Should you desire the great tranquility,
prepare to sweat white beads.
Should you desire the great tranquility,
prepare to sweat white beads.
Studying texts
and stiff meditation can
make you lose your Original Mind.
A solitary tune by a fisherman, though,
can be an invaluable treasure. Dusk rain
on the river, the moon peeking in and
out of the clouds; elegant beyond
words, he chants his songs
night after night.
Nothing,
nothing at all is born,
dies, the shell says again and
again from the depth of its hollowness.
Its body swept off by tide — so what? It sleeps
in sand, drying in sunlight, bathing in moonlight.
Nothing to do with sea or anything else.
Over and over it vanishes
with the wave.
Please
let me remind you,
who study the inconceivable:
Your time is running fast.
Don’t ignore
it.
Act by
not acting,
accomplish by not
straining, understand
by not knowing. Regard the
humble as exalted and the exalted
as humble. Remedy injury
with tranquil
repair.
Meet
the difficult while
it is still easy; cross the
universe one step at a time.
Because the sage doesn’t try
anything too big, she’s able
to accomplish big
things.
Those
who commit lightly
seldom come through.
Those who think everything
is easy will find everything hard.
The sage understands that
everything is difficult, and
thus in the end has no
difficulties.
from The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,
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