Rory B. Mackay's Blog, page 6

Tao Te Ching 43: Effortless Effort

- 43 -

The gentlest of all things;

that which offers no resistance,

can overcome the hardest of things.

That which has no substance

can enter where there is no space.

Hence I know the value of non-action.

~

Few things are as instructive

as the lessons of silence.

Teaching without words,

performing without actions -

few in the world can grasp it -

that is the Sage’s way.

~

Commentary

The wisdom of the Tao Te Ching contradicts just about everything we’re taught and conditioned to believe in. Therefore this rea...

Tao Te Ching 42: Yin and Yang

- 42 -

The Tao gave birth to the One.

The One gave birth to the Two.

The Two gave birth to the Three.

The Three gave birth to all of creation.

~

All things carry yin and embrace yang;

they achieve harmony by combining these forces.

~

People suffer at the thought of being

without parents, without food, or without worth.

Yet one may gain by losing;

and one may lose by gaining.

Ordinary men hate solitude.

But the Sage makes use of it.

~

What others have taught I too will repeat:

“A man of violence will come to a...

Tao Te Ching 41: The wise man, the fool and paradox

- 41 -

When a wise man hears of the Tao,

he immediately begins to live it.

When an average man hears of the Tao,

he believes some of it and doubts the rest.

When a foolish man hears of the Tao,

he laughs out loud at the very idea.

If it were not for that laugh,

it would not be the Tao.

~

Thus it is said:

the path into light seems dark,

the path forward seems like retreat,

the superior path seems empty,

the easy way seems hard,

the pure seems tarnished,

true power seems weak,

true clarity seems obscure,

true vi...

The wisdom of vedanta – and why life is set up to break you

Mundaka Upanishad: Two birds living together, each the friend of the other, perch upon the same tree. Of these two, one eats the sweet fruit of the tree, but the other simply looks on without eating.

Hello! I’ve been trying to get blogging again for some time now, but haven’t felt clear on what I wanted to say. In the new year I’m going to relaunch the blog and share my journey studying vedanta as taught by a traditional vedanta teacher, James Swartz.Not all that many people have heard of veda...

Back to silence

I remember a number of years ago a wise friend once saying to me “Silence is golden: if you can’t improve upon it, don’t even try”. I’m going to be away for a bit, making the most of the silence, but I’ll be back next month and I will hopefully have a few interesting things worth breaking the silence to share. I’ve found it very difficult keeping up with things the past couple of months, and hard finding the time to either write or read blogs, but I intend to get back into the swing of things...

Vipassana meditation – observing thought

Meditation needs no introduction. Nowadays there’s a lot of mainstream attention given to its amazing effectiveness at not only reducing psychological stress, anxiety, depression, emotional issues, but also the enormous physical health benefits it produces. I believe it’s something every school kid should be taught from a young age. It’s every bit as important as the ‘three Rs’ — more so in fact! Meditation is one of the things that has kept me sane(ish!) in life.

I’ve done many different tech...

Tao Te Ching 40: Returning

- 40 -

Returning is the movement of the Tao.

Yielding is the way of the Tao.

~

All of creation is born of the corporeal.

The corporeal is born of the incorporeal.

~

Commentary

The end is in the beginning. The infinite is like an blank sheet of paper; empty, yet filled with the potentiality of all things. The moment a mark is made, something appears out of nothing. For a time it seems to exist independently, although in truth we can only perceive its ‘being’ (the manifest) by contrasting it with the c...

Tao Te Ching 39: Ecology

- 39 -

These things from ancient times arise from One:

the sky attained Oneness and became clear,

the earth attained Oneness and and became firm.

All creatures attained Oneness and became full.

All of them are what they are by the power of Oneness.

~

When man interferes with the Tao,

Oneness is lost and

the sky becomes filthy,

the earth becomes unstable

and creatures become extinct.

~

The Sage understands the unity of all parts.

The pieces of a chariot are useless

unless they work in accordance with the who...

The creative mind

Tao Te Ching 38: Already good

38.

The highest good is not to seek to do good,

but to allow yourself to become it.

The Sage doesn’t try to be powerful;

thus he is truly powerful.

The ordinary man keeps reaching for power;

thus he never has enough.

~

The Sage does nothing,

yet he leaves nothing undone.

The ordinary man is always doing things,

yet accomplishes little.

~

The kind person acts from the heart

and accomplishes a multitude of things.

The righteous person acts out of piety,

yet leaves many things undone.

The moral person will act o...