The grass must bend when the wind blows accross it.

Confucius

Do not be despondent because of ill-fate; there cannot be sesame-oil without crushing the sesame seeds.

Pancatantra II

Heaven's Way

Heaven's Way is to nourish, not to harm.

The Sage's Way is to work, yet not compete.

John R. Mabry in "The Little Book of The Tao Te Ching" page 48

Know the divine

If you wish to know the divine, feel the wind on your face and the warm sun on your hand.

Jack Kornfield in "Buddha's Little Instruction Book" page 123.

Right presence of mind

This state, in which nothing definite is thought, planned, striven for, desired or expected, which aims in no particular direction and yet knows itself capable alike of the possible and the impossible, so unswerving is its power - this state, which is at bottom purposeless and egoless, was called by the Master truly 'spiritual'. It is in fact charged with spiritual awareness and is therefore also called 'right presence of mind'. This means that the mind or spirit is present everywhere, because it is nowhere attached to any particular place. And it can remain present because, even when related to this or that object, it does not cling to it by reflection and thus lose its original mobility. Like water filling a pond, which is always ready to flow off again, it can work its inexhaustible power because it is free, and be open to everything because it is empty. This state is essentially a primordial state, and its symbol, the empty circle, is not empty of meaning for him who stands within it.

Eugen Herrigel in "Zen in the Art of Archery" page 54

Relationship, behaviour and order are essential for meditation

Yoga exercises are excellent; the speaker does them every day, for an hour or more; but that is merely physical exercise, to keep the body healthy, and so on. But through them you can never come upon the other - never! Because if you give them all importance, you are not giving importance to the understanding of yourself which is to be watchful, to be aware, to give attention to what you are doing, every day of your life; which is to give attention to how you speak and what you say, to what you think, how you behave, whether you are attached, whether you are frightened, whether you are pursuing pleasure and so on. To be aware of the whole movement of thought; for if you are and you are really serious about it, then you will have established right relationship, obviously. Relationship becomes extraordinarily important when all things about are chaotic - when the world is going to pieces, as it is. But when there is this establishment of total relationship, whole relationship, not between you and me, but human relationship with the whole of the world, then you have the basis. From there you can go on to behaviour - how you behave. If your behaviour is based on pleasure or on reward, it is not behaviour. It is merely the pursuit of pleasure from which fear arises. Relationship, behaviour and order, these are absolutely essential if you want to go into the question of meditation. If you have not laid this foundation, then do what you like - stand on your head, breathe in for the next ten thousand years and repeat words, words - there will be no meditation.

Krishnamurti in "Total Freedom"

Immortality of the new

The death that meditation brings about is the immortality of the new.

J. Krishnamurti