The proper response
to conflict, whether it lies within or
without us, is disengagement.
Whenever we allow ourselves to be drawn off balance, away from the strength of quiet integrity, we are in conflict. It matters not whether the confrontation is between competing values in one’s own mind or with another person: it is the inner departure from clarity and equanimity that leaves us with feelings of despair and vulnerability. The only remedy is to disengage from the problem and return to quiet contemplation of what is correct.
Conflict provokes strong feelings of doubt, fear, anxiety, and impatience to resolve the situation. If you act under the influence of these inferior emotions, you will severely complicate the misfortune. By following the prescription of the Sage and returning to a position of neutrality, acceptance, and detachment, you are able to meet opposing forces halfway: not recoiling in anger and condemnation, not pressing forward for some unnatural change in things, but waiting calmly in the center until the Higher Power provides the correct solution.
The I Ching teaches us that all conflict is, in the end, inner conflict. When you see it beginning, you are obliged not to pursue it, for this only compounds your own misfortune. If you cannot regain your equanimity on your own, then seek the assistance of a just and impartial person in resolving the difficulty. The only way to live free of conflict is to hold steadfastly to proper principles in all things. Through balance, patience, and devotion to inner truth we rise above every challenge.
The I Ching, or Book of Changes
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i have arrived, i am already home
All we have to do is
be ourselves, fully and authentically.
We don’t have to run after anything. We already
contain the whole cosmos. We simply return to ourselves
through mindfulness, and touch the peace and joy
that are already present within us
and all around us.
I have arrived.
I am already home.
There is nothing to do.
Aimlessness, nonattainment,
is a wonderful practice.
one who meets daito face to face
As with the classical
Chinese teachers of the Tang dynasty,
Shuho maintained that awakening was central to
Buddhist practice. In a document called Daito’s Testament, he
reminded his students, “You have come here not for food or clothing
but for religion. As long as you have a mouth, you will have food;
as long as you have a body, you will have clothes. Don’t concern
yourself with these. Be mindful throughout your waking
hours; time flies like an arrow, don’t waste it with
concern over worldly matters.”
He went on to tell his disciples
that even if they were to become the abbots
of wealthy monasteries and received the respect of
the laity and nobility, even if they were rigorous in their practice
of meditation and ritual activities, but they lacked awakening, they were
no more than members of the “tribe of evil spirits.” Conversely, if they
were poverty stricken, lived in a ramshackle hermitage, and ate
only what wild food they gathered in the forests and
yet they were awakened, then they would be
“one who meets me face to face
and repays my kindness.”
years of hunger beneath gojo bridge
magnificent things are possible
Devotion to truth
enables a revolution.
The hexagram Ko announces the arrival of a time of revolution. A set of conditions, internal or external or both, is ready to pass away in favor of a more beneficial situation. What enables this transformation is your conscious and vigorous adherence to correct thought and behavior.
No revolution in outer things is possible without a prior revolution in one’s inner way of being. Whatever change you aspire to in your affairs must be preceded by a change in heart, and active deepening and strengthening of your resolve to meet every event with equanimity, detachment, and innocent goodwill. When this spiritual poise is achieved within, magnificent things are possible without.
The revolutions of others are enabled also when we refine the fire of goodness and truth inside ourselves. Sincere commitment to higher things travels outward in powerful waves from the superior person, and all those around are affected by this. Indisputably, to lead one’s inner self to truth and peace is to lead the outer world to truth and peace. A beneficial revolution is assured to one who takes this path now.
The I Ching, or Book of Changes
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Hua hu Ching, Wei wu Wei Ching,
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progress like the rising sun
school of rock and light and air
You progress like the rising sun.
The brighter your virtue,
the higher you rise.
This hexagram announces a time of significant and easy progress. Your influence and understanding grow by leaps and bounds as long as you maintain your alliance with the Sage, for it is from that alliance that the current progress springs. The only limit to growth now is your devotion to higher things: if this is true and complete and steady, there will be great gains now.
The image of the hexagram is that of the sun rising over the earth. To our view, the further it moves away from darkness, the higher the sun rises. The same is true of us: the extent to which we progress is determined by how far we distance ourselves from inferior influences.
It is important, when success comes, not to fall into the traps of the ego: taking credit for gains, resting on laurels, indulging in desires, or plotting towards ambitions. The superior person instead uses times of progress to brighten his virtue, recognizing that it was his commitment to proper principles that brought success in the first place.
Continue to purify your thought, attitudes, and conduct now. The greatest power in this beneficial time accrues to those who serve the Higher Power in every moment.
The I Ching, or Book of Changes
wei wu wei ching ☯️ hexagram 35
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