Get Something Better Than What You Want


Wisdom and Unwisdom

Knowing what benefits and what harms is wisdom. Not knowing them is ignorance. Mistaking one for the other is foolishness.

Three Kinds of Knowledge

There are three kinds of knowledge: knowledge of nonself (the conventional knowledge), knowledge of self, and knowledge gained by knowing both self and nonself.

If You Can Not Get What You Want

If you can not get what you want, get something better than what you want. Also make good use of what you already have.

Something Better Than What You Want 2

Wisdom gets you something better than what you want. Without wisdom, you get what you want and suffer.

A Role of Wisdom in Life

Wisdom allows you to do what will help your life and not to do what will hinder your life or you will regret.

Desire 8

Follow wisdom over desire.

Becoming Wise in Life

Benefiting from both what life gives you, including adversity, and what it doesn’t means that you are becoming wise in life. Benefiting others and the world means that you are becoming wiser in life.

Wise and Wiser

If you grow wise, those who you thought useless become your benefactors. If you grow wiser, even your enemy becomes your benefactor. However, if you are unwise, even your benefactors become useless.

Wise and Foolish

When we are wise, we learn and benefit even from foolishness. When we are foolish, we do not learn and benefit even from wisdom.

Wise and Foolish 2

When we are wise, we learn and benefit even from untruth. When we are foolish, we do not learn and benefit even from truth.

An Invisible Enemy

Foolishness is an invisible enemy to its owner.

The Worst Ignorance

The worst ignorance is not knowing one’s own ignorance.

The Wise and the Foolish

Those who know their ignorance are the wise. Those who do not know their ignorance are the ignorant. Those who do not know their ignorance but believe they are wise are the foolish.

From Ignorance to Wisdom

Ignorance leads to foolishness. Foolishness leads to pain. Pain leads to wisdom.

What You Want

What you want can enslave you if you do not know what will be lost for gaining it.

Growth and Ignorance 2

If you grow a little, you know your ignorance a little. If you grow a lot, you know your ignorance a lot. If you haven’t grown up yet, it is very difficult for you to know how ignorant you are.

Wisdom About Have

Benefiting from everything you have including adversity and everything you do not have is wisdom. Not knowing how to benefit from them is ignorance.

Wisdom About Life

Learning from your life is wisdom. Not knowing what to learn from your life is ignorance. Not being able to learn from your repeated life lessons is foolishness.

Mice Wisdom and Human Wisdom

For mice, not eating poisonous food is wisdom. For humans, not having poisonous thoughts is wisdom.

Knowledge and Wisdom

Knowledge can be destructive without wisdom.

Knowledge and Wisdom 2

Wisdom tames knowledge to be beneficial rather than destructive.

Wisdom and Good Deeds

When the wise benefit others, it is called wisdom. When the unwise benefit others, it is called good deeds.


source: New Direction Archive