the one who fights with sorrow

chris hondros, friend and hero

 

In conflict

it is better to be receptive

than aggressive, better to retreat

a foot than advance an inch. This is called

moving ahead without advancing, capturing the enemy

without attacking him. There is no greater misfortune

than underestimating your opponent. To

underestimate your opponent is

to forsake your three

treasures. 

 

When opposing

forces are engaged in

conflict, the one who fights

with sorrow will

triumph. 

 

Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu

Chapter 69

 

do not even do this non-doing

on this date a buddha was born

 

A monk asked Chao Chou,

“Does a dog also have the Buddha nature, or not?”

Chao Chou replied, ‘Mu.’ This Mu is not the Mu of yes or no;

it is not the Mu of true nonexistence. Ultimately what is it?

To reach that place from where Chao Chou said Mu

one must straightaway lay down

the entire body.

 

Do not do anything

(good or bad) and do not even do this

not-doing; then straightaway one reaches that place

where there is no concern for external affairs, that vast

and peaceful place where there are absolutely

no obstructing thoughts.

 

There, all thoughts

of the past are extinguished,

all thoughts of the future do not arise,

and all present thoughts

are void.

 

T’aego Pou

 

the way of non-differentiation

rick spitzer

 

When the level of concentration

on the void is gradually attained, one will feel

that he is free from delusion. Although he keeps himself

pure and rejects the impure, his mind is not yet

completely pure —  it is as a sword that

has cut through mud and

remains uncleaned.

 

…When one reaches jen-wei, or

the level of absolute freedom, he is truly free.

His mind and body are non-attached to anything.

There is absolutely no gain and no loss. This mystery

is the way of non-differentiation.  If one tried

to say even one word about it, he

would miss the point.

 

Ch’ing-chü Hao-sheng

original teachings of ch’an