die and stay dead and go on living
For those who
are ready, the door to
the deathless state is open.
You that have ears, give up
the conditions that bind
you, and enter in.
Posts Tagged → enlightenment
quiet strength insures success
An
unavoidable time of adversity.
Quiet strength insures a
later success.
It is a time
of oppression and exhaustion.
None of us escapes such moments; they are simply
a part of living. By meeting them in the correct spirit and
cheerfully bending instead of breaking, you weather
the adversity and meet with success
at a later time.
Inferior elements,
either in one’s self, another,
or the larger world, interfere now to
restrain the superior person. It is foolish to fight
against the restraint; success is simply not possible now.
Rid yourself of the desire to progress and return
to neutrality and acceptance. The stubborn
pursuit of results will bring
misfortune.
With others,
quietness and equanimity are
the watchwords of the moment. Say little,
and say it gently. A similar reticence and gentleness
should be applied to yourself. Do not lapse into
impatience or mistrust of the Deity. Accept
that the Creative often works in a way
that we cannot see or
understand.
A feeling of
despair or depression is a sign
that you are holding a false belief.
To perpetuate an untruth about yourself,
another, or the Sage is to block your own
happiness. Root out and remove any
idea or attitude which
causes negative
feelings.
By opening
your mind, quieting your heart,
and calmly holding to proper principles,
you make it possible for the Creative
to eliminate the oppression
that currently
exists.
from The I Ching, or Book of Changes
Hexagram 47, K’un / Oppression (Exhaustion)
ebooks & apps of the Tao the Ching, I Ching,
Hua hu Ching, and Art of War for
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knowing what is enough is freedom
bud walker, 17 april 1925 ~ 27 january 2017
Which
is more precious,
fame or health? Which is more
valuable, health or wealth?
Which is more harmful,
winning or
losing?
The more
excessive your love,
the greater your suffering.
The longer you hoard,
the heavier your
losses.
Knowing
what is enough is freedom.
Knowing when to stop is safety.
Practice these, and
you’ll endure.
from The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,
ebooks & apps of the Tao the Ching, I Ching,
Hua hu Ching, and Art of War for
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.
I was like an old tree until we met
stilted koans are all monks have
Ikkyü also had a hermitage in Kyoto which he called Katsuroan (Blind Donkey Hermitage), and often stayed at Daitokuji. But increasingly, to the point of anguish, he became disgusted with worldly carryings on at the main temple, shuddering at the…frantic hustling for donations:
Yoso hangs up ladles baskets useless donations in the temple
my style’s a straw raincoat strolls by rivers and lakes
*
ten fussy days running this temple all red tape
look me up if you want to in the bar whorehouse fish market
In 1471, when seventy-seven, Ikkyü revealed his passion for a blind girl, an attendant at the Shuon’an Temple at Takigi. He wrote poems about their affair, some farcical, some very moving. He was self-conscious at the oddness of an old zen monk falling for a young woman, but they spent years together, Ikkyü’s feeling for her growing in intensity:
I love taking my new girl blind Mori on a spring picnic
I love seeing her exquisite free face its moist sexual heat shine
*
your name Mori means forest like the infinite fresh
green distances of your blindness
*
I was like an old leafless tree until we met green buds burst and blossom
now that I have you I’ll never forget what I owe you
poems translated by stephen berg in crow with no mouth
prose introduction by lucien stryk
mobilize and focus your energy
You should spend twenty or thirty years doing dispassionate and tranquil meditation work, sweeping away any conditioned knowledge and interpretive understanding as soon as it arrives, and not letting the traces of the sweeping itself remain either. Let go on That Side, abandon your whole body, and go on rigorously correcting yourself until you attain great joyous life. The only fear is that in knowing about this strategy, the very act of knowing will lead to disaster. Only when you proceed like this will it be real and genuine practice.
…But tell me, where were the ancestral teachers of Zen operating? It’s evident that the unique transmission outside of doctrine was not a hurried undertaking. They looked to the void and traced its outline: each and every one penetrated through from the heights to the depths and covered heaven and earth. They were like lions roaming at ease, sovereign and free. When they were empty and open, they really were empty and open, and when they were close and continuous, they really were close and continuous.
Although it is just this one thing that we all stand on, ultimately you yourself must mobilize and focus your energy. Only then will you really receive the use of it.