Quotes from Ming-Dao Deng

Life's pulse is gauged in the hollows, the intervals between events.

Weapons are tools of ill omen Wielded by the ignorant.

Duty is inevitable, but we need not saddle ourselves with extra responsibilities. Keep life simple. Give up as much as possible.

The rantings of mad people do not yield greater freedom.

Let us not hold ourselves above our fellow human beings. To see how we are all of one family is compassion.

Don't be afraid to explore; Without exploration there are no discoveries. Don't be afraid of partial solutions; Without the tentative there is no accomplishment.

Watching a performance of warriors, I was told, "This fighter's tradition is six hundred years old." And I saw a performance so mired in ritual— As if nothing valid had happened in six hundred years. We must honor the classical without being irrelevant.

Clarity comes when you unify all the faculties of the mind into a magnificent light of perception. That light is the concentrated force of the mind. It is by that brightness that truth is revealed.

Followers of Tao therefore do not emphasize enlightenment as an ultimate goal. For them, realization is a means, not an end. Their emphasis is on the act of living. They use the word longevity, not because they want to live forever, but because it symbolizes their determination to live the entire course of their lives well.

When people go to hear a spiritual master, they do not go to hear self-deprecation. They go to see perfection.

Invisibility is the best advantage. But if forced to a confrontation, Come out with all your skill.

Receive without complaint, Work with fate.

To be an immigrant Is to be solitary in the midst of millions.

What is it like to feel Tao? It is an effortless flowing, a sweeping momentum.

Be creative. Thus we contribute and thus we elevate our souls.

Your life is a creation that dies when you die. Release

followers of Tao meld the way of the warrior and the sage. They want the courage and preparedness of the fighter, the luminous perception of the wise.

We must plunge into the mystery itself. Only then will we know peace.

Before parents blame their children, they should first look to how their daughters and sons were raised.

A strong perspective is the root of wisdom.

Make your stand today. On this spot. On this day.

It is only the depth of character that determines the profundity with which we face life. We can either add to our character each day or we can fritter away our energies in distractions. Those who learn how to accumulate character each day achieve a depth that cannot be successfully opposed.

The idea that each of us can be directly spiritual is radical. Most religions are based not on teaching adherents to be directly spiritual, but in persuading them to trust in the intercession of ministers or priests. The problem with this approach is that we cannot gain access to spirituality except through the medium of a fallible human being. If we want to see Tao, we need only open our eyes and trust what we see.

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