Tao
The tradition of Tao can be understood in two ways, both of which lead to the same conclusion. One way is to see the Divine in all things and feel the Divine presence in the universe. It exists everywhere and penetrates and unites everything.
This does not have to be a pantheist conception however. An architect can be known by the works she or he creates, just as any craftsperson can be known by the fine work they create. Certainly then, the universe, which is the work of the Grand Architect and Creator, is testament to the magnificence of the creator. Just as one would not want to destroy a fine craftwork, surely we would not want to destroy the wonderful craft that is our world.
There is room for science in this as well. Studying the work tells us about the one who created it. Science, in all its various forms, is the study of the wondrous work that is our universe. Through the theories and explorations of science we can begin to understand the Creator, albeit the full magnificence of the Creator will always remain out of our reach.
Quotations
These quotes are meant to inspire and clarify, not define the various traditions. There is no order to the quotations under the specific tradition. While this may make it difficult to search, the scattering is meant to portray a larger concept: there is no order or hierarchy amongst world religions.Similarly, some quotes are not even from sacred or spiritual texts in the traditional sense; inspiration can come from any source.
Our sources are listed at the end along with the ISBN’s of our texts. We encourage all readers to consult the original source (preferably in the original language) for their own spiritual guidance and clarification.
Feel free to add comments with your own favorite quotations.
“But, as God has no opposite, He remains hidden.”
(God’s Breath, Book of Rumi, p. 179)
“God is an infinite sphere whose center is everywhere, whose circumference is nowhere.”
(Introduction to Hermetica, quotation from Book of Propositions or Rules of Theology, said to be by the Philosopher Termigestus. p. xlvii)
“The Tao is like a well:
used but never used up.
It is like the eternal void:
filled with infinite possibilities.
It is hidden but always present.
I don’t know who gave birth to it.
It is older than God.”
(Tao te Ching, ch. 4)
“Jesus said, ‘If those who lead you say to you, “See, the kingdom is in the sky,” then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, “It is in the sea,” then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realized that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty.”
(Nag Hammadi, Gospel of Thomas, p. 126)
“Among the hills, when you sit in the cool shade of the white poplars, sharing the peace and serenity of distant fields and meadows—then let your heart say in silence, ‘God rests in reason.’
And when the storm comes, and the mighty wind shakes the forest, and thunder and lightning proclaim the majesty of the sky—then let you heart say in awe, ‘God moves in passion.’
And since you are a breath in God’s sphere, and a leaf in God’s forest, you too should rest in reason and move in passion.
(Gibran, The Prophet, p. 51)
“‘Only to divine power are evil things good, when it uses them so as to draw good effects from them. All things are part of a certain order, so that when something moves away from its assigned place, it falls into a new order of things. Nothing in the realm of Providence is left to chance….
‘And now,’ said Philosophy, ‘do you understand the implications of what I have told you?’
‘What do you mean,’ I (Boethius) asked.
‘That all fortune is good.’”
(Boethius, p. 96-7)
“If you can recognize it as the natural energy of your own awareness, without even having to feel faith or make prayers, you will dissolve indivisibly with all the images and light rays and you will become a Buddha.”
(God’s Breath, Tibetan Book of the Dead, p. 493)
“Look at the fruits, how they appear
on the trees, and they ripen.
In all these are signs for those who believe.”
(Al-Qur’an, 2:99)
“When He [Jesus] had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.”
(The Bible, Matthew 3:16)
“A wise man ought not to regret his struggles with fortune any more than a brave soldier should be intimidated by the noise of battle; for difficulty is the natural lot of each. For the soldier it is the source of increasing glory; for the wise may it is the means of confirming his wisdom. Indeed, virtue gets its name from that virile strength which is not overcome by adversity. And you (Boethius), who are advancing in virtue, should not expect to be weakened by ease or softened by pleasure. You fight manfully against any fortune, neither despairing in the face misfortune nor becoming corrupt in the enjoyment of prosperity. Hold fast to the middle ground with courage. Those who fall short or go to far are scornful of happiness and are deprived of the reward of labor. You can make of your fortune what you will; for any fortune which seems difficult either tests virtue or corrects and punishes vice.”
(Boethius, p. 99)
“I am not contained in aught above or below,
I am not contained in earth or sky, or even
In highest heaven. Know this for a surety, O beloved!
Yet I am contained in the believer’s heart!
If ye seek me, search in such hearts!”
(God’s Breath, Book of Rumi, p. 198)
Jesus speaking: “’That you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.’”
(The Bible, Matthew 5:45)
“And who, indeed, is the preserver of the good and the corrector of the wicked but God, the governor and physician of men’s minds, who looks into the great mirror of his providence and, knowing what is best for each one, causes it to happen? Here, then is the great miracle of the order of Fate: divine wisdom does what the ignorant cannot understand.”
(Boethius, p. 94)
“Since the craftsman made the whole cosmos by reasoned speech, not by hand, you should conceive of him as present, as always existing, as having made all things, as the one and only and has having crafted by his own will the things that are. For this is his body, neither tangible nor visible nor measurable nor dimensional nor like any other body; it is not fire nor water nor air nor spirit, yet all things come from it.”
