do your work, then quietly step back
When there is
a pleasant state, there is
an unpleasant state in contrast.
When there is a good situation, there
is one that is not good to replace it.
Only an ordinary, simple life
is a comfortable
nest.
Posts Tagged → way
live simply and virtuously
What good
is it to spend your life
accumulating material things?
It isn’t in keeping with the Tao. What
benefit in conforming your behavior to someone’s
conventions? It violates your nature and dissipates
your energy. Why separate your spiritual life
and your practical life? To an integral
being, there is no such
distinction.
Live simply
and virtuously, true to
your nature, drawing no line
between what is spiritual and what is
not. Ignore time. Relinquish ideas and
concepts. Embrace the Oneness.
This is the Integral
Way.
ebooks & apps of the Tao the Ching, I Ching,
Hua hu Ching, and Art of War for
You
can now buy
Hua hu Ching as part of a
five-app bundle of Taoist classics
for iPhone or iPad for less than
the cost of one hardcover
book.
serene and free at all times
Those people
who actually realize it just
keep serene and free at all times,
without cravings, without
dependence.
the guardian spirit lodged within
If you find anything
better in human life than justice,
honesty, moderation and courage — if,
to put it generally, you find anything better
than the self-sufficiency of your mind on those
occasions that your actions are compatible with
right reason, as well as when something is allotted
to you by fate without your having chosen it —
if, I say, you’re aware of anything better
than this, turn to it with all your heart
and enjoy the supreme good
you’ve discovered.
But if you find
nothing better than the
guardian spirit lodged within you,
which has brought all your particular
impulses under its control, which scrutinizes
your thoughts, which, as Socrates used to say, has
withdrawn itself from sensations, which has put itself
in the gods’ hands, and which cared providentially for
other people — if everything else turns out to be
trivial and worthless by comparison,
then make room for
nothing else.
he helps all beings become themselves
What has equilibrium
is easy to maintain. What hasn’t
begun is easy to plan. What is fragile
is easy to shatter. What is small
is easy to scatter.
Deal with things
before they arise. Cultivate
order before confusion
sets in.
The tallest tree
springs from a tiny shoot.
The tallest tower is built from a pile of
dirt. A journey of a thousand miles
begins at your feet.
Interfere with things,
and you’ll be defeated by them.
Hold on to things, and you’ll lose them.
The sage doesn’t interfere, so he
doesn’t fail; doesn’t hold on,
so he doesn’t lose.
Because projects
often come to ruin just before
completion, he takes as much care at
the end as he did at the beginning,
and thereby succeeds.
His only desire
is to be free of desire.
Fancying nothing, learning not
to know, electing not to interfere,
he helps all beings become
themselves.
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.