The wise heathen
have no knowledge; they just
keep their mind continually set on the Way.
There are no big-shot Buddhas in nature,
and ten thousand sutras are distilled
in a single song.
Posts Tagged → enlightenment
serve the world without mutilating it
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To know
the masculine and yet
cleave to the feminine is to be the
womb for the world. Being the womb for
the world, never departing from the
eternal power of tao, you
become like an infant
once again:
immortal.
To know
the bright and yet
hold to the dull is to be
an example for the world.
Being the example for the world,
not deviating from the everlasting
power of tao, you return to
the infinite once again:
limitless.
To know
honor and yet keep
to humility is to be the valley
for the world. Being the valley for
the world, rich with the primal power
of tao, you return once again to simplicity,
like uncarved wood. Allow tao to carve
you into a vessel for tao. Then you
can serve the world without
mutilating
it.
from The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,
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this very mind is buddha
If you wish
to bring the two matters
of birth and death to conclusion,
and pass directly beyond the triple-world,
you must penetrate the koan “This
very mind is Buddha.”
Tell me:
What is its principle?
How is it that this very mind
is Buddha? And “this very
mind” — just what is
it like?
Investigate it coming. Investigate it going.
Investigate it thoroughly and exhaustively.
All you have to do is keep this koan
constantly in your thoughts.
patiently bear with inferior elements
SECOND LINE
You are wise to bear
with inferior elements patiently and
kindly. The best way to have an influence now
is to cultivate inner strength and
outer calm.
SIXTH LINE
A determined fool
has to be punished, but should not
be executed. If you are the fool, accept the lesson
and go on in correctness. If the fool is another,
let him go and leave the punishment
to the Sage.
from The I Ching, or Book of Changes
Hexagram 4, Mêng / Youthful Folly
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let us know our aims
Our task
as humans is to find
the few principles that will calm the
infinite anguish of free souls. We must mend
what has been torn apart, make justice imaginable
again in a world so obviously unjust, give happiness
a meaning once more to peoples poisoned by
the misery of the century. Naturally, it is
a superhuman task. But superhuman
is the term for tasks we take
a long time to accomplish,
that’s all.
Let us
know our aims then,
holding fast to the mind, even if
force puts on a thoughtful or a comfortable
face in order to seduce us. The first thing is not to
despair. Let us not listen too much to those who proclaim
that the world is at an end. Civilizations do not die so easily,
and even if our world were to collapse, it would not have
been the first. It is indeed true that we live in tragic
times. But too many people confuse tragedy with
despair. “Tragedy,” D.H. Lawrence said,
“ought to be a great kick at misery.”
This is a healthy and immediately
applicable thought. There are
many things today
deserving such
a kick.
If we are
to save the mind we must
ignore its gloomy virtues and celebrate
its strength and wonder. Our world is poisoned
by its misery, and seems to wallow in it. It has utterly
surrendered to that evil which Nietzsche called
the spirit of heaviness. Let us not add to this.
It is futile to weep over the mind,
it is enough to labor
for it.
But where
are the conquering virtues
of the mind? The same Nietzsche listed
them as mortal enemies to heaviness of the spirit.
For him, they are strength of character, taste, the “world,”
classical happiness, severe pride, the cold frugality of
the wise. More than ever, these virtues are
necessary today, and each of us can
choose the one that suits
him best.
Before the
vastness of the undertaking,
let no one forget strength of character.
I don’t mean the theatrical kind on political
platforms, complete with frowns and threatening
gestures. But the kind that through the virtue of its purity
and its sap, stands up to all the winds that blow in
from the sea. Such is the strength of character
that in the winter of the world
will prepare the
fruit.