Pain and happiness are simply conditions of the ego. Forget the ego.
Interpretation
Pain and happiness are temporary states influenced by the ego, and by letting go of the ego, one can find peace.
This quote from Laozi suggests that both pain and happiness are perceptions created by the ego, which can be a source of suffering. By transcending the ego, one can achieve a more profound sense of inner peace and understanding, free from the fluctuations of external circumstances.
In practice
In a meditation workshop, to emphasize the importance of letting go, someone might say, 'Remember, as Laozi said, pain and happiness are simply conditions of the ego. Forget the ego.'
If you understand others you are smart._x000D_ If you understand yourself you are illuminated._x000D_ If you overcome others you are powerful._x000D_ If you overcome yourself you have strength._x000D_ If you know how to be satisfied you are rich._x000D_ If you can act with vigor, you have a will._x000D_ If you don't lose your objectives you can be long-lasting._x000D_ If you die without loss, you are eternal.
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Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.
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Rule your mind with serenity rather than with force and manipulation.
All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits.
Fascism accepts the individual only insofar as his interests coincide with the state's.
No pen can give an adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery.
The unrealistic nature of these tales (which narrowminded rationalists object to) is an important device, because it makes obvious that the fairy talesβ concern is not useful information about the external world, but the inner process taking place in an individual.
Whether we like it or not, the one justification for the existence of all religions is death, they need death as much as we need bread to eat.
The things we want are transformative, and we donβt know or only think we know what is on the other side of that transformation Never to get lost is not to live.
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