Arrogance is your enemy. Arrogance and stubbornness are the natures and elements of Satan. Instead of being arrogant and stubborn, you should be modest and harmonious. You should be a person who can create harmony and friendship; someone who can harmonize with everyone. Everything starts to flow from here. Something greater cannot arise if people or things do not unite. This is what happens when there is no harmony. Jealousy and envy are other natures of Satan, but for us, arrogance and stubbornness are unforgivable. (37-132, 1970.12.23)
The spirit world is our original hometown. During your life on earth you have to maintain a standard in order to return to your original hometown and live there for eternity. You cannot live as you wish on this earth. You cannot live like the worldly people who have been ignorant of these things. You have to know the spirit world and live accordingly. Then, when you leave this world you can go before God and form a connection with heaven. Without knowing the spirit world, it is impossible to make that connection. You need to be clearly aware, therefore, of the reality of the spirit world. (295-120, 1998.8.19
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
Proverbs 4.23
The truly upright is that which flows out of your genuine innermost self as a result of the sincerity shown by the kami; on all occasions, you must exert this sincerity to the utmost, even in the most minor of your activities. Courtesy and ritual without this sincerity and honesty is mistaken and insufficient. It is like drawing a bow and merely releasing the string blindly without firming your hand, or like trying to move in a boat without an oar.
Moshimasa Hikita, Records of the Divine Wind (Shinto)
Thoughts alone cause the round of births (samsara); let a man strive to purify his thoughts. What a man thinks, that he is: this is an old secret.
By the serenity of his thoughts a man blots out all actions, whether good or bad. Dwelling within his Self with serene thoughts, he obtains imperishable happiness.
If the thoughts of a man were so fixed on Brahman as they are on the things of this world, who would not then be freed from bondage?
The mind, it is said, is of two kinds, pure and impure: impure from the contact with lust, pure when free from lust.
When a man, having freed his mind from sloth, distraction, and vacillation, becomes as it were delivered from his mind, that is the highest point.
Maitri Upanishad 6.34.3-7 (Hinduism)
What is meant by “making the will sincere” is allowing no self-deception, as when we hate a bad smell or love a beautiful color. This is called satisfying oneself. Therefore the superior man will always be watchful over himself when alone.
When the inferior man is alone and leisurely, there is no limit to which he does not go in his evil deeds. Only when he sees a superior man does he then try to disguise himself, concealing his evil and showing off the good in him. But what is the use? For other people see him as if they see his very heart. This is what is meant by the saying that what is true in a man’s heart will be shown in his outward appearance. Therefore the superior man will always be watchful over himself when alone.
Tseng Tzu said, “What ten eyes are beholding and what ten hands are pointing to—isn’t it frightening?”
Wealth makes a house shining and virtue makes a person shining. When one’s mind is broad and his heart generous, his body becomes big and is at ease. Therefore the superior man always makes his will sincere.
Great Learning 6.1-4 (Confucianism)
We should examine ourselves and learn what is the affection and purpose of the heart, for in this way only can we learn what we honestly are.
Science and Health, p. 8 (Christian Science)
If, brethren, a woman or man or a young lad fond of self-adornment, on examining the reflection of his own face in a bright clean mirror or bowl of clear water, should see therein a stain or speck, he will strive to remove that stain or speck; and when he no longer sees it there he is pleased and satisfied, thinking, “A gain it is to me that I am clean.” Likewise a monk’s introspection is most fruitful in good conditions, thus: “Do I or do I not generally live covetous? Do I or do I not generally live malevolent in heart? Do I or do I not generally live possessed by sloth and torpor? Do I or do I not generally live excited in mind? Do I generally live in doubt and wavering, or have I crossed beyond it? Do I generally live wrathful or not? Do I generally live with soiled thoughts or clean thoughts? Do I generally live with body passionate or not? Do I generally live sluggish or full of energy? Do I generally live uncontrolled or well controlled?”
If on self-examination a monk finds thus: “I generally live covetous, malevolent in heart, possessed by sloth and torpor, excited in mind, doubtful and wavering, wrathful, with body passionate, sluggish, uncontrolled”—then that monk must put forth extra desire, effort, endeavor, exertion, impulse, mindfulness, and attention for the abandoning of those wicked, unprofitable states.
Anguttara Nikaya 5.66 (Buddhism)
