Once
you’ve begun
to understand the Way,
concentrate upon it without
pause. This is the sunlight
that matures the fruit of
your realization.
Maintaining
your insight through
whatever comes, you make
a Oneness of the world, and
conditions such as “good”
and “bad” drop
away.
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If you try
to grab hold of the
world and do what you want
with it, you won’t
succeed.
The world
is a vessel for spirit,
and it wasn’t made to be manipulated.
Tamper with it and you’ll spoil it.
Hold it, and you’ll
lose it.
With tao,
sometimes you move ahead
and sometimes you stay back; sometimes
you work hard and sometimes you rest; sometimes
you’re strong and sometimes you’re weak;
sometimes you’re up; sometimes
you’re down.
The sage
remains alert, avoiding
extremes, avoiding extravagance,
avoiding excess.
from The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,
ebooks & apps of the Tao the Ching, I Ching,
Hua hu Ching, Wei wu Wei Ching,
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No community can survive without a dependable source of pure water. In a similar way, human beings cannot survive without a reliable source of spiritual nourishment. In fact, we need two wells: an external source of guidance, such as the I Ching, and an internal source of guidance, which must be our own good character. This hexagram comes to encourage you to concentrate on developing, purifying, and utilizing your two “wells.”
Notice the name of this hexagram: “Ching/The Well.” The I Ching has survived in countless civilizations for thousands of years for a simple reason: it is an inexhaustible source of spiritual nourishment. It provides us with the fundamental building blocks of a successful life. If you approach it sincerely, without mistrust or frivolity, it will guide you through every difficult hour with unimpeachable wisdom. If you muddy the well, however, by doubting the I Ching or by placing your ego desires above the counsel it gives you, you impede your own progress.
The purest of external wells, the I Ching is also an invaluable aid in developing and cleansing the internal well of your own good character. It will, if you are sincere, reveal to you the fundamental issues of your life, and it will instill in you the values necessary to successfully negotiate those issues.
The hexagram Ching comes to encourage you not to muddy the well of your good character in any way now. In relating to others, look beyond any external faults of “muddiness” and acknowledge the clear well that exists somewhere inside them. No person is without this, and by speaking to it you strengthen it. If you will follow these counsels, you will meet with a true and lasting success in life.
fifth changing line:
One must not only
draw the water from the well
but also drink it. Wisdom that is not
put to practical use is
meaningless.
from The I Ching, or Book of Changes
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Humility is the
root of greatness. Those in high
positions do well to think of themselves
as powerless, small and
unworthy.
Isn’t this
taking humility for the root?
Attain honor without being honored.
Don’t shine like jade, or
chime like bells.
from The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,
ebooks & apps of the Tao the Ching, I Ching,
Wei wu Wei Ching, Hua hu Ching, and
Art of War for iPad/Phone, Kindle,
You
can now buy
Tao te Ching as part of a
five-app bundle of Taoist classics
for iPhone or iPad for less than
the cost of one hardcover
book.
