The way 

to enlightenment 

is through emptiness. 

Quiet

the senses, 

forget the body, abandon 

concepts and control and contention. 

Transform the mind into a pile of cool ashes, 

and then do not-doing until stillness 

permeates inside

and out.

In this 

way you can be 

illuminated by the clarity 

and silence of the 

Oneness.

Wei wu Wei Ching, Chapter 1, The Creative

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The universe

is a form of divine law,

your reasonable father. When you

feel ungrateful to him, the shapes of the world

seem mean and ugly. Make peace with that

father, the elegant patterning, and 

every experience will fill 

with immediacy.

Rumi

I can’t

decide what work,

what study, to begin next,

among the several possible. If there

is no spirit, no soul, no divine dimension or value,

then whatever we do is just killing time, meaningless and idle.

On the other hand, if God and the mystery of spirit overlap with this

time and place in simultaneous layering, then anything we work

on performs eternity and is the very motion of mystery.

Each gesture and word and idea appears in this

moment’s presence and in the other

as well. This is a great truth

of being.

Whether

a particular action

leads toward a future heaven or

hell is not worth considering. Even when you

will die is not important. Eternity creates itself at this point. 

This moment is where you grow nearer and nearer God.

Time and the infinite curl together in every nick,

touch, taw, tine, and root fiber. Here and

now is where you can be shown

the miracle of what

continuously

occurs.

Bahauddin Velad,

father of Rumi 

@Q 

There

is nothing in the world

that does not have both true and

false versions. Practice of the Way may

also be true or false, so students

should first distinguish

the difference

clearly.

True

practice is total

sincerity. It is not a matter

of avoiding the world or leaving

society. And neither does it depend

entirely on deliberate sitting and reciting

scriptures. The essential thing is to refine

away the false with the true to filter

out the true from the false. Only

then do you attain the true

reality of perfect

sincerity.

 
The Old Man of Clear Serenity

@Q
 

Don’t

live for your

senses. Close your mouth,

close all the body’s openings, reside

in the original unity. In this 

way you can pass your

life in peace and

contentment. 

Open

your mouth, 

increase your activities, 

start making distinctions

between things, and you’ll

toil forever without

hope.

from The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,

Chapter 52

In olden times the people of great enlightenment did not pay attention to trivial matters and did not aspire to the shallow and easily accessible. They aroused their determination to transcend the buddhas and patriarchs. They wanted to bear the heavy responsibility that no one can fully take up, to rescue all living beings, to remove suffering and bring peace, to smash the ignorance and blindness that obstructs the Way. They wanted to break the poisonous arrows of ignorant folly and extract the thorns of arbitrary views from the eye of reality. They wanted to make the scenery of the fundamental ground clear and reveal the original face before the empty aeon.

You should train your mind and value actual practice wholeheartedly, exerting all your power, not shrinking from the cold or the heat. Go to the spot where you meditate and kill your mental monkey and slay your intellectual horse. Make yourself like a dead tree, like a withered stump. 

Suddenly you penetrate through — how could it be attained from anyone else? You discover the hidden treasure, you light the lamp in the dark room, you launch the boat across the center of the ford. You experience great liberation, and without producing a single thought, you immediately attain true awakening. Having passed through the gate into the inner truth, you ascend to the site of universal light. Then you sit in the impeccably pure supreme seat of the emptiness of all things.

Moving into action as an enlightened teacher, with rolling waves in the ocean of speech, you unleash the skills of unobstructed understanding and eloquence. With chosen pupils you set up a situation or utter a saying to reveal extraordinary perceptions. You cause all beings, whether ordinary or sage, whether sentient or insentient, to look up to the awesome light and receive its protection.

But this is not yet the stage of effortless achievement. You must go further beyond, to where the thousand sages cannot trap you, the myriad conscious beings have no way to look up to you, the gods have no way to offer you flowers, and the demons and outsiders cannot spy on you. You must cast off knowledge and views, discard mysteries and marvels, and abandon all contrived actions. You simply eat when hungry and drink when thirsty, and that’s all.

At this stage you are never aware of having mind or not not having mind, of gaining mindfulness or losing mindfulness. So how could you still be attached to what you have previously learned and understood, to “mysteries” and “marvels” and analyses of essential nature, to the fetters of names and forms and arbitrary opinions? How could you still be attached to views of “Buddha” and views of “Dharma” or to earth-shaking worldly knowledge and intellect? You would be tying and binding yourself.
 

Yuanwu

Looking for 

nothing in particular, 

wholly without ambition, 

good-naturedly doing not doing, 

you arrive at the center of 

yourself and find the 

whole universe  

waiting 

there.

Wei wu Wei Ching, Chapter 52

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You

will only pass

through to freedom

when you cease and desist

to the point that not even a single

thought is born. Then you penetrate

through without falling into sense

and matter and without dwelling

in conceptualizations

and mental

images.

Yuanwu

 Those

who wish to

embody the Tao

should embrace all things.

To embrace all things means first

that one holds no anger or resistance

toward any idea or thing, living  or

dead, formed or formless.

Acceptance is the very

essence of the

Tao.

To embrace

all things means also that one

rids oneself of any concept of separation;

male and female,  self and other, life

and death. Division is contrary

to the nature  of

the Tao.

Foregoing

antagonism and separation,

one enters into the harmonious

oneness of all

things.

Hua hu Ching, Chapter 3

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Motion

and stillness,

dividing and gathering,

these are forces that work the

divine will in the manifest world. What

goes in the grave is a powder scattered by

the wind. What moves in the heart 

gathers and becomes

manifest.

Bahauddin Velad,

father of Rumi 

Filling

to fullness is not

as good as stopping at the

 right moment. Over-sharpening

a blade causes its edge to be lost. 

Line your home with treasures

and you won’t be able

to defend

it.

Amass

possessions, establish

positions,  display your pride:

Soon enough disaster 

drives you to your

knees.

This is

the way of heaven:

do your work, then

quietly step

back.

The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,

Chapter 9

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Live as

though you are

here to enjoy

yourself.

This hexagram indicates that the movement from chaos to order is complete. This time is extremely favorable and you are likely to enjoy much success as long as you heed the warning of Chi Chi: remain on guard against incorrect thoughts, attitudes, and actions, both in yourself and in others.

We arrive in beneficial situations by following the path of correct conduct. When we have achieved success or are close to it, it is in our nature to want to relax and allow the ego to bask in glory. If you revert to this sort of carelessness now you will undo all that you have worked to build. It is important not to become indifferent to spiritual details at this time: if a thought or action even borders on incorrectness, discard it and return to the path of the Sage immediately. One minute we dip our toe in incorrectness, the next minute we are swimming in it, and the next we drown. Therefore it is wiser to simply keep our toes dry in the first place.

You are also counseled to remain alert to inferior influences in others. You can only prevent misfortunes by anticipating them in advance, and this is achieved through watchfulness.

The image of Chi Chi is that of a kettle of water boiling over a fire. There is great power here, but it is lost if one allows the water to boil over or evaporate through carelessness and indifference. Alertness and conscientious adherence to what is correct are called for if you wish to prolong your good fortune now.
 

from The I Ching, or Book of Changes

Hexagram 63, Chi Chi / After Completion

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