(Hermetica, Corpus Hermeticum IV, v. 1)
“A treetop bent down by heavy pressure will bow its head to the ground; but if the pressure is released, the tree looks back to heaven again. Phoebus sets at night beneath the Hesperian waves, but returning again along his secret path he drives his chariot to place where it always rises.
“Thus all things seek again their proper courses, and rejoice when they return to them. The only stable order in things is that which connects the beginning to the end and keeps itself on a steady course.”
(Boethius, p. 46)
“However, Shinto is not pantheism which sees all the existence on this world as Kami itself. If it is necessary to define its concept, it might be the best to refer to the opinion of Motoori Norinaga, a scholar in the late 18th century, which is now widely accepted. He wrote, “What ever seemed strikingly impressive, possessed the quality of excellence and virtue, and inspired a feeling of awe was called Kami”. Here “the quality of excellence” means an enormous power which gives great influence on many things. It is beyond the human power or human works. It brings good luck and happiness to man but at the same time it could bring misfortune or evil as well. On the other hand, both natural elements (or phenomenon) and man are given a possibility to become Kami, because both the land and the people of Japan were given birth by Kami. So, they are all children of Kami.”
(Notes on Shintoism and the concept of Kami, from the University of Virginia “Religious Movements Homepage Project”)
“Glass decanters and earthenware jugs are both made by means of fire. But if glass decanters break they are done over, for they came into being through a breath. If earthenware jugs break, however, they are destroyed, for they came into being without breath.”
(Nag Hammadi, The Gospel of Philip, p. 147)
“If chance is defined as an event produced by random motion and without any sequence of causes, then I say that there is not such thing as chance; apart from its use in the present context, I consider it an empty word. For what room can there be for random events since God keeps all things in order?”
(Boethius, p. 101)
“Every living body, both immortal and mortal, <reasoning and> unreasoning, is composed of matter and soul.”
(Hermetica, Corpus Hermeticum XI, v. 10)
“Remember, when you said to Moses:
‘We shall not believe in you until
we see God face to face,’
lightning struck you as you looked.”
(Al-Qur’an, 2:55)
“The man became a spectator of god’s work. He (the man) looked at it (the world) in astonishment and recognized its maker.”
(Hermetica, Corpus Hermeticum IV, v. 2)
“When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.”
(Tao te Ching, ch. 2)
“Therefore, we can define chance as an unexpected event brought about by a concurrence of causes which had other purposes in view. These causes come together because of that order which proceeds from the inevitable connection between things, the order which flows from the source which is Providence and which disposes all things, each in its proper time and place.”
(Boethius, p. 102)
“And when it is said to them:
‘believe in what God has sent down,’
they say: ‘We believe
what was sent to us, and do not believe
what has come thereafter,’ although
it affirms the truth they possess already.
Say: ‘Why have you then
been slaying God’s apostles as of old,
if you do believe?’”
(Al-Qur’an, 2:91)
“And one of the elders of the city said, Speak to us of Good and Evil.
And he answered:
Of the good in you I can speak, but not of the evil.
For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?
Verily when good is hungry it seeks food even in dark caves, and when it thirsts it drinks even of dead waters.
You are good when you are one with yourself.
Yet when you are not one with yourself you are not evil.
For a divided house is not a den of thieves; it is only a divided house.
And a ship without a rudder may wander aimlessly among perilous isles yet sink not to the bottom.
You are good when you strive to give of yourself.
Yet you are not evil when you seek gain for yourself.
For when you strive for gain you are but a root that clings to the earth and sucks at her breast.
Surely the fruit cannot say to the root, ‘Be like me, ripe and full and ever giving of your abundance.’
For to the fruit giving is a need, as receiving is a need to the root.”
(Gibran, The Prophet, pp. 64-5)
Hermes: “‘He (god) even sees heaven, which he grasps by sensing it. And god, who is energy and power, surrounds everything and permeates everything, and understanding of god is nothing difficult, my child.
‘If you wish also to gaze upon him, look at the order of the cosmos and the careful arrangement of this order; look at the necessity of the heavenly phenomena and the providence in what has come to be and what comes to be; look at matter, completely full of life, and a great god moving along with all beings good and fair—gods demons and humans.’”
Tat: “‘But these are energies, father.’”
Hermes: “‘If they are entirely energies, my child, by whom are they energized? By <anyone> other <than god>? Or do you know that, just as the parts of the cosmos are heaven, water, earth, and air, likewise the limbs <of god> are life, immortality, {fate}, necessity, providence, nature, soul and mind, and that the permanence of them all is called the good? In what comes to be and has come to be, there is nothing where god is not, nothing beyond him.
Tat: “‘Is he matter, then, father.’”
Hermes: “‘If matter is apart from god, my son, what sort of place would you allot to it? If it is not energized, do you suppose it is anything but a heap? But who energizes it if it is energized? We have said that the energies are parts of god. By whom, then, are all living things made alive? By whom are immortals made immortal? Things subject to change—by whom are they changed? Whether you say matter or body or essence, know that these also are energies of god and that materiality is the energy of matter, corporeality the energy of bodies and essentiality the energy of essence. And this is god, the all.’”
