On the point of art – The point is to utilise the art as a means to advance in the study of the Way.

Acting

Dedication, absolute dedication is what keeps one ahead.

On Personal Liberation

Conditioning

Be “born afresh” – Drop and dissolve inner blockage. A conditioned mind is never a free mind. Wipe away and dissolve all its experience and be “born afresh.”

The truth is outside of all set patterns – Conditioning is to limit a person within the framework of a particular system. All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.

Systems

Methods place obstacles in the way of knowledge – By an error repeated throughout the ages, truth, becoming a law or a faith, places obstacles in the way of knowledge. Method, which is in its very substance ignorance, encloses it within a vicious circle. We should break such circles not by seeking knowledge, but by discovering the cause of ignorance.

Tradition enslaves the mind – Classical methods and tradition make the mind a slave – you are no longer an individual, but merely a product. Your mind is the result of a thousand yesterdays.

The individual is more important than the system – The individual is of first importance, not the system. Remember that man created method and not that method created man, and do not strain yourself in twisting into someone’s preconceived pattern, which unquestionably would be appropriate for him, but not necessarily for you.

Do not restrict yourself to one approach – There are different approaches, you know? But each person must not be limited to one approach. We must approach it with our own self – we are always in a learning process, whereas a “style” [or system] is a concluded, established, solidified something. You cannot do that, because you learn every day as you grow older.

No-mindedness (Wu-xin)

“No-mindedness” is a “state of wholeness in which the mind functions freely and easily, without the sensation of a second mind or ego standing over it with a club.” What he means is to let the mind think what it likes without interference by the separate thinker or ego within oneself.

Zen Buddhism

Instead of telling us what the problem is, Zen insists that the whole trouble is just our failure to realise that there is no problem. And, of course, this means that there is no solution, either.

The parable of tea serving – A learned man once went to a Zen master to inquire about Zen. As the Zen master talked, the learned man would frequently interrupt him with remarks like, “Oh yes, we have too,” etc. Finally the Zen master stopped talking and began to serve tea to the learned man; however, he kept on pouring until the tea cup overflowed. “Enough, no more can go into the cup!” the learned man interrupted. “Indeed I see,” answered the Zen master. “But if you do not first empty your cup, then how can you taste my cup of tea?”

On Buddhism’s Eight-Fold Path – The eight requirements that will eliminate suffering by correcting false value and giving true knowledge of life’s meaning have been summed up as follows:

1. You must see clearly what is wrong.
2. Decide to be cured.
3. You must act.
4. Speak so as to aim at being cured.
5. Your livelihood must not conflict with your therapy.
6. The therapy must go forward at the “staying speed;” the critical velocity that can be sustained.
7. You must think and feel about it incessantly.
8. Learn how to contemplate with the deep mind.

OR

1. Right views (or understanding).
2. Right purpose (or aspiration).
3. Right speech.
4. Right conduct.
5. Right means of livelihood (or vocation).
6. Right effort.
7. Right kind of awareness or mind control.
8. Right concentration or meditation.

Meditation

Meditation is enlightenment – Do not separate meditation as a means (dhyana) from enlightenment as an end (Pra-jana): the two were really inseparable, and the Zen discipline consisted in seeking to realise this wholeness and unity of prajna and dhyana in all one’s acts.

Enlightenment is knowledge – There is no difference between such enlightenment and what is ordinarily termed knowledge, for in the latter a contrast exists between the knower and the known, whereas in the former there can be no such contrast.

Don’t strive to become, but be.

Meditation is without mental effort – Any effort the mind makes will further limit the mind, because effort implies the struggle towards a goal, and when you have a goal, a purpose, an end in view, you have placed a limit on the mind, and it is with such a mind that you are trying to meditate.

Freedom

On freeing oneself – To free yourself, observe closely what you normally practice. Do not condemn or approve, merely observe.

Things that limit freedom – There is no freedom if you are enclosed by:

• Self-interest
• Walls of discipline

The three keys – Simplicity. Directness. Freedom.

Freedom is self-knowledge – Freedom lies in understanding yourself from moment to moment.

The Process Of Becoming

Self-Actualisation

The second-hand artist seldom learns to depend upon himself for expression; instead, he faithfully follows an imposed pattern. So what is nurtured is the dependent mind rather than independent inquiry.

The most poignant sense of insecurity comes from standing alone – We [tend to] have more faith in what we imitate than in what we originate. We [often feel that we] cannot derive a sense of absolute certitude from anything which has its root in us. The most poignant sense of insecurity comes from standing alone; we are not alone when we imitate.

The need to be real – In life, what more can you ask for but to be real? To fulfill one’s potential instead of wasting energy on actualising one’s dissipating image, which is not real, and the expenditure of one’s vital energy. We have great work ahead of us, and it needs devotion and much, much energy.

