Can what happened to you
stop you from being fair, high-minded,
moderate, conscientious, unhasty, honest, moral,
self-reliant, and so on — from possessing all the qualities that,
when present, enable a man’s nature to be fulfilled? So then,
whenever something happens that might cause you
distress, remember to rely on this principle:
this is not bad luck, but bearing it
valiantly is good luck.
You fear losing a certain
eminent position. You hope to gain something
from that, but it comes from elsewhere. Existence does this
switching trick, giving you hope from one source,
then satisfaction from another.
It keeps you bewildered
and wondering, and lets your trust
in the unseen grow.
fertilizing my bamboo grove with horse manure
Give up religiosity
and knowledge, and the people
will benefit a hundredfold. Discard morality
and righteousness, and the people will return
to natural love. Abandon shrewdness
and profiteering, and there
won’t be any robbers
or thieves.
These are external
matters, however. What is most
important is what happens within:
look to what is pure; hold to what
is simple; let go of self-interest;
temper your desires.
ebooks & apps of the Tao the Ching, I Ching,
Wei wu Wei Ching, Hua hu Ching, and
Art of War for iPad/Phone, Kindle,
You
can now buy
Tao te Ching as part of a
five-app bundle of Taoist classics
for iPhone or iPad for less than
the cost of one hardcover
book.
By even speaking a phrase to you,
I have already doused you with dirty water.
It would be even worse for me to put a twinkle in my eye
and raise my eyebrow to you, or rap on the meditation seat
or hold up a whisk, or demand, “What is this?”
As for shouting and hitting, it’s obvious
that this is just a pile of bones
on level ground.
There are also the type
who don’t know good from bad and
ask questions about Buddha and Dharma and Zen
and the Tao. They ask to be helped, they beg to be received,
they seek knowledge and sayings and theories relating to
the Buddhist teaching and to transcending the world
and to accommodating the world. This is washing
dirt in mud and washing mud in dirt —
when will they ever manage
to clear it away?
Forget the words and
embody the meaning.
Deluded
people fill the world.
If you’re determined to join
the buddhas instead, then
don’t linger with what
is trivial and
shallow.
Annihilate ignorance.
Rescue the suffering.
Take up the responsibility
for eliminating all that
obstructs the
Way.
You
can now buy
Wei wu Wei Ching as part of a
five-app bundle of Taoist classics
for iPhone or iPad for less than
the cost of one hardcover
book.
