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He who knows doesn’t talk, but words are no hindrance for him. He uses them as he would use gardening tools. When someone asks, he answers.
Love the gardening tool reference-amazing
Impossible to know, yet as easy as touching your nose when you wash your face.
acts without doing anything: Her actions are appropriate responses. Thus they are effortless. She embodies compassion, yet she doesn’t try to be compassionate. She doesn’t struggle to make money, yet she enjoys spending it when it comes to her. She goes her own way, yet she accepts help gratefully and has no pride in walking alone. She is not elated by praise, not discouraged by neglect. She doesn’t give even a moment’s thought to right or wrong. She never has to make a decision; decisions arise by themselves. She is like an actress who loves her role.
weakening their ambition: When they have no false self to nourish or defend, they find that greed, hatred, and arrogance vanish by themselves.
The Master sees all beings arising from the same source, working out their karma (usually with great suffering), and returning to the source. And since people are in constant flux, she understands that at any moment they are capable of the most astonishing spiritual transformations. Why should she pin them motionless with a judgment of “good” or “bad”?
She is detached: Bunan said, “It is easy to keep things at a distance; it is hard to be naturally beyond them.” Detachment results in clarity; clarity expresses itself in love. Her heart is like a mirror, which reflects all faces, without judgment, exactly as they are.
chi [vital energy]
When we watch a seventy-year-old hand move, we feel, “Yes, that hand has lived.” All the bodies it has touched, all the weights it has lifted, all the heads it has cradled are present in its movement. It is resonant with experience; the fingers curve with a sense of having been there. Whereas in a child’s hand there’s a sense of just arriving. The child’s movement is pristine and innocent and delightful, but a truly supple adult movement is awesome, because all life is included in it.
A day will dawn when you will laugh at all your past efforts.
The true teacher realizes that there is nothing to teach; that’s why he can teach anyone who wants to learn. The true lover realizes that there is no one to love; that’s why he is available to anyone who needs him. The Master realizes that there is nowhere to stand; that’s why he can stand anywhere.
There is no inside or outside for him. He reflects whatever appears, without judgment, whether it is a flower or a heap of garbage, a criminal or a saint. Whatever happens is all right. He treats his own anger or grief just as he would treat an angry or grieving child: with compassion.
When some folks are called saints, other folks think of themselves as sinners. When one fellow is called wise, others imagine that there is something they need to know. The Master doesn’t have these categories; for her, no one is wise or holy; thus, in her presence everyone feels at home.
I am different from ordinary people: I am more ordinary. When I am hungry, I eat; when I am tired, I sleep; that’s all. Pai-chang said,
The ordinary person’s mind is the same as the sage’s, because Original Mind is perfect and complete in itself.
Wanting to reform the world without discovering one’s true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.
true wisdom: When I know myself, I know others. When I master myself, I don’t need to master others.
In complete stillness, a stone girl is dancing.
If you want to shrink something: For example, defects in your character. When suppressed or ignored, they continue; but when allowed to be present in your awareness, they eventually wither away.
“The ten thousand things carry [at their backs] the yin and embrace [in front] the yang; through the blending of the energy [chi] of these two, they achieve harmony.”
‘The violent will not die a natural death.’ I will make this the father of my teaching.
Of course, if a parent is genuine, the child will be genuine too.
One day a fellow Buddhist, having made a long trip to see her, asked, “What can I do to put my heart at rest?” She said, “Every morning and every evening, and whenever anything happens to you, keep on saying, ‘Thanks for everything. I have no complaint whatsoever.’” The man did as he was instructed, for a whole year, but his heart was still not at peace. He returned to Sono, crestfallen. “I’ve said your prayer over and over, and yet nothing in my life has changed; I’m still the same selfish person as before. What should I do now?” Sono immediately said, “‘Thanks for everything. I have no
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Those who know don’t talk. They don’t talk for the sake of talking, or to prove something, or to display themselves. They talk only if it’s appropriate (and if they feel like talking). Those who talk don’t know: This is ignorance, not the openness of not-knowing.
If the president or the pope or a border guard has a question, he will be glad to answer it. Otherwise, he minds his business and leaves everything to the Tao.
The ancient Masters taught them the supreme value of Don’t-know Mind, which is forever fresh, open, and fertile with possibilities. (Another name for it is Beginner’s Mind.)
A skillful officer isn’t warlike. A skillful fighter isn’t violent. A skillful conqueror isn’t competitive. A skillful employer places himself below others. This is called the te of not competing. This is called the power to use men’s abilities. This is called complying with heaven. Since ancient times it has been the best way.
He doesn’t act as guru or messiah, because he doesn’t want to keep people dependent on him, and thus spiritually immature. When people start to treat him like a holy man, he nips their adoration in the bud and points them to their inner messiah.
CHAPTER 75 leave them alone: Offer them the gift of not being dependent on you.
The greatest help is wholeheartedly trusting people to resolve their own problems. A true philanthropist, like a good parent, brings people to the point where they can help themselves.
