Those people
who actually realize it just
keep serene and free at all times,
without cravings, without
dependence.
Posts Tagged → life
the guardian spirit lodged within
If you find anything
better in human life than justice,
honesty, moderation and courage — if,
to put it generally, you find anything better
than the self-sufficiency of your mind on those
occasions that your actions are compatible with
right reason, as well as when something is allotted
to you by fate without your having chosen it —
if, I say, you’re aware of anything better
than this, turn to it with all your heart
and enjoy the supreme good
you’ve discovered.
But if you find
nothing better than the
guardian spirit lodged within you,
which has brought all your particular
impulses under its control, which scrutinizes
your thoughts, which, as Socrates used to say, has
withdrawn itself from sensations, which has put itself
in the gods’ hands, and which cared providentially for
other people — if everything else turns out to be
trivial and worthless by comparison,
then make room for
nothing else.
without being burdened
As for those who deal with
matters calmly and serenely, who are
in the midst of things without being burdened,
they are among those who have attained realization.
If you say you are unburdened without really
having attained it, you are really only
fooling yourself.
Treatise on Sitting Forgetting
breathing in the quiet heart
;
if I had a mountain i would sit straight
all day contemplating nothing
but the way the wind blows maybe even
not that maybe just sit there
breathing in the quiet heart
whatever that is
he helps all beings become themselves
What has equilibrium
is easy to maintain. What hasn’t
begun is easy to plan. What is fragile
is easy to shatter. What is small
is easy to scatter.
Deal with things
before they arise. Cultivate
order before confusion
sets in.
The tallest tree
springs from a tiny shoot.
The tallest tower is built from a pile of
dirt. A journey of a thousand miles
begins at your feet.
Interfere with things,
and you’ll be defeated by them.
Hold on to things, and you’ll lose them.
The sage doesn’t interfere, so he
doesn’t fail; doesn’t hold on,
so he doesn’t lose.
Because projects
often come to ruin just before
completion, he takes as much care at
the end as he did at the beginning,
and thereby succeeds.
His only desire
is to be free of desire.
Fancying nothing, learning not
to know, electing not to interfere,
he helps all beings become
themselves.
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