A moment of kindness
can produce a mood of harmony
between heaven and earth. Purity of
heart can leave a fine example for
a hundred generations.
A moment of kindness
can produce a mood of harmony
between heaven and earth. Purity of
heart can leave a fine example for
a hundred generations.
Do
you wish
to realize the Way?
Dissolve everything instantly,
like a drop of water
hitting a red-hot
coal.
Forget
thoughts and
feelings and ideas of self.
Remaining ordinary, foregoing airs,
persevering in simplicity for years
and decades, you enter
into the Oneness,
and it into
you.
Between their births
and their deaths, three out of ten
are attached to life, three out of ten are
attached to death, three out of ten are just
idly passing through. Only one knows
how to die and stay dead and
still go on living.
That one
hasn’t any ambitions,
hasn’t any ideas, makes no plans.
From this mysterious place of not-knowing
and non-doing he gives birth to whatever is needed
in the moment. Because he is constantly filling his being
with nonbeing, he can travel the wilds without
worrying about tigers or wild buffalo,
or he can cross a battlefield
without armor or
weapon.
No tiger can claw him.
No buffalo can gore him.
No weapon can pierce him.
Why is this so?
Because he has died, there
isn’t any more room for
death in him.
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Darkness reappears unexpectedly.
Caution and reticence
are in order.
It is a dangerous hour. Through an eruption of our inferior nature darkness has interrupted the flow of light. The inferior can be quite seductive, and if we are not resolute in resisting it, the moment can be lost to misfortune.
In one’s self, this is a time to examine motives; those which are of questionable honor should be uprooted and discarded. Be wary of situations that engage your ego and tempt you into anger, self-righteousness, or desire. Actively employ your higher nature to test the correctness of tempting ideas and circumstances; that which seems to be suspicious almost certainly is.
In your conduct with others, practice modesty, independence, and patience with great discipline. Avoid anger or arrogance at all costs; withdraw whenever you cannot meet another in a balanced and independent way. Neither encourage another to forego his balance nor indulge him if he does so. Again, withdraw into stillness if the circumstances indicate the presence of inferior influences. Reticence and self-scrutiny are the order of the day.
The I Ching, or Book of Changes
Hexagram 44, Kou / Coming to Meet
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Yongjia said,
“Without leaving where you are,
there is constant clarity.” No words come closer
to the truth than these. If you start seeking, then we
know that you are unable to see. Just cut off any duality
between “wherever you are” and “constant clarity”,
and make yourself peaceful and serene. Avoid
concocting intellectual understanding
and seeking. As soon as you seek,
it is like grasping at
shadows.