seek the guidance of the sage

Surrounded by obstructions,

one must first retreat, then

seek the direction of

the Sage.

There is an old saying which fits this hexagram: “You are caught between a rock and a hard place.” In other words, you are surrounded by obstructions. As much as you may want to blame others for the difficulty, in all likelihood the true obstruction is in your own thinking. What is called for now is a retreat into self-examination and self-correction.

Emotions of desire, fear, or anger may tempt you to take action now, but do not be seduced. The presence of these strong feelings is proof that your are off balance and need to steady yourself. As long as you try to forcibly achieve results—rather than carefully following higher truth step by step—you will be obstructed from making personal progress.

Whenever we indulge in judgements about others, we obstruct our own peace of mind and progress. We should choose instead to see the best in others, allow them to come and go as they will, and turn our energies inward, toward self-improvement.

Often the faults in our own thinking are revealed only with the aid of others. You would be wise now to seek the advice of a qualified counselor or truth-minded friend. Retreat, self-examination, and self-correction will remove the obstructions that block your path now.

The I Ching, or Book of Changes

Hexagram 39, Chien / Obstruction

christian schloe

Want

to study with

an enlightened teacher?

Just stop giving rise to thoughts

and divisions and distinctions. When

self and other, good and bad, right

and wrong are replaced with

emptiness, you are your

own master.

Wei wu Wei Ching, Chapter 39

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the ultimate way is without difficulty

when times of great difficulty visit

The Ultimate Way

is without difficulty; just

avoid picking and

choosing.

Zhaozhou

everything comes from your own heart

When you stop your

compulsive mind, to reach the point

where not a single thing is born, you pass

through to freedom, no longer falling

into feelings and not dwelling

on concepts, transcending

all completely.

Then Zen is obvious everywhere

in the world, with the totality of everything everywhere

turning into its great function. Everything comes from your

own heart. This is what one ancient called bringing

out the family treasure.

Yuanwu

zen letters

the practice of true reality

yanik chauvin

The practice of true reality is simply to sit serenely in silent introspection. When you have fathomed this you cannot be turned around by external causes and conditions. This empty, wide open mind is subtlety and correctly illuminating. Spacious and content, without confusion from inner thoughts or grasping, effectively overcome habitual behavior and realize the self that is not possessed by emotions.

You must be broad-minded, whole without relying on others. Such upright independent spirit can begin not to pursue degrading situations. Here you can rest and become clean, pure, and lucid. Bright and penetrating, you can immediately return, accord, and respond to deal with events.

Everything is unhindered; clouds gracefully floating up to the peaks, the moonlight glitteringly flowing down mountain streams. The entire place is brightly illumined and spiritually transformed, totally unobstructed and clearly manifesting responsive interaction like box and lid or arrow points meeting.

Continuing, cultivate and nourish yourself to enact maturity and achieve stability. If you accord everywhere with thorough clarity and cut off sharp corners without dependence on doctrines, like the white bull or wildcat helping to arouse wonder, you can be called a complete person.

So we hear that this is how one of the way of non-mind acts, but before realizing non-mind we still have great hardship.

Hongzhi Zhenjue