The
point in life
is to know what’s enough —
why envy those otherworld mortals?
With the happiness held in one
inch-square heart you can
fill the whole space
between heaven
and earth.
The
point in life
is to know what’s enough —
why envy those otherworld mortals?
With the happiness held in one
inch-square heart you can
fill the whole space
between heaven
and earth.
Heaven and
Earth are not sentimental;
they regard all things as dispensable.
The sage isn’t sentimental, either;
He views all forms as
ephemeral and
transitional.
Tao is
like a bellows:
empty but inexhaustible.
The more you move it the more it makes.
Too much talk about it evaporates
your understanding, though.
Simply stay at the center
of the circle.
from The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,
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Hua hu Ching, and Art of War for
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book.
A
superior person
cares for the well-being of all things.
She does this by accepting responsibility for the energy
she manifests, both actively and in the subtle realm. Looking at a tree,
she sees not an isolated event but root, leaves, trunk, water,
soil and sun: each event related to the others,
and “tree” arising out of their
relatedness.
Looking
at herself or another,
she sees the same thing. Trees and
animals, humans and insects, flowers and birds:
These are active images of the subtle energies that flow
from the stars throughout the universe. Meeting
and combining with each other and
the elements of the earth, they
give rise to all living
things.
The
superior person
understands this, and understands
that her own energies play a part in it. Understanding
these things, she respects the earth as her mother, the heavens
as her father, and all living things as her brothers and sisters.
Caring for them, she knows that she cares for herself.
Giving to them, she knows that she gives to
herself. At peace with them, she is
always at peace with
herself.
ebooks & apps of the Tao the Ching, I Ching,
Hua hu Ching, and Art of War for
You
can now buy
Hua hu Ching as part of a
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the cost of one hardcover
book.
Darkness
has been given as
a nightshirt to sleep in.
Remember how human beings
were composed from water and dust
for blood and flesh with oily resins heated
in fire to make a skeleton. Then the soul, the divine
light, was breathed into human shapes. The work now is
to help our bodies become pure light. It may look like
this is not happening. But in a cocoon every bit
of worm-dissolving slime becomes silk.
As we take in light, each part
of us turns to
silk.
We
made the night
a darkness, but we bring
shining dawnlight out of that.
In the same way the mound of your
grave will bloom with resurrection. Sufis
and those on the path of the heart use darkness
to go within. During the night vigil the universe
is theirs. With all the kings and sultans and
their learned counselors asleep, everyone
is unemployed, except those wakeful
few and the divine
presence.