Gently I weep for my mind,
caught in its illusion of ownership.
Mind, you’re not who you think you are.
You’re dancing over a pit. Soon you’ll fall through,
and these things you’ve valued and collected will
be left behind. My sweet dear, do you
understand this, and if you do,
how does your food
taste?
If you try
to grab hold of the
world and do what you want
with it, you won’t
succeed.
The world
is a vessel for spirit,
and it wasn’t made to be manipulated.
Tamper with it and you’ll spoil it.
Hold it, and you’ll
lose it.
With tao,
sometimes you move ahead
and sometimes you stay back; sometimes
you work hard and sometimes you rest; sometimes
you’re strong and sometimes you’re weak;
sometimes you’re up; sometimes
you’re down.
The sage
remains alert, avoiding
extremes, avoiding extravagance,
avoiding excess.
from The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,
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Keep your heart clear and
transparent and you will never be bound.
A single disturbed thought, though, creates ten thousand
distractions. Let myriad things captivate you and you’ll
go further and further astray. How painful to
see people all wrapped up in
themselves.
Today,
like every other day,
we wake up empty and frightened.
Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading.
Take down a musical instrument. Let the beauty
we love be what we do. There are hundreds
of ways to kneel and kiss
the ground.
the very good wife of the very good fellow
Goodness is important
on the way. Once you turn to the tao,
why fear old age? The spiritual immortals have
left methods of grafting life energy, which aspirants
should practice with a true heart. Going back to the root
produces life-prolonging tea; turning the attention
inward is a restorative balm. If you do not
cultivate yourself in this life, how will
you know what road to return on
in the coming life?
Harmony is important
on the way — what is the purpose
of quietistic escapism? One of the ancient
adepts used commerce to complete the great Way,
another nurtured the spiritual tree while serving as an
official. To be in the world yet beyond the world is the road
transcending the ordinary; detached from society while
in society, one enters the lair of immortals.
So many realized people since
ancient times have refined
themselves in cities
and towns.