The heart is
The thousand-stringed instrument.
Our sadness and fear come from being
Out of tune with love.
All day long God coaxes my lips
To speak,
So that your tears will not stain
His green dress.
It is not that the Friend is vain,
It is just your life we care about.
Sometimes the Beloved
Takes my pen in hand,
For Hafiz is just a simple man.
The other day the Old One
Wrote on the Tavern wall:
“The heart is
The thousand-stringed instrument
That can only be tuned with
Love.”
On
the way to God
the difficulties feel like
being ground by a millstone,
like night coming at noon,
like lightning through
the clouds.
But
don’t worry!
What must come, comes.
Face everything with love, as
your mind dissolves
in God.
The
hexagram Lin
signals the approach of
powerful beneficial influences.
Just as the winter solstice heralds the
return of spring, the appearance of this hexagram
marks a similar movement toward light and
growth. Progress and success are
assured now to those who
persevere on the path
of truth.
To
maximize
the opportunity implicit
in this moment, it is important to
cultivate a proper attitude. It is easy, during
good times, to relax our inner discipline and fall back
into incorrect thoughts and actions. Allowing one’s ego to take
over in a moment of success is a sure means of ending the
progress that has begun. The growth that is at hand
was made possible by conscientious behavior,
and continuing carefully along that path
is our only means of coming
into full possession
of it.
A
steadfast
modesty and acceptance,
whether external conditions are good
or bad, is the mark of the superior person.
In yourself, maintain balance, equanimity, and
humility in times of accomplishment. With
others, remain patient, tolerant, and
gentle. Clinging to those principles
assures you of a time of joy
and prosperity.
from The I Ching, or Book of Changes
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do good for the sake of goodness
Three things in
human life are important:
the first is to be kind; the second
is to be kind; and the third
is to be kind.
Love is to see
what is good and beautiful in
everything. It is to learn from everything,
to see the gifts of God and the generosity
of God in everything. It is to
be thankful for all of
God’s bounties.
This is the first step
on the road to the love of God.
This is just a seed of love. In time,
the seed will grow and become a tree
and bear fruit. Then, whoever tastes of
that fruit will know what real love is.
It will be difficult for those who
have tasted to tell of it to
those who have not.
Reality
and the buddha dharma
are one and the
same.