the largest known structure in the universe
Good and evil all
arise from one’s own mind.
But tell me, besides your activities,
thoughts, and discrimination, what do you call
your own mind? Where does your mind come from?
If you can discern where your own mind comes from,
then boundless karmic obstruction will be cleared
away instantly, and all sorts of marvels will
come of themselves without
being sought.
When bodhisattvas who live a householder’s life cultivate the practices of home-leavers, it is like a lotus blooming in fire. It will always be hard to tame the will for fame and rank and power and position, not to mention all the myriad starting points of vexation and turmoil associated with the burning house of worldly existence. The only way is for you yourself to realize your fundamental, real, wondrous wholeness and reach the stage of great calm and stability and rest.
It would be best if you managed to cast off everything and be empty and ordinary. Thoroughly experience the absence of conditioned mind, and observe that all phenomena are like dreams and magical illusions. Be empty all the way through, and continue on clearing out your mind according to the time and the situation. Then you will have the same correct foundation as all the great enlightened laymen in buddhist tradition.
According to your own measure of power, you will transform those not yet enlightened so you can enter together into the uncontrived, uncluttered ocean of true nature. Then your life here on this earth will not be a loss.
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To know
the masculine and yet
cleave to the feminine is to be the
womb for the world. Being the womb for
the world, never departing from the
eternal power of tao, you
become like an infant
once again:
immortal.
To know
the bright and yet
hold to the dull is to be
an example for the world.
Being the example for the world,
not deviating from the everlasting
power of tao, you return to
the infinite once again:
limitless.
To know
honor and yet keep
to humility is to be the valley
for the world. Being the valley for
the world, rich with the primal power
of tao, you return once again to simplicity,
like uncarved wood. Allow tao to carve
you into a vessel for tao. Then you
can serve the world without
mutilating
it.
from The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,
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from The I Ching, or Book of Changes
Hexagram 4, Mêng / Youthful Folly
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Weapons are tools of evil,
shunned and avoided by everything
in nature. Because people of tao follow
nature, they want nothing to
do with weapons.
Un-evolved people are eager
to act out of strength, but a person of tao
values peace and quiet. He knows that every being
is born of the womb of tao. This means that his
enemies are his enemies second, his own
brothers and sisters first.
Thus he resorts to weapons
only in the direst necessity, and then uses
them with utmost restraint. He takes no pleasure in victory,
because to rejoice in victory is to delight in killing.
Whoever delights in killing will not
find success in this world.
Observe victories as
you observe a death in the
family: with sorrow and mourning.
Every victory is a funeral
for kin.
ebooks & apps of the Tao the Ching, I Ching,
Wei wu Wei Ching, Hua hu Ching, and
Art of War for iPad/Phone, Kindle,
You
can now buy
Tao te Ching as part of a
five-app bundle of Taoist classics
for iPhone or iPad for less than
the cost of one hardcover
book.