Eastern Philosophy Quotes

“In the end
these things matter most:
How well did you love?
How fully did you live?
How deeply did you let go?”
― Jack Kornfield, Buddha's Little Instruction Book

“(When asked what he thought of Western civilization): 'I think it would be a good idea.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

“As soon as you have made a thought, laugh at it.”
― Lao Tzu

“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?”
― Lao Tzu

“Anyone who is steady in his determination for the advanced stage of spiritual realization and can equally tolerate the onslaughts of distress and happiness is certainly a person eligible for liberation.”
― A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, The Bhagavad-gita

“when somebody plays music, you listen. you just follow those sounds, and eventually you understand the music. the point can't be explained in words because music is not words, but after listening for a while, you understand the point of it, and that point is the music itself. in exactly the same way, you can listen to all experiences.”
― Alan W. Watts, Still the Mind: An Introduction to Meditation

“As soon as we notice that certain types of event "like" to cluster together at certain times, we begin to understand the attitude of the Chinese, whose theories of medicine, philosophy, and even building are based on a "science" of meaningful coincidences. The classical Chinese texts did not ask what causes what, but rather what "likes" to occur with what.”
― M.L. von Franz

“The man who wishes to know the "that" which is "thou" may set to work in any one of three ways. He may begin by looking inwards into his own particular thou and, by a process of "dying to self" --- self in reasoning, self in willing, self in feeling --- come at last to knowledge of the self, the kingdom of the self, the kingdom of God that is within. Or else he may begin with the thous existing outside himself, and may try to realize their essential unity with God and, through God, with one another and with his own being. Or, finally (and this is doubtless the best way), he may seek to approach the ultimate That both from within and from without, so that he comes to realize God experimentally as at once the principle of his own thou and of all other thous, animate and inanimate.”
― Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy

“Compassion is not complete if it does not include oneself.”
― Allan Lokos, Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living

“To Taoism that which is absolutely still or absolutely perfect is absolutely dead, for without the possibility of growth and change there can be no Tao. In reality there is nothing in the universe which is completely perfect or completely still; it is only in the minds of men that such concepts exist.”
― Alan W. Watts

“The Formless Way
We look at it, and do not see it; it is invisible.
We listen to it, and do not hear it; it is inaudible.
We touch it, and do not feel it; it is intangible.
These three elude our inquiries, and hence merge into one.

Not by its rising, is it bright,
nor by its sinking, is it dark.
Infinite and eternal, it cannot be defined.
It returns to nothingness.
This is the form of the formless, being in non-being.
It is nebulous and elusive.

Meet it, and you do not see its beginning.
Follow it, and you do not see its end.
Stay with the ancient Way
in order to master what is present.
Knowing the primeval beginning is the essence of the Way.”
― Lao Tzu

“When affirmation and negation came into being, Tao faded. After Tao faded, then came one-sided attachments. ”
― Zhuangzi

“How much does he lack himself who must have many things?”
― Sen no Rikyū

“As the sun, revealer of all objects to the seer, is not harmed by the sinful eye, nor by the impurities of the objects it gazes on, so the one Self, dwelling in all, is not touched by the evils of the world. (The Upanishads: Breath of the Eternal, pg. 35)”
― Prabhavananda, The Upanishads: Translations from the Sanskrit

“If you feel anxiety or depression, you are not in the present. You are either anxiously projecting the future or depressed and stuck in the past. The only thing you have any control over is the present moment; simple breathing exercises can make us calm and present instantly.”
― Tobe Hanson, The Four Seasons Way of Life:: Ancient Wisdom for Healing and Personal Growth

“I believe in not trying to control things that are out of my control or none of my business.”
― Tobe Hanson, The Four Seasons Way of Life:: Ancient Wisdom for Healing and Personal Growth

“I am The Dragon
And I have come!”
― Kehinde Sonola

“As fire, though one, takes the shape of every object which it consumes, so the Self, though one, takes the shape of every object in which it dwells. (The Upanishads: Breath of the Eternal, pg. 35)”
― Prabhavananda, The Upanishads: Translations from the Sanskrit

“Does a man who is acting on the stage in a female part forget that he is a man? Similarly, we too must play our parts on the stage of life, but we must not identify ourselves with those parts.”
― Ramana Maharshi, Be As You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi

“Western philosophy must be discussed; eastern philosophy must be experienced.”
― Adriano Bulla

“I believe there are only three businesses: my business, other people's business, and God's business.”
― Tobe Hanson, The Four Seasons Way of Life:: Ancient Wisdom for Healing and Personal Growth

“Once we got closer to the origins of these Eastern practices, we found that the monks and swamis were just as dogmatic and paternalistic, just as literal and conservative in their approach to spirituality as the Christian priests and ministers we were trying to get away from.”
― Gudjon Bergmann, More Likely to Quote Star Wars than the Bible: Generation X and Our Frustrating Search for Rational Spirituality

“There are people dying from famine on the roads, and you do not issue the stores of your granaries for them. When people die, you say, 'it is not owing to me, it is owing to the year.' In what does this differ from stabbing a man and killing him, and then saying, 'it was not I, it was the weapon?”
― Mencius

“Practice emptiness to the extreme.
Keep stillness whole.
Myriad things act in concert.
I therefore watch their return.
All things flourish, and each returns to its root.

Return to the root is called Quietude.
Quietude is called Way of Life.
Way of Life is called Constant.

Acting without knowing this constant can be harmful.
Understanding this Constant is called receptivity, which is impartial.


Impartiality is Kingship.
Kingship is Heaven.
Heaven is the Tao.

Though you lose the body, you do not die.”
― Lao Tzu (author) Yi Ping Ong (Translator)

“An educated man believing in a this-that vile sky-god rewarding him-her, but punishing your enemies with hell and fire, is uneducated.”
― Fakeer Ishavardas

“It was all part of the Eastern system of control and appropriation, Frankie reflected philosophically. The old controlled the young, the educated the uneducated, and as for the rich, well the rich had no doubt at all that they actually owned the poor.”
― Ashok Ferrey, Colpetty People

“Look at this leaf. When you’re standing close to it you can see every single detail of the leaf. You may think that it’s important to see things, like this leaf, up close but that is an incorrect notion because it is also important to view things from afar. That’s why it is necessary to look at all perspectives of an issue or of an object.
--The Unnamed Samurai (Chapter 5)”
― Melissa Rose Lawrence, The Autumnal Winds

“I believe I will not not die a minute too early or a minute too late, but exactly when I am supposed to.”
― Tobe Hanson, The Four Seasons Way of Life:: Ancient Wisdom for Healing and Personal Growth

“When you're in the clutches of a drinking problem you don't really sit around thinking, I should really knock this shit off and go get my Eastern philosophy on. On your to-do list, pursuing a higher state of consciousness doesn't really rank. It's more like, put on Led Zeppelin 4 and hand me some of that Root Beer Schnapps.”
― Anne Clendening, Bent: How Yoga Saved My Ass

“The energy body acts as a bridge connecting our physical and spiritual bodies. In order for us to influence transformation of the body and mind, we must first learn to transform the energy flow.”
― Ilchi Lee, Healing Chakras: Awaken Your Body's Energy System for Complete Health, Happiness, and Peace