quiet emptiness, drifting without direction

 

Learning the way means not wasting time;

diligent practice, over and over, is required.

We never know what we’re after at first —

just an abstract idea.

Step by step, we get a handle on things,

we learn to bear all kinds of burdens, 

even worry.

 

When our heart is empty the light of Tao shines within us,

yet this radiance should not be displayed.

The sublime has all manner of power;

acknowledging this allows us to enlighten the lost.

 

A slim and willowy lady is what the gentleman sought,

but not all women are submissive.

In the end they walk their own different ways.

Clouds and mud divide our lonely boats.

 

Quiet emptiness,

drifting like clouds without direction:

coming and going without hindrance.

This is the true Way.

 

Real power is empty, without image.

Like buddha-nature, its blessings are sublime:

no sound, no form, no color.

 

Loy Ching-Yuen

hexagram 42 ☯️ I (increase)

 

Powerful improvements

are underway.

 

The coming of the hexagram I signifies a period of increase when the power of heaven descends to surround and invigorate our lives. Like all phases, this too will come to an end, but if “we make hay while the sun shines,” tremendous progress can be made at this time.

It is in the nature of human beings to relax and become careless when things begin to go well. The I Ching teaches us that we should not do this if we desire the fullest blessings of the beneficial hour. Indeed, our rewards are multiplied if we increase our conscientiousness in auspicious times, rather than decrease it. There are two ways in which the I Ching especially encourages us to do this.

Our first task is to make sacrifices for others. In all of your interactions now, embody generosity in thought and action. Forgive what is inferior in others and seek out the good. By giving, encouraging, and assisting, you will draw the superior person in everyone into devoted action.

Your second task in this time of increase is to go on strengthening yourself “as thunder and wind strengthen each other.” This means that if you see something good in another, you imitate it, and when you discover something inferior in yourself, you eliminate it.

These simple practices, if continued conscientiously over time, will improve your character and fortunes immeasurably. Through service and self-improvement you assure yourself of great progress in the days ahead.
 

from The I Ching, or Book of Changes

Hexagram 42, I / Increase

 

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we are saved only by love

 

The world is

violent and mercurial —

it will have its way with you.

We are saved only by love — love for

each other and the love that we pour into the art

we feel compelled to share: being a parent; being a writer;

being a painter; being a friend. We live in a perpetually

burning building, and what we must

save from it, all the time,

is love.

 

Tennessee Williams