2006-01-13
Tao Meditations-1
The Journey
'Let your heart journey in simplicity.
Be one with that which is beyond definition.
Let things be what they are.
Have no personal views.
This is how everything under Heaven is ruled.'
Chuang Tzu
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Simplicity
When ruling the world and serving Heaven,
The sage uses simplicity in everything he does.
Simplicity comes from letting go of what you want.
If you've been true to yourself earlier in your life,
Then te builds up in you like a well that never fails.
Nothing is impossible, then - and nothing can stop you.
And if you have no limits - then you can hold the State.
If the sage can find the Mother of a Nation
Then he will govern for a long, long time.
All this comes from his rootedness in the Tao,
The Tao of Ages, the Mountain of Vision and of Wings
Chapter 59
Tao Te Ching
trans. Man-Ho Kwok, Martin Palmer, Jay Ramsay
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Being Obscure
My words are easy to understand and easy to perform,
Yet no man under heaven knows them or practices them.
My words have ancient beginnings.
My actions are disciplined.
Because men do not understand, they have no knowledge of me.
Those that know me are few;
Those that abuse me are honored.
Therefore the sage wears rough clothing and holds the jewel in his heart.
Tao Te Ching
Chapter 70
trans. Gia Fu Feng and Jane English
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Wu Wei
The non-action of the wise man is not inaction.
It is not studied. It is not shaken by anything.
The sage is quiet because he is not moved,
Not because he wills to be quiet.
Still water is like glass.
You can look in it and see the bristles on your chin.
It is a perfect level,
How much more the spirit of man?
The heart of the wise man is tranquil.
It is the mirror of heaven and earth ~
the glass of everything.
Emptiness, stillness, tranquility, tastelessness,
Silence, non-action: this is the level of heaven and earth.
This is the perfect Tao.
Wise men find here their resting place.
Resting, they are empty.
From emptiness comes the unconditioned.
From this, the conditioned, the individual things.
So from the sage's emptiness, stillness arises:
From stillness, action. From action, attainment.
From their stillness comes their non-action, which is also action
And is, therefore, their attainment.
For stillness is joy. Joy is free from care
Fruitful in long years.
Joy does all things without concern:
For emptiness, stillness, tranquility, tastelessness,
Silence and non-action
Are the root of all things.
~ Chuang Tzu
meyamind at 8:27 p.m.
