Mind As Water

Trying to control the world?

I see you won’t succeed.

T’ien hsia shen ch’i

The world is a spiritual vessel

And cannot be controlled.

Those who control, fail.

Those who grasp, loose.

Some go forth, some are led,

Some weep, some blow flutes,

Some beceome strong, some superfluous,

Some oppress, some are destroyed.

Therefore the sage

Casts off extremes,

Casts off excess,

Casts off extravagance.

- TAO TE CHING by Lao-Tzu Translated by Stephen Addiss, Stanley Lombardo

Water overcomes the stone;
Without substance it requires no opening;
This is the benefit of taking no action.

Yet benefit without action,
And experience without abstraction,
Are practiced by very few.

TaoTeChing.org

What lies still is easy to grasp;
What lies far off is easy to anticipate;
What is brittle is easy to shatter;
What is small is easy to disperse.

Yet a tree broader than a man can
embrace is born of a tiny shoot;
A dam greater than a river can
overflow starts with a clod of earth;
A journey of a thousand miles begins at the spot under one’s feet.

Therefore deal with things before they happen;
Create order before there is confusion.

Tao Te Ching 64a

Reserve your judgments and words
And you maintain your influence;
Speak your mind and take positions
And nothing will save you.

As observing detail is clarity,
So maintaining flexibility is strength;
Use the light but shed no light,
So that you do yourself no harm,

But embrace clarity.

Tao Te Ching 52

Too much colour blinds the eye,
Too much music deafens the ear,
Too much taste dulls the palate,
Too much play maddens the mind,
Too much desire tears the heart.

In this manner the sage cares for people:
He provides for the belly, not for the senses;
He ignores abstraction and holds fast to substance.
TaoTeChing.org

Tao Te Ching verse 41

When the great man learns the Way,
he follows it with diligence;
When the common man learns the Way,
he follows it on occasion;
When the mean man learns the Way,
he laughs out loud;
Those who do not laugh, do not learn at all.

Therefore it is said:
Who understands the Way seems foolish;
Who progresses on the Way seems to fail;
Who follows the Way seems to wander.

For the finest harmony appears plain;
The brightest truth appears coloured;
The richest character appears incomplete;
The bravest heart appears meek;
The simplest nature appears inconstant.

The square, perfected, has no corner;
Music, perfected, has no melody;
Love, perfected, has no climax;
Art, perfected, has no meaning.

The Way can be neither sensed nor known:
It transmits sensation and transcends knowledge.

There is a mystery,
Beneath abstraction,
Silent, depthless,
Alone, unchanging,
Ubiquitous and liquid,

The mother of nature.
It has no name, but I call it “the Way”;
It has no limit, but I call it “limitless”.

TaoTeChing.org

Be filled with Te,

Like a baby:

Knowing harmony is called endurance.

Knowing endurance is called illumination.

Increasing life is called fortune.

Mind controlling energy is called power.

TAO TE CHING by Lao-Tzu Translated by Stephen Addiss, Stanley Lombardo

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucFulOTem7s]

FOURTY-EIGHT

In the pursuit of learning, every day something is acquired.

In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped.

Less and less is done

Until non-action is achieved.

When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.

The world is ruled by letting things take their course.

It cannot be ruled by interfering.