The Way transcends any aspect of
Going or coming,
Movement or quiescence,
So one cannot realize satori by
Waiting for it.
years of hunger beneath gojo bridge
Posts Tagged → zen
proper ☯️ principles
A healthy family, a healthy country,
a healthy world – all grow
outward from a single
superior person.
The hexagram Chia Jen concerns the proper foundation of human communities. The I Ching teaches that all clans must have a superior person at their center if they are to prosper and succeed. Therefore, in order to improve our family, company, nation, or world community, we must begin by improving ourselves.
If you will observe healthy families you will always see present in them three qualities: love, faithfulness, and correctness. When we truly love others, we are naturally kind, gentle, and patient with them. When we are faithful to others, we place proper principles and conduct above temporary influences like anger, desire, or greed. And when we practice correctness, we spiritually nourish ourselves and all those around us. When all three qualities are cultivated, a healthy clan springs naturally into being.
The difference between paying lip service to these ideals and practicing them is profound. If you advocate high ideals and actions to others but do not embody them yourself, your influence will disintegrate for lack of a proper foundation. Therefore, in order to inspire superior qualities in others, you must first instill them in yourself.
Concentrate not upon influencing others or external events but upon strengthening your inner devotion to proper principles. When modesty, acceptance, equanimity, and gentleness become deeply ingrained in your character, they will flow steadily out from from you.
Soon you will find yourself enmeshed in a web of healthy relationships, and in this there is great good fortune.
The I Ching, or Book of Changes
Hexagram 37, Chia Jen, The Family (The Clan)
Further guidance from the
Wei Wu Wei Ching:
Don’t try
to escape from
the movements of the world.
Remain in the midst of everything,
focused into the empty space
at the center of
your self.
Pouring your
whole being there without pause,
alert, quietly smiling, you detach from
clamor and chaos and become
independent and free.
From here you can
teach yourself
everything.
ebooks & apps of the Tao the Ching, I Ching,
Hua hu Ching, and Art of War for
You
can now buy
the I Ching as part of a
five-app bundle of Taoist classics
for iPhone or iPad for less than
the cost of one hardcover
book.
nothing on your mind
Many times the mountains
have turned from green to yellow.
So much for the capricious earth!
Dust in your eyes,
the triple world is narrow.
Nothing on your mind,
your chair is wide enough.
the purging of mental toxins
The search
for happiness is not
about looking at life through
rose-colored glasses or blinding oneself
to the pain and imperfections of the world.
Nor is happiness a state of exultation
to be perpetuated at all costs; it is
the purging of mental toxins,
such as hatred and
obsession.
a period of increase
now you have everything you need
Powerful improvements
are underway.
The coming of the hexagram I signifies a period of increase when the power of heaven descends to surround and invigorate our lives. Like all phases, this too will come to an end, but if “we make hay while the sun shines,” tremendous progress can be made at this time.
It is in the nature of human beings to relax and become careless when things begin to go well. The I Ching teaches us that we should not do this if we desire the fullest blessings of the beneficial hour. Indeed, our rewards are multiplied if we increase our conscientiousness in auspicious times, rather than decrease it. There are two ways in which the I Ching especially encourages us to do this.
Our first task is to make sacrifices for others. In all of your interactions now, embody generosity in thought and action. Forgive what is inferior in others and seek out the good. By giving, encouraging, and assisting, you will draw the superior person in everyone into devoted action.
Your second task in this time of increase is to go on strengthening yourself “as thunder and wind strengthen each other.” This means that if you see something good in another, you imitate it, and when you discover something inferior in yourself, you eliminate it.
These simple practices, if continued conscientiously over time, will improve your character and fortunes immeasurably. Through service and self-improvement you assure yourself of great progress in the days ahead.
from The I Ching, or Book of Changes
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
the I Ching as part of a
five-app bundle of Taoist classics
for iPhone or iPad for less than
the cost of one hardcover
book.