Although a human
activity may have a number of
complicated motives, some of which are
base and gross, it is the aspiration towards
divinity, the desire towards beauty,
which is its soul, its life,
and its reality.
Posts Tagged → beauty
in a great storm the wise bird
In a great
storm the wise bird
returns to her nest and
waits patiently.
This is a time of difficult and dangerous conditions. You should not be seduced into struggling, striving, or seeking solutions through aggressive action. Success is met only by waiting modestly for the guidance of the Creative.Trying times are a test of our integrity and commitment to proper principles.
The ordinary person reacts to challenges with fear, anger, mistrust of fate, and a stubborn desire to strike out and eliminate difficulty once and for all. While the temptation to act in this way can be great, to do so can only lead to misfortune and the loss of hard-won ground.
The ordinary person reacts to challenges with fear, anger, mistrust of fate, and a stubborn desire to strike out and eliminate difficulty once and for all. While the temptation to act in this way can be great, to do so can only lead to misfortune and the loss of hard-won ground.
The way of the superior person faced with difficulty is that of nonaction rather than action. She does not strive after recognition or resolution or attempt to gain a higher position by conquering others. Instead, she retreats into her center and cultivates humility, patience, and conscientiousness. On the path of acceptance, self-inquiry, and self-improvement we obtain the aid of the Creative and meet with success after the storm has passed.
from The I Ching, or Book of Changes
Hexagram 62, Hsiao Kuo /Preponderance of the Small
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without capacity for accumulating dust
Patch-robed monks
practice thoroughly without carrying
a single thread. Open-mindedly sparkling and pure,
they are like a mirror reflecting a mirror, with
nothing regarded as outside, without
capacity for accumulating
dust.
love and faith and light
As my love
and my faith and my interest in
the inner grew, the darkness diminished,
within and without, and Lalla lost
herself in that light.
meet the source on all sides
Those who are determined to practice the Way practice self-awareness and self-understanding twenty-four hours a day. They think of this and focus on this. They know that the one Great Cause is there right where they stand, that it is in sages without being augmented and in ordinary people without being diminished. They know that it stands alone free of senses and sense objects, and that it far transcends material things.
Wayfarers don’t set up fixed locations in anything they do. They are clear and tranquil, with solid concentration, and the myriad transformations never disturb them. They appear in response to conditions and go into action as they encounter events, leaving nothing incomplete.
You should just be empty and quiet, transcending everything. Once the main basis is clear, all obscurities are illuminated. “Ten thousand years — a single thought. A single thought — ten thousand years.” Passing through from the heights to the depths, the great function of the whole potential is in operation. It is like when a strong man flexes his arm: he doesn’t depend on anyone else’s strength. Then the illusory blinders of birth and death vanish forever, and the true essence indestructible as a diamond is all that shows. Once realized, it is realized forever — there is no interruption.
All that the enlightened teachers, ancient and modern, have said and done — the scriptural teachings, the enlightenment stories, the meditation stories, the question-and-answer sessions, all their teaching functions — all of this illuminates this true essence alone.
If you can be free and clear in actual practice for a long time, naturally you will come to meet the Source on all sides and become unified and whole.
Haven’t you seen Fadeng’s verse?
Going into a wild field, not choosing,
Picking up whatever plant comes to hand,
Rootless but finding life,
Apart from the ground but not falling.
Right before your eyes, it has always been there. Facing the situation, why don’t you speak? If you don’t know it in your daily life, where then will you look for it? Better find out.