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What's that? the Unbeliever asked. Wisdom from the Western Taoist, I said. It sounds like something from Winnie-the-Pooh, he said. It is, I said. That's not about Taoism, he said. Oh, yes it is, I said.

Benjamin Hoff

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Benjamin Hoff
Age: 78
Born: 1946
Born: January 1
Author
Composer
Journalist
Photographer
Photojournalist
Writer
Oregon
United States
Asked
Taoist
Wisdom
Winnie
Sound
Unbeliever
Something
Pooh
Like
Unbelievers
Taoism
Sounds
Western

More quotes by Benjamin Hoff

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To Buddha, the second figure in the painting, life on earth was bitter, filled with attachments and desires that led to suffering.
Benjamin Hoff
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Eeyore religion says that the earth isn't worth saving, anyway, and that when it comes to an end, the Faithful will be transported instantly to heaven. No problem. We'd like to see them explain things to Saint Peter at the Gate, when he asks them what they did with the world that God entrusted to them. That might get a bit sticky.
Benjamin Hoff
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If people were superior to animals, they'd take good care of them, said Pooh.
Benjamin Hoff
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Pooh is able to accomplish what he does because he is simpleminded.
Benjamin Hoff
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Sourness and bitterness come from the interfering and unappreciative mind. Life itself, when understood and utilized for what it is, is sweet. That is the message of The Vinegar Tasters.
Benjamin Hoff
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When we give up our images of self-importance and our ideas of what should be, we can help things become what they need to be.
Benjamin Hoff
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As any old Taoist walking out of the woods can tell you, simple-minded does not necessarily mean stupid.
Benjamin Hoff
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Inner Nature, when relied on, cannot be fooled. But many people do not look at it or listen to it, and consequently do not understand themselves very much. Having little understanding of themselves, they have little respect for themselves, and are therefore easily influenced by others.
Benjamin Hoff
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Reality is what one makes it. And the more negative reality one nurtures and creates, the more of it one has.
Benjamin Hoff
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A well-frog cannot imagine the ocean, nor can a summer insect conceive of ice. How then can a scholar understand the Tao? He is restricted by his own learning.
Benjamin Hoff
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The main problem with this great obsession for saving time is very simple: you can't save time. You can only spend it. But you can spend it wisely or foolishly.
Benjamin Hoff
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The wise know their limitations the foolish do not.
Benjamin Hoff
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You'd be surprised how many people violate this simple principle every day of their lives and try to fit square pegs into round holes, ignoring the clear reality that Things Are As They Are.
Benjamin Hoff
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Like silence after noise, or cool, clear water on a hot, stuffy day, Emptiness cleans out the messy mind and charges up the batteries of spiritual energy. Many people are afraid of Emptiness, however, because it reminds them of Loneliness.
Benjamin Hoff
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The urge to grow and develop, present in all forms of life, becomes perverted in the Bisy Backson's mind into a constant struggle to change everything (the Bulldozer Backson) and everyone (the Bigoted Backson) else but himself, and interfere with things he has no business interfering with, including practically every form of life on earth.
Benjamin Hoff
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Do you really want to be happy? You can begin by being appreciative of who you are and what you've got.
Benjamin Hoff
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Under Confucianism, the use of precisely measured court music, prescribed steps, actions, and phrases all added up to an extremely complex system of rituals, each used for a particular purpose at a particular time.
Benjamin Hoff
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Enjoy the simple, the natural and the plain. Along with that comes the ability to do things spontaneously and have them work.
Benjamin Hoff
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Everything has its own place and function. That applies to people, although many don't seem to realize it, stuck as they are in the wrong job, the wrong marriage, or the wrong house. When you know and respect your Inner Nature, you know where you belong. You also know where you don't belong.
Benjamin Hoff
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A way of life that keeps saying 'Around the next corner, above the next step,' works against the natural order of things and makes it so difficult to be happy and good.
Benjamin Hoff