Author: cheok hong chuan
Date: 04-29-12 14:51
The Three Pillars of Chinese Society The Tao Foundation Part 3.
I turn now to Liu I-Ming.
It is Liu I-Mings Twenty-four Essentials for Students that I wish to furnish to novice modern Taoist Practitioners; courtesy of Thomas Clearys translation. I have made some additional comments in brackets where I found it necessary.
[1]See through things of this world. If you cannot see through the things of the world, you will sink into an ocean of suffering. How can you get out?
[2] Cut off entanglements. If you cannot cut off entanglements, the vicious cycles of compulsive habit stand before you.
[3] Thoroughly investigate principle and meaning. If you do not know how to discern the principles of body and mind, you cannot distinguish aberration and sanity, and miss the road.
[4] Find a teacher and associates. When you empty your mind, you can fill the belly [i.e. dont think, just simply be, as in arise, work, eat & sleep with equanimity [additions mine]]; if you are self-satisfied, you will grow old without development [i.e. gracefully and serenely [additions mine]].
[5] Make determination endure. If you want to accomplish something that endures unchanging, it requires work that endures unceasing.
[6] Get rid of anger and hatred. If you do not sweep yourself clean of anger and hatred, you will be full of turbulence, which will obscure the truth.
[7] Relinquish the attachment to the physical body. See the physical body as something temporary and artificial, and naturally there will be a way to seek the real body.
[8] Do not be afraid of hard work. With strength of mind, one will be able to climb to the summit; if you are afraid of hardship, you will never enter the real.
[9] Tolerate ignominy and endure dishonour. Tolerate ignominy, and though lowly you cannot be surpassed; endure dishonour, and through yielding you can be strong.
[10] Forgive people and defer to others. It is essential to humble oneself and honour others; equanimous deference is a good method.
[11] Take possessions lightly; take life seriously. Ask yourself even if you pile up mountains of gold, can you buy off impermanence?
[12] View others and self as the same. Others and self have the same source, without high or low; if you discriminate between them and us you raise dust.
[13] Do not be deluded by alcohol or sex. If you do not drink, your nature will not be deranged; if you are chaste, your life force will be stable.
[14] Accept hunger and cold as they come. Dressing and eating according to circumstances, stop idle imagination; if you are afraid of hunger and cold, your will not be firm.
[15] Leave life and death to destiny. Two things, death and life, depend entirely on nature; the one will to seek the Way is always up to oneself.
[16] Do whatever you can to be helpful. Whatever you are, continue to perform worthy deeds; seeing danger, exert utmost power to help people.
[17] Do not take a liking to excitement. It is easy to lose the real in the midst of excitement and glamour; in the realms of the senses you can derange your essential nature.
[18] Do not be proud or complacent. Arrogance arouses the hatred of others; if you are self-satisfied, you cannot bear the Tao.
[19] Do not crave fine food. Superior people plan for the Way, not for food; inferior people nurture the palate, not the mind [i.e. eat to live and not live to eat; and sleep to rest not to be lazy [additions mine]].
[20] Do not talk about right and wrong. Everyone should sweep the snow from the door, and not be concerned about the frost on anothers roof.
[21] Do not use intellectual brilliance. If you have talent, do not employ it; always be as inept; if you have knowledge, hide it appearing to be ignorant [i.e. do not flaunt and do not boast; just apply your knowledge and skills humbly without ego of self or craving for recognition or praise [additions mine]].
[22] Sleep less and work more. Working day, cautious by night, effort never ceasing, giving up sleep, forgetting to eat, the will be firm.
[23] Do not take a liking to fine things. Pearls and jade, gold and silver, are things outside the body; vitality and spirit, essence and life, are the fundamental treasures.
[24] Be consistent from beginning to end. If you work without strength, it is hard to reach attainments; only when you die embracing the Tao do you see reality.
CHC
30/4/12
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