The ancients were
those who gave up all
learning and mastered
the wu wei idleness
of tao.
The ancients were
those who gave up all
learning and mastered
the wu wei idleness
of tao.
The Sufi moral is this:
Love another and do not depend
upon his love; and: do good to another
and do not depend upon receiving good
from him; serve another and do not look
for service from him. All you do for another
out of your love and kindness, you should think
that you do, not to that person, but to God. And
if the person returns love for love, goodness
for goodness, service for service, so much
the better. If he does not return it, then
pity him for what he loses; for his
gain is much less than
his loss.
Do not look for thanks
or appreciation for all the good you do to
others, nor use it as a means to stimulate your vanity.
Do all that you consider good for the sake of
goodness, not even for a return
of that from God.
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.
Nevertheless,
this void-ness is also not
to be maintained. This non-maintenance
(of the void) is also to be forgotten, and this forgetting
is also not to be legitimized; further, free yourself from this
non-legitimizing. At the time when even the idea of
getting free is not preserved, only the alert
yet calm light from the spirit will
appear prominently before
oneself.
Awareness
is inherently pure like
the empty sky. Stress, annoyance,
and anger can temporarily
occupy its space but can
never pollute
it.
Searching for words,
hunting for phrases, when will it end?
Esteeming knowledge and gathering information
only maddens the spirit. Just entrust yourself
to your own nature, empty and illuminating.
Beyond this, I have nothing
to teach.