Tao Te Ching 29

TaoismTao Te Ching 29

If any one should wish to get the kingdom for himself, and to effect this by what he does, I see that he will not succeed. The kingdom is a spirit-like thing, and cannot be got by active doing. He who would so win it destroys it; he who would hold it in his grasp loses it. … Hence the sage puts away excessive effort, extravagance, and easy indulgence.

❃ Moderation & non-waste ❃ Creation as sacred

The same idea in other traditions

ConfucianismAnalects 7.27

The Master angled,—but did not use a net. He shot,—but not at birds perching.

ChristianityPsalm 24:1

The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

JudaismGenesis 2:15

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

BuddhismDhammapada 49

As the bee collects nectar and departs without injuring the flower, or its colour or scent, so let a sage dwell in his village.

SikhismSGGS Ang 8

Air is the Guru, Water is the Father, and Earth is the Great Mother of all. Day and night are the two nurses, in whose lap all the world is at play.

IslamQuran 7:31

O Children of Adam! wear your beautiful apparel at every time and place of prayer: eat and drink: But waste not by excess, for Allah loveth not the wasters.

HinduismIsha Upanishad 1

ALL this, whatsoever moves on earth, is to be hidden in the Lord (the Self). When thou hast surrendered all this, then thou mayest enjoy. Do not covet the wealth of any man!

SufismBustan, ch. 6

Eat in proportion to thy hunger; how can he give praises who scarce can breathe by reason of his gluttony? He whose stomach is full is void of wisdom. The prey is entrapped in the snare because of its greed. …

JainismSutrakritanga 1.11.7-8

Earth-lives are individual beings, so are water-lives, fire-lives, and wind-lives; grass, trees, corn; And the remaining, (viz.) the movable beings; thus are enumerated the six classes of living beings; these are all the living beings, there are no more besides.