--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If you really want to find out something…" description: "\"If you really want to find out something about immortality, you have to live in the mountain forests for 30 years. If you succeed in perfecting your ey..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/43e/wang-yangming-43856_able_if-you-really-want-to-find-out-something_2204136.jpg" --- # If you really want to find out something about… ![“If you really want to find out something about immortality, you have to live in the mountain forests for 30 years. If you succeed in perfecting your eyes and ears there, if you harmonize the heart and the will so that your mind becomes clear and pure and free of all that is evil, you will be able…” quote by Wang Yangming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/43e/wang-yangming-43856_able_if-you-really-want-to-find-out-something_2204136.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/43e/wang-yangming-43856_able_if-you-really-want-to-find-out-something_2204136.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/43e/wang-yangming-43856_able_if-you-really-want-to-find-out-something_2204136.jpg) > “If you really want to find out something about immortality, you have to live in the mountain forests for 30 years. If you succeed in perfecting your eyes and ears there, if you harmonize the heart and the will so that your mind becomes clear and pure and free of all that is evil, you will be able to discuss the matter.” [Wang Yangming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wang-yangming/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. True insight into immortality requires long isolation, sensory refinement, and moral harmony to achieve pure perception. **In simple terms:** Immortality insight needs isolation, refined senses, pure heart. Key Takeaway Seek deep discipline and moral clarity. Themes spirituality self‑cultivation longevity Mood contemplative serene Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - monastic retreat - mountain hermitage - meditative practice - long‑term study Key Concepts Confucianism inner alchemy Questions to Reflect On - Can you cultivate inner purity without seclusion? - What modern practices mimic this discipline? A Different Perspective Such extreme isolation is impractical for most people. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Afterlife](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/afterlife/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evil/) [Forests](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forests/) [Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart/) [Immortality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/immortality/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) ## Related quotes > [If you want immortality, then deny form. 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They were neither hot nor cold. They were the tepid, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-day/there-was-no-attack-on-religion-because-people-were-generally/) [Dorothy Day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-day/) > [I don't believe in an afterlife. I don't believe in a single or multiple godhead. I respect people who do, but I don't believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/i-don-t-believe-in-an-afterlife-i-don-t-believe-in-a-single-or/) [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) ## More by Wang Yangming > [The sages do not consider that making no mistakes is a blessing. They believe, rather, that the great virtue of man lies in his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wang-yangming/the-sages-do-not-consider-that-making-no-mistakes-is-a-blessing-they/) [Wang Yangming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wang-yangming/) > [The inferior man attempts a hundred intrigues in order to save himself, but finishes only in creating a greater calamity from which he cannot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wang-yangming/the-inferior-man-attempts-a-hundred-intrigues-in-order-to-save/) [Wang Yangming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wang-yangming/) > [Knowledge is the beginning of practice; doing is the completion of knowing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wang-yangming/knowledge-is-the-beginning-of-practice-doing-is-the-completion-of/) [Wang Yangming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wang-yangming/) > [Perhaps immortality is a gift of heaven rather than the result of some human effort.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wang-yangming/perhaps-immortality-is-a-gift-of-heaven-rather-than-the-result-of/) [Wang Yangming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wang-yangming/) > [Thought and learning are of small value unless translated into action.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wang-yangming/thought-and-learning-are-of-small-value-unless-translated-into-action/) [Wang Yangming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wang-yangming/) > [Yin and Yang are one vital force -- the primordial aura.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wang-yangming/yin-and-yang-are-one-vital-force-the-primordial-aura/) [Wang Yangming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wang-yangming/) > [To know and not to act is not to know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wang-yangming/to-know-and-not-to-act-is-not-to-know/) [Wang Yangming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wang-yangming/) > [People today distinguish between knowledge and action and pursue them separately, believing that one must know before he can act... . They say \[they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wang-yangming/people-today-distinguish-between-knowledge-and-action-and-pursue-them/) [Wang Yangming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wang-yangming/) [Explore all 9 Wang Yangming quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wang-yangming/) ## More Able quotes > [I am certain that children always know more than they are able to tell, and that makes the big difference between them and adults,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-lusseyran/i-am-certain-that-children-always-know-more-than-they-are-able-to/) [Jacques Lusseyran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-lusseyran/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. 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