Deng Ming Dao Quotes

#1. Did you measure to attain your height? Did you use geometry to radiate your limb? Did you lament storm-torn branches? Did you inventory your leaves for the sun? You did none of these things, yet man in his cleverness Cannot match your perfection.

Ming-Dao Deng

#2. Cooperation with others. Perception, experience, tenacity. Know when to lead and when to follow.

Ming-Dao Deng

#3. We may be floating on Tao, but there is nothing wrong with steering. If Tao is like a river, it is certainly good to know where the rocks are.

Ming-Dao Deng

#4. Do you want to know how spirituality works? Breathe.

Ming-Dao Deng

#5. Some Warriors look fierce, but are mild. Some seem timid, but are vicious. Look beyond appearances; position yourself for the advantage.

Ming-Dao Deng

#6. Rain scatters plum petals; Weeping stains the earth. One can only take shelter And wait for clearing.

Ming-Dao Deng

#7. The appreciation of life does not require wealth or plenty. It requires only gratitude for the beauty of the world.

Ming-Dao Deng

#8. Grappling with fate is like meeting an expert wrestler: to escape, you have to accept the fall when you are thrown. The only thing that counts is whether you get back up.

Ming-Dao Deng

#9. Eventually, the time of action must come. When this happens, be a winner! Don't settle for mediocre results. Don't try to stay even. Go for it all!

Ming-Dao Deng

#10. Knowing the steps to create living growth: that is art.

Ming-Dao Deng

#11. Receive without complaint, Work with fate.

Ming-Dao Deng

#12. Keep life simple ... turn toward the divine. It satisfies, it brings knowledge, and it brings joy.

Ming-Dao Deng

#13. Who you are is always right.

Ming-Dao Deng

#14. If i dont want to be known, i cannot be known.the best actor can divide role from self.the best liar can divide truth from falsity.

Ming-Dao Deng

#15. A moving door hinge never corrodes. Flowing water never grows stagnant.

Ming-Dao Deng

#16. Once you have seen the face of God, you see the same face on everyone you meet.

Ming-Dao Deng

#17. The primary point of this existence is to live, and all living things move and grow. Therefore meditation should be integrated with the flow of life. It should not dominate above all else.

Ming-Dao Deng

#18. Whether we remain the ash or become the phoenix is up to us.

Ming-Dao Deng

#19. Give back what you have learned. Share your experience.

Ming-Dao Deng

#20. By being receptive, we can avail ourselves of the spiritual wealth available to us. By being open, we can receive things beyond what we ourselves might imagine.

Ming-Dao Deng

#21. Sharing the same meal reaffirms kinship.

Deng Ming-Dao

#22. Worry is an addiction that interferes with compassion.

Ming-Dao Deng

#23. The moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences. What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore? The moon is faithful to its nature and its power is never diminished.

Ming-Dao Deng

#24. Markings in dry clay disappear
Only when the clay is soft again.
Scars upon the self disappear
Only when one becomes soft within.

Ming-Dao Deng

#25. Trees in winter lose their leaves. Some trees may even fall during storms, but most stand patiently and bear their fortune.

Ming-Dao Deng

#26. Those truly linked don't need correspondence. When they meet again after many years apart, Their friendship is as true as ever.

Ming-Dao Deng

#27. Muddy water will become clear if allowed to stand undisturbed, and so too will the mind become clear if it is allowed to be still.

Ming-Dao Deng

#28. You may be capable of great things, But life consists of small things.

Ming-Dao Deng

#29. The follower of Tao is always flexible and adaptable to circumstance.

Ming-Dao Deng

#30. Build your life brick upon brick,
Live a life of truth,
And you will look back on a life of truth.
Live a life of fantasy,
And you will look back on delusion.

Ming-Dao Deng

#31. We need faith, not because there are beings who will punish us or reward us, but because gods are a wonderful way of describing things that are happening to us.

Ming-Dao Deng

#32. If you are what you eat, then you are shaped by what you share as you eat.

Deng Ming-Dao

#33. All teachings are mere references. The true experience is living your own life. Then, even the holiest of words are only words.

Ming-Dao Deng

#34. If you have a good idea, use it so that you will not only accomplish something, but so that you can make room for new ones to flow into you.

Ming-Dao Deng

#35. Once we make our decision, all things will come to us. Auspicious signs are not a superstition, but a confirmation. They are a response.

Ming-Dao Deng

#36. A tree uses what comes its way to nurture itself. By sinking its roots deeply into the earth, by accepting the rain that flows towards it, by reaching out to the sun, the tree perfects its character and becomes great. ... Absorb, absorb, absorb. That is the secret of the tree.

Ming-Dao Deng

#37. Use a mirror in difficult times. You will see both cause and resolution.

Ming-Dao Deng

#38. Expression is never helped by suppression.

Ming-Dao Deng

#39. When it is time to part, then it is time to part. There should be no regrets. The beauty of marriage is like the fleeting perfection of a snowflake.

Ming-Dao Deng

#40. A funeral is for those left behind. Sometimes, one wonders if the weeping is more out of fear for ourselves than it is sympathy for the deceased.

Ming-Dao Deng

#41. We must not fall into the trap of waiting so long for the big things that we let numerous small chances slip right by us.

Ming-Dao Deng

#42. Let us be sad; it is feeling that makes us human.

Ming-Dao Deng

#43. We cannot allow ourselves to be hobbled by the woes and alienation of our race or nation. It is our responsibility to overcome these, even if we can only succeed in our hearts.

Ming-Dao Deng

#44. Life is a constant series of opportunities. If we don't reach out for things, if we don't take advantage of what comes our way, then we cannot be in harmony with the essential nature of life.

Ming-Dao Deng

#45. It is said that if one chooses to pray to a rock with enough devotion, even that rock will come alive.

Ming-Dao Deng

#46. The sages say that life is illusion, but does that change its poignancy?

Ming-Dao Deng

#47. Reject labels. Reject identities. Reject conformity. Reject convention. Reject definitions. Reject names.

Ming-Dao Deng

#48. It is too facile to say that the way to follow Tao is to simply go along with the flow of life. Sometimes, like the carp, we must know when to go it alone.

Ming-Dao Deng

#49. Those who don't know how to suffer are the worst off. There are times when the only correct thing we can do is to bear out troubles until a better day.

Ming-Dao Deng

#50. An ancient gnarled tree: Too fibrous for a logger's saw, Too twisted to fit a carpenter's square, Outlasts the whole forest.

Ming-Dao Deng

#51. Even on the road to hell, flowers can make you smile.

Ming-Dao Deng

#52. There is no language of the holy. The sacred lies in the ordinary.

Ming-Dao Deng

#53. Self-discipline leads to higher spiritual states only if practiced with under- standing. The clearer the goal, the greater the result.

Ming-Dao Deng