discover the harmony in your own being

alfred eisenstaedt

 

Why scurry

about looking for the truth?

It vibrates in every thing and every

not-thing, right off the tip of your nose.

Can you be still and see it in the

mountain? the pine tree?

yourself?

 

Don’t imagine

that you’ll discover it by accumulating

more knowledge. Knowledge creates doubt,

and doubt makes you ravenous for more

knowledge. You can’t get full

eating this way. 

 

The wise person

dines on something more subtle:

He eats the understanding that the named

was born from the unnamed, that all being flows

from non-being, that the describable world emanates

from an indescribable source. He finds this subtle

truth inside his own self, and becomes

completely content. 

 

So 

who can be

still and watch the

chess game of the world?

The foolish are always making

impulsive moves, but the wise know

that victory and defeat are decided by

something more subtle. They see

that something perfect exists

before any move

is made.

 

This

subtle perfection

deteriorates when artificial

actions are taken, so be content not

to disturb the peace. Remain quiet.

Discover the harmony in

your own being.

Embrace it.

 

If you

can do this, you will

gain everything, and the world

will become healthy again.

If you can’t, you will be

lost in the shadows

forever.

 

from Hua hu Ching, Chapter 38

 

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vigorous adherence to what is correct

beautiful trouble: a toolbox

 

Devotion to truth

enables a revolution.

 

The hexagram Ko announces the arrival of a time of revolution. A set of conditions, internal or external or both, is ready to pass away in favor of a more beneficial situation. What enables this transformation is your conscious and vigorous adherence to correct thought and behavior.

No revolution in outer things is possible without a prior revolution in one’s inner way of being. Whatever change you aspire to in your affairs must be preceded by a change in heart, and active deepening and strengthening of your resolve to meet every event with equanimity, detachment, and innocent goodwill. When this spiritual poise is achieved within, magnificent things are possible without.

The revolutions of others are enabled also when we refine the fire of goodness and truth inside ourselves. Sincere commitment to higher things travels outward in powerful waves from the superior person, and all those around are affected by this. Indisputably, to lead one’s inner self to truth and peace is to lead the outer world to truth and peace. A beneficial revolution is assured to one who takes this path now.

 

from The I Ching, or Book of Changes

Hexagram 49, Ko / Revolution

 

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if you can penetrate “i don’t know”

 

Emperor Wu

of Liang asked Bodhidharma,

“I have built temples and had monks

ordained without number: what merit is there

in this?” Bodhidharma said, “There is no merit.”

The emperor said, “Why no merit?” Bodhidharma

said, “These are just the lesser fruits of gods

and men, causes of defilement: like

shadows following shapes,

though they’re there,

they’re not

real.”

 

The Emperor

said, “What is true merit?”

Bodhidharma answered, “The subtle

perfection of pure wisdom, its essence naturally

empty and still. Such merit is not to be sought with worldly

means.” Only then did the Emperor ask, “What is the

highest meaning of the holy truths?” Bodhidharma

answered, “Empty, without holiness.”

The Emperor said, “Who is facing

me?” Bodhidharma replied,

“I don’t know.”

 

The Emperor

did not understand, so

Bodhidharma crossed the river

into Wei. If you want to see real merit

right now, don’t look for it anywhere else,

just comprehend it in “I don’t know”.

If you can penetrate those three

words, the task of your whole

life’s study will be

completed.

 

Dahui

 

gradual cultivation

lori andrews

 

You must keep this

mind balanced and equanimous,

without deluded ideas of self and others,

without arbitrary loves and hates, without grasping

or rejecting, without notions of gain and loss.

Go on gradually nurturing this for

a long time, perhaps twenty

or thirty years.

 

Whether you encounter

favorable or adverse conditions,

do not retreat or regress — then when you

come to the juncture between life and death,

you will naturally be set free and be not afraid.

As the saying goes, “Truth requires sudden

awakening, but the phenomenal

level calls for gradual

cultivation.”

 

Yuanwu

zen letters

 

do non-doing and inherit the universe

giovani cordioli

 

Why

wait around for

a teacher? Pick up staff

and knock the sense out of

yourself, so you can

enter eternity.

 

The ancestors

are everywhere around you,

offering the silent light of truth.

Put down what you’re doing with

your mind and pick up that up.

Do non-doing, and you’ll

inherit the whole

universe.

 

Wei wu Wei Ching, Chapter 7

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