Inspiration Quotes, page 96

“The second-hand artist, blindly following his sensei or sifu, accepts that pattern. As a result, his actions — and, more importantly, his thinking — become mechanical. His responses become automatic, locked into set patterns, which makes him narrow and limited.”

“Reality is apparent when one ceases to compare.”

“Self-knowledge is the basis of Jeet Kune Do because it is effective not only for the individual's martial art but also for his life as a human being.”

“A kung fu man lives without being dependent on the opinions of others, and a master, unlike the beginner, holds himself in reserve. He is quiet and unassuming, with no desire to show off.”

“Simplicity of expression rather than complexity of form.”

“Before me now there is only one real fact — death. The truth I have been seeking — this truth is death. Yet death is also a seeker, forever seeking me. So we have met at last, and I am prepared. I am at peace, because I will conquer death with death.”

“When you point at the moon, don't stare at your finger. Feel, don't overthink, and the lesson will sink in.”

“When we hold to the core, the opposite sides are the same if they are seen from the center of the moving circle. I do not experience; I am experience. I am not the subject of experience; I am that experience. I am awareness. Nothing else can be I or can exist.”

“When one has no form, one can be all forms.”

“Truth cannot be structured or confined.”

“True thusness is the substance of thought, and thought is the function of true thusness. There is no thought except that of true thusness. Thusness does not move, but its motion and function are inexhaustible.”

“It is useless to try to stir the dirt out of muddy water. It will only become murkier. Leave it alone, and if it should be cleared, it will become clear by itself.”

“Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you. I'll not willingly offend, nor be easily offended.”

“Unfortunately, now in boxing people are only allowed to punch. In Judo, people are only allowed to throw. I do not despise these kinds of martial arts. What I mean is, we now find rigid forms which create differences among clans, and the world of martial art is shattered as a result.”

“All martial arts are simply an honest expression of one's body — with a lot of deception in between.”

“Truth comes when your mind and heart are purged of all sense of striving and you are no longer trying to become somebody; it is there when the mind is very quiet, listening timelessly to everything.”

“What is, is more important than what should be.”

“Knowledge surely is always of time, whereas knowing is not of time. Knowledge is from a source, from accumulation, from conclusion, while knowing is a movement.”

“We have more faith in what we imitate than in what we create.”

“If there is always light, you don't experience light anymore. You have to have the rhythm of light and darkness.”

“For something that is static, fixed, dead, there can be a way or a definite path; but not for anything that is moving and living.”

“Let yourself go with disease; be with it, keep it company. This is the way to be rid of it.”

“The world is full of people who are determined to be somebody or to give trouble. They want to get ahead, to stand out. Such ambition has no use for a kung fu man, who rejects all forms of self-assertiveness and competition.”

“If people say Jeet Kune Do is different from this or that, then let the name of Jeet Kune Do be wiped out; it is just a name. Don't fuss over it.”

“What we are after is the root and not the branches. The root is the real knowledge; the branches are surface knowledge. Real knowledge breeds body feel and personal expression; surface knowledge breeds mechanical conditioning, imposes limitation, and squelches creativity.”

“Voidness is that which stands right in the middle between this and that.”

“Can you look at a situation without naming it? Naming it, making it a word, causes fear.”

“The now is indivisible. Completeness — the now — is the absence of the conscious mind striving to divide what is indivisible. Once the completeness of things is taken apart, it is no longer complete.”

“Nothingness cannot be defined; the softest thing cannot be snapped.”

“The point is the doing of them rather than the accomplishments. There is no actor but the action; there is no experiencer but the experience.”