fame and fortune are shallow and injurious

orion above easter island

 

People yearn 

for fame and fortune, 

but this is like aching to taste the

point of a weapon. These are shallow, 

confusing, empty of virtue — yet 

people become fixed on them 

and lose their way 

forever. 

 

Look closely 

at things that shine 

without substance. Fame 

enflames one’s idea of self and 

separates one from humanity. Touched 

by it, people grasp desperately to 

get and keep it. What is the 

wisdom, though, 

in resisting 

change?

 

Fortune 

is a lover similarly 

impossible to satisfy. 

Constantly demanding energy 

and attention, fencing off people’s 

hearts, it returns less and less to 

the soul. Yet common people 

contort themselves 

into cripples 

chasing

it.

 

See 

the injury 

built into these, 

and let them 

go by.

 

Wei wu Wei Ching, Chapter 32

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let this monkey go

nacho libre

 

The ego

is a monkey

catapulting through

the jungle. Totally fascinated

by the realm of the senses, it swings from

one desire to the next, one conflict to the next,

one self-centered idea to the next. If you threaten it,

it actually fears for its life. Let this monkey go.

Let the senses go. Let desires go. Let conflicts

go. Let ideas go. Let the fiction of life and

death go. Just remain in the center,

watching. And then forget

that you are

there.

 

from Hua hu Ching, Chapter 10

 

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this world is an open sky and a dustbin

 

This world

is an open sky and also a dustbin,

giving life to some and death to others;

the outcomes are not controlled

by this world. 

 

Press

your finger into the world

and put it to your nose.  You may smell

sweetness, or you may smell dung. 

Discernment is possible in

these matters.

 

True hearts

stay awake if love is possible. The

others have no need for beauty, nor hope of

it.  If you are holding gold in your hand,

don’t imagine ways to turn it

into mud.

 

Bahauddin

 

☯️

 

Everything passes,

nothing remains. Understand

this, loosen your grip, 

and find serenity.

 

Lama Surya Das

great skill looks clumsy

kintsugi

 

The greatest

perfection seems imperfect, 

yet its usefulness is endless. The greatest

fullness seems empty, yet its usefulness is inexhaustible. 

Great straightness seems flexible. Great skill looks clumsy. 

Great eloquence sounds awkward. Movement triumphs 

over cold. Stillness triumphs over heat. 

Clarity and tranquility set

the whole world

in order. 

 

from The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,

Chapter 45

 

 

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live for your center, not your senses

greatness lives among us

 

The five

colors blind the eye.

The five tones deafen the ear.

The five flavors overwhelm

the palate.

 

Fancy things

get in the way of one’s growth.

Racing here and there, hunting for

this and that—good ways to

madden your mind,

that’s all.

 

Relinquish what is without.

Cultivate what is within.

Live for your center,

not your senses.

 

Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu

Chapter 12 

 

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