The work of learning
the Way requires greater intimacy
with each passing day, greater intimacy with
each passing hour. Eventually you develop
spontaneous familiarity and
unite with the Way.
The work of learning
the Way requires greater intimacy
with each passing day, greater intimacy with
each passing hour. Eventually you develop
spontaneous familiarity and
unite with the Way.
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.
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Yantou said,
“Abandoning things is superior,
pursuing things is inferior.” If your own state
is empty and tranquil, perfectly illuminated and silently
shining, then you will be able to confront whatever circumstances
impinge on you with the indestructible sword of wisdom and cut
everything off — everything from the myriad entangling objects
to the verbal teachings of the past and present. Then your
awesome, chilling spirit cuts off everything, and
everything retreats of itself without having
to be pushed away. Isn’t this what it
means to be well endowed and
have plenty to spare?
…The Ultimate Path is
simple and easy — it is just a matter of
whether you abandon things or pursue them.
Those who would experience the Path
should think deeply
on this.
To study the Way
is to study the self. To study the
self is to forget the self. To forget the
self is to be enlightened
by all things.
An
unavoidable time of adversity.
Quiet strength insures a
later success.
It is a time
of oppression and exhaustion.
None of us escapes such moments; they are simply
a part of living. By meeting them in the correct spirit and
cheerfully bending instead of breaking, you weather
the adversity and meet with success
at a later time.
Inferior elements,
either in one’s self, another,
or the larger world, interfere now to
restrain the superior person. It is foolish to fight
against the restraint; success is simply not possible now.
Rid yourself of the desire to progress and return
to neutrality and acceptance. The stubborn
pursuit of results will bring
misfortune.
With others,
quietness and equanimity are
the watchwords of the moment. Say little,
and say it gently. A similar reticence and gentleness
should be applied to yourself. Do not lapse into
impatience or mistrust of the Deity. Accept
that the Creative often works in a way
that we cannot see or
understand.
A feeling of
despair or depression is a sign
that you are holding a false belief.
To perpetuate an untruth about yourself,
another, or the Sage is to block your own
happiness. Root out and remove any
idea or attitude which
causes negative
feelings.
By opening
your mind, quieting your heart,
and calmly holding to proper principles,
you make it possible for the Creative
to eliminate the oppression
that currently
exists.
from The I Ching, or Book of Changes
Hexagram 47, K’un / Oppression (Exhaustion)
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