Fame is water
carried in a basket.
Hold the wind in your fist, or
tie up an elephant with one hair.
These are accomplishments
that will make you
famous.
Fame is water
carried in a basket.
Hold the wind in your fist, or
tie up an elephant with one hair.
These are accomplishments
that will make you
famous.
When the illusory body
is extinguished, the illusory mind is
also extinguished. When the illusory mind
is extinguished, the illusory sense objects are
also extinguished. When the illusory sense
objects are extinguished, the illusory
extinguishing is also
extinguished.
When the illusory
extinguishing is extinguished, that
which is not illusory is not extinguished.
It is similar to how, when the dust
is polished off a mirror, the
brightness appears.
Virtuous one,
you should know that body
and mind are both illusory dust.
When the form of this dust is wiped
away, purity pervades
the universe.
The Sutra of Complete Enlightenment
from Dialogues in a Dream
by Musō Soseki
The ego says
that the world is vast, and
that the particles which form it are tiny.
When tiny particles join, it says, the vast
world appears. When the vast world
disperses, it says, tiny
particles appear.
The ego
is entranced by
all these names and ideas,
but the subtle truth is that world and particle
are the same; neither one vast, neither one tiny. Every
thing is equal to every other thing. Names and
concepts only block your perception
of this Great Oneness. Therefore
it is wise to ignore
them.
Those
who live inside
their egos are continually bewildered:
they struggle frantically to know whether things
are large or small, whether or not there is a purpose
to joining or dispersing, whether the universe is blind and
mechanical or the divine creation of a conscious being.
In reality there are no grounds for having beliefs
or making comments about such things. Look
behind them instead, and you will discern
the deep, silent, complete truth
of the Tao. Embrace it, and
your bewilderment
vanishes.
ebooks & apps of the Tao the Ching, I Ching,
Hua hu Ching, and Art of War for
You
can now buy
Hua hu Ching as part of a
five-app bundle of Taoist classics
for iPhone or iPad for less than
the cost of one hardcover
book.
Do not ever fight or argue,
because for God there are no fights
or arguments. For that One everything is love,
everything is in the form of love, compassion,
and truth. May God provide you with
the blessings and grace to live
in that state.
A lot
of unimportant inner
litter and bits and pieces have
to be swept out first. Even a small head
can be piled high inside with irrelevant distractions.
True, there may be edifying emotions and thoughts, too, but
the clutter is ever present. So let this be the aim of the meditation:
to turn one’s innermost being into a vast empty plain, with none
of that treacherous undergrowth to impede the view. So that
something of “God” can enter you, and something of “Love,”
too. Not the kind of love-de-luxe that you can revel in
deliciously for half an hour, taking pride in
how sublime you feel, but the love
you can apply to small,
everyday things.
…
Looked
at Japanese prints
with Glassner this afternoon.
That’s how I want to write. With that much
space round a few words. They should simply emphasize
the silence. Just like that print with the sprig of blossom in the
lower corner. A few delicate brush strokes—but with what attention
to the smallest detail—and all around it space, not empty but inspired.
The few great things that matter in life can be said in a few words.
If I should ever write—but what?—I would like to brush in a
few words against a wordless background. To describe
the silence and the stillness and to inspire them.
What matters is the right relationship between
words and wordlessness, the wordlessness
in which much more happens than
in all the words one can
string together.
The mind
can go in a thousand
directions, but on this beautiful
path, I walk in peace. With each step,
the wind blows. With each step,
a flower blooms.