Mental Health ⁽³²⁾

A person with a clean heart, clear thinking, and no superfluous emotions or delusions gives others a sense of security. Because he neither harms others nor harms himself; he makes no trouble and troubles no one. To some extent, this is a kind of keeping…

I was once a guest of the hills, by chance come to the human world. Now I drift away with the clouds, wandering out the rest of my days. That afternoon, standing on Purple Bamboo Bridge and looking out toward the Western Hills, I suddenly…

There are two things that matter greatly in a person's life: self-love and love for others. Love for others takes many forms, which can be summarized into two broad categories. The first is universal loving-kindness toward all beings—compassion and care for those with whom we…

The Buddha said: “From love comes sorrow; from love comes fear. One who is free from love is free from both sorrow and fear.” The Bodhisattva Kashyapa asked the Buddha: “How does one become free from love?” The Buddha replied: “With no perception of self,…

Everyone has varying degrees of difficulty in coping with different emotional states; in other words, the key issue is not whether one has them or not, but the degree between the two extremes of absolute presence and absolute absence. —Patricia E. Zurita Ona, Borderline Personality…

As Heaven's movement is ever vigorous, so must the gentleman cease not from self-improvement. As the earth's condition is receptive devotion, so must the gentleman carry the world with broad virtue. — Book of Changes (Zhou Yi) Lately I have been absorbed in reading works…

Possession, grasping, and aversion to work bring not joy but emptiness. This emptiness cannot be filled by seeking pleasure in the moment; immediate gratification only makes the empty person emptier, and the pursuit of instant satisfaction breeds nihilism. Conversely, sincerity, kindness, dedication, diligence, frugality, tolerance,…

I ask almost nothing of material life. I have never quite understood those in this world who need material possessions to gain dignity and security, just as they do not understand me. We cannot live in this world without a material basis, but apart from…

Character advances with tolerance; tolerance grows with knowledge. Hence one who would deepen his character must broaden his tolerance; and one who would broaden his tolerance must enlarge his knowledge. — Cai Gen Tan (Conversations from a Vegetable Root) In a normal, steady life, the…

There are no miracles, only the routine. — Zhou Youguang During the days this August when I had a mental breakdown, once I went to dig the soil in my small vegetable garden, and as I dug I heard a splashing, fluid-shifting sound. I looked…