The words of Vantala are the canonical text of the old Chinese philosophical school of Dao Ji Bai. Vantala is the Indian version of the name of the founder of the Dan Shen school.
THE CASES OF VANTALA
You do not know what your evil will turn into.
The world is too big to hurt it.
You don’t know what the world needs.
Your mistakes will not crush the world.
Perhaps your mistakes are what the world needs.
Any deeds, both evil and good, are better than Chaos.
Any deeds, both evil and good, will find their place in the World.
If the world needs your deeds, you will need them too.
Do not be afraid to violate obligations, what Vantale needs — the World needs.
Don’t be afraid to lead another down the wrong path, you know which one is the right one.
Something you are destined to achieve only by resisting fate.
Perhaps the current will take you not at all where you think.
Do not be afraid to disrupt the course of events — show the World a weak spot!
If what you are doing is difficult for you, see if you need it.
Do it better next time or do it differently.
If you can do something by accident, why not do it on purpose?
Support what you like and discourage what you don’t like, for you have no other choice.
What you do, do it silently.
Don’t go with the flow, don’t go against the flow, go across it if you want to reach the shore.
From time to time please someone, even yourself.
If you can correct the consequences of your mistake, you have not yet made a mistake.
If the time, place, helpers, or mode of action is chosen poorly or not by you, do not be surprised if something does not work out.
None of your work is worth acknowledging.
VANTALA’S PATH
Your home is far away.
Vantale is his to everyone, Vantale is all strangers.
Vantala is responsible only for himself and only to himself.
Nothing is your fault.
If your Path depends on others, let their Path depend on you.
The fog always starts no closer than a step away from you.
The ascent is more difficult than the descent.
Be prepared to not find what you are looking for.
The water in the river always flows straight, no matter how winding the channel. Insurmountable obstacles are found only off the road. The road cannot pass only on level ground.
If you see where you’re going, why should you go there?
If you can’t see where you’re going, why are you going there?
Is there a purpose in what you are doing? Does it belong to you?
If you stumble and fall, it does not mean that you are going the wrong way.
Sometimes the search for the right solution is more expensive than the error.
No one can lead someone who has gone his own way for a long time.
Follow the one with whom you are on the way.
When you visit someone, don’t forget to come back.
What happens, happens at the right time.
You can help the World by hindering it. Can’t he do the same?
Don’t be afraid for yourself. You are too dear to the world to be wasted.
You won’t be able to miss the real Finest Hour.
The wind, flying, leaves behind different countries. But even after many years the wind blows there.
THE FATE OF VANTALA
All certainty is concentrated in the past.
Who will say about the wind that it blows in the wrong direction?
The will of Vantala is part of the will of the World.
The world does not need your good, but your participation.
While helping, you cannot obey in everything. Submissive in everything, you cannot help.
You can live in the desert only at the source, but you can live not only in the desert at the source.
If the wind knocked down the dwelling, then are the fragile walls to blame?
One can wish the wind to disappear, but one cannot wish the wind to disappear forever.
You can hide from the wind, you can block its path in one place, but you cannot harm the wind.
What will happen will happen beyond your anxiety.
If you ask «Will I go there?» with the intention of doing the opposite, who will answer you?
There are many reasons for a stone flying into an abyss not to reach the bottom.
Thank missed opportunities for a joyful sense of hope.
Pretend to yourself that it is easy for you, it will become easier for you.
Do not regret that there was little joy — this will turn joy into sadness.
Giving, losing, saying goodbye — do not grieve about the future, but give thanks to the past. Suffer if necessary, but do not justify your suffering by this necessity.
Two grapes taste the same as one. What difference does it make how many there will be if they all turn into just a memory?
You did something. So what?
BATTLE VANTHALA
The nightingale eats worms.
Anyone can hit the weak, but only the weak want to hit the weak.
The predator does not fight — he dine.
Curses and praises bring nothing to those who deserve them.
Your death is as close as it was when you were born.
What would you use life for?
What do you have that you can’t lose?
The predator’s eyes look forward, the prey’s eyes look to the sides.
If you have not been asked if you want to fight, you choose the rules yourself. Do not be afraid to appear weaker, but do not be afraid to deceive the expectation of your weakness afterwards.
Forgive the offender, if you like.
If a big fish swallows a small hook, isn’t the fisherman in greater danger?
Do not scare the weak — panic is uncontrollable. Do not scare an equal — it is unreliable. Do not scare the strong — what if you succeed?
Do not be like a bird starving for fear of a scarecrow. Do not be like a mouse bravely running across a busy road.
The terrible is either fearful because it is dangerous or because it is meant to be.
And the confidence of the enemy, and his uncertainty plays on you.
If the enemy took you by surprise and you are still alive, he is in your hands.
THE VANTALA CODE
Above all rules there are others, unfamiliar to you.
Give if you want, but take if you regret it.
Heal the afflicted if you can, but kill the healed if you must.
Help the one who asks, if you can, and punish the one who demands, if you want.
Hinder the confident in the small.
Push the hesitant in any direction, if this is not the right one, he will return.
Before you take what is yours, ask, but if you don’t get it, take it away.
Knock on the door as you leave.
Have you given the one who punishes you this right?
Submit if you wish.
When a reward is promised, it is a deal; when a punishment is threatened, it is a coercion. You can go for both.
If someone wants to take from you without asking, let him try to take it away. If he can, then he deserves it.
Repay not according to merit, but according to your whim, this is the highest justice.
What you can do — do it now: who knows if you can do it later?
When giving, make it easy. Losing — do it easily. Saying goodbye — make it easy.