Quote

A net set up to catch fish may snare a duck a mantis hunting an insect may itself be set upon by a sparrow. Machinations are hidden within machinations changes arise beyond changes. So how can wit and cleverness be relied upon?

Zicheng Hong

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Zicheng Hong
Catch
Duck
Machinations
Fishes
Ducks
Snare
Arise
Insects
Sparrow
Changes
Taoism
Relied
Beyond
Hunting
Insect
Within
Wit
Sparrows
Upon
Hidden
Snares
May
Fish
Cleverness
Mantis

More quotes by Zicheng Hong

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Fishing is a pleasure of retirement, yet the angler has the power to let the fish live or die.
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Do not think about whatever service you may have done for others think about what you may have done to offend them. Don't forget what others have done for you forget what others have done to offend you.
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When thoughts arise, as soon as you sense them heading on the road of desire, bring them right back onto the road of reason. Once they arise, notice them, once you notice them, you can change them. This is the key to turning calamity into fortune, rising from death and returning to life.
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When the mind is possessed of reality, it feels tranquil and joyous even without music or song, and it produces a pure fragrance even without incense or tea.
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A thousand pieces of gold may hardly bring a moment's happiness, but a small favor can cause a lifetime's gratitude. Too much love can turn to enmity, while aloofness can produce joy.
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Human affairs are like a chess game. Only those who do not take it seriously can be called good players.
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You should be forgiving when others make mistakes, but not when the mistakes are in you. You should be patient under duress yourself, but not when it affects others.
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A grub in filth is dirty, but it changes into a cicada and sips dew in the autumn breeze. Rotting plants have no luster, but they turn into foxfire and glow in the summer moonlight. So we know that purity emerges from impurity, and light is born from darkness.
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The road of truth is broad set the mind on it, and you feel expansive openness and broad clarity. The road of human desires is narrow set foot on it, and you see brambles and mire before you.
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Public behavior is nurtured in private earthshaking measures come form careful steps.
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When people are determined, they can overcome fate when the will is unified, it can mobilize energy. Enlightened people do not even let nature put them in a set mold.
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In adversity, everything that surrounds you is a kind of medicine that helps you refine your conduct, yet you are unaware of it. In pleasant situations, you are faced with weapons that will tear you apart, yet you do not realize it.
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When you meet silent and inscrutable people, don't tell them what you are thinking. When you meet irritable and self-serving people, be careful what you say.
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When the rich and well-established, who should be generous, are instead spiteful and cruel, they make their behavior wretched and base in spite of their wealth and position. When the intellectually brilliant, who should be reserved, instead show off, they are ignorant and foolish in their weakness in spite of their brilliance.
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You should not be too much of a purist in your way of life, for you need to be able to accept all that is foul. You should not be too clear in making distinctions in social interactions, for you need to accept everyone whether they are good or bad, wise or foolish.
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One should not seek happiness, just nurture the spirit of joy as the basis of summoning happiness. One should not try to escape misfortune, just get rid of viciousness as a means of avoiding misfortune.
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Think about food on a full stomach and you find you don't care about taste. Think of lust after making love, and you find you don't care about sex. Therefore, if people always reflect on the regret they will feel afterward to forestall folly at the moment, they will be stable and will not err in action.
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Even if you do no work that is particularly lofty or far-reaching, if you can shed mundane feelings, that is a great achievement. Even if you do not strive much for progress in learning, if you can minimize the influence things have on you, you will soar into the realm of sages.
Zicheng Hong
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When enlightened people are so poor that they cannot help others, if they speak a word to awaken the confused or to resolve a problem, there is also boundless merit in that.
Zicheng Hong
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Business and scholarship pass away with the person, but the soul is forever like new. Fame and fortune change with the generations, but the spirit is always the same. Enlightened people surely should not exchange the lasting for the ephemeral.
Zicheng Hong