History 1681 Final Paper

Chinese Philosophy Selections

(the reading once called “Mencius”)

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching (6 th

Century BCE)

“Simplicity, patience, compassion.

These three are your greatest treasures.

Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.

Patient with both friends and enemies,

you accord with the way things are.

Compassionate toward yourself,

you reconcile all beings in the world.”

“Knowing others is intelligence;

knowing yourself is true wisdom.

Mastering others is strength;

mastering yourself is true power.”

“When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everyone will respect

you.”

“Hope and fear are both phantoms that arise from thinking of the self. When we don't see the self as

self, what do we have to fear?”

“The truth is not always beautiful, nor beautiful words the truth.”

“When nothing is done,

nothing is left undone.”

“A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live.”

“If you understand others you are smart.

If you understand yourself you are illuminated.

If you overcome others you are powerful.

If you overcome yourself you have strength.

If you know how to be satisfied you are rich.

If you can act with vigor, you have a will.

If you don't lose your objectives you can be long-lasting.

If you die without loss, you are eternal.”

“Stop thinking, and end your problems.

What difference between yes and no?

What difference between success and failure?

Must you value what others value,

avoid what others avoid?

How ridiculous!

Other people are excited,

as though they were at a parade.

I alone don't care,

I alone am expressionless,

like an infant before it can smile.

Other people have what they need;

I alone possess nothing.

I alone drift about,

like someone without a home.

I am like an idiot, my mind is so empty.

Other people are bright;

I alone am dark.

Other people are sharp;

I alone am dull.

Other people have purpose;

I alone don't know.

I drift like a wave on the ocean,

I blow as aimless as the wind.

I am different from ordinary people.

I drink from the Great Mother's breasts.”

“Give evil nothing to oppose

and it will disappear by itself.”

“Love

Embracing Tao, you become embraced.

Supple, breathing gently, you become reborn.

Clearing your vision, you become clear.

Nurturing your beloved, you become impartial.

Opening your heart, you become accepted.

Accepting the World, you embrace Tao.

Bearing and nurturing,

Creating but not owning,

Giving without demanding,

Controlling without authority,

This is love.”

“The wise man is one who, knows, what he does not know.”

“Close your mouth,

block off your senses,

blunt your sharpness,

untie your knots,

soften your glare,

settle your dust.

This is the primal identity.”

“If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of

dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve.”

Sun Tzu (544-496 BCE)

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you

know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know

neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

“Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.”

“To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy

without fighting is the acme of skill.” *

“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek

to win”

“All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when

using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are

far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.”

“If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If

your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.

If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject

are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not

expected .”

“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity”

“Be extremely subtle even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious even to the point of

soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate.”

“Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content. But a kingdom that has

once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.”

Confucius (551-479 BCE)

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation,

which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”

“Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.”

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”

“He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions.”

“If you make a mistake and do not correct it, this is called a mistake.”

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

“The funniest people are the saddest ones”

“Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”

“To be wronged is nothing, unless you continue to remember it.”

“Silence is a true friend who never betrays.”

“You cannot open a book without learning something.”

“Attack the evil that is within yourself, rather than attacking the evil that is in others.”

“What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others.”

“The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.”

“The way out is through the door. Why is it that no one will use this method?”

“Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.”

Mencius (372-289 BCE)

“Make your learning abundant and speak of it with precision, then you will speak of essentials.”

“Sincerity is the way to Heaven.”

“Integrity, wisdom, skill, intelligence – such things are forged in adversity.”

“The feeling of right or wrong is the beginning of wisdom.”

“A great man is he who has not lost the heart of a child.”

“Friends are the siblings God never gave us”

“Friendship is one mind in two bodies.”

“So it is that whenever Heaven invests a person with great responsibilities, it first tries his resolve,

exhausts his muscles and bones, starves his body, leaves him destitute, and confound his every

endeavor. In this way his patience and endurance are developed, and his weaknesses are overcome. We

change and grow only when we make mistakes. We realize what to do only when we work through

worry and confusion. And we gain people’s trust and understanding only when our inner thoughts are

revealed clearly in our faces and words.”

“That's like climbing a tree to find a fish.”

“Getting something done is like digging a well. You can dig a well seventy feet deep, but if you don’t hit

water it’s just an abandoned well.”

“A man must not be without shame, for the shame of being without shame is shamelessness indeed.”

“The way of truth is like a great road. It is not difficult to know it. The evil is only that men will not seek

it.”

“Only when there are things a man will not do is he capable of doing great things.”

“The heart of compassion is the germ of benevolence; the heart of shame, of dutifulness; the heart of

courtesy and modesty, of observance of the rites; the heart of right and wrong, of wisdom. Man has

these four germs just as he has four limbs. For a man possessing these four germs to deny his own

potentialities is for him to cripple himself.”

“Treat others as you would be treated. Devote yourself to that, for there’s no more direct approach to

Humanity.”

“Don’t do what should not be done, and don’t desire what should not be desired. Abide by this one

precept, and everything else will follow.”

“I am not fond of disputation; I have no alternative.”

“We live, not as we wish to, but as we can.”

“There’s only one way to know if people are good or evil: look at the choices they make. We each

contain precious and worthless, great and small. Never injure the great for the sake of the small, or the

precious for the sake of the worthless. Small people nurture what is small in them; great people nurture

what is great in them.”

“The great man does not think beforehand of his words that they may be sincere, nor of his actions that

they may be resolute;-- he simply speaks and does what is right.”

“I understand what lies hidden beneath beguiling words. I understand the trap beneath extravagant

words. I understand the deceit beneath depraved words. And I understand the weariness beneath

evasive words.”

“All beneath Heaven is rooted in nation. Nation is rooted in family. And family is rooted in self.”

“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?”