"The timbre of their flutes were quiet and calm, without a hint of envy and, contrary to what might have been expected, seemed richer than all the amusements of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune.
We are the Gods of Poverty, but why should we be ashamed in front of those Gods of good fortune? We, and they, all of us, have our own fates.
... Settle yourself into poverty, and not lose its pleasures, the gods of poverty will be joyful along with you.
Then what is the Greatest Happiness? To be without desire, and to know what is enough, to be perfectly fair and selfless, to entrust life to life and death to death and to be content in that return.
Not to envy wealth or honour, not to loath poverty and low birth, not to be obsessed by thoughts of the differences between happiness and anger or likes and dislikes, but rather following good and bad fortune, or prosperity and decline as one meets them, and calmly enjoying oneself in the midst of creation and change: This is the Greatest Happiness under Heaven."
"I envelope the Universe by means of my mind; and by means of the universe, there is nothing that obstructs my mind. Riches and honour, good luck and calamity are elsewhere.
When you seek after such things, you may obtain them or you may not - this is not something that is guaranteed. The Greatest Happiness is within yourself. If you seek your mind wholeheartedly, you will obtain it for sure. Simply, do not seek after illusion. "
- Issai Chozanshi, The Discourses
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