Neither Lord Nor Subject

Master Confucious said:

"A heart set in compassion will do no evil."

"The people may be made to follow:

they cannot be made to understand."

"Who can go out except by the Door?

Why is it no one keeps to the Way?"

"The wise are free from doubt;
compassion is never vexed;
the bold have no fears."

"Gentlemen cherish virtue;

the vulgar cherish corruption.


Gentlemen trust in justice;

the vulgar trust in favor.


Gentlemen consider what is right;

the vulgar consider what will pay.


Make faithfulness and truth master

and chose friends very carefully.


Fondness of daring,

inflamed by poverty,

leads to crime as a

man denied compassion,

when ill-treated,

will turn to crime.


The smartest move is to hold

fast to the Rule of Reciprocity."

The Way

In ascension there is no light.

In decension there is no darkness.

A continuous thread beyond description,

its form formless, its image a void,

its name deep silence,

follow appeal, allure is intangible,

meet attraction, charm has no depth.



Æon nurtures all things,

though Æon does not control them.



Sophia seems inconsequential,

as Sophia has no easily discernable intention.



The Pleroma is the foundation of all things;

but the Pleroma does not control them.



Unity has no exception,

so Unity seems infinitely important.



Attempt to possess Union, you will lose Union.



The motion of the Way is return.

The spiraling essence of the Way is acceptance.

The Way, shaped with intention, has always been.







Empty Ego completely.

Embrace perfect peace.



Symbiosis is the flow of nature,

eternal decay and renewal.

Plinths will rise and plinths will fall.

Monuments will crumble into dust.



This return is peaceful.



Out of the One came Two,

out of the Two came Three,

and out of the Three came all Things.



Accepting this brings enlightenment,

ignoring this brings perpetual misery.



Accepting the flow of nature One becomes all-cherishing.

Being natural, One flows with the Way.

Flowing with the Way, One becomes immortal,

though the body will decay, the Way will not.



Embrace the Way, become enwrapped,

breath gently, become reborn,

clearing the mind, become luminous,

open the heart, acquiesce,

accepting apperception, embrace the Way.



The Way is without form or quality,

but expresses all forms and qualities.



The Way, hidden and implicit, expresses the Noumenon.

The Way bears all things, harmony nurtures them,

nature shapes them, impermanence completes them.



Harmony is found in following the Way.

Each in following the Way honors harmony,

not by obedience, but by BEING.







The Way takes no action,

but leaves nothing undone.



The Way flows and ebbs,

creating and destroying,

implementing the amalgamation,

attending to the tiniest details,

taking nothing in return.



Accept the Way,

the Earth will flourish,

in harmony with Nature.



Experience is a riverbed,

its Source hidden, forever flowing,

like the Way it moves with continuity,

draw upon its vitality, continuums do not run dry.



Attend to the present to deal with the past,

thus grasping the continuity of the Way,

which is the essence of apperception.



Following a garden path is easy,

yet people delight in difficult paths.

With but a small understanding

one may follow the Way like a garden path,

only leaving it when stumbling over obstacles.



When palaces are kept up

fields are left to weeds

and granaries empty.



Wearing fine clothes,

bearing sharp swords,

glutting with food and drink,

hoarding wealth and possessions,

the ways of theft and Herculean tasks,

are far from the Way.



The Way is the fate of men,

the treasure of the Saint,

and the refuge of the Sinner.



Fine words are often borrowed,

and great deeds are often appropriated;

therefore, when a man falls, do not abandon him,

and when a man gains power, do not honor him,

only remain impartial and show him the Way.



Why should anyone appreciate the Way?



The ancients prophesized,

"Through Gnosis those who seek may easily find,

and those who regret may easily absolve."

Thus is the Way a most precious gift.

Four Rules for Living

"For I have kept the ways of the Lord ..." - Psalm 18:21

"No man can effectively illuminate the Way for all men.

There is more than one Way, a great number of paths.

All these men who can serve as beacons are needed."

Franklin Merrell-Wolff

Shambala

"The revolt against individualism

naturally calls artists severely to account,

because the artist is of all men the most individual;

those who were not have been long forgotten."


Willa Cather

Stairway To Heaven

"A day spent without

the sight or sound of beauty;

the contemplation of mystery;

the search for the truth of perfection;

is a poverty-stricken day;

and a succession of such days

is fatal to human life."

Lewis Mumford





Live with an individual to understand individuality;

Live with a family to understand familial life;

Live in a community to understand communal life;

Live within a culture to understand that culture;

Live on the Earth to understand the Earth.

Lao Tze

"Awareness is only one part of consciousness.

The greater part is imagination/creation.

It needs no factual foundation.

It needs no sanction.

Art makes realities, worlds, universes.

In doing so, it jettisons rules.

It makes up its own rules,

or dispenses with rules altogether."

Jon Rappoport

Zen Garden

musique zen-meditation-relaxation