As my love
and my faith and my interest in
the inner grew, the darkness diminished,
within and without, and Lalla lost
herself in that light.
As my love
and my faith and my interest in
the inner grew, the darkness diminished,
within and without, and Lalla lost
herself in that light.
Those who are determined to practice the Way practice self-awareness and self-understanding twenty-four hours a day. They think of this and focus on this. They know that the one Great Cause is there right where they stand, that it is in sages without being augmented and in ordinary people without being diminished. They know that it stands alone free of senses and sense objects, and that it far transcends material things.
Wayfarers don’t set up fixed locations in anything they do. They are clear and tranquil, with solid concentration, and the myriad transformations never disturb them. They appear in response to conditions and go into action as they encounter events, leaving nothing incomplete.
You should just be empty and quiet, transcending everything. Once the main basis is clear, all obscurities are illuminated. “Ten thousand years — a single thought. A single thought — ten thousand years.” Passing through from the heights to the depths, the great function of the whole potential is in operation. It is like when a strong man flexes his arm: he doesn’t depend on anyone else’s strength. Then the illusory blinders of birth and death vanish forever, and the true essence indestructible as a diamond is all that shows. Once realized, it is realized forever — there is no interruption.
All that the enlightened teachers, ancient and modern, have said and done — the scriptural teachings, the enlightenment stories, the meditation stories, the question-and-answer sessions, all their teaching functions — all of this illuminates this true essence alone.
If you can be free and clear in actual practice for a long time, naturally you will come to meet the Source on all sides and become unified and whole.
Haven’t you seen Fadeng’s verse?
Going into a wild field, not choosing,
Picking up whatever plant comes to hand,
Rootless but finding life,
Apart from the ground but not falling.
Right before your eyes, it has always been there. Facing the situation, why don’t you speak? If you don’t know it in your daily life, where then will you look for it? Better find out.
Thirty spokes
meet at a hollowed-out hub;
the wheel won’t work without its hole.
A vessel is moulded from solid clay; its inner
emptiness makes it useful. To make a room, you
have to cut doors and windows; without
openings, a place isn’t livable.
To make use of what is here,
you must make use of
what is not.
from The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,
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Make your mind
like the clear blue sky at dawn,
unmarked by any message from man
or heaven. Continually stoking the
fire of emptiness with the breath,
you instantly incinerate
whatever appears.
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If you go
searching for the Great Creator,
you will come back empty-handed.
The source of the universe is ultimately
unknowable, a great invisible river
flowing forever through a vast
and fertile valley. Silent and
uncreated, it creates
all things.
All things
are brought forth from the
subtle realm into the manifest world
by the mystical intercourse of yin and yang.
The dynamic river yang pushes forward,
the still valley yin is receptive, and
through their integration things
come into existence. This is
known as the Great
Tai Chi.
Tai chi
is the integral truth
of the universe. Everything is
a tai chi: your body, the cosmic body,
form, appearance, wisdom, energy, the unions
of people, the dispersal of time and places.
Each brings itself into existence through
the integration of yin and yang,
maintains itself, and disperses
itself without the direction
of any creator.
Your creation,
your self-transformation, the
accumulation of energy and wisdom,
the decline and cessation of your body:
all these take place by themselves
within the subtle operation
of the universe.
Therefore
agitated effort is
not necessary. Just be
aware of the Great
Tai Chi.
ebooks & apps of the Tao the Ching, I Ching,
Hua hu Ching, and Art of War for
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