(Hermetica, Corpus Hermeticum XII, vv. 20-22)
“The fool who plants his seed in the hard ground when summer burns with the sun’s heat must feed on acorns in the fall, because his hope of harvest is in vain. Do not look for violets in purple meadows when fields are blasted by winter winds. And do not cut your fine branches in the spring if you want to enjoy the grapes, for Bacchus brings his fruit in autumn.”
(Boethius, p. 17)
“‘And do you say, ‘god is unseen’? Hold your tongue! Who is more visible than god? This is why he made all things: so that through them all you might look on him. This is the goodness of god, this is his excellence: that he is visible through all things. For nothing is unseen, not even among the incorporeals, Mind is seen in the act of understanding, god in the act of making.’”
(Hermetica, Corpus Hermeticum XI, v. 22)
“He [Jesus the Christ] was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.”
(The Bible, John 1:10-11)
“Since before time and space were,
the Tao is.
It is beyond is and is not.
How do I know this is true?
I look inside myself and see.”
(Tao te Ching, ch. 21)
“‘Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!”
(The Bible, John 4:35)
“Learning the arts and sciences and using them preserves this earthly part of the world.”
(Hermetica, Asclepius, v. 8)
“Nonbeing can never be;
being can never not be.”
(Bhagavad Gita, p. 48)
“To God belong the East and the West.
Wherever you turn the face of God is everywhere:
All-pervading is He and all-knowing.”
(Al-Qur’an, 2:115)
“Jesus said, ‘It is I who am the light which is above them all. It is I who am the all. From me did the all come forth, and unto me did the all extend. Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there.’”
(Nag Hammadi, The Gospel of Thomas, p. 135)
“In fact, all depend from one and flow from it though they seem separated and are believed to be many.”
(Hermetica, Asclepius, p. 78)
“The Tao is like a bellows:
it is empty yet infinitely capable.
The more you use it, the more it produces;
the more you talk of it, the less you understand.”
(Tao te Ching, ch. 5)
“Neither good nor evil comes to be by chance.”
(Hermetica, Corpus Hermeticum XII, v. 5)
“His disciples said to him, ‘When will the kingdom come?’
<Jesus said,> ‘It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be a matter of saying “here it is” or “there it is”. Rather, the kingdom of the father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it.’”
(Nag Hammadi, The Gospel of Thomas, p. 138)
“Alif Lam Mim.
This is The Book free of doubt and involution,
a guidance for those
who preserve themselves from evil
and follow the straight path,
Who believe in the Unknown
and fulfill their devotional obligations,
and spend in charity
of what We have given them;
Who believe
in what has been revealed to you,
and what was revealed to those before you…”
(Al-Qur’an, 2:1-4.)
“Only they will respond who can hear.”
(Al-Qur’an, 6:36)
“Thus, Asclepius and Hammon, I have not said what the many say: ‘Was god not able to put an end to evil and banish it from nature?’ One need not respond to them at all, but for your sake I shall pursue this question as well since I have opened it, and I will give you an answer. Now these people say that god should have freed the world of every kind of evil, yet evil is so much in the world that it seems almost to be an organ of the world. Acting as reasonably as possible, the supreme god took care to provide against evil when he deigned to endow human minds with consciousness, learning and understanding, for it is these gifts alone, by which we surpass other living things, that enable us to avoid the tricks, snares and vices of evil. He that avoids them on sight, before they entangle him, that person has been fortified by divine understanding and foresight, for the foundation of learning resides in the highest good.”
(Hermetica, Asclepius, v. 16)
“Creation of the heavens and the earth,
alternation of night and day,
and sailing of ships across the ocean
with what is useful to man,
and the rain that God sends from the sky enlivening
the earth that was dead
and the scattering of beasts of all kinds upon it,
and the changing of the winds, and the clouds which remain
obedient between earth and sky,
are surely signs for the wise.”
(Al-Qur’ān, 2:164)
Know, O beloved, that man was not created in jest or at random, but marvelously made and for some great end.
(Al-Ghazzali, Essential Sufism, p. 1)
“And the good world is an image of the Good One.”
(Nag Hammadi, Asclepius, p. 336)
“The Savior said, ‘All natures, all formations, all creatures exist in and with one another, and they will be resolved again into their own roots. For the nature of matter is resolved into the (roots) of its nature alone. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.’”
(Nag Hammadi, The Gospel of Mary, p. 524)
“And these are the ones who did feel settled there: the gods who were in the canyons, in the forests, in the bromelias, in the hanging mosses, not yet set on pedestals.”
(Popol Vuh, p. 180)
“The sun that shows itself is not the real sun.”
(Popol Vuh, p. 182)
“Now they gave thanks before them for the dawning, and now they bowed down before their stones, there in the forest. Now it was only a manifestation of his genius that spoke when the penitents and sacrificers came before Tohil, and what they brought and burned was not great.”
(Popol Vuh, p. 185)
