Restrain your speech.
An active tongue betrays a restless
mind. Tranquility on every
level is advised.
5th changing line,
from The I Ching, or Book of Changes
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It is
an unavoidable fact
of life that inferior influences
sometimes prevail: improperly motivated
people ascend to power, there is injustice and conflict
and poverty, and spiritual life in general descends into darkness
and decay. While these difficult times are inevitable — and the arrival
of this hexagram indicates that this is such a time — this does
not mean that we have to stagnate personally as well.
By turning inward and realigning ourselves
with proper principles, we initiate
the return to light, truth
and progress.
The image
of P’i is of heaven
moving away from the earth.
When this happens, the inferior qualities
in ourselves and in others come to the surface and
seek expression. It is unlikely now that you can affect what
others do and say or that your activities will bear much fruit. While
it is natural to feel anxious and disappointed about this state of
affairs, it is essential to disengage from these inferior
emotions now. To indulge in them is to
abandon your superior self and
plunge into a state of
disintegration.
What is
wise now is to accept
that external progress is unlikely.
Turn your attention inward and examine your
own thoughts and attitudes for inferior influences
and departures from the principles of the Sage.
By withdrawing into solitude and refining
your higher nature, you continue
to grow while all else around
you stagnates.
The I Ching, or Book of Changes
Hexagram 12, P’i Standstill (Stagnation)
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To Shine One Corner of the World
A clinical
psychiatrist questioned
Suzuki Roshi about
consciousness.
“I don’t know
anything about consciousness,”
Suzuki said. “I just try to teach
my students how to hear
the birds sing.”
Entering through practice
refers to the Four Practices — all other
practices are contained within these. What are
the Four Practices? First, the practice of repaying wrongs.
Second, the practice of going along with the causal
nexus. Third, the practice of not seeking
anything. Fourth, the practice of
according with the
Dharma.
What is the practice
of repaying wrongs? When receiving
suffering, a practitioner who cultivates the Path
should think to himself: “During countless ages past
I have abandoned the root and pursued the branches, flowing
into the various states of being, and giving rise to much rancor and
hatred — the transgression, the harm done, has been limitless.
Though I do not transgress now, this suffering is a disaster
left over from former lives — the results of evil deeds
have ripened. This suffering is not something
given by gods or humans.”
You should willingly
endure the suffering without anger
or complaint. The sutra says: “Encountering
suffering, one is not concerned. Why? Because one
is conscious of the basic root.” When this attitude toward
suffering is born, you are in accord with inner truth,
and even as you experience wrongs, you advance
on the Path. Thus it is called “the practice
of repaying wrongs.”
Records of the Teachers and Students of the Lanka
When a
wise person hears Tao,
he practices it diligently. When an
average person hears Tao, he practices it
sometimes, and just as often ignores it.
When an inferior person hears Tao,
he roars with laughter.
If he didn’t laugh,
it wouldn’t be
Tao.
Thus
the age old sayings:
The way to illumination appears dark.
The way that advances appears to retreat.
The way that is easy appears to be hard.
The highest virtue appears empty.
The purest goodness appears soiled.
The most profound creativity appears fallow.
The strongest power appears weak.
The most genuine seems unreal.
The greatest space has no corners.
The largest talent matures slowly.
The highest voice can’t be heard.
The most luminous image
can’t be seen.
Tao is hidden
and has no name.
Tao alone nourishes
and fulfills all
things.
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