Most of us see ourselves as instruments in the hands of others – There is a powerful craving in most of us to see ourselves as instruments in hands of others and thus free ourselves from the responsibility for acts which are prompted by our own questionable inclinations and impulses. Both the strong and the weak grasp at this alibi. The latter hide their malevolence under the virtue of obedience: they acted dishonourably because they had to obey orders. The strong, too, claim absolution by proclaiming themselves the chosen instrument of a higher power – God, history, fate, nation, or humanity.

Self-actualisation is the highest state – This achieving the center, being grounded in one’s self, is about the highest state a human being can achieve.

Strive to be better – One must always strive to be better. The sky’s the limit.

Ignorance is blind – Those who are unaware they are walking in darkness will never seek the light.

The process of self-cultivation – Wishing to cultivate oneself, one first rectifies his heart (mind). Wishing to rectify his heart, one seeks to be sincere in his thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in his thoughts, one first extends to the utmost of his knowledge – such extension of knowledge lies in the investigation of things.

Absorb what is useful – Research your own experience; absorb what is useful, reject what is useless and add what is essentially your own.

True individualism is self-sufficiency – Evaluation by others is not a guide for me. Only the self-sufficient stand alone – most people follow the crowd and imitate.

The sacred journey is taken alone – Each man must seek out realisation himself. No master can give it to him.

Self-help

There is only self-help – I have come to discover through earnest personal experience and dedicated learning that ultimately the greatest help is self-help; that there is no other help but self-help – doing one’s best, dedicating one’s self whole-heartedly to a given task, which happens to have no end but is an ongoing process.

The medicine for suffering is within – The medicine for my suffering I had within me from the very beginning, but I did not take it. My ailment came from within myself, but I did not observe it – until this moment. Now I see that I will never find the light unless, like the candle, I am my own fuel, consuming myself.

To conquer oneself – A man is born to achieve great things if he has the strength to conquer himself. To see oneself is to be clear of right.

Unfinished situations – We carry much of the past with us only as far as we have UNFINISHED SITUATIONS.

The greatest victory is over oneself – Self-conquest is the greatest of victories. Mighty is he who conquers himself.

Self-knowledge

Look for your resentment – If you have any difficulties in communication with somebody, look for your resentment. Whenever you feel guilty, find out what you are resenting and express it and make your demand explicit.

On Growth

Personal growth – Growth is getting through role-playing and filling in the holes in the personality to make the person whole and complete again.

The nature of growth – Growth is the constant discovery and understanding in one’s process of living.

The need to make new discoveries every day – I am improving and making new discoveries every day. If you don’t you are already crystallised and that’s it.

On maturing – To mature means to take responsibility for your life and to be on your own. Maturing is the transcendence from environmental support to self-support.

Growth is constant – Man is constantly growing. And when he is bound by a set pattern of ideas, or “Way” of doing things, that’s when he stops growing.

Frustration is a means of growth – People have to grow by skillful frustrations, otherwise they have no incentive to develop their own means and ways of coping with the world.

Simplicity

Simplicity is the result of profound cultivation – Simplicity: the natural result of profound cultivation. The mark of genius is the capacity to see and to express what is simple, simply! The really great Zen artist states the utmost in the minimum of lines or effort.

Simplicity is hacking away the unessential – It is not daily increase but daily decrease – hack away the unessential! The closer to the source, the less wastage there is.

On Ultimate (Final) Principles

Yin-yang

The etymology of yang – The yang (whiteness) principle represents positiveness, firmness, masculinity, substantiality, brightness, day, heat, etc.

The etymology of yin – The yin (blackness) principle represents negativeness, softness, femininity, insubstantiality, darkness, night, coldness, and so forth.

Be soft yet not yielding; firm, yet not hard.

Totality

The way to freedom is through totality – Fluidity leads to interchangeability. Self-knowledge leads to awareness. Totality leads to ultimate freedom.

Tao

The philosophy of Taoism – Taoism is a philosophy of the essential unity of the universe (monism), or reversion, polarisation (yin & yang), and eternal cycles, of the leveling of all differences, the relativity of all standards, and the return of all to the primeval one, the divine intelligence, the source of all things. From this naturally arises the absence of desire for strife and contention and fighting for the advantage. Thus the teachings of humility and meekness of the Christian Sermon on the Mount find a rational basis, and a peaceable temper is bred in man. It emphasises nonresistance and the importance of gentleness.

Truth

Truth must be experienced by the individual to be meaningful – A fat belly cannot believe that such a thing as hunger exists. It is something you have to go through and understand. No one can eat and digest your food for you in order to give you the necessary strength to live.

The realisation of truth – Truth comes when your mind and heart are purged of all sense of striving and you are no longer trying to become somebody; it is there when the mind is very quiet, listening timelessly to everything.

The ways of truth – The ways of truth consist of seeking after truth, awareness of truth (and its existence), perceptions of truth (its substance and direction, like the perception of movement), understanding of truth, experiencing of truth, mastering of truth, forgetting of truth, forgetting the carrier of truth, the return to the primal source where truth has its roots, and repose in nothing.