The water of the mind,
How clear it is!
Gazing at it,
The boundaries are invisible.
But as soon as even
A slight thought arises,
Ten thousand images crowd it.
Attach to them,
And they become real.
Be carried by them,
And it will be difficult to return.
How painful to see a person
Trapped in the ten-fold
delusions.
Those
who do not feel this
love pulling them like a river,
those who do not drink dawn like a cup
of springwater or take in sunset
like supper, those who do not
want to change, let
them sleep.
This love
is beyond the study
of theology, that old trickery
and hypocrisy. If you want
to improve your mind
that way, sleep
on.
I have
given up on my brain.
I have torn the cloth to shreds
and thrown it away. If you are not
completely naked, wrap your
beautiful robe of words
around you, and
sleep.
The
best leader is one
whose existence is barely known.
Next best is one who is loved and praised.
After that, one who is feared. Worst
of all is a leader who is
despised.
If you
fail to trust people,
you won’t inspire their trust.
Therefore, guide others by quietly
relying on Tao. Then, when the
work is done, the people can
say, “We did this
ourselves.”
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The Buddha’s
teachings on love are
clear. It is possible to live
twenty-four hours a day
in a state of love.
When you are not
afraid to forget who you are,
life in the kitchen, or life in the office,
might contain huge and overwhelming happiness.
Everything you look at, the door, the walls meeting in the
corner of the room, the light shining on the cell phone, might be
so alive that it looks back. Other people might not be who you
thought they were. Family members might be as fresh
and surprising as strangers. And you, whom you
have only apparently known all your life,
might be fresh and surprising
to yourself too.