Life is filled with suffering,
but it is also filled with many wonders,
such as the blue sky, the sunshine, and the eyes of a baby.
Suffering is not enough. We must also be in touch
with the wonders of life. They are within us
and all around us, everywhere, in
every moment.
Having anxieties and feeling sad
about being alive is like piling black mud
and garbage on your head. The mud slides over
your eyes and the rubbish infects them. You can’t
see and you get sick. Everyone does this at some
time. Try to stop doing it. Let your eyes get
clear enough to see the beauty
around you.
O giver of worriedness and grief,
remove me from my being. Give me the peace
of not-being. This prayer, if you can pray it, will wash
the mud off your head. There is a beloved who pours muddy
water over the head of the lover, and there is a lover who
says, I cannot see you with my eyes, but the drops
of muddy water on my eyelashes are filled
with the rose of your face.
A breakthrough.
Do not be drawn back
into bad habits.
The arrival of the hexagram Kuai indicates that a long-awaited change is at hand. A difficulty that has oppressed you over a long period is now about to dissolve. It is important to respond in the proper way.
There is a temptation on obtaining relief to fall into the traps of the ego: pride at having dispersed the trouble, self-righteousness about having triumphed through correctness, anger at one who we think was the source of the problem, or a desire to remain free of all difficulty in the future. None of these responses is appropriate to the situation at hand.
What is needed now is resoluteness: a firm commitment to continuing the battle for good and to the self-examination that makes all good things possible. This is not a time to lapse back into negative mental habits and enjoy the “vacation” provided by the breakthrough. Do not rest on your laurels, but push forward, deepening your inner strength and your resistance to the influence of inferiors, both in yourself and others.
Strengthen those around you by setting an example of self-improvement and self-correction. Great progress and good fortune are available now to one who makes proper use of the opening.
The I Ching, or Book of Changes
Hexagram 43, Kuai / Breakthrough (Resoluteness)
Forget all ideas
of accomplishing something —
in your practice and everywhere
else. Everything is already
accomplished.
If this sounds
like a tricky idea to you,
the flaw is in your understanding
of reality, not in reality
itself.
Allowing nature
to manifest is the way
of the Way. By setting aside
our ambitions and leaving
the Way to the Way,
we perfect the
Way.
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In the East,
when we speak of saints
or sages, it is not because of their
miracles, it is because of their presence
and their countenance which radiate vibrations
of love. How does this love express itself? In tolerance,
in forgiveness, in respect, in overlooking the faults of others.
Their sympathy covers the defects of others as if they were
their own; they forget their own interest in the interest
of others. They do not mind what conditions they are
in; be they high or humble, their foreheads are
smiling. To their eyes everyone is the
expression of the Beloved, whose
name they repeat. They see the
divine in all forms and
in all beings.
The sea is
king of the valleys
and streams because it
is willing to be beneath them.
One who wishes to guide people
should be humble in her speech
toward them. One who wishes
to lead people must learn
the art of following
them.
The sage
is above the people,
but they don’t feel her weight.
She stays ahead of the people,
and no harm comes to them. She has
the affection of the whole world.
Because she contends with
no one, no one can
contend with
her.
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