Jan Jakob Maria de Groot quotes

“Taoism ... is the Religion of the Tao, a term meaning Path or Way, but denoting in this peculiar case the way, course or movement of the Universe, her processes and methods. In other words, Taoism is the Religion of Heaven and Earth, of the Cosmos, of the World or Nature in the broadest sense of these words. Hence we may call it Naturism.”
-- Jan Jakob Maria de Groot

Source : Jan Jakob Maria de Groot (1892). “The Religious System of China: Its Ancient Forms, Evolution, History and Present Aspects, Manners, Custom and Social Institutions Connected Therewith”, p.66, Brill Archive

#Heaven Quotes #Taoism Quotes #Peculiar Quotes

“These, in the day when heaven was falling, The hour when earth's foundations fled, Followed their mercenary calling And took their wages and are dead. The British regulars who made the retreat from Mons, beginning August 24, 1914.”

“O my people, I disavow all that you associate [with God]. I orient my face with an exclusive orientation towards Him, who created the heavens and the earth and I am not one of the associators.”

“The power to bind and loose to Truth is given: The mouth that speaks it is the mouth of Heaven, The power, which in a sense belongs to none, Thus understood belongs to every one.”

Source : Abraham Coles (1885). “The Life and Teachings of Our Lord in Verse: Being a Complete Harmonized Exposition of the Four Gospels, with Original Notes Textual Index, Etc. Two Volumes in One, Vol. 1 -- The Evangel (second Edition), Vol. 2 -- The Light of the World”

“We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown.”

“But the transformation of consciousness undertaken in Taoism and Zen is more like the correction of faulty perception or the curing of a disease. It is not an acquisitive process of learning more and more facts or greater and greater skills, but rather an unlearning of wrong habits and opinions. As Lao-tzu said, "The scholar gains every day, but the Taoist loses every day.”

“"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."”

“True zazen is surrendering every moment. But surrendering to what? It really does not matter what we call it: God or the Tao or the Dharma or the Buddha or our true nature. . . . It is the act of letting go, of surrendering, that matters. The very act of letting go opens us up completely.”

Source : Dennis Genpo Merzel (1991). “The Eye Never Sleeps”, p.49, Shambhala Publications

“The good must merit God's peculiar care; But who but God can tell us who they are?”

“To be a housewife is to be a member of a very peculiar occupation, one with characteristics like no other. The nature of the duties to be performed, the method of payment, the form of supervision, the tenure system, the market in which the workers find jobs, and the physical hazzards are all very different from the way things are in other occupations.”

“Personal style, be it that of Michelangelo, or that of Tintoretto... has always been that peculiar personal rapport which has developed between an artist and his medium.”