If
a person
overlooks the faults
of others, and sees only their merits,
and thus keeps his mind serene, his whole life
will be happy. To be unconcerned in all
things, with the mind cool, free of
desires and without hate,
is beautiful in a
seeker.
work for all, contend with none
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True words aren’t
elaborate. Elaborate words aren’t true.
Good people don’t argue. People who argue
aren’t good. People who know aren’t
full of facts. People who are full
of facts don’t know.
The sage doesn’t hoard.
She increases her treasure by
working for her fellow human beings.
She increases her abundance
by giving herself to them.
The way of heaven:
benefit all, harm none.
The way of the sage: work
for all, contend
with none.
from The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,
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time for what is important
Time is very precious:
every minute, every hour counts.
We don’t want to throw time away. We want
to make good use of the minutes and hours we have left.
When we focus our attention in the here and now and live
simply, we have more time to do the things we think
are important. We don’t waste our energy in
thinking, in worrying, in running
after fame, power,
and wealth.
the essential requirement is concentrated focus
The essential requirement
in studying zen is concentrated focus.
You don’t engage in any forced actions: you just keep
to the fundamental. Right where you stand, you must pass
through to freedom. You must see the original face and walk through
the scenery of the fundamental ground. You do not change your
ordinary actions, yet outside and inside are One Suchness.
You act according to the natural flow and do not set
up anything as particularly special —
you are no different from
an ordinary person.
This is called
being a wayfarer who is free
and at peace, beyond learning, free
from contrived actions. Being in this stage,
you do not reveal any traces of mind — there
is no road for the gods to offer you flowers,
and no way for demons and outsiders
to spy on you. This at last is
simple unadorned
reality.
this is what you shall do
This
is what you
shall do: Love the earth
and sun and the animals, despise riches,
give alms to every one that asks, stand up for
the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor
to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have
patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat
to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men,
go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young
and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open
air every season of every year of your life, reexamine all you
have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss
whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall
be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only
in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and
face and between the lashes of your eyes
and in every motion and
joint of your